Podium places and milestones mark action-packed weekend for Penistone runners

Club members were in action across road, fell, and cross-country events during one of the busiest weekends of the autumn season. At the Altra Yorkshire Marathon, Richard Cottam continued his fine form with a 2-52-09 run, leading home a strong Penistone contingent that included Alan Nutton (2-57-53), Suzanne McGill (3-09-00) who claimed first place in the ladies over45 category, Jade Crosby (3-31-25), Gemma Nutton (4-12-17) and Stefan Butler-Gillen (5-13-16). On the same day, clubmates excelled in the Altra Yorkshire 10 Mile, where Ashley Firth ran 01-02-10, Alex Harris 1-04-09, and Ian Neville topped the men’s over60 category with 1-06-43. Robert Davies (1-09-22), Alex Crosby (1-11-00) and Kim Rogers (2-16-06) also completed strong runs on the popular route starting and finishing at the University of York.

James Mumford continued his excellent road form at the Trafford 10K, recording 34-35, just six seconds off his lifetime best on the flat and fast Manchester course. Abroad, Shaun Swallow represented the club at the Kraków Half Marathon, finishing in 1-39-10.

We fielded two full teams at the British Fell and Hill Relay Championships in Snowdonia, tackling very steep routes with over 2,000 metres of ascent in total. Jill Scrivens, Becky Timms, Harriet Drouin, Sarah Jones-Morris, Hannah Shaw and Emma Stead made up the Women's team, and Shaun Swallow, Simon Pike, Jon Waller, Steve Sanders, Jon Hallam and Martyn Goodwin the Men's Vet 40 team.

There was further success at the Manchester Half Marathon, where Will Hoyland ran 1-49-51, Ian McNulty 1-54-02, and Bryan Worth 3-05-41 among a field of more than 22,000 finishers. Jemma Williams impressed at the Dukeries 10, clocking 1-27-47 to finish third female overall on the scenic Sherwood Forest trails. Nichola McNally also took a fine win at the Dalemain 10K Trail Race near Penrith, finishing first lady on the scenic two-lap course around Dalemain Mansion in approximately 48 minutes according to her watch, with official results still to be confirmed.

Cross-country season began with Penistone strongly represented at the opening South Yorkshire League fixture at Clifton Park, Rotherham. Highlights included Flynn Rogers placing seventh in the under-17 men’s race and Edward Holley tenth in the under-15 boys, while in the senior women’s event Julia Johnson won the FV55 category ahead of Lesley Parker, Jill Scrivens, Helen Turner, Heather Lindley and Kim Rodgers. The men’s team packed well through Matthew Robinson, Daniel Limb, Lee Storey, Oliver Pike and Oliver France, with veterans Martyn Goodwin, Martin Hughes, Keith Gordon and Nick Whittingham all placing highly in their age categories.

At the weekend’s parkruns, Flynn Rogers produced a superb overall win and personal best at Hillsborough in a field of 693 runners, while Hannah Shaw also took first gender place at Point y Bala. There were second and third places at Penistone for Richard Heppenstall and George Parr respectively, while James Fryers took third at Town Moor with 16-47, the fastest parkrun time of the year so far for the club. Lee Hopkins celebrated his 550th parkrun at Blickling, and Damian Kilpin reached his 250 milestone at Penistone. The top age-graded performances came from Richard Heppenstall (81.14%), Ian Neville (80.30%), Flynn Rogers (79.27%), James Fryers (77.47%) and John Broom (76.58%), with 64 seniors representing the club across 23 venues.

At Penistone Parkrun, 273 runners took part with Heppenstall (18-05) second, Parr (18-49) third, Andrew Heppenstall (19-14), Rob Lees (19-15), and Kilpin (19-52) among the top ten, while Heather Simpson (23-01) ran a personal best to win her category. Further down the field Paul Sammon (28-31), Becky Parr (29-16) and Claire Watts (32-04) were among the regulars, and Martyn Cartwright (35-58) took second in the men’s over75s. At Barnsley Parkrun, Ian Neville was first over60 in 19-58, Alan Knox first over70 in 26-30, Sue Hall first over65 in 28-12, and Danny Batty first over80 in 32-44, with strong runs also from Stu Smith (29-00) and Luke McGuinness (32-10).