Grantham Running Club round-up

Members of Grantham Running Club travelled to rural Lincolnshire to take part in an annual festival in Boston.

It consisted of a marathon, half marathon, 10k and 5k distances with an early start to the races where the weather was more favourable than last year.

The course took runners out from Boston Market Place, through Freiston to Butterwick where the marathon route peeled off from the half marathon.

Heading out through Benington and Leverton, there was a final loop at Old Leake before heading back towards the half marathon route at Butterwick.

At mile 11, the wind was noticeable out in the fields and made up for the lack of hills which was definitely the talking point for the GRC runners taking part.

At mile 18, there was a sign for the seaside but for the runners they headed back to Boston via Fishtoft to complete the last couple of miles.

At this point they felt so close to the end but still needed to tough it out.

The final stretch where runners crossed the road to head towards Boston College made them feel that they were so close to the finish but, with the time still ticking, they continued down the road with one last turn before the finish line finally came into view.

First back for Grantham was Alan Carley who struggled right before the line but, despite being near collapse, he still finished in a fine time of 3:31:28, only a minute outside his personal best.

Another notable performance was from stealth GRC member Rebecca Hallett who nailed a personal best of 3:55:21.

Despite this not being her target race - her big goal is a 24-hour ultra next month - she entered at the last minute and the fast course represented too good an opportunity to miss having done two previous marathons this year on trail.

Jason Blair posted 3:59:47; Caroline Davis 4:03:05; Nick Payne 4:46:45 and Ros Sadler 5:00:38.

In the half marathon, there were three GRC members.

The most notable achievement was Paul Jepson who was first in his age category.

However, the age bandings stop at 65-plus and therefore there was no prize.

Half marathon results: Paul Jepson 1:54:51; Katherine Thompson 2:07:04; Richard Urquhart 2:18:36.