Spring marathon season officially started this weekend with Ivanhoe runners at Manchester and Paris, half Marathons at Belvoir and Loughborough, Cathedral to Castle 10 miler, The Spring Wolf run for Lyndsay Tilbury, and for our resident endurance runner Ian Kirk it was the start of the fabled Marathon Des Sable, 156 miles of running over 6 days across the Sahara Desert.

The Cathedral to Castle run is a 10 mile multi-terrian race from starting from Litchfield Cathedral and finishing at Tamworth Castle. Running together, Heather Swan, Teresa Talbott and Amanda Bradbury clocked times of 1:39:54. Michelle Moore also ran, coming in at 2:16:09.

11 runners ran the 4th LRRL race, the Belvoir Half marathon, with 5 of them gaining PB's. Alistair Chambers was first home with a speedy 1:25:18, just seconds in front of men's captain Nick Rowles, running a personal best time of 1:25:37. Ian Bolton also gained a sub 1.30 with 1:29:18.

Martin Yeomans followed in 1:44:02, followed by Peter Mouncer in an very impressive PB time of 1:45:30, ahead of wife Judy in 1:59:47.

Showing continued improvement Mandy Morris was next in line for a PB, clocking 2:08:14, followed by Sonia Hoult coming in at 2:24:08 and yet another PB. Janet Joyce, and Kim Harris in her first half marathon ran in 2:32:08 and 2:32:07. Marie Miller completes the team in 2:36:48.

Some runners opted for the more local Loughborough half marathon, described as one of the toughest half's in the East Midlands and raising money for living without abuse. Consistent Craig Hinds was first home for Ivanhoe and 3rd overall in 1:27:00. Andy Jeyes came first in his age category in 1:42:50 while Sophie Cooper clocked 1:46:29, a new PB for her. Lucy Allsop ran a tapering half as part of her London training, clocking 2:08:24, and last but not least Nick Lee-Smith in 2:10:46.

Written by Sarah Malone - last updated on 10/04/2018