Buxton Athletic Club runners competed at distances from the short and snappy 3.1 mile Parkruns, through to 26.2 miles at the Berlin marathon, right up to the astonishing 73 miles of the Cumbria Way Ultra last weekend.  A clear demonstration of the versatility of our talented athletes in the award winning Club, and with a quartet of first positions to boot.

Returning-to-form Kate Ledin was first female Over 55 at the Burgess Park Parkrun, and from a field of 125, finished in 23.27, while Sam Willis, in her first ever Parkrun outing, was 1st female Over 35 at Bakewell in a time of 22.39, 6th overall female.  Sheila Bradley claimed 1st female Over 60 at the same event in 23.53, while Tim Rolfe paced son Matthew to a personal best time of 26.02, from a field of 163 runners.   Ben Light ran a personal best time at the hilly Lyme Park parkrun, 3rd overall in 18.22.

A new world record for the marathon was set in an outstanding 2 hours 1 minute and 39 seconds by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge at the fast, flat Berlin Marathon, and Buxton AC’s only representative Andy Lidstone ran a season’s best in 3 hours 20 minutes and 51 seconds.

The English Half Marathon at Warrington is where Jon Sewell equaled his personal best time at the weekend, in a commendable time of 1.24.57.  A 10K race, held at the same venue, saw Sewell’s wife Sarah run a season’s best time of 54.27, winning her 3rd Female Over 55 placing.  Louise Hallows and Caroline Newton-Phillips were part of huge field of over 50,000 runners who took part in the Great North Run recently, with Hallows running a personal best time of 2.03.17, Newton-Phillips in 2.08.01.

Off-road races generally present competitors with a few testing hills, but a total ascent of 10,000 feet was a real challenge for ultra runner Nick Jones who took part in the Cumbria Way 73 mile race last weekend.  The iconic trail starts at Ulverston, meanders through the Lake District, before finishing at Carlisle Castle.  Nick’s 15th placing from 91 runners is an outstanding result.

Fran Bromley competed in the Simonside fell race at the Thropton Show all the way up in Northumberland, wearing her Buxton vest with pride, and was rewarded with 1st female placing in the 6.8 mile race.

At the Lantern Pike 5 mile fell race, a variety of Junior and Senior runners from the Club turned out with great results.  Junior Sam Soles was 3rd overall, Jason Brunnock 5th, Junior Stuart Diamond 11th.  Debbie Hope was sole Buxton female to take part, returning with a prize for finishing 1st Female Over 45.

The final race in the English Fell Championships was held out of Cautley in the Yorkshire Dales, and with gradients of 49.5% both up and down, was going to be a real challenge.  A relatively short distance of 4.7 miles, the race covers almost 2,700 feet of ascent, a pretty brutal test for the runners.  Tania Wilson took part in the ladies’ race and finished in 1.11.13, while in the men’s race Dan Latham finished in 1.02.11.