Lichfield Running Club this year hosted the belated Presentation Evening for 2020 at the newly completed Whittington Golf Club, a beautiful venue, which helped to make a fantastic evening for all. Thanks to all the staff for a great service.

The awards were served up by none other than our favourites, Chris Cox and Martin Shortall, who were hosts for the evening, with Lorraine Amos taking on the role of chief photographer.

Trophies were presented to those placed first, second and third in the Grand Prix (Men: Dan Floyd, James Coombes, Matt Orford; women: Hermione Green, Lorraine Amos, Tamla Short), Time Trial (Helen King, Nick Parkes, Richard Newman) and Cross Country competitions (Ruth Kennedy-Green, Joe Goodwin, Richard Newman), with the Bob Connor Trophy being awarded for the best ‘age-graded’ performance in the Grand Prix (Joe Goodwin, Clare Wheat and Dan Turner in first, second and third positions).

For the 2020 Grand Prix, much of which was held virtually, additional age category trophies were awarded, so there was a bumper crop of deserving winners! Full results can be found on the competition pages.

Last but not least, two trophies were awarded for running performance and outstanding contribution to the club, to Helen King and Dave Sanders respectively. These were nominated and voted for by club members.

A big well done to all of those who took part in the 2020 competitions, and let’s look forward to seeing more awards and new faces for 2021.

The 10th Annual Lichfield Half Marathon sponsored by Four Oaks Financial Services took place on Sunday 17th October 2021.

Congratulations to all those that took part!

LRC member results are as follows:

James Coombes – 41st – 01:31:27
Darren Leaver – 73rd – 01:38:32
Gareth Stubbs – 87th – 01:40:02
Phill Brindle – 107th – 01:43:41
Liv Bradley – 165th – 01:50:37
Lisa Parry – 227th – 01:56:09
Louise Hinsley – 228th – 01:56:10
Abigail Kanabar – 258th – 01:58:44
Pippa Pinches – 295th – 02:03:19
Richard Newman – 317th – 02:07:16
Helen King – 325th – 02:08:28
Louise Gillingham – 335th – 02:09:41
Phil Gillingham – 336th – 02:09:41
Lucy Pitcher – 346th – 02:12:07
Mel Farmer – 381st – 02:18:06
Ann Schwarzenbach – 390th – 02:21:18

Amazing effort by all members! Well done all.

Results may be found here:
Lichfield Half Marathon results

This was the final race of the Burton and District Summer League. There was a small turnout from the club for this event, but some good results overall: Esther Hunt came home as first female, and Owen Davies came a very respectable 18th.

More than 3,000 runners from across the West Midlands and Staffordshire hit the streets of Stafford to take part in the town’s annual half marathon.

A fair few LRC runners took part in the 13.1 mile route around the town.

The results are as follows….

Jimmy Pickering came 13th in 1:20:37
Joe Goodwin came 16th in 1:21:54
Dave Sanders finished 48th in 1:27:47
James Coombes finished 97th in 1:32:07
Ed Coppinger came 122nd in 1:33:42
Chris Cheek came 370th in 1:45:31
James Taylor finished 711th in 1:54:50

Great results, all those that took part. Brilliant efforts!

Results may be found below:

Stafford Half Marathon results

Results of this race may be found below:

Staffs Knot 5M results

Results may be found below:

Burton 10k results LRC 2021

Results below:

July 5M TT Results

It is my pleasure to share with you the race report from virtual Worthington 6 Mile, relating to the ninth event of the 2021 Grand Prix.

The Worthington run is part of the Burton and District Summer League and is organised by Ivanhoe Running Club, who also participate in the race. This year the race was managed virtually with everyone organising their own course, however in ‘normal times’ it would be a mid-week midsummer race held over a one lap rural five mile trail route. Proceeds from race entries are donated to a local charity.

We had 14 members sign up to participate – a 50/50 split of male and female runners.

Our first place runner in this event was Joe Goodwin, who ran an excellent time of 38:20. Dan Floyd, who was lead for Senior Men, followed closely behind in 39:04 with Morgan Bradley in 3rd place, just breaking 40 minutes. Joe carried out his virtual race in Carlisle and was delighted to come first – particularly as he thought he would be pipped at the post by other club members when the results came out. It is very difficult to gauge this when everyone is running virtually! Joe did comment, “The win was even more pleasing given it was on tired legs after Fradley.” (This race was in the week after the Fradley 10K event). Well done to all members who participated in both events. Strong running!

