Starting of as a bright autumn day with little breeze (for a change), the 15th September saw four members of Grantham Running Club making their way over to the east coast to Cleethorpes, Humberside to take part in this annual 10k event.
The race draws a large crowd, with more than 1,000 competitors of all abilities going over the start line.
Paul Jepson (right) was first to finish with a time of 51:13, a 3 second season’s best at the 10k distance which netted him second place in his age category.
Second in for GRC was Christine Sawyer (left) with a pleasing time of 1:05:07.
Third in was the ever-graceful Yvonne Buckley (below) carrying a slight niggle down her thigh but achieving a better result than she was expecting with a time of 1:07:34.
Next in was Brendon (below) of the Buckley husband and wife team, with a time of 1:11:09. He commented that the 50 meters across the sandy beach at 7k made “interesting” running.
The quartet are all classed as veteran/mature club runners and have combined age of over 265 years. Pity there was not a trophy for a mixed senior team!
The 10k race was won by Joe Rainsford from Heanor Running Club in 31:52. First lady was Harriet Johnson of Lincoln Wellington in 39:54.
Half Marathon
Two Grantham Running Club members ran in the half marathon event which started half an hour after the 10k, alongside 813 other runners.
Jonathan Fisher was first back finishing with a creditable time of 1:54:20.
Charlotte Wood (below) had a tough time in the race, feeling unwell, but battled through to cross the finish line in 2:06:34.
The half marathon was won by Rob Payne from Cleethorpes and District AC in 1:09:20. First lady was Natalie Burns of Lincoln Wellington in 1:21:34.
It was a great morning’s racing with over 300 marshals/volunteers helping delivering a well-organised event controlled where every runner came away with a medal and T shirt. An added bonus was that the rain held of till most of the runners had finished.
Report by Paul Jepson
Photos c/o Tape2Tape