North Herts Road Runners were celebrating some of their inspirational female members as part of International Women's Day and Mother's Day.
On Saturday Paula Holm travelled solo to the Battersea Half Marathon and she returned having clocked her second fastest ever time over the distance, narrowly missing a PB by 16 seconds as she finished in one hour 35 minutes 21 seconds.
Fresh from her superb run at the Cambridge Half, Katie Harbon was the first runner to cross the line at Letchworth Parkrun in 19:37.
Running conditions were not quite as favourable for those out on Sunday but four NHRR ladies took on the Burghley 7.
Starting and finishing on the Burghley Estate and heading off through Stamford, Linda Aird was second in her age category and Lucy O’Connor also completed the race, despite suffering an injury just before.
Miranda Morgan and Jo Kenlin were the others in action in the rain.
Rachel Arnott ran the Oundle 20 Mile race and secured a PB and first place in her age category with a time of 2:27:46, almost five minutes faster than her previous attempt over the course.
Stevenage Phoenix were in charge of the Stevenage Parkrun, providing volunteers and pacers among other support roles so it was no surprise that the vast majority of them chose there for their 5k Saturday morning run.
Three did hit the road and go elsewhere though, Ashley Bates and Gemma Holloway at the University of Northampton with Maureen Burke at Westmill.
Club coach Chris Leigh had something altogether different in mind as he completed his 116th marathon at the Big Bear Elephant Challenge.
Held in Salcey Forest, just south of Northampton, it was his second marathon in five days and forms part of his ongoing preparations for the Wall 120km in June.
It used trail pathways in a seven-lap format with a final half lap out and back dash.
Carrying full kit to help prepare for the Wall, he finished in 4:56:17.
The club also had their latest couch to 5k graduation.
The programme takes 10 weeks and saw the cohort run a 5k circuit with members of the club providing encouragement throughout.
All finishers received a well earned commemorative medal for their hard work.
Fairlands Valley Spartans were also out in force on Saturday morning at their home parkrun, as well as their own track session at Ridlins.
The highlights included Kirk Ndugu who came home first in a PB of 17:11 while Chloe Chapman and Nicola Andersson clocked up their 130th parkrun.
Pete Cook got to 20 in 27:00 exactly.
Elsewhere there were outings for Annabelle White (Valentines Park, Ilford), John Harris and Michael O’Keefe (Letchworth), Nick Kleanthous (Houghton Hall) and Paul Jennings (Gunpowder).
Spartan Grant Ramsay ran his best half marathon since March 2019 with a time of 1:25:08 at Victoria Park in Tower Hamlets.
In other news, new women's vice captain Georgie Hooper was named Spartan of the month for February.
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