Esther was close on the heels of Morgan, finishing in first place for the ladies team in just 41 minutes. Radhika and Ruth, who are also running extremely well in the virtual events, as demonstrated in their improvement ratings, came in second and third place in 49:09 and 49:24 respectively. Recognition also to Denise Softley who continues to show significant improvement in each race.

Finally, I wanted to acknowledge the ladies in the Vet 40 category – some great running and good to see so many of you entering these events. It shows what a sterling job everyone has done at managing to keep up running together through lockdown and now being able to enjoy participating in the virtual and soon to be ‘real’ races. Well done.

Results below:

Worthington 6M results virtual LRC 2021

It is my pleasure to share with you the race report from the Fradley 10K, relating to the eight event of the 2021 Grand Prix.

Historically, our most popular supported local Grand Prix event. After a delay from the original March date and continued uncertainty about whether the race would happen, it was great to see our club runners back out in a ‘real life race’. For those who haven’t entered before, Fradley 10K is a flat and fast two lap course through Fradley village and the lovely Staffs countryside. Weather conditions permitting, it usually makes a good opportunity to try for a PB, however I think this year everyone was probably just happy to be out racing again!

Well done to all of our members who participated in the run. We had 20 club members in the Grand Prix event and this consisted of 8 male and 12 female runners. There were some excellent improvement times with 25% of runners exceeding 70% in the age rankings. A particular shout out to Jo Turrell who not only was just shy of 73% in the age grading but was also first Vet 50 female back for our club runners. Well done Jo, brilliant effort. Also, it was great to see Paul Keighley out on the course, our only male running for Vet 60 and bringing home a very respectable time of 49:27.

The race to first place is always exciting and our first three runners back were hot on the heels of one another with Dave Sanders finishing first in 38:50, Ryan Simms just over twenty seconds behind in 39:03 and then Owen Davies coming in at 40:42. Strong running by all.

Sarah Hayman ran extremely well to come home as first lady in 43:29 and then it was good to see Alexandria Evans in second and Olivia Bradley in third place, finishing in 48:52 and 50:36 respectively. Alexandria hasn’t had too much rest since participating in the London Landmarks run (and getting a very large and well deserved medal!) and Liv is getting stronger each time as she steps up running after recently coming back to the club. Well done to you all.

Overall, the race had a good spread of our club runners from all ages which is really encouraging to see everyone getting involved. Looking forward to kicking off the season next year (all things being well) with a March 2022 Fradley – which can sometimes be freezing cold! – and also hearing the shouts of our loyal club supporters who, if they are not racing, usually line the course to keep us all going! Happy times ahead.

Results for club runners are below:

Fradley 10k results 2021

This race report covers an actual race with real people racing against each other, a rarity recently. The race is the fourth in the BDSL series and the second off-road race.

What a fantastic day at the races to be had by everyone who signed up to the Tamworth Gate Gallop. For many, it was the first time they had entered a proper race in over a year, and the race start took the full account of the precautions for Covid, by having all the runners grouped into waves of 20-30 based on their predicted finish times and starting 60 seconds apart. The weather was beautiful, if a tad windy, and the course was entertainingly rough underfoot and taxing on the old leg muscles. It was particularly strange at the finish, as two years ago when the race was last staged, the runners were cheered over the line by a raucous crowd; this time it was a very muted affair with no crowds at all. But as we finished in turn, we then all looked out for the LRC shirts and cheered them home.

There were eight representatives of the club on the day, three men and five women. Two runners recorded age gradings in the 70%+ club; Joe Goodwin with 76.32% and Dave Sanders on 70.2%. In the BDSL league, the men finished in positions 13, 22 and 49 out of 102 finishers and in the MV40 age group in positions 2, 7 and 15. The women finished in positions 11, 18, 37, 51 and 62 out of 71 finishers. They finished in positions 3, 5 and 11 for WV35 and positions 5 and 10 in WV50.

The men were all guaranteed podium positions, with there being three runners for the club. Joe Goodwin led the charge for LRC and fought off the challenge of a younger runner with the aid of a well-timed energy gel. Dave Sanders put any recent injury concerns behind him and stormed through to claim second place. Third place was grabbed by Nick Parkes who ran a strong race on an uncompromising course.

For the women, Esther Hunt overcame illness the day before to lead the women home. Second place was taken by Ruth Kennedy-Green who looked fresh as she crossed the line, ready for a second lap? In third place was Helen King, making a deserved appearance on the podium third step.

Well done to Marian Lowther and Ann Schwarzenbach who also took part, finishing first and second in the FV50 group.

Results are below:

Gate Gallop Results