PENISTONE Footpath Runners enjoyed a memorable day at the Barnsley Boundary Relay, winning the open race and claiming a clean sweep of the men’s veteran team titles.
Organised by Penistone in conjunction with Barnsley Rockley Rotary Club, the event follows the Barnsley Boundary Long Distance Path around the edge of the borough.
It covers about 72 miles with 7,350 feet of ascent over ten legs on roads, tracks and footpaths.
Conditions were testing in places, with runners reporting wet ground, boggy moorland and strong winds on the higher sections around Langsett and Winscar.
Penistone’s men were first overall in eight hours, 44 minutes and 36 seconds, more than seventeen minutes clear of Denby Dale Men.
Sean Pitt set the tone by finishing second on the opening leg before Richard Heppenstall, Marc Robertson, Richard Cottam, Hugh Mackie and Flynn Rogers all posted the fastest times on their respective legs.
Ash Howlett was second on leg five, Alex Crosby fourth on leg four, and Oliver Found completed the final leg back to Cannon Hall to seal a team victory.
Penistone’s men’s over50 team finished third overall and first in their category in 9-41-34.
Penistone’s men’s over40 team were sixth overall and first over40 in 10-11-15, while the over60s completed the veteran team sweep by finishing eighth overall and first over60 in 10-26-37.
Barnsley AC’s women’s team defended their title while their mixed team finished 15th.
The Penistone women’s team came second in 10-55-40, with Jade Crosby third overall and first female on leg five.
Josie Smith was sixth on leg seven and Jemma Williams eighth on leg eight.
Penistone were second in the women’s over40 category.
Meanwhile, Penistone’s Jade Crosby set a Penistone club record for senior women at the York Even Splits 5k in 19-26.
Alex Crosby set a personal best of 19-41.
Barnsley AC’s Taylor Hughes bettered his 5k time from a week ago by two seconds as he finished in 17-10.
Penistone’s Graihagh Turner won the senior girls’ 1500m at the South Yorkshire Schools Track and Field Championships in 4-49.3.
The victory earned her selection for the English Schools Championships, despite windy conditions making fast times difficult for the middle-distance runners.
Barnsley AC’s Riley Hall, Poppy Kaye, Vanessa Ndambakuwa and Amelie Spicer were all selected to represent South Yorkshire at the English Schools Championships at Birmingham in July.
Archie Bisht finished second in the 800m with a time of 2-18.9.
Turner was also in fell-running action at the Edale Junior FRA Championships, which doubled as round four of the Fell Runners Association Junior Championship and the Junior Inter Counties Championship.
Representing Yorkshire, she finished fifth individually and helped the county to team gold.
Barnsley AC’s Richard Price competed for Great Britain at the European Triathlon Championships in Tarragona, Spain. He finished sixth in the 50-54 men’s age group with an overall time of 2-10-45.
The race involved a 1.5km swim, a 40km cycle and 10km run.
Penistone’s Dawn Broom represented Wales at the Tonypandy Track Classic in South Wales, competing in the Masters Women International 3000m.
She finished eighth overall in 13-29.96 and took third place in the women’s over60 category.
Penistone’s Amanda Field completed her first marathon at the Windermere Marathon, finishing in a chip time of 4-44-43 and placing 12th in the women’s over45 category.
Penistone’s Tom Fryers produced another strong coastal run at the Filey Beach 10k, finishing third overall in 37-55, while Damian Kilpin was 14th at the Ripley 10k in 39-32 and eighth in the men’s over40 category.
On the fells, Penistone’s Steve Sanders enjoyed success at the Mike Mallen Memorial Round Latrigg Fell Race.
He finished 27th out of 90 runners in 39-36 and took first place in the men’s over50 category over the five-mile course with 787 feet of climb.
Penistone’s Julia Johnson flew the Penistone flag abroad, finishing second in a tough, hilly and hot trail race in the Limousin region of France.
Penistone juniors were in action at Jack and Paul’s Charity Run, where Flynn Rogers was first boy, Grace Revitt first girl, Heidi Morley second in her age category and Harry Revitt third in his age category. There were also third places for Matilda Cottam in the under 11 girls and Thom Cottam in the under seven boys.
