From Manchester (in goats on the run 4), the next stop on the big UK marathon Spring fixture list was Brighton – and once again there were plenty of Goats in attendance. Of course, running isn’t all about marathons, and there were plenty of other events going on too, plus Goats doing their own thing. Read on for a run-through [pun intended] of some of the goats on the run we spotted over the past week…
Brighton Marathon
Down on the sunny South Coast, the 10th Brighton Marathon took place. Set up as an alternative to the always over-subscribed London Marathon, Brighton has become a popular event on the UK running calendar. The course is mostly flat with a few challenging sections, but was made slightly trickier this year by a stiff headwind towards the finish.
The Goats we spotted were…
Naomi Wright (5:04’08) and Christine Siddle (4:31’22), making their marathon debuts; Stewart Murphy (6:17’57), Trevor Stow (4:08’19), and David Fitzgerald (4:05’32); Carl Bennett, who got to mile 17 before injury stopped him; Kevin Angel (5:08’17), who described it as his “first and last marathon”; Matt Pitcher (3:59’24), who was participating in a medical study on the effects of marathon running; Beck Rose, who ran a personal best (PB); Andy Steele, who ran a PB by 5 minutes; Pedro Hatfield (5:11’49), who knocked 40 minutes off his 2018 time to run a PB; Louise Kemp (5:15’36), who knocked an hour off her 2018 London Marathon time; Marie Sampson (4:21’21), who ran an 85 minute PB in her second ever marathon); and last, but not least, Dean Jackman (4:42’49), who not only achieved a PB, but also got a fiancee following a race-day proposal!

Sheffield Half Marathon
South Yorkshire hosted what was probably the biggest half marathon taking place in the UK over the weekend. The course is a tough one, taking in many of Sheffield’s hills, but that doesn’t seem to have dented its popularity. Goats who ran it include…
“Georgie Porgie“, Lindsay Trelford (2:31’45), Andy Cullen (1:51’02), Paul Clarke (1:39’23), Luis Palicio (1:32’43), Tori Louise (2:35’11), and Ainsley Shadwick (2:08’26); John Mate (1:41’40) who was very happy with his second fastest half marathon ever; Stuart Shepherd (2:21’38), who loved it, despite running his second ever half marathon with a cold; Debbie Winter (2:49’32), who set a 20 minute PB; Cass Bowman (2:19’55) who ran a PB; and Jeff Finnie (2:00’11) who was pleased with his time, which he ran with a hip injury.
Peterborough Marathon
The Peterborough Marathon is a brand-new event on the running calendar. 200 runners took part in the inaugural event in the Cambridgeshire cathedral city. Representing the herd, and finishing high up the results were…
Paul Scholes, who ran 3:37’51 in his debut marathon to finish 32nd overall, and 7th in his age category;
Ashleigh Blackman-Doyle, who ran 3:50’36 to finish 58th overall, 8th female, and 2nd in her age category;
And Kirsty Malone, who by her own admission didn’t have her best run, still finished in 3:35’05. She finished 27th overall, 3rd female, and 2nd in her age category. Kirsty runs in the London Marathon at the end of the month.

Boston UK Marathon and Half Marathon
As well as the bigger, more well known, Boston Marathon in the USA, there’s also another, entirely unrelated Boston Marathon. It’s held in Lincolnshire, claims to be the flattest marathon in the UK, and also includes a half marathon and a fun run.
The marathon-running Goats were…
Malcolm Rust, who ran 4:25’03; Caroline Dalchow, who was chuffed with her second-fastest marathon time of 4:57’11; Jon Shinn, who aimed for 3:45, so was very happy to run 3:44’49 and get a PB; and Heather Bond who ran 5″01’50 as part of her 60th birthday challenge and hailed the “great route” and “fantastic marshalls” – especially the one dressed as Santa Claus!
In the half marathon, we spotted…
David Hulme, who ran 1:27’33; Mik Smith, who ran 1:39’35; Stuart Burgham, who ran 1:57’17; Stuart Rae, who ran 1:46’16 to earn an unexpected PB; and Rebecca Linsdell, who achieved what she described as a “modest PB”.
Great Welsh, Berlin, and Goodwood
Goats ran at the Great Welsh Marathon and Half Marathon: Angie Lillistone is now a marathoner, having run her debut in 5:00’55. In the half marathon, Chelle White ran 1:43’06 to finish as 7th woman and 1st in her age category, while Lisa Bevan ran 2:09’46 to earn a PB.
Jack Price-Harbach (pictured above) ran in the Airfield Run at Berlin’s now-closed Tempelhof Airport. There were a number of distances on offer and he finished the 10K in 1:16’30.
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Goodwood Motor Circuit hosted the Running Grand Prix, which had five different distances on offer, from 5km up to a marathon. Mic Riddy completed the half marathon in 2:18’44, earning a PB in the process.
parkrun
As ever, it seemed as though there were Goats at every parkrun going. These included Neil Capper, Ian Cawley, Darren Hughes, Darren Redman, and Charli Weller at Hanley parkrun.
Personal bests were run by Shaun Furzer (18’03) at Wakefield Thornes, Rosina Stone (28’03) at Riverfront, and Donna Knight (24’33) at Newbury.
And remember, if you’re a parkrunner – you can change your club to Lonely Goat RC on the parkrun website.
Also…
There’s nothing quite so special as an early morning run through the countryside when you get to watch the world wake up. Hazel Kerrison had such a moment on a 6am run to watch the dawn at Tarn Hows in the Lake District.
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Also special are those ‘comeback’ runs, when you’re overcoming injury or illness, and everything just clicks. Emma Mumby had a “fabulous hour and 3 minutes” on her long run over the weekend – running to feel – using the mantra “keep cool, finish strong, run like someone is going to jump out and tell you have to do this again before you can go home”.
That’s the goats on the run update for this week. Congratulations to all the runners mentioned, plus all those we missed. As always, if you’ve achieved something in your running that you’re particularly proud of – completing an event or otherwise – feel free to let us know about it in the Facebook Chat Group or use the #lonelygoatrc and #lonelygoatrunningclub hashtags on Instagram. Look out for more goats on the run next week.