With a staggering 40 entries from Ivanhoe, the last in the Leicestershire Road Running League Winter, the West End 8, saw a number of club records and personal bests being set. The most notable of these came from Mike Trott who stormed round in another incredible time of 46:36 to set a course record on his first race at this distance for the club.

The ladies club course record was also set by Claire Fowell, who finished as 1st Vet and 5th Lady overall in a time of 54:13 – a whole 2 minutes off her previous PB. Ian Bolton, Nick Rowles and Andy Lindley put in great performances for the men’s team, finishing in 50:23, 53:52, and 55:49 respectively and all gaining clear PBs, while Dave Morse, Kev Wright and Damon Bland also posted great times of 56:13, 56:19, and 58:29. Also finishing under the hour for the men was James Cubitt (59:16), Matthew Joyce (58:56), and Chris Finney (59:39 and a new PB).

Alan Edwards finished frustratingly close to the sub-1 hour mark but nevertheless posted a great time of 1:00:01 while Jason Green and John Lewis completed the men’s turnout, finishing in 1:02:14 and 1:26:51 respectively. The stunning performances by Ivanhoe weren’t just limited to the men however, with some fantastic times posted by the ladies team, too. Rosie Dear was second lady for Ivanhoe, finishing just short of the hour mark in 1:00:06, just ahead of Karen Bell’s personal best of 1:01:13. Julia Blewitt-Jenkins matched Karen’s 1:01:13 to finish 40th female overall and gain a new personal best, while Ingrid Redmond and Carolyn Osborne finished just shy of each other in 1:03:39 and 1:03:58 respectively to earn Ingrid a new PB.

Ladies Captain, Laura Graves, led the next swathe of women with her 1:04:49 PB placing her just ahead of Victoria Smith, Karen Hartland and Gabby Smith who posted times of 1:05:00, 1:04:55 and 1:05:36. Bev Jones and Helen Horn both had great runs on Sunday, each securing a new PB with 1:06:01 and 1:07:05 respectively, while Anne Newbery and Natasha Perkins ran fantastic times 1:07:01 and 1:09:20, with Anne gaining a new PB.

The next group of women, Emma Kirtland-Kennedy (1:09:58), Teresa Talbott (01:10:00), Lucy Allsop (1:11:10), and Heather Swan (01:11:13 and a new PB) battled it out the whole way round but supported each other to finish with some fantastic times, just ahead of Lindsey Tilbury who completed her first race at this distance in 1:11:46. Karen Edwards (01:13:20), Sarah Malone (01:14:15), Kelly Finney (01:16:08 PB), and Maureen Danvers (01:21:08) were next home for Ivanhoe, followed closely by Fiona Spiers (01:26:26), Jenny Hope (01:26:25) and Julie Henfrey (01:35:46) completed the turnout, with Julie earning herself a huge 7-minute PB.

Written by Gabby Smith - last updated on 03/08/2015