Grantham Running Club take part in the part Thorseby Leaf Kick event
Nine Grantham Running Club members took part in the Thorseby Leaf Kick event.
It was staged at Thoresby Hall on the edge of Sherwood Forest with a variety of distances on offer.
The route for most distances was a 10k loop around the estate across a mix of trail, forest and tarmac with detours for the half and full marathons.
In the half marathon were Mark Carter and Andrew Goddard.
They found a few areas of muddy ground to cover and both were happy to have decided on using trail shoes.
Andrew ran a good solid race and came in fourth. He was disappointed to have missed out on a podium place by just 14 seconds but was it was some consolation to have won an award for the first V40 runner home. His time was 1:41:34.
Mark made the finish in 27th place with a time of 2:03:15 with which he was happy as this was a half marathon PB and broke his target of doing a sub 2:05 run.
There were 51 runners for this race and the winner Harry McCauley crossed the finish line in 1:34:08.
In the 10K were five GRC members.
First across the line was Robert Pask in 54:06 which put him in 23rd position overall.
Sophie Fletcher and Nina Macer were within half a minute of one another, finishing in 1:06:29 and 1:07:03 respectively.
Also running closely together were Briarny Hayes and Kris Radford who finished in 1:12:16 and 1:12:50 respectively.
Hannah Beckett took part in the 10K Canicross with her canine sidekick and they finished in 1:00:15.
Wendy Fraser ran in the 5K and finished in 36:50 and first in her age category.
Of particular interest for this event were the finisher medals and distance awards as these had all been handmade from sustainable wood offcuts.
The sole representative in the Yorkshire Marathon from Grantham was Chris Limmer.
In its 10th year, the race started at the university before passing through the historic centre and out towards Stamford Bridge and then back.
Attracting all sorts of runners, the event has raised more than £7 million for charities in the last decade.
Chris’ running had changed somewhat since his last marathon 18 months ago having become a dad and the limited time that teaching full-time affords.
That combination of less sleep and fewer miles run in training meant he went in with little expectation about just how he would cope with the demands of racing over 26.2 miles.
He started steadily taking in the sights and sounds of the famous cobbled streets and the cathedral. Having passed through halfway in 1hr 39 he slowed slightly as the route headed back towards York.
A headwind and the usual aches and pains that come from two hours of running slowed him slightly but didn’t stop Chris’ enjoyment of the race at the crowds swelled to being several deep around the 30km mark.
His novelty drumstick running vest proved a hit with the spectators whose cheering and good-will helped numb the feeling of fatigue.
The last few miles were the slowest of his entire race, but Chris managed to cross the line in 3:21:32 and 614th out of 4451.
He was rather content with his efforts and full of praise for the well organised and friendly event.