Runner of the Week - Annie Lightowler

Catherine Dale - what is your most memorable run and why?

Lad's Leap 3rd April 2011, this was my first every fell race - I only attempted it as it was a Championship race and Ian Charlesworth had taken a few of us an a recce - it was a good job!  I had mainly only done road races and not really come across fell runners before  - well they looked a different breed all together - no fun runners, so I pretty much knew I would be last.  This is classed as an AS - easy and short - 5.9 miles and 518m of ascent.  After the first 10 minutes the whole field had disappeared out of view, so I was so glad of the recce otherwise I wouldn't have had a clue where to go, the route was taped, but once in the peat bogs as I am so little I had to climb up to the top of a grough and look for the next one and head for it - I must have looked like a meerkat!!  When I got to the last marshall he asked if he could run back with me - it was so great to have some company as I felt I wasn't really in a race, just me out on the route alone.  As I approached the campsite there was no finish line - I didn't know it but I was 20 minutes behind the last runner and they had packed up and everything. I had to give them the time on my watch!!!!  1:54:14, the winner did 48:03. This didn't put me off and I have since completed a good few more fell races and am not finishing at the back anymore. This year I have done Tigger Tor and Mickleden Straddle so far.

Sarah Jones-Morris - any particular race you would like to challenge yourself in the future?  Nicky Spinks - What are your fell running goals for 2013?

I would really like to do a Saunders - not sure if it is full this year?  Or another multi day race, and who knows maybe an ultra.  I am doing Grindleford Gallop on 9th March and I am running for Infertility Research (a charity dear to my heart) in the Yorkshire Marathon on 20th October, so hoping to smash my Dublin marathon time, as I am much lighter and fitter after being with the club a couple more years.  I also fancy a mud runner obstacle race!  I am doing an off road Half Marathon in Alnwick in June.

Joe Mann - how did you get into running and why?

I did my 1st race - Race for Life in Maidstone Kent in 2002, it was the fact that it was for Cancer Research that I did it, I downloaded a training plan and just ran round a field near where I lived. Race day came and I can still remember driving to and from the race alone and running the race on my own.  I did the same race a few more times but recruited some friends (non-runners) to do it too.  It wasn't until I left my husband did I enter a 10k - Great Yorkshire Run in 2008, and then Great North Run in 2009.  I would just train for a race and then stop running!

Nick Cable - What keeps you motivated and smiling?

Running gives me such a buzz, I love being in the fresh air and am so lucky to be part of PFR that I rarely ever go for a run on my own.  Since my hysterectomy I have felt so much fitter and have lost quite a bit of weight - this is helping me to run faster and am feeling a sense of achievement at coming a bit further from the back than I used to!  What's not to smile about - living in Penistone there are some fabulous places to run and the company is pretty great too.

Steve Frith - post race fuel?

As we're usually heading for some pub after a race - it's usually a shandy and some crisps or nuts!  I did go through an organised phase and would make up a salad wrap with chicken, fish and some seeds.

Steve Frith - what else floats your boat?

I am a member of Wakefield Triathlon club and currently learning front crawl, I am doing a few Sprint Tri's this year for the 1st time - a special one will be from Bamburgh Castle - a sea swim, road bike and beach run.  I am also doing a mile open water swim in Derwent Water in the Lakes in June. I bought a road bike in November but am still mastering clip in pedals and looking forward to a week of cycling in Majorca at Easter with friends from the club.  Anything that includes being outdoors, active with friends, hoping to camp more this year.  I go walking with my dad for a week every year - have climbed lots of Munros with him, but he's not 73 and we're off to Wales in September.

My suggestion for the next ROTW - Kelvin Bowskill! How about it Kelvin?