Nathan notches new 5k club record

The Ryston Runners weekend got off to a cracking start last Saturday with a new club record being set when Nathan Stockdale took a Ryston vest around a 5k road course faster than anyone has ever done before.He completed his circuit of the Sportshoes.com Podium festival event at Leicester in 15:31 knocking almost 30 seconds off the previous record.The next day, Sunday, saw the last of the races in the 2024/5 Ryston XCGP series at Shouldham Warren, followed by the presentation of the overall series awards.Absent from this event, Dan Yallop was running in the Blickling Spring Half Marathon, where he was placed third overall/first M40 in 1:23:03.Also competing there, Jacqui Scott placed 18thF50 in 2:21:59 for 416th place overall.Even further afield Ellen Ferrie was running abroad for the first time and was rewarded for her efforts with a PB in the Zurich Barcelona Marathon.Ferrie knocked some three minutes off her previous best by clocking 3:44:49, and reported that she thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. The Ryston “Get Into GEAR” sessions at Lynnsport on Wednesday evenings continue to attract huge numbers of runners wanting to learn how to improve their training. Three sessions have already been completed, but anyone wanting to join in should visit: https://bookwhen.com/getintogear2025 to book a place.Many of the host club members featured on the “podium” after the final races of the cross-country series at Shouldham Warren.In the junior races, Freddie Hubbard maintained his excellent consistency of always going home with an award, in this case third in the U11B race. Likewise, Dylan Whitehouse and Cody Pearman featured in the U17B race honours list.Whitehouse was placed second and Pearman third. All three echoed the day’s race positions by being placed third U11B, and second and third U17B in the series overall too.This pattern was repeated across the senior and masters age groups, in which the races saw many dominant performances from the host club members. A clean sweep was achieved in the W45 category with Susan Hipperson first, Lucy McDowie second, andIrena Marcinek third, Hipperson and McDowie also picking up first and second respectively across the series.This was also the case in the M35 age group, which saw Ben Keeley finish first,Rob Simmonds second, and Christopher Cann third, and resulted in Keeley and Cann picking up first and second overall across the series. Andy Simmonds won both the race on the day and the series in the M40 category, though Danny Smith, who took third place in the series, could only manage fourth on the day.Gareth Hunt was the second SM on Sunday and overall in the series – a feat repeated byAnna Kahn in the equivalent W category – while in the W35 competition, Dawn Robinson took both the day’s event and the series.Ruth Chadwick has dominated the W45 age group throughout the series and another on-the-day win consolidated her position at the top of the category, with Linda Marshall second. Marshall, herself, has now moved up to the next age group and finished third W60 on the day, behind second-placed clubmate Gina Hurrell who, unsurprisingly, took the series award.Another athlete who has changed categories since this season started, Nic Bensley, ended up taking third M50 across the series, and was placed fourth in the M55 race on the day, taking things easy after a 24-mile marathon training run the previous day.In the older age groups, Jit Patel placed 3rd M65 both on the day and over the series, while Pauline Sparrow was 3rd W65+ on the day and 2nd over the series (and is actually a W70).Other on-the-day honours went to club members Olivia Chapman (third SW), Mark Ramsden (first M45), Helen Driver and Debbie Crowley (second and third W50), and Joanna Taylor (third W55), while the series awards also featured Isabella McKenzie (first U17W) and Tony Savage (third M60/sixth on the day).Occupying places outside the awards spectrum on the day were: Joshua Downey sixth U11B, James Trim eighth SM, Kellie Stevens sixth W35, Claire Whitehouse eighth W40, Will Honeybone fourth M50, Paul Freear sixth M50, John Crowley ninth M50, Helen Reed fifth W55, Martin Elsegood eighth M55, Wendy Fisher fifth W60, Kevin Howlett fourth M65, Martin Blackburn ninth M65, Paul Firmage (M70) 11th M65, and Jeff Reed (M80) 12th M65.