The weekend saw BPJ victories at a new local event, the Joust 24hr; a medieval themed 24hr off road race held in the grounds of Holt Castle.
The race saw solo runners and teams run over a 5.1 mile loop following the Severn Way along the river until Hallow then returning back to Holt Castle through a mixture of fields, footpaths and very quiet lanes.
The mixed 6-8 winners were our Black Pear Joggers team, consisting of Dan Cale, Paul Evans, Lorraine Westcott, Lee Brighton, Ruth Minors, Dave Bessant, Kirsty Jones and Steve Jones. The team kept running like clockwork, ensuring the next runner was ready and waiting throughout the night and into the morning. 29 laps were completed over the 24 hours by the team, totalling nearly 150 miles.
The winners of the team 3-5 category ‘Team Dickies Dashers’ also had a Black Pear Jogger running with them; Richard Nash.
The club also had two solo runners at the race; Ian Walker who completed an impressive 10 laps (over 50 miles) and Becky Baldwin who was in the top 5 solo women.
There was a good atmosphere at the race and camp site, the weather held up well and a few wrong turns by runners (one runner from another team thinks he set a new 10 mile PB on his night lap!) all added to the fun of the event, not to mention the belligerent but harmless cows blocking the course at times!
Thank you to the BPJ supporters who came down to support the runners (Dave, James, Simon, Michelle and Anthony) and the marshals at the checkpoint (including Harvey, Rebecca and Rhys). Also thanks to organisers Ultra Running Ltd and timing from Threshold Events, we’re sure there will be many more BPJs there to Joust again next year.
and Finally…
Well done to BPJ Wendy Coleman, who completed a charity abseil at the weekend, raising funds for St. Richard’s Hospice, a charity very close to the club. Wendy undertook the 141ft abseil from the top of Abberley Clock Tower in Great Witley.
Well done Wendy!
