Being part of the world’s best running club® (probably), it’s not often that we’re lost for words when faced with the epic achievements of our members. But this week is the exception! It’s been seven days of absolutely amazing running and we are so very proud of everyone. Not sure what we’re talking about? Grab a coffee and buckle up for the full run down!
First up, a late entry to last week’s update, the always super strong Sam Booth conquered the Lakes Traverse, a challenging 60 mile ultra across the entire Lake District, from the West Coast over to Shap. Sam covered the distance, and a mammoth 12,000 ft of climb, in 15 hours, to finish in the top 30 runners. Massive congratulations to him.
In more sociable Lake District activity this weekend there were a trio of Rams at Cumbrian parkruns. Simon Jones ran at Keswick, Caroline Evans at Rothay and Sacha Fox at Ford parkrun.
Hot on their heels was a double Ram team at the Lakeland Trails 16KM in Hawkshead. Alice Bernstein raced the distance and Antony Metcalf volunteered in the morning before taking on the trail challenge. Neither was beaten by the famous coffin trail from Ambleside to Grasmere, an incline which makes The Rake look like a walk in the park. Inspired by the beautiful views on this one? Another event from the same organisers appears on the club champs for September for those who’d like a go themselves!
Speaking of club champs, on Sunday, 24 Rams took on the latest event in the calendar, the 3 Bridges 10K. Starting in Lancaster, despite the surprise steps there was a super strong club showing, with Paula Pilling first lady to finish, PBs for the distance for Sarah Sutcliffe and Lesley Heyes and age group category wins for Sarah, Lesley, Cecilia Woods and Sandra Powers. The full list of results are now online.
Sarah Clarke tackled her first ultra marathon this weekend, accompanied by Richard Thatcher. The 38 mile Calderdale Hike route included challenging terrain and challenging self navigation which saw runners approach our cheer squad from several directions at once. It was an amazing achievement, made even more special by the fact that this is the fourth in a series of 12 monthly ‘marathon or further’ challenges for Sarah, raising funds for Cancer Research UK.
Easter holiday season also means rambling further from the flock. Matt Hardy completed his third marathon in sunny and surprisingly hilly Ibiza...
...and Ann Butler enjoyed a sunny parkrun at Lands End in Cornwall.
And a flock of Rams made the long journey to the Hebrides for the Rat Race Ultra Tour of Arran. Rowan Ardill, Nigel Hartley, Alex Quayle, Lee Troughton and Matt Smith completed back to back ultras and a total of 60 miles exploring the island’s coastal and mountainous scenery. An epic challenge even to have attempted, which makes Matt’s 3rd place overall finish even more impressive.
But you don’t have to go far from home to beat your best, and congratulations also go to Julia Martin who smashed her Heaton parkrun PB by almost two minutes on her 25th run, and Clare Waterfall-Hallam who also rang the PB bell this weekend.
We try and celebrate all of the Rams in our weekly report. If we’ve missed an achievement then we’re sorry, please drop us a line and we’ll add you in. And as always if you’d prefer not to appear on the blog, no fuss, just get in touch.