It was one, two, three for Buxton at Stanhill Fell Race. On a rare warm and dry evening in July, four Buxton members travelled to Lancashire to tackle the tough seven kilometer course. Will Longden maintained his cracking form to take the win by over three minutes, shaving an impressive 1 minute 30 seconds off the previous course record. Next Buxton across the line was Grace Longden finishing in second female with Amy Whelan in third. Mark Whelan returned to racing and finished 63rd overall.
The following Sunday, two Buxton runners took part in the Deal Dinosour 10k. Part of Deal Regatta, the route is an undulating course starting and finishing along the seafront. Buxton’s Justin Holmes finished in 59.40 placing him in 150th. Gill Thompson also had a good race to finish in 186th (1.04.09).
Three Buxton runners took on the challenging Stoney Middleton Fell Race last Thursday evening. The race had some very strong competition with Rio Olympian 10k and 5k competitor Ross Millington running to victory. Buxton’s Will Longden raced well to finish in third position. Also competing were Neil Evans in 57th and Matthew Nadin in 175th.
The old Buxton juniors were back in business at Lyme Park last Saturday. Team Buxton (consisting of Will Longden, Sam Soles and Stu Diamond) dominated the field. Having arrived a minute late, Will Longden caught teammates Sam Soles and Stu Diamond on the gruelling uphill finish making yet another one (Will), two (Sam), three (Stu) finish for Buxton.
At the same time, up in the Pavilion Gardens, Buxton had a fine turnout. First in for Buxton was Matthew Rolfe in second (19.18), closely followed by Joel Tidmarsh in 4th (19.35), Jonathan Sewell (7th), Richard Bouglas (17th), Ross Martland (27th), Rebecca Corbett (44th), Kate Brown (58th), Paul Markall (67th), Natalie Wild (106th), Neil Pearson (142nd) and Elizabeth Nocton (165th).
The busy weekend was rounded up on Sunday with Grace Longden taking on her second ever triathlon at Salford Sprint Triathlon. After a 750m swim in Dock 9, it was onto the 13 mile bike ride finishing with a 5km run. Grace sprinted to the line against third overall to finish an excellent second out of a competitive, large field.
On the same day, Tracy Gregory completed one of the toughest triathlons – a full distance Ironman. This challenging race consists of a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run. Tracy completed the race in 15 hours 57 minutes – what an outstanding achievement!