Siggers smashes PB to pip second woman in Great Birmingham Run

Andrew Siggers was the first Kenilworth Runner across the finish line in a superb personal best time of 1hr 12min 37sec.

Siggers’ time was the second fastest half-marathon by a Kenilworth Runner this year and saw him come home just ahead of Kenyan Purity Kimetto, who took second place in the women’s elite race behind Gemma Steel (1:10:19).

Men’s captain Phil Gould was the second Kenilworth athlete home, outsprinting clubmate Connor Carson in the last 800m to cross the line just a second ahead of him in 1:17:15.

Other standout performances of the day came from Stephen Page, making his half-marathon debut and finishing in 1:18:46 and Dave Pettifer, who took first place in the VM60 category.

After losing out on first V60 by a minute at the Leicester Half Marathon the previous week, Pettifer was spurred on by the many Kenilworth supporters around the course to run the distance two minutes quicker, crossing the line in 1:32:41.

The winners of the Elite men’s race was Ugandan Thomas Ayeko in a time of 1:02:03, with Briton Chris Thompson pipping Abdi Abdirahman for second.

In her first road half-marathon, Marie Voice came home in 1:32:05 to finish 37th lady, while fellow Kenilworth Runner Danielle Mohacsi (1:41:05) knocked six minutes off her personal best and Pauline Dable claimed first place in the VF65 category in 2:01:20.

Mairead Murphy and Beth Keell also claimed new personal bests, clocking 1:43:18 and 1:51:22, respectively.

Ten Spa Striders took part with Simon Radcliffe first home in 1:36:02, closely followed by Pablo Giner (1:36:24).

The first Strider lady was Kate Evans who finished in 1:40:24.

Barbara Gunter also dipped below two hours, clocking 1:53:53 for her fastest half-marathon time of the year.

While dad Phil was taking part in the Great Birmingham Run, daughter Melanie ventured off to the Junior Mud Runner challenge at Eastnor Castle, accompanied by mum Laura.

A severe 5k cross county run blessed with abundant mud, eight-year-old Melanie, who runs for Leamington C&AC, completed the course in an impressive 32:18.