A WEEKEND of marathons and league races saw both personal bests and prizes for the black and white vest.

The first of this year’s spring marathons took place over in Manchester, where the virtually flat course presented a good opportunity for runners to set new personal bests. First home for the club over the 26.2 miles was Gary Read in 3:14:15 (PB), followed by Michael Thompson (3:17:09, PB), Paul Pomfret (4:07:01), Sandra Cass (4:11:58), Gemma Eddy (5:12:04) and Fiona Dixon (5:18:37). A relay race was also on offer which saw teams of two each covering the half marathon distance. April Corbett and Wendy Colling combined to finish in 3:54:17, while Julie Whinn and Diane Adkins (the latter also celebrating her birthday) weren’t far behind in 4:05:40.

The first 10K league race of the season took place at Fountains Abbey, near Ripon. Held over an undulating, multi-terrain (and in places muddy) course, Marc Ellis finished the run in second place overall in 38:23, followed by Dave Jones (41:13) and Rob Dent (41:19). The resulting places of the three of them also meant they took home the men’s team prize on the day. Next to finish were David Todd (43:37), Andrew Vernon (44:31), Mike Brown (45:04), Steven Major (46:54), Brian McLaren (48:30), Ty Hankinson (49:11), Abbie Willson (53:50), Darren Alderson (54:23), Rebecca Bowes (55:36), Jamie Pratt (55:53), Gavin Armstrong (56:59), Juliette McLaren (57:16), Andrew Dixon (59:38), Caroline Moses (59:49), Barbra Barker (1:00:48), Anna Hardy (1:00:52), Rebecca Howard (1:05:02), Helen Whiting (1:05:22), Tracey Plaskitt (1:05:53), Lisa Jenkins (1:05:54), Lee Morris (1:06:13), Olly Moore (1:06:49), Gemma Marshall (1:06:50), Jo Dickinson (1:09:35), Michelle Dale (1:09:44), Lucy Bendle (1:12:43), Sharon Carr (1:16:00) and Lisa Alderson (1:16:03).

Paul Dalton was the sole Quaker to travel down to Wakefield for the 10K race there, coming home in 36:50 to also finish second in his age category.

Anthony Corbett headed off road for the Dales Trail 20K, which started and finished at Reeth. On a course taking in over 2300 feet of climb, he finished in 2:26:03.

Annette Clarke, Charlie Bogg and Dave Thompson were out on the hills once again, this time for the Calderdale Hike, held on the South Pennine Moors. They completed the circular 37 mile route from Sowerby Bridge, which took in 6300 feet of climb, in 9 hours 57 minutes.

In the Saturday morning parkruns, Michael Joyeux was first across the line at South Park in 16:06 followed by David Todd (19:51), Marc Ellis (19:55), Ian Bond (20:08), Adrian Cottam (20:29), Ed Griffiths (20:44), Rebecca Howard (21:02, PB), David Mclachlan (21:11), Luke Minall (21:12), Brian Mclaren (21:32), Fred Tennant (21:39), Stuart Burkin (21:45), Ty Hankinson (22:10), Iain Clyde (22:12), Nicola Wells (22:38), Rob Gillham (22:43), Peter Rowley (23:01), Daniel Orton (23:55), Nigel Eddy (23:57), Stuart Masterman (24:04), Olly Moore (24:41), Shaune Eland (24:51), Mark Trowles (25:02), Graham Park (25:18), Danny Gordon (25:27), Juliette Mclaren (25:59), Darren Alderson (26:43), Jamie Pratt (26:47), Gary Read (26:51), Steven Major (26:52), Julie Bell (26:55), Andy Whittam (27:31), Michelle Scruby (27:34), Sarah Watson (29:00 in her 100th parkrun), Sue New (29:06), Barbra Barker (29:08), Gemma Hammond (29:26), Lee Morris (29:38), Michael King (30:08), Charlie Johnson (30:30), Gareth Kyle (31:12), Anna Hardy (31:39), Grainne Duffy (31:43), Paul Ryan (31:52), Lisa Alderson (31:55, PB), Phill Johnston (32:03), Dawn Johnston (32:08), Lisa Johnston (32:11), Sharon Carr (32:26), Isabelle Bell (33:45), Rachel Ryan (39:08) and Linda Harrington (39:47).

At Sedgefield, Alex Kiel was first across the line there in 16:49 along with Richard Payne (25:33), Abigail Willson (26:33), Jeff Marriott (28:15), Nicola Howe   (28:22) and Karen Dove (33:28), while at Albert Park, Louise Trainor and Stephen Moore ran there in 20:06 and 23:54 respectively. At Durham, Mike Brown finished in 21:17 along with Caroline Moses in 27:50, Alec Cinamon ran at Tees Barrage in 31:24, Adrian Colbourne did the run at Hartlepool in 24:29 and Darryn wood did the run at Roundhay in Leeds in 35:18. North of the border, David Ledgerwood did the run at Glasgow Tollcross in 25:03 (PB).

Quakers Running Club meets every Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30pm at Abbey Road Playing Fields. For more information visit our website: www.quakersrunningclub.org.uk

Submitted by Rob Dent