Team double at Penistone 10K

The club enjoyed a superb showing at our own Norman Cole Penistone 10K, claiming both the men’s and ladies’ team prizes on a hot and testing morning. Ashley Firth led the club home with an excellent fourth-place finish in 37-10, followed by Flynn Rogers, who was 11th overall and second under18 in 40-15, and Alex Harris, who was 12th in 40-26. The trio secured the men’s team prize, while Jade Crosby produced a superb run to finish second female overall in 42-15. Suzanne McGill was third female and first lady over50 in 43-47, and Nichola McNally was fifth female and first lady over55 in 45-07, with the three combining to win the ladies’ team prize. There were further strong performances throughout the field, with Marc Robertson, Oliver France, Alex Crosby and Ryan Duckett all inside the top 30. Oliver also claimed first place in the under20 category in 41-28, while Edward Holley was first under16 in 48-37 and Sue Hall first lady over65 in 59-02. Julian Williams was second man over55, Emily Duckett second lady over40, Heather Simpson second lady over50, Stuart Woodhead second man over70 and Bill Phillips second man over75. Several runners also recorded notable course improvements, including Ashley Firth, Jade Crosby, Alex Crosby, Alex Harris, Rory O’Sullivan and Sara Wolstenholme.

There was further midweek success at the Higham Hurtle, held in hot conditions over the hilly course around Higham. Richard Cottam took a superb overall victory in 30-12, with Sean Pitt making it two Penistone runners on the podium by finishing third in 31-38. John Halstead completed a strong top-five showing in 33-29, while Martin Ball, Ian Neville, Suzanne McGill, Julian Williams and Alex Crosby all finished inside the top 30. Suzanne continued her fine form by finishing fourth lady overall and claiming her first lady over50 prize in 38-25.

We were also strongly represented at the Damflask Relays, the popular road relay around Damflask Reservoir at Low Bradfield. The senior men’s team of Flynn Rogers, Sean Pitt, Ashley Firth and Oliver France finished eighth overall in 1-22-31, while the men’s over40 team of Alan Nutton, Robert Lees, Damian Kilpin and James Mumford placed 19th overall and fifth in their category in 1-26-26. We also placed fifth in the men’s over50 category, where Jonathan Bentley, Martin Ball, Matthew Robinson and Robin Clough finished 33rd overall in 1-33-57. In the three-leg race, Rachael Mayston, Heather Simpson and Josie Smith produced Penistone’s leading women’s performance, finishing 14th overall and fifth in the ladies over35 category in 1-15-49. The senior women’s team of Gemma Nutton, Jemma Williams and Jade Crosby also ran well, placing 18th overall in 1-17-57, with Crosby producing the fastest Penistone women’s leg of the night in 23-16. A second senior women’s team of Olivia Clough, Heather Graham and Fay Nicholls finished 51st in 1-32-00. Penistone also fielded a male over60 team, with Stuart Woodhead, Mark Graham and Steve Dommett placing ninth in their category in 1-39-19.

Graihagh Turner continued her outstanding season with victory in the women’s under20 race at the Clougha Pike FRA Junior Championships against a strong national junior field. Martyn Goodwin was also in fell-racing action at the James Blakeley fell race, a historic summer event first held in 1937, finishing 21st overall and second man over60 in 31-41. At the DCRO Dash fell race in the Hope Valley, Damian Kilpin led Penistone home with a strong run to finish 20th overall and fourth in the men’s over40 category in 45-43. Rebecca Timms also impressed, placing fourth female overall and second in the ladies over40 category in 57-50, while Harriet Drouin completed the tough fell route in 1-09-39 to finish fourth senior female.

At the Tom Holmes Oughtibridge Chase, Flynn Rogers produced an excellent run to win the junior race in 12-33, around a minute quicker than last year. Jack Howden also made his race debut in Penistone colours, while further club success may yet be confirmed once the official results are published. Jill Scrivens claimed third place in the ladies over50 category at the Newmillerdam Quacky Trail Race 5K, finishing 91st overall in 26-08. Dawn Godley also produced an excellent run at the Haigh Hall 4 Mile Trail Race near Wigan, finishing in 32-13. She placed 139th overall, 36th female and third in the ladies over65 category, improving her time from last year by around two minutes and earning an impressive 83.7% age grading.

At Saturday’s parkruns, 76 Penistone seniors represented the club across 18 venues. Penistone was the main focus, where Richard Cottam led the field home in 17-42, with Richard Heppenstall second in 17-58. Suzanne McGill marked her first parkrun in the ladies over50 category in style, finishing first female in 20-40, while Hannah Shaw was third female in 21-52. There were also category wins at Penistone for Ash Howlett, Oliver France, Barbara Haigh and Danny Batty, while Amanda Field and Kim Rogers both recorded personal bests. Away from Penistone, Dawn Broom was third female at Market Rasen in 22-47 and produced the run of the weekend with an outstanding 86.39% age grading. Rachael Mayston was second female at Black Rocks in 21-17, while Dawn Godley, Keith Gordon, Jane Lawcock and Ray Brown also claimed age-category wins. Andrew Taylor completed his 50th Penistone parkrun. The weekend’s leading age-graded performances came from Dawn Broom (86.39%), Richard Heppenstall (84.14%), Barbara Haigh (82.91%), Rachael Mayston (82.85%) and Suzanne McGill (81.13%).