12/13 Sep 2015 – Buxton 5k, Ipstones 5 and more

Buxton and District 5k:  Stuart Gregory was the only Stilton Strider to make his way to Buxton for their monthly 5km race. On a wet morning and competing in the event for the first time Stuart set a steady pace knowing that he would be running again later that day and completed his first Buxton 5km race finishing in 61st place with a time of 28.58.

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Ipstones 5:  In his second race of the day Stuart Gregory headed slightly further south to the village of Ipstones in the Staffordshire Moorlands to take part in their annual 5 mile road race. Having already ran earlier that day it was nice to know that the race did not start until 3.30pm giving time to have a look around the village fate which takes place on the same day.

77 runners took to the start line on what was now a very pleasant afternoon (maybe a little to pleasant at times) as the first mile included 350 feet of ascent, before a very long 2 mile decent to the bottom of the hill.  By this point he had made up some ground after a steady start passing two runners ahead of a short but very sharp climb with just over 1.5 miles to go. The run in to the finish is predominantly down hill and having slowly closed the gap on a further two runners in the closing stages he managed to pass both of them with around half mile remaining and crossed the line in 71st place with a time of 52.34. A very well organized event and well worth £7.85 entry fee.

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Team Alfie 5 mile race:  After two races the day before, Stuart Gregory was the only Stilton Strider to make his way to Wollaton Park for the team Alfie 5 mile race and joined 68 others on the start line. The race covers two laps and, having felt the pace after Saturday’s exploits, Stuart started towards the back of the field and remained there for the vast majority of the slightly shorter than 5 mile event to finish in 64th place overall with a time of 52.48.

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Derby Athletics Festival 2015 – Mens (U20, Seniors and Masters) track mile: Stuart Gregory was the only Stilton Strider to make his way to Derby for the track mile, having already completed three races over the weekend this would be his fourth race in two days and complete a busy weekend of running. After arriving early to give his legs a chance to recover from the mornings race, it was soon time to get down to business and Stuart lined up with 7 others to take on the track. The first two laps went as planned before a slowing in Stuart’s pace saw him complete the final two laps much slower and completing the mile in 7.22.68 his fastest track mile to date and 54 seconds faster than Nottingham.  Having finished 7th overall it was confirmed after the race that Stuart had also finished as 3rd senior male, and some two hours after the race had finish was awarded his bronze medal.

[Stuart]