The Leicestershire Road Running League 2023 season has been a roaring success for the teams. The men’s team topped their division, whilst the vet men’s teams finished runners up in theirs. Meanwhile over in the ladies competition, it was Laura Graves who came out winning her age category with a superb 2675 points. Turning up for all nine races, a challenging set of courses requiring serious dedication, we had Paul Averillo and Julie Henfrey achieving the feat, well done.

The penultimate event was Joy Cann 5, a Wednesday evening showcase that had the runners wondering what they were in store for as the rain poured down whilst vehicles filled up the car park. Thankfully, things dried up for the race, and with handful of hills tackled, runners enjoyed a selection of chocolate bars at the finish.

A host of PBs were collected, starting with Mark Parker in 28:28, James Cox in 30:03, Becky Moult 35:02, Mark Hoult 36:16, Sophie Turner 38:52, Paul Averillo 40:38 and Ellen Bolton 51:20. Abby Archer and Emily Dodwell both ran their debut races for Ivanhoe, we hope you loved your first experience racing for the team.

Joining them was Paul Woods, Andrew Stanley, Richard Martin, Pat Horn, Damon Bland, Emily Partridge, Mark Bradford, Vic Smith, Matt Pleass, Andy Cole, Laura Graves (also winning her age category on the night), Sandra Lawless, Nancy Bennion and Julie Henfrey.

The last event of the season landed on a hot Sunday morning, the Rotherby 8 being hosted by Wreake Runners and Team Anstey. No unofficial PBs to report at this one due to a last minute course amendment following changes to harvest at the farm, but there were great performances in challenging conditions.

Ian Bolton was first back in 55:23, his 88th position grabbing him a spot prize of a lovely bottle of gin. He was followed in by Andy Hough 1:00:05, Emily Partridge and Mark Parker both in 1:02:07, Lindsay Tilbury 1:07:33, Mark Hoult 01:07:25, Sophie Turner and 1:09:06 & :08, Sue Tait 1:12:15, Phil Cooling 1:20:44, Mukesh Deva 1:25:29, his first finish line of the year, Ellen Bolton 1:32:10 and Julie Henfrey 1:54:45.

Written by Emily Partridge - last updated on 16/09/2023