Buxton athletes take part in very different races

Seven runners choose to race on the roads at the third Sale Sizzler 5K, while nine others headed off-road at the Stoney Middleton Fell Race.

The fast and flat course at Sale again rewarded several runners with PBs: Alasdair Campbell took a huge 48 seconds off his previous best, finishing 13th in a field of 444 finishers in 15:34.

Bryan McKenna also set another new PB of 17:13, having set his previous PB just two weeks earlier at the same race.

Not only did Paul Drabble set a new PB, he also smashed the V55 club record for 5K.

Drabble took 10 seconds off the previous record of 19:02 (held by Paul Light), finishing as second V55 in 18:52.

Completing the line-up at Sale were Rob White (25th in 16:27), Richard Goff (225th in 21:18), Elizabeth Nocton (347th in 24:16) and Michael Abrahams (388th in 26:07).

Over at Stoney Middleton, nine athletes tackled the 5.3mile course, which sees the runners ascend over 700ft.

First home for Buxton was Nick Jones, 31st in 41:14, closely followed by Mark Halsey in 41:36.Next to finish was recent Target 5K graduate Paul Wardman in 44:33. Wardman seems to be finding his ‘fell legs’ and has posted several promising times recently.

It would appear that the ‘pupil has overtaken the master’ because Wardman finished ahead of Target 5K Run Leader Andrew Wearden, who was next to finish in 51:38.

First home for the ladies was Annemarie Fitzgerald in 49:45, followed by Wendy Bainbridge (55:33) and Angela Bent (55:54).

Wardman isn’t the only Buxton AC athlete who has progressed from the Target 5K group to racing regularly for the club, as Carly Parkin also ran at Stoney Middleton, finishing in a highly respectable 1:06.49.

Local photographer Mick Hall organised the Meerbrook 15K on Saturday where four runners competed.

The warm day made the hilly route particularly tough, but all the athletes posted very respectable times over the unusual distance.

Kevin Mottram crossed the line 83rd in 1:11.32, followed by Liam Browne, 174th in 1:22.30, Kate Phillips, 229th in 1:28.14 and Michael Abrahams, 279th in 1:37.21.

Up in the Lake District on Saturday, long distance specialist Simon Moorhouse took on the mighty challenge of the Lakeland 50.

The route covers 50 miles of Lake District Fells with 3100m of climbing.

Starting in Ullswater the runners take in Long Sleddale, Kentmere, Ambleside, Langdale and Tilberthwaite before the final climb and descent to the finish at Coniston.

Simon finished the race in a brilliant time of 13 hours, 56 minutes and 48 seconds.