I'll start with the negative of the event - far too congested on the 2nd lap due to the 5km runners (not their fault) more the organisers fault. There was an out and back which led to the 'competitive d*ckheads' running head on at each other at various points. Yes I was guilty of that, but never at the detriment of other runners. At the end of the day this was somebody's 5k/10k/half chance at a PB and we respect them for that. 

I knew Alan Cook was going to there and we enjoyed a short warm up. On my second warm up I bumped into Iyan Bunhejee and we played 'let's find Ryan's car because he had no idea where he'd park.' Twice. 

As for the run, I went out thinking don't go too hard, relax, play the game. Ignoring the first mile I was fine, the next 2 or 3 I was good and pepper potted between 4th/5th. It was a 2 lapper with the 5km starting 15 minutes after the 10km. On the 2nd lap I hit big traffic. The 5km/10km/half all used the same route and it was carnage towards the out and back. I think I lost about 30 seconds and more weaving in and out runners. No blame on runners, more the organisation. 

I manged a 4th place overall, 1st V40 after raising  a steward's enquiry because I was missed off the live timing. It happens. A good event and well organised but I have reservations over whether it needs a 5km or not. As a wise man said, it's an event that has outgrown the venue. Credit to Alan and Iyan who I believe both had PB's at the distance. 

Ryan Stocks

Race Report: DRL Round 5 2025: Shipley Park 

Once again we had a fantastic turn out, as it has been all year, for the final race of the DRL summer league with 32 runners out for the club last Tuesday night to take on the reasonably hilly course in Shipley park. 

First home was once again Matt Hammond in 6th overall and a time of 31:35. In the other scoring places for the men's team we had Rich Myers (24th), Stuart Laurie (27th), Ryan Stocks (55th), Kevin Johnson (69th), Steve Robinson Day (94th) and David Hill (98th). Also representing the club we had Darren Dodsley, Chris Laban, Simon Tooth, Steve Sharpe, Glen Weston, Dom Devlin, Oli Braybrook, Dave Fuller, Chris Chandler, Rob Gooch, Paul Coe, Alan Cook, Nick Tennant and Michael O'Brien. 

For the ladies first home was Helen Woods 60th overall and 4th lady in 36:00. In the scoring positions we had Eve Taylor (18th), Nicola Chamberlain (24th) and Zoe Attenborough (Furley) (28th). Also representing the club we had Emma Meredith (Makin), Kirsty Perry, Sam Garside, Kirstie Dodsley, Katie Newton, Jen Turner, Wendy Akers and Alexis Hutchinson. 

Thanks also to Angela, Dave, Micky and Jo for their support on the night. 

So concludes the summer DRL, our men's team finished 7th, ladies 4th and combined 7th. We have had 59 different runners don the maroon and silver in the DRL this year with an average of 34 at a race, our biggest turn out was 40 for the first race at Teversal. 16 runners attended every race in the league with a further 6 ran the 4 races needed to get a position in the final standings. We had a few runners in podium positions, Rich Myers was 2nd in M45, Michael O'Brien was 3rd in M70, Matt Hammond was 2nd in MS and Helen Woods 2nd in F45, 3rd lady overall. Full results from the series and from each race in it can be found on the Derby Runner webscorer page here https://www.webscorer.com/149743.

Well done to everyone who took part in the summer DRL and thanks to all who supported. One more AAA summer race then we can turn our attention back to the muddy stuff. 

Dom Devlin