England vest inspires Pettifer to a sub-3:30 run at Chester

Pettifer’s time of 3hr 24min 59sec helped his team to the V65 win in the masters’ competition which pitted England against a combined Celtic team from Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The event also incorporated the British Masters Athletic Federation Marathon Championships and Pettifer won the gold medal in the V65 category.

“I thought my sub 3 hour 30 minute marathons were over after slowing down dramatically over the last two years,” said Pettifer. “But putting on an England vest certainly spurred me on.”

This was the eighth running of the marathon and Leamington C&AC’s Dave Potter chose it for his 71st outing at the distance.

Potter started strongly, passing the half-way mark in 1:29:55 but slowed slightly during the second half as he felt the effect of tired legs on a testing hill at 24 miles.

Potter completed the course in a chip time of 3:05:26 for 194th position out of 2,587 finishers and fourth in the V60 age category.

His time was just nine minutes slower than his very first marathon back in 1983.

Spa Striders’ Mike Pugh and Helen Pugh finished in 3:45:53 and 4:42:56, respectively.

The race was won by Lloyd Beddell of Mercia Fell Runners, running for England in the V35 category, in 2:26:11.

All four Kenilworth Runners taking part in the Raceways Alcester 10k on Sunday came away with positions or category wins.

Laura Pettifer was again in good form, winning the ladies’ race in a season’s best time of 40min 55sec.

Alex Atkinson was sixth overall and first V45 in 38:13, while Ryan Baker was ninth overall and first under-18 after clocking 39:38 to go under 40 minutes for the first time.

Gail Audhali finished 52nd overall and first LV55 in 43:52.

The race was won by Ted Mockett of Ranelagh Harriers in 35:09.

Kenilworth Runners’ Martin Dorrill and Debbie Streets took on the Bangor Half Marathon on Saturday.

Dorrill took it steadily due to a heavy cold over the preceding week but still finished ninth in 1:32:26, while Streets clocked 1:57:02.

The winner, from City of York, was Robert Fox in a time of 1:25:01 and there were 267 finishers.

Kenilworth Runners’ Neil Smith completed the Great Eastern Run half-marathon on Sunday in 1:37:28, coming home 562nd out of 4,183.

Clubmate Mick Williams was first V60 in the Plymouth 10k in a time of 44:23, a pleasing result given the injury problems he has suffered over the past few months.

The race was won by Jordan Andrews in 32:51 and there were 3,000 finishers.

In her first attempt at the distance, Caroline Player completed the Yorkshire Marathon in 5:24:51.

The race was won by Ross Houston of the Central club and Aberdeen University in 2:24:13.