Striders veteran Maureen warms hearts with record-breaking run

Popular veteran runner Maureen Allen produced one of the most heartwarming performances of the season when representing Gainsborough and Morton Striders at the ABP Humber Coastal Half-Marathon.
Popular Maureen Allen, who broke new records for lady veterans over the age of 70 at the ABP Humber Coastal Half-Marathon.Popular Maureen Allen, who broke new records for lady veterans over the age of 70 at the ABP Humber Coastal Half-Marathon.
Popular Maureen Allen, who broke new records for lady veterans over the age of 70 at the ABP Humber Coastal Half-Marathon.

Maureen’s time of two hours, 40.08 minutes was not only a personal best (PB) for her, by more than 12 minutes, it was also the quickest ever achieved at the event by any lady in the over-70 veterans’ age category.

In fact, her time was so good that it would have broken the age-group record in the over-65, over-60 and over-55 categories too!

Maureen wasn’t the only Strider to return from the race along Cleethorpes seafront with a new PB either. For Carl Currie overcame worries that he had contracted a severe case of ‘man-flu’ as he finished in 12th place with his 83.14 time, a three-minute improvement. James Croft was more than a minute quicker at 85.26 and club newcomer Aaron Hill was almost one minute quicker with his 88.06.

Phil Marsland recorded 95.17 for his 68th half-marathon, ahead of Darryl Kelsey, who clocked one hour, 47.35 minutes in his second. Sian Turner and Jenna Comins were also in their second half-marathons and finished in 2.41.42 and 2.42.54 respectively. Meanwhile, Jonathan Chapman’s fears that he had just missed the two-hour mark were allayed when the official result showed he had beaten it by a mere two seconds.

The husband and wife teams of David and Helen Sweeting and Stephen and Vicky Toward ran together, finishing in 2.5.18 and 2.18.42 respectively. Sandwiched between them was Simon Smith, in his first half-marathon for a year, with 2.16.53.

In other PB news, Mark Rodgers shaved more than a minute off his previous best by clocking 38.59 in the popular Wilne 10K in Derbyshire. This lifted him to fifth place in the club’s history for V40 runners.

Two Striders also posted PBs in the Sherwood Pines 10k trail race in Nottinghamshire. Dawn Bottoms’s 53.37 was more than a minute quicker than her last run, while 11 seconds was the improvement made by Clare Haywood with her 59.02. Shaun Boyle finished in 51.14 and Clare Hardwick in 52.45.