Race Report 24th April 2023

Well, what a week it has been since our last report with so many of you in action over a variety of distances all around the world!

The first race to report from is the famous Boston marathon over in the USA that took place last Monday.

Held over a tough course that has several nasty climbs late on we saw sterling performances from two of our most popular members of the training group in Adrian Ennis and Steve McAleavy who then enjoyed a few days doing  Doncaster’s reputation no good at all while sampling several local drinking holes post race! Another pair of athletes that deserve a mention who ran the same race are Kevin Dunn and Rachael McCluskey who both not only gave a great account of themselves in Boston but both then turned out 6 days later and ran the London marathon! Now that is being tough, well done.

Staying overseas we saw coached athlete Scott Burrell continue with his rich vein of form with a fine 12h place overall in the Gold Coast 10k race in Sydney while out on holiday.

 

 

London is our next venue but on Friday night where another coached athlete Shane Grace produced an eye-catching run over 5k in the Battersea 5k race as a good blow out ahead of the super fast Mid Cheshire 5k this coming week.

We gradually move up distances to the 10k in the next 3 races to report from.

The first was in the very muddy Longhorn 10k trail race where David Butler took the age group win and we also saw a welcome return to racing from long time supporter of the clinic in Brenda King.

 

Sticking with a trail 10k and only 7 days after his very first sub 3hrs marathon in Manchester another coached athlete in Seth Kirby showed no signs of still being tired when he only went and won the Cat Lane trail 10k race over in Sheffield!

 

 

Much nearer to home at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park saw the 10k event held by Curly’s athletes have a bumper turnout as athletes raced through the park.

There was an excellent host of performances including Cleethorpes Callum Ely who was at the clinic on Thursday and who came 2nd position overall and chased home hard by Lee Varley and Rob Barnes and also a fine performance from Lee’s dad Dave!

 

 

Our final race to report from is the world famous London marathon where it simply is impossible to mention everyone in one report so please accept if we have missed you out and a massive well done to everyone who raced.

There were so many standout performances and that makes it two weekends on the trot after Manchester and now London that we have enjoyed some amazing performances.

The race at the elite end of the field was nothing short of breathtaking with a new global star taking the men's title and the women's race having just about every single drama possible in a race! However, just behind the elite there were so many personal successes and stories to be had in this iconic race.

In no particular order we would like to mention fantastic runs from: Nathan Doy, Joe Restell, James Osborne, Nat Neville from within the training group.

 

 

Leeds based athletes Lee Whitely, Nigel Fuller gave great performances while coached athlete from the same club Elle Warren gave a glimpse of her talent by smashing her personal best by several minutes with a break through run for her.

While first timer marathon runner Brett Mussett ran right on the nose what his lactate test predicted with 20 seconds due to some perfect pacing! Steve Hamilton again was another athlete that paced their first ever marathon perfectly to stop the clock bang on target.

Scarboro’s Andy Hopper showed that his time spent with the team out in Portugal paid off with a great run and was capped off with his beloved Newcastle winning at home against Spurs!

As always the tradition of Coach Dave cooking breakfast and then watching the race with you all on the tracker happened again this year and there was a huge shout for another coached athlete and popular local personal trainer who we work and recommend Susie Hinchcliffe as the clock counted down and she just missed her all time personal best by just 2 second which is no mean feat for a lady who set her best time some 6 years ago, but maybe more sprint training needs to be added to our next block!

 

 

A special mention needs to go to Newark athlete Becky Gallop and her coach Bill Taylor who use the clinic for lactate testing and enjoyed a fantastic pb run of 2.41hrs in the ladies race and were already celebrating in the pub when Dave caught up with them!

This week’s “Run of the week” is a joint award for two very different reasons. Firstly to our very own “Man Friday” Tracey West who pushed her friend Jo around the capital with a few other training partners to raise money for a very worthy cause and her own separate race report will be featured later in the week to inspire you all. This run of the week was shared with coached athlete and long time training partner Sarah Lowery who at the age of 40 years young stopped the clock in 2.48hrs to record her 10th London marathon finish.

Sarah and Dave have worked together for several years now and have enjoyed marathon wins together as coach and athlete at both York and Chester in the past. Sarah as she has got a little older had to change the way she trains and we are not sure who was happiest as she closed the line on Sunday, Dave beaming away delighted she had run so well or seeing Sarah on the tv doing a little “fist pump”!!!

 

 

All in all another amazing set of results and well done to each and everyone who raced.

Many thanks to everyone who sent in their results and until next week……keep training!