Wendy wins Brutal Triathlon as James claims final Shepley 10K

Penistone Footpath Runners enjoyed another successful weekend with victories across triathlon, road racing, fell running and parkrun, together with several strong age category performances. Wendy McBride produced one of the standout performances of the weekend at The Brutal Triathlon standard distance event, finishing an excellent fourth overall in 4-24-06 and taking first female, more than ten minutes clear of the second woman. Olivia Clough produced a strong all round performance at the Woodhall Spa Sprint Triathlon, completing the event in 1-40-58 and placing ninth in the women's 20–24 category. Olivia made an excellent start with a 7-49 swim, ranking 72nd overall from 490 competitors and fourth in her age group. Alex Best also impressed, finishing 44th overall and fourth in the men's 45–49 category in 1-19-57, with his 41-40 bike split ranking 14th overall and second quickest in his age group.

James Mumford signed off the Shepley 10K in style by winning the final staging of his home village race. James, who also won the event last year, successfully defended his title in windy conditions on a course featuring around 200 metres of climbing, crossing the line in 39-10 and winning by 65 seconds. Dawn Godley also ran well, finishing 35th overall and sixth female in 56-00 to take second place in the women's over65 category, while Myfanwy Cross completed the Penistone contingent in 69th place in 1-06-00.

There were more strong performances at the Rotherham 10K, where Sean Pitt led Penistone home with an excellent fifth place from a field of 843 finishers, clocking 35-51, while Jade Crosby continued her impressive road form by finishing 40th overall and second female in 40-23. Chris Baldwin and Michael Nicholson followed in 47-43 and 47-47 respectively, Ian McNulty recorded 50-07 and Paul Gee finished in 52-46. Andrea Lee recorded 1-02-52 and Steve Dommett completed the race in 1-15-51. At the Bury 10K, Kate Rushforth completed the course in a chip time of 59-06.

Daniel Rushforth took on the Heights Ultra Trail 50K in difficult weather conditions and produced an excellent performance over the challenging distance, finishing 10th overall in 5-58-01 and claiming second place in the men's over40 category. On the fells, Damian Kilpin completed the Esk Valley Fell Club Summer Series at the Fryup Frazzler, finishing ninth overall in 52-53 and taking first place in the men's over45 category in the final race of the summer series.

Away from competition, Suzanne McGill also had reason to celebrate after successfully passing her Athletics Coaching assessment.

At parkrun, 49 Penistone seniors competed across 25 venues. James Fryers took first place at Oakey Park in 19-06, while Alex Melhuish was also an overall winner at Marshall Drive in 21-21. Richard Cottam finished second at Rothwell in an excellent 17-42, with Simon Pike taking third place at Bowling Park in 20-37. Suzanne McGill was second female at Barnsley in 22-15 and Jill Scrivens finished third female at Baysgarth Park in 25-06. There was plenty of age category success too, with John Broom running 19-55 at Long Eaton to finish first in the men's over55 category, Keith Gordon first over75 at Whitehaven, Alan Knox first over70 at Barnsley, Stuart Woodhead first over70 at Hillsborough and Kelvin Bowskill first over70 at Sandal Park. Barbara Haigh was first over80 and Ray Brown first over85 at Barnsley, while Ann Lindop combined a personal best of 35-12 at Middleton Woods with first place in the women's over65 category. Steve Sanders recorded a personal best of 20-29 at Sherwood Pines and finished second over50. Other category podiums included Ian Neville, second over60 at Barnsley; Ashley Firth, second over35 at Barnsley; Joanne Sammon, third over55 at Barnsley; Shaun Swallow, second over55 at Rothwell; Damian Kilpin, third over45 at Huddersfield; Lee Hopkins, third over50 at Glossop; Mandy Mallinder, second over55 at Baysgarth Park; Bill Phillips, second over75 at Southport; Ruth Albaya Melhuish, third over45 at Marshall Drive; John Lawcock, third over60 at Wythenshawe; and Oliver France, third in the 20–24 age group at Princes. Further personal bests were recorded by Steve Dickinson at Sandal Park in 29-52, Michael Walsh at Glossop in 23-28 and Kim Rogers at Harrogate in 28-33. Barbara Haigh produced the weekend's highest age-graded performance with 80.72%, followed by Richard Cottam with 78.91%, John Broom with 77.82%, Suzanne McGill with 75.36% and Damian Kilpin with 74.60%.