The Club’s annual presentation evening combines with the Christmas Party, a fitting occasion for Club Members to be rewarded for their hard work put in during the running year. Last Saturday’s event at the Palace Hotel saw a whole array of trophies and shields awarded to the well-deserved winners of the Club Championships, which includes all the running disciplines as well as categories for Best Newcomer, Most Improved, Target 5K awards and Services to the Club.
Overall female winner in the Club Championships was Amy Clark, and in second place Tania Wilson, third Sam Willis. Jake Fearn claimed first prize for the men, with Ben Light and Rob White second and third. The Male Veteran prize went to Jon Sewell, while the Female Veteran prize was awarded to Emma Wentworth. Pete Bailey and Sheila Bradley were first Male and Female Supervet winners respectively. The overall Fell Champions were Alasdair Campbell for the Men, and jointly Jo Bednall and Tania Wilson in the Ladies’ Championships. Jon Sewell was Male Veteran Fell Champion.
Based on six races over distance ranging from 5K to the marathon, the Road Running Championship winners were Rob White and Amy Clark. Andy Lidstone and Emma Wentworth claimed second place, while Dan Latham and Kate Phillips took third place overall. Nick Jones and Richard Bouglas were joint winners of the Ultra Championships.
Most Improved Male was Kevin Mottram, with Katie Rolfe taking Most Improved Female placing. Best Newcomer category winners were Tim Rolfe and Adele Thornton. From the Target 5K beginners’ group, Fran Ross and Charlie Narejko were deserving winners of the Group and Group Endeavour awards respectively. The hard work and dedication shown by Pete Bailey and Emma Wentworth to the Club over the year was rewarded by the presentation of the Services to the Club award.
Several Club Records were broken during the year too, with Emma Wentworth’s 20 miler at 2.36.29 for the Female Vet 40 category, Alan Talbot’s 2.48.16 at the same distance for the Male Vet 65 as well as the Marathon at 3.47.06. Sheila Bradley claimed three records for the Female Vet 60 category – 1 Mile (7.26), 10 Miles (8321) and 20 Miles (2.56.14).
Before brushing off the mud and smartening up for the party, 21 Seniors headed over to Woodbank Park earlier in the day to take part in the Manchester Cross Country League’s third fixture of the season. Held over a true cross country course consisting of fields, hills, woods and generous dollops of mud, not to mention trip hazards and skitteringly slippery descents, ten Senior Females gave an excellent account of themselves in a field of almost 300 runners. First home was Debbie Hope in 43rd place, followed by Tania Wilson in 69th, the ever-improving Katie Rolfe in 98th and Ruth Gowers in 143rd, completing the first team. Kate Ledin (157th), Jo Cudahy (169th), Elizabeth Nocton (226th), Heather Fryer-Winder (242nd), Rachel Dowle (249th) and Sarah Soles (254th) made up the Buxton contingent. From a total of 59 teams, the Senior Ladies hold 22nd and 49th placing, while the Veteran Ladies are a fantastic 10th from 59 teams.
Eleven Buxton men took part, including two Under 20’s who run in the same race as the Senior Men. Alasdair Campbell’s star shows no sign of waning, and a 5th placing from a huge field of over 430 runners, is a superb finishing position. Rob White was next home in 34th, with Nat Winfield 51st, Jon Sewell 130th, Dan Latham 145th and completing the team, Dave Soles 212th. David Fryer-Winder (214th), Stefan Ledin (335th), Mark Thorogood (353rd) and Pete Bailey (376th) were the remainder of the Buxton Senior Men’s squad. Jacob Winfield and Jacob Miller, both Under 20 Males, had excellent runs to finish in 61st and 127th overall in the race. Out of 58 Senior Men’s teams, Buxton hold a very creditable 10th place, with a second team placing of 41st. The Veterans are a solid 19th place from a total of 53 teams.