Sunday saw the running of Blakey Blitz, the 11th counter in the Winter Fell Race Series. While heat makes running difficult, competitors were hoping for something a bit warmer than 6c! Adding in rain and wind chill these were tough conditions. Also at 10.3 miles, with over 2,300 feet of elevation and technical terrain this was not an event for the faint hearted. First back for PRC was Darren Smith in a very impressive 1 hour 28 minutes, placing him 8th overall out of 138 finishers. An exciting battle followed with both Mike Richmond and Simon Jones clocking 1 hour 35 minutes. Mike was 3rd M45 and Simon Jones was 3rd M55. Hot on their heels was Simon Rycroft in 1 hour 36 minutes, placing him 3rd M50 followed by James Loftus in 1 hour 45 minutes. Kim Cavill’s speedy time of 1 hour 51 minutes placed her 2nd F40 and 6th female overall. Kim was followed by Kelly Richmond in 1 hour 54 minutes and Charles Corbett in 1 hour 58 minutes. Karen Farmer-Scott had another brilliant run crossing the line only 4 seconds later also clocking 1 hour 58 seconds, earning her yet another prize for 1st F60. Lucy Saggers was next in 2 hours 10 minutes followed by Nick Cousins in 2 hours 12 minutes, Sue Slack in 2 hours 13 minutes placing her 2nd F60, Ruth Kaftirani in 2 hours 14 minutes, David Stephenson in 2 hours 17 minutes and Alice Hayter in 2 hours 18 minutes. Louise Bailey-Parkin had a tough race suffering from sickness but valiantly battled on to finish in 2 hours 25 minutes.

Nicola and Dean Wise took on a very different challenge, the beautiful Rome Marathon. The convoluted route took them past many iconic sights but they could only glance at the architectural wonders due to the uneven cobblestones underfoot. Nicola found it a painful experience because of an insect bite causing her ankle to swell to twice its usual size. Determined not to give in she finished in 5 hours 30 minutes. Dean wasn’t far behind and managed an impressive finishing sprint clocking 5 hours 43 minutes.

Suzy Hodgson and Richard Robinson joined nearly 1,000 runners for the annual Thirsk 10 miler, an undulating road race on quiet country lanes. Both achieved excellent times with Richard completing the race in 1 hour 8 minutes and Suzy in 1 hour 27 minutes.