A piece of cake forWhitton!
Two local endurance runners trod the thin line between total commitment and foolhardiness when racing a combined total of 91 miles on a baking hot Saturday, writes Barry Warne.
Eye Community Runner Lee Whitton has a liking for unusual running events and sweated his way to victory in the unusually named Northampton Cakeathon.
The object of the race was to complete as many miles as possible on a 5.17-mile loop close to the River Nene during a six-hour period. Whitton managed an impressive 41 miles, and finished well ahead of his nearest challenger.
Nene Valley’s Darryl Coulter is clearly a glutton for punishment taking on The Malvern Hills Ultra, a 52-mile race, just 13 days after completing the London Marathon.
It took the Oundle-based athlete an energy-sapping 11:51 hours to complete the race held in what he described as “brutal hills and brutal weather” finishing 21st out of 44 runners, although a further dozen failed to finish.
SLEAFORD HALF-MARATHON
Werrington’s Jeff Lucas defied the heat to finish 11th in Sunday’s Sleaford Half-Marathon with a time of 1:23.30.
Fellow Werrington athlete Dan Mcdonald crossed the line six places further back in 1:26.16, while Bushfield veteran Paul Baxter came home 40th with a 1:33. 23 clocking.
Caroline Woods of Yaxley Runners was first female finisher. She was 38th in 1:32.40.
LANGTOFT 10k
Jake Richardson (21) of Lincoln Wellington Athletic Club won Sunday’s Langtoft 10k in a time of 33:07, nearly a minute ahead of the rest of the record field of 350 runners.
Steve Robinson, of Peterborough AC, was second in 34:02, followed by Tom North, also of Lincoln Wellington, in 34:23.
And it was another Lincoln Wellington runner - 19-year-old Laura Wilkinson - who was the first female over the line in 37:51. Second was Jordan Foster of Nene Valley Harriers in 39:25, with Maggie Skinner of PAC third in 40:03.