The LRRL is back! Kicking off the season with the Asfordby two lapper hosted by Stilton Striders. The Stilton 7 proved that local road racing is back to its usual Beyonce-esque demand when entries opened on the final day of January, with Ivanhoe taking up 25 spaces amongst the Leicestershire clubs.

Matt Pleass was first back, in fine form at present helping him set a club course record of 42:20 and 25th place. Conditions were a tad windy but dry, the sky a bright blue, however in the absence of any wet weather, the PBs rained down. The first of many started with our second back runner Paul Woods, taking almost 4 minutes off his previous best, James Cox with almost a 3 minute improvement, and Andrew Stanley getting on for a minute faster.

Andy Hough ran his debut 7 miler based on our website compilation, setting the bar at a healthy 50 minutes and 10 seconds. Mark Parker took up the pacing mantle, supporting Emily Partridge round to a 2 and a half minute PB, followed by Clare Wood setting almost a 3 minute PB.

There were strong finishes a plenty as our runners stormed over the timings mats, tired legs from the last stretch of elevation. Mark Bradford separated a flurry of Andrew’s, with Bradford, Bottrill, and Jeyes who finished first in his category, all breaking 55 minutes.

More personal bests celebrations followed, Mindy Ashton with the biggest of the day more than 8 minutes smashed from her 2020 outing here. Suzy Parish made the top 50 ladies with her new high score, and Lindsay Tilbury popped her first bronze standard on the board with a 4:20 bettering.

Ruth Enion did a fine job of upping her training miles in the lead up to the event, finishing 55th, and it was Paul Averillo with a matching time earning himself a decent best run of nearly 7 minutes.

Martin Yeomans was next breaking through 57 minutes, and it was our Ravenstone host Nancy Bennion clocking our final PB by more than 2 minutes.

Six more of our superstar members completed our team taking on the hilly fixture. Laura Graves and Sally Jeyes both did tremendously topping their category, with Carolyn Osborne, Gemma Shaw, Michlle Dytham and Julie Henfrey all doing themselves proud.

Written by Emily Partridge - last updated on 02/03/2023