Penistone Footpath Runners
Published on

Ultra X podium for James as Penistone shine on roads and trails

Penistone Footpath Runners were in action across the country and overseas during another busy week, with James Fryers producing the standout performance at Ultra X England in the Peak District. James took an excellent third place overall from 156 finishers in the 60km event, completing the demanding course in 7-23-10 and placing second in the men’s 18-29 category.

Half marathons provided much of the weekend’s other action. At the Vale of York Half Marathon, Jade Crosby once again broke the 1-30 barrier with an excellent 1-29-32, finishing 15th lady. Suzanne McGill continued her return to form with 1-31-18, placing 16th lady and third lady over50, as well as second over50 in the Yorkshire Veterans Championship. Alex Crosby completed a strong showing for Penistone with a new personal best of 1-34-10.

Damian Kilpin enjoyed an impressive double-header over the weekend. On Saturday he finished 12th overall at the Castleton Show Hilly Road Race in 42-09, taking third place in the men’s over45 category, before travelling north for the Great North Run the following day, where he led the Penistone contingent home in 1-27-09. Marc Robertson followed in 1-29-23, with Michael Nicholson finishing in 1-48-39, Russell Lynam in 2-00-12, John Howsham in 2-00-40, Susan Charlesworth in 2-11-12 and Jacqueline Howsham in 2-58-21. Susan also reported that she and son Christopher had raised more than £2,500 between them for Yorkshire Cancer Research.

At the Cheshire Autumn Half Marathon, Alan Nutton produced another strong performance with 1-21-47, taking eighth place in the men’s over45 category. Ryan Duckett ran 1-31-11 to finish sixth in the men’s over50 category, while Emily Duckett recorded 1-48-38 and Gemma Nutton 1-48-46. Shaun Swallow completed the Worcester City Half Marathon in 1-41-39, placing 23rd in the men’s over55 category.

Richard Cottam produced another strong performance at the Darkwood Demon Trail Race organised by Slaithwaite Striders, taking fourth place overall in 42-41. The challenging six-mile course featured around 280 metres of climbing and James Mumford finished 14th overall in 47-57, having described the event as being more like a fell race than a trail race.

Chris Hodgson tackled the demanding Old Crown Round in the Lake District, a 36km fell race featuring 2,200 metres of climbing. Chris completed the course in 5-10-42, finishing 146th overall and 33rd in the men’s over50 category. Further afield, Martin Hughes and Julia Johnson represented Penistone in France at the 6km Foulées des Escargots trail race in Boisseuil. Martin won his age category while Julia claimed second place in hers. A late result from the previous weekend saw Brent Carlin and Dave Lovatt tackle the unusual Kinder Barrel Race at Edale as members of the Yorkshire Puddings team, who finished an excellent fifth out of 22 teams.

The opening race of Penistone’s 2026 Winter Handicap series saw Jim Simpson take the handicap victory, with Gordon Watts second and Andrew Taylor third. George Parr recorded the fastest men’s time of the evening in 29-26, just ahead of Oliver France in 29-36, with Alexander Melhuish third fastest in 33-33. Hannah Shaw was the quickest lady in 33-21, followed by Emily Duckett in 34-14 and Fay Nicholls in 41-24. Barbara Haigh topped the WMA age-adjusted standings with an adjusted time of 25-30, ahead of Julian Williams and Ray Brown.

With Penistone parkrun cancelled because of the Penistone Agricultural Show, 54 Penistone seniors competed across 21 venues. Hannah Shaw produced one of the standout performances, taking first female at Concord in a personal best of 21-04. Kimberley Rogers celebrated her 150th parkrun at Nostell, where she was also first lady over40 in 29-13, while Chris Baldwin completed his 50th parkrun at Barnsley. Ashley Firth was second overall at Barnsley in an excellent 18-18, with Martyn Goodwin first man over65, Sue Hall first lady over65 and Ray Brown first man over85 while tail walking. Elsewhere, Dawn Godley was first lady over65 at Bolton, Dawn Broom second lady over60 at Sherwood Pines, Keith Gordon first man over75 at Carlisle, Dan Cooper first man over50 at Concord, Shaun Braddock first man over60 at Monsal Trail, Jill Scrivens first lady over55 and Myfanwy Cross first lady over40 at Wepre, while Flynn Rogers was first junior male 15-17 at Hillsborough. Sean Pitt clocked a personal best of 17-17 at Rother Valley, where Richard Heppenstall also recorded a personal best of 17-30. The weekend’s top five age-graded performances came from Richard Heppenstall (86.38%), Dawn Godley (78.12%), Dawn Broom (77.60%), Rob Davies (77.21%) and Sue Hall (75.53%).