Runner smashes pain barrier in weekend of thrills and spills for Gainsborough Striders

CARRY ON RUNNING! -- plucky Gainsborough Strider Karen Creed, who ran 6k of a 10k race in Nottinghamshire without realising she had dislocated her shoulder in a fall.

Creed made a last-minute decision to tackle the EDF Energy Power Surge 10k in Nottinghamshire, which covered a route comprising a mixture of road, trail and riverbank.

Things were going well until the 4k mark when she fell while climbing a stile. Undeterred, she picked herself up and went on to finish in a respectable time of 69.51 minutes, but it was only then that she became aware of the pain. A visit to hospital revealed that she had bravely completed the last 6k of the race with a dislocated shoulder!

In another twist, the weekend also disclosed that she had been one of three Striders to have won the draw for the club’s places at the 2017 Virgin London Marathon. The others are Simon Smith and James Croft.

While Creed ended the Nottinghanshire race with an injury, another Strider used it for his first run after a long spell on the sidelines with an injury. And what a successful return it was for Tom Humphries, who scampered round in 40.29 minutes to take the trophy for third place.

Not far behind him were club stalwarts Carl Currie and Craig Ward, whose times of 43.17 and 44.29 earned them sixth and 13th places respectively. David Sweeting’s 50.13 was his best time for the distance, and other Striders to finish were Helen Sweeting in 58.34, Samantha Garrison in 62.59, Clare Haywood in 64.35, Carol Knapton, who overcame a sprained ankle to clock 71.42, and the husband-and-wife team of veterans David and Maureen Allen, who ran 83.06 and 76.20 respectively.

In the event’s fun run, Thomas Sweeting recovered from a spectacular fall at the start to overtake everyone but the eventual winner, while Leo Garrison was fifth and Rhys Sweeting 11th.

Elsewhere in Nottinghamshire, Phil Marsland was the sole Strider to take part in a ten-mile trail race at Thoresby Hall. But he continued his excellent run of form with a time of 72.22 that placed him eighth of the 150 entrants and landed him the first-place trophy in the veterans’ 60-and-over category.