Gav Meadows of Grantham Running Club is taking part in the the Funchal Half Marathon
Eleven brave souls from Grantham Running Club made the trip to Keyworth near Nottingham for the annual Turkey Trot Half Marathon.
The well established race offers a moderately hilly course and is a fundraiser for the 1st Keyworth Scout Group.
Conditions on the day were particularly tough as runners endured strong winds and rain.
First to finish for GRC was Joe Clarke whose 1:23:12 was his fastest on record as a UK Athletics registered runner.
However, his true personal best is a few minutes faster and was achieved when not registered - no doubt in better conditions.
Given the conditions, this was still a more than respectable result which applies to all runners who finished this race.
Finishing just over 10 minutes later was Gav Meadows who was adding some racing miles to his training for the Funchal Half Marathon in Portugal this weekend.
He was thrilled with his 1:33:18 result which far exceeded his expectations before the race.
This was his fastest half marathon for more than 2.5 years and bodes well for the much flatter Madeira race which should have nicer weather.
Closely following was Peter Bonner who was feeling under the weather so ran conservatively but showed his usual grit and determination to finish in 1:34:29.
First lady for GRC was Catherine Payne after finishing in 1:43:29 following another determined effort.
Next was a miraculous personal best for Karl Clark who finished in 1:43:52, bettering his Retford Half Marathon result by more than one-and-a-half minutes.
This was his fourth half marathon of 2024 - his first year as a GRC runner - and there is clearly more to come from Karl in 2025 as he gains more race experience.
Jo Grace battled to a 1:50:32 finish - only just over two minutes outside her personal best set in a much easier environment at the Great Eastern Run two months previously.
Chris Masters and Sophie Davies ran together until the last mile and finished seconds apart in 1:52:12 and 1:52:20 respectively.
This was a first recorded half marathon result for Chris while Sophie was some way off her best but this applies to most in the conditions.
The same story applied to Craig Drury (1:58:14) and Chris Moore (1:58:22) after a tough race where finishing with a respectable time and not breaking records was the objective.
Rob McArdle started the race not feeling 100 percent and carrying an injury.
After bravely starting the race with a 'see how it goes' attitude, he sensibly decided to call it a day after a few miles for fear of making the problem worse.