Runners Brave 30° Heat For 43rd Lakeside Race

Almost 320 runners braved one of the hottest nights of the year to complete JCB’s Lakeside 5 race and fun run.

More than 420 people had registered to join the event and while the 30° heat reduced the field on the night, it failed to lower the spirits of the runners or the crowds who turned up to support them last night. JCB employees joined a host of club runners to complete the gruelling five-mile course around JCB’s World HQ at Rocester, including the steep hill on Stubwood Hollow, where JCB’s Worldwide Marketing Director Adrian Hall drenched sweltering athletes with a hosepipe.

JCB Deputy Chairman George Bamford and his family were among those who took part. George said:

“It is just amazing to see so many people here, and so many families. I’m proud to be running with my family. We talk so much about JCB being a family business and this event is proof of that.”

Three generations of one family took part in the two-mile fun run – crossing the finishing line hand in hand. JCB employee Billy Sowter, 61, of Uttoxeter, completed the course with his son Liam, 37, daughter-in-law Amy, 34 and their daughter Rosie, aged five. Billy said: “It was fantastic to run this as a family. The atmosphere was amazing and I’m proud of little Rosie for completing the course.”

Former JCB employees Charles Bevan and Mick Grindey kept up their record of running in every single JCB Lakeside 5 race since its started by taking part in the event. Charles, who turns 80 in September, dressed as Toy story hero Woody to run with his son Jason who dressed as Buzz Lightyear.

Retained Staffordshire firefighter Jason Blount, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, joined 18 fellow members of Silverdale Running Club – less than a day after he helped battle a major building blaze in Stoke-on-Trent and before he’d managed to grab any sleep. He’d been called out early the previous morning, fought the fire through to 6am and still managed to get to work at 7am. He came straight to Rocester from work and was back on firefighter call at 10pm. Jason, 50, finished the five-mile route in 41 minutes.

Tom Bill from the TP Triathlon team, who described the race as “tough, but brilliant” raced home to win the men’s race, in 28 minutes 43 seconds, while Hollie Wall, running her second Lakeside 5, was first woman home in 34 minutes 33 seconds.

JCB Golf & Country Club Greenkeeper Ruarc Grant was the first employee to finish, in 29 minutes, 32 seconds. Ruarc is currently hard at work putting the finishing event.

Meanwhile, JCB’s first female finisher Emma Langford, an Electrical Engineer in Product Innovation at the World HQ who plays for Uttoxeter Rugby Club and completed the race in 44 minutes and nine seconds, said:

“I don’t know how I’ve did it. Getting up that hill in this heat was so tough.”

Emma received the Steph Cordall Memorial Trophy which celebrates the life of an employee who worked for JCB for almost 40 years and was among the 95 competitors on the starting line at the first ever race in 1983. Steph, of Cheadle, died in May 2023 aged 60, and JCB established the trophy in her memory. It was presented to Emma by Steph’s husband Martin and son Adam.

Charities were also winners on the evening. The event raised £4,000 towards the Queen’s Reading Room literacy charity, supported by JCB in this National Year of Reading.

And retired Staffordshire firefighter Kelvin Chell launched his bespoke JCB-themed poppy badge, raising around £500 through badge sales for the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal.