It’s an absolute monster update incoming for the Bosworth Half marathon, the third event in the Leicestershire Road Running League 2023 hosted by Desford Striders at the Bosworth Lakeside Lodges.

Once everyone had made it to the start line after many stuck in the mud moments in the muddy car park field, it was show time for our 27 in the blue vests.

Scoring yet another personal best, his previous only standing for a week was Paul Woods, first back for the club in 1:25:38. Rob Baden did superb testing his legs in a road race after Manchester marathon and put his first half marathon on the board at Ivanhoe in 1:26:32. James Cox rallied well and wasn’t far behind him in 1:26:39 and also cruising through sub 90 was Richard Martin in 1:29:11.

Ian Bolton secured his position in the top 100 in 1:34:14 and Mark Parker shook out the legs post London marathon with a steady 1:36. Patrick Horn ran a really similar pace to his outing at Uttoxeter the week before running 1:37:09 and Andrew Stanley got back to business, marathon on the Monday and a half on the Sunday, under the gantry in 1:37:27 after ensuring another runner made it safely to the line.

Charlene Taylor was Ivanhoes first female setting a club course record for the event in 1:37:12 and a 9 minute personal best for herself improving on last years Great Birmingham Run, with second claim athlete Becky Moult next back in 1:39:09.

Matt Joyce is certainly stocking up his race calendar and finishing this one in 1:40:20 and it was great to see Tom Smith back in action clocking a superb 1:42:15. Kev Laz was next in with a 1:44:04 and Adrian Fowler ran his debut half marathon in a great time of 1:45:56.

Sandra Lawless was chuffed to have clinched her required standard time adding a fourth shiny silver to her scorecard, and returning member Helen Jeffrey slotted right back into the team spirit with a brilliant 1:53:08. Cath Watkins was almost in touching distance in 1:54:39, being chased down by Emily Partridge in 1:55:05 and Michelle Dytham who blew her PB out of the water improving by 14 minutes in 1:55:37.

New member James Cain added his fourth run in the vest to his CV, finishing in 1:56:06, and not only did Sophie Lee sneak into the top 100, she took an eye-watering 27 minutes off her previous personal best set at Liverpool in 2019, breaking through the two-hour barrier for the first time in an amazing 1:59:43. Marathon training clearly suits you Soph!

Paul Averillo was next back in 2:03:06, like many others, not impressed like many others with how the temperatures cranked up that we are not quite accustomed to. Jill Singleton did a sterling job and finished in 2:06:19, Martin Yeomans rocked up to complete his third of three LRRL races this season in 2:11:11, Jayne Bradshaw did incredibly, running her furthest event since the Notts 20 in March 2019 in 2:30:59, and completing our mega team, greeted at the line by a banana archway was the superb Julie Henfrey and Helen Brandon in 3:20:04.

Written by Mark Parker - last updated by Mark Parker on 26/06/2023