Autumn race mayhem is well and truly underway and we’ve had runners here there and everyone showing us how it’s done.

The wonderful Dave Denton got his 5K series underway for around series last month, and our runners strutted their strut along the dual carriageway in both the 1 mile and 5K events. In the shortest stuff, Ian Bolton scored 6th place in 6:11, Louis Barnes not far behind in a swift 6:25, Laura Graves tested the water finishing in 7:40 for 4th female and Ellen Bolton ran a superb 9:48.

A few more come out to play for more of the same roads with an extra hairpin. Bolting the race onto a longer speed session, but not missing the opportunity to take the win was Mark Parker in 16:48, setting a club course record. Next back was Ian Bolton, taking 7th place in 19:19, and it was his wife Ellen who popped her first 5K on the board outside of a parkrun environment, in 31:19, way to go Mrs Bolton.

Louis Barnes ran bravely without sight of pace on his watch to set a benchmark moving into winter in 21:02, followed by Emily Partridge in 21:47, and Laura Graves despite being unsure if she was up to the challenge initially, came away with yet another incredible diamond standard and seasons best in 23:16.

Moving to the trails but sticking with Ian Bolton, he became the first Ivanhoe on record to take part in the Bollington 3 Peaks Fell Race. The 5.6 mile event starts at a brewery but that’s were the fun stops as you embark on a 1214ft climbing adventure with stunning views as reward I’m sure. Ian did a brilliant job on the course running 55:25.

The Charnwood Challenge is a 10 mile off-road event for both runners and walkers taking in our local countryside, and another with many a hill. It was James Ogilvie the first in blue across the line in 1:34:22, Amelia Monaghan next setting a female club course record in a mega 1:40:44 and Geoff Brown, a lover of these styles of races finished in 1:50:46. Lisa Hall was next home, running this one for the first time, in 2:05:55 (bizarrely the exact same time as her Big Half, spooky!) and Simon Hall completed the team running 2:03:31.

Written by Emily Partridge - last updated on 12/10/2023