European honour for Graihagh as Penistone shine at Trunce

Graihagh Turner led the headlines for Penistone Footpath Runners after representing Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships in Slovenia. The championships were held in Ljubljana-Kamnik, with the racing taking place at Velika Planina. Graihagh lined up in the Under-20 Women’s Up & Down Mountain Race against some of Europe’s leading young mountain runners, finishing 36th in 33-39 after passing the checkpoints in 14-02 and 25-04. Although the result was not quite what she had hoped for, competing on the European stage was an amazing experience and another significant step in her running career. Graihagh also thanked everyone for their support and encouragement.

There was also a big Penistone turnout at Trunce Race 4, where Hannah Shaw led the club’s success by taking the ladies’ victory in 33-50. Richard Cottam produced another standout performance, finishing second overall in 25-59, taking first place in the veteran men’s category and recording a personal best. Ashley Firth was also well placed, finishing 14th in 30-06 with another personal best, while Philip Shaw won the men’s over60 category in 32-12, also recording a personal best. Josie Smith added another category win by finishing first veteran lady in 34-00, and Chloe Hinchliffe also impressed with a personal best of 36-16.

On the roads, Rachael Mayston produced an excellent run at the Grimsby 10K, finishing in a chip time of 42-26. Rachael placed 362nd overall, 46th female and eighth in the women’s over50 category, continuing her strong season over the distance. There was also success at the Marsden 10, where Nichola McNally ran strongly to finish third female overall on the challenging Pennine course. Jill Scrivens also impressed, placing fourth in the women’s over50 category as the pair represented Penistone at the popular event.

Midweek racing saw Damian Kilpin and Steve Sanders travel to North Yorkshire for the Whorlton Run fell race. Damian produced another fine performance, finishing tenth overall and second in the men’s over45 category in 51-08. Steve was 27th overall in 56-21 and narrowly missed out on an age-category prize with fourth place in the men’s over50 category. Also on the fells, James Pierce tackled the demanding Duddon Valley fell race in the Lake District, finishing 56th overall and completing the classic long fell race in 4-23-46 while running in the men’s over50 category. Martyn Goodwin also completed the tough Pen-y-Ghent fell race in the Yorkshire Dales, finishing 142nd in 1-33 on a hard course with claggy conditions near the summit.

Away from racing, a large Penistone group took part in the club’s Bamford Bimble social fell run. Runners tackled around 14 to 15 miles across the tops in wet and testing conditions, taking in the likes of Margery Hill, Back Tor, Dovestone Tor and White Tor before finishing with a well-earned pub stop. The group included Robin Clough, Shaun Swallow, Steve Sanders, Josie Smith, Daniel Limb, Alex Crosby, Jade Crosby, Fay Nicholls, Martin Ball, Daniel Rushforth and Alex Best.

At parkrun, 78 Penistone seniors represented the club across 22 venues, with three overall victories. Richard Cottam led the way at Penistone, taking first place in 17-46, with clubmate Richard Heppenstall second in 18-48. Suzanne McGill was third female at the same event in 21-37. James Mumford won at Vermuyden Way in 18-50, while Ashley Firth was first at Vicar Water in 18-29. Dawn Godley produced the run of the weekend with an outstanding 86.12 per cent age grading at York Community Woodland, where she was also first in the women’s over65 category. Linda Keelan marked a notable milestone at the same venue by completing her 100th different parkrun. Other category successes included Ian Neville and Sue Hall at Barnsley, Jon Hallam at Tonbridge, Kelvin Bowskill at Huddersfield, Flynn Rogers at Hillsborough, Ray Brown at Woolacombe Dunes and Jemma Williams, who recorded a personal best and took first place in the women’s over40 category at Cannock Chase. The weekend’s highest age-graded performances came from Dawn Godley (86.12%), Richard Heppenstall (80.41%), Richard Cottam (78.61%), Suzanne McGill (76.64%) and Ian Neville (76.52%).