Perfect conditions on Sunday morning brought yet another impressive field of 41 Ivanhoe Runners to the second Leicestershire Road Racing League race of 2015, the Markfield 10k. The scenic but testing route certainly got the legs working, with some steep uphills to make sure runners had to dig deep for the times they wanted. Despite this, there were some some great results and even a few personal bests to make the early Sunday start worthwhile.

First home for Ivanhoe, with an impressive 39:22 in 89th place, was Richard Martin, closely followed by Nick Rowles who set a great new Personal Best of 40:17 in 103rd place. Next across the line were Steve Rundell and Simon Terry with times of 40:52 (113th male) and 40:54 (117th male) respectively in a finish almost too close to call! Becca Hallam was first home of the Ivanhoe Ladies with 41:22, finishing 9th lady overall. Clare Fowell and Karen Bell were second and third Ivanhoe ladies, and 20th and 45th overall ladies, across the line – finishing the course in 43:32 and 46:34 respectively.

Martin Yeomans finished strong in 41:28 (135th), closely followed by Dave Morse with 41:39 (139th). There was a mere 9 seconds between Andy Lindley and Nick Lee-Smith who finished with 44:01 (194th) and 44:10 (203rd) respectively, while Andrew Jeyes and 10K newbie Mark Eydman came home in an impressive 44:45 (213th) and 45:18 (222nd) respectively. Jonathan Shaw (47:37 and 266th) and Jason Green (47:41 and 267th) were next to finish, with Jason setting his new Personal Best, followed by Alan Edwards (48:01 and 276th) and Chris Finney who beat his Personal Best time with 48:34 to finish 287th.

Next home for the ladies was Julia Blewitt-Jenkins (48:52 and (82nd lady), who finished with Victoria Smith hot on her heels with 49:35 as 91st lady. Duncan Ross (50:37 and 308thmale) and Ruth Shaw (50:57 and 104th) were next home, followed by Gabby Smith who set a new Personal Best time of 52:52 to finish as 123rd lady. Heather Swan finished strong with 53:04 as 128th lady, while Barry Alldread (53:23 and 331st male) just managed to hold off Tracy Smith (53:28 and 133rd lady), despite having done a 17 mile long run the previous day. Emma Kirtland (53:41 and 138th lady) finished strong, just ahead of Karl Savill (53:54 in 340th), Allie Sturla (54:02 and 140th lady), and Trish McPherson (55:08 and 154th lady). Angela Wheeler (56:09 and 159th lady) and Rebecca Wilkinson (57:33 170th lady) were next for Ivanhoe Ladies, with Karen Hartland (57:34 and 172nd lady) and Lucy Allsop (59:08 and 187th lady), on her 10K debut, following closely behind. Natasha Quick lived up to her name, setting a new PB of 59:25 to finish 188th lady with the help of an injured Damon Bland (also 59:25 and 358th), with Andy Pole (01:02:25 and 368th), Kelly Finney (01:02:25 and 207th lady) and Katie Poole with her 10k debut (01:02:48 and 211th lady) next home for the club. John Lewis (01:04:17 and 370th male), Hayley Rudin (01:08:28 and 221st lady) and Julie Henfrey (01:14:29 and 223rd lady) completed the results for Ivanhoe, all finishing strong to round off an impressive outing for the club.                                                   Race report by Gabby Smith

Written by Ruth Green - last updated on 12/02/2015