What an awesome weekend of running for Pickering Running Club with some stellar performances.

Last Saturday saw the 71st Annual Yorkshire Three Peaks Race. The 24.2 mile route takes in Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent, totalling a whopping 5,300 feet of climb. This would be tough enough but there are very strict cutoff times, highly technical terrain requiring scrambling in places and the final blow, a day far too hot for long distance running. Just finishing this iconic race is a huge achievement. Of the 650 starters over 70 didn’t make it to the end. Mike Richmond was first back for PRC in a brilliant time of 4 hours 27 minutes. Then came James Loftus in 4 hours 40 minutes, Kim Cavill in 5 hours 4 minutes, Bridget Houlston in 5 hours 12 minutes, Dave Smith in 5 hours 23 minutes, John Cheetham in 5 hours 45 minutes and Lucy Saggers in 5 hours 53 minutes. Boyd Brad just made the cutoff in 6 hours 6 minutes, his 10th completion. There were valiant attempts by Simon Jones, Charles Corbett, Alice Hayter, Nick Outram, Nick Cousins and Nicola Thorpe. For most this is now unfinished business and they will be back next year for another attempt in hopefully cooler temperatures. Kelly Richmond, Kirsty Brown, Ruth Kaftirani, Erin Outram, Lynn Humpleby and Emily Marner ran as a relay team finishing 5th overall with their time of 4 hours 54 minutes. Support by PRC helped those tackling this mighty challenge, either by cheering on the route or via messages of encouragement.

Also on Saturday, was the Wolds Rangers Way Ultra, a 32.5 mile challenge over the Yorkshire Wolds. Martin Dennison completed it in 8 hours 48 minutes raising money for charity in the process.

London Marathon took place on Sunday. Just getting a place in this prestigious event and arriving on the start line is an achievement. This year London broke the Guinness World record for the largest number of finishers in a marathon with a total of 59,830 crossing the finish line. Over 12 times this number applied for a place. Despite running excellent times in the Manchester Marathon last week, Ryan Gaughan and Chris Croft again had amazing runs with Ryan clocking 2 hours 57 minutes and Chris crossing the finish line in 3 hours 10 minutes. Adam Lloyd finished in 3 hours 58 minutes. It did not go quite according to plan for Mandy Hepton who suffered with sickness from mile 16 and had to make use of the medical tents. Despite this, she soldiered on and heroically finished in 6 hours 17 minutes.

The last fell race in the winter series took place on Sunday, the Heartbeat Hobble. 95 competitors tackled the beautiful 7.5 mile route. Despite running the Three Peaks Relay the previous day, Kelly Richmond was 1st female in a time of 58 minutes 9 seconds. Simon Rycroft was next in 60 minutes 44 seconds, followed by Paul Smith in 66 minutes 1 second, Rich Johnson in 70 minutes 5 seconds and Jo Towler in 71 minutes 45 seconds.
The official overall series results are awaited with much anticipation as the Pickering Ladies Team are set to claim first prize and there will be some individual prizes too. Watch this space!