Albion Accolades 2025
2025 was a quite astonishing year for Albion Running events - we saw no fewer than six new course records, all of which were pretty game-changing in different ways. We also saw some runners have incredible seasons. There were many who deserve recognition but in order to keep things fairly straightforward just two male and two female runners were chosen who had achieved remarkable things in 2025, all of which include at least one race victory.
Everyone is as important as everyone else in an Albion event and everyone is completing the same distance, but it's inspiring for the rest of us when someone achieves an incredible feat and as a bit of fun you have a chance to name your Albion runners of the year in the categories of Course Record of the Year, Season of the Year (Male) and Season of the Year (Female.) Here are your nominees.....
Course Record of the Year
YANQING LIU (WESTCOUNTRY ULTRA 100 FEMALE COURSE RECORD)
22:58:43
Previous Record - 24:18:56 (Paula Jones, 2017)
* First female sub 23 hour time on this 100 miler, let alone sub 24
* Running on her own for a lot of this 100 mile race - crazy determination
* Finished 2nd overall
CASE FOR YANQING TO WIN....
Having previously finished this race in a time of around 27 hours and taken 1st female, Yanqing was determined to come back and try to run faster. She had sub 24 hours in her head prior to the race but realised sub 23 was on in the final hour and ran hard at the end to make sure she got it!
No other woman had come close to sub 24 in this race since Paula Jones in 2017 and it was beginning to look like it may never happen. Yanqing looked focused when she arrived at the half way point and ran out to start the second half like she really meant business. The focus, strength and belief required to pull off this run must have been immense!
Yanqing is extremely humble and quietly spoken but as a runner she has a fierceness that is going to be hard for anyone to match in terms of this effort. She wasn't even that far off overall winner Dean Bennett by the end.
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WAYNE LOVERIDGE (HAM & LYME 50k OVERALL COURSE RECORD)
3:50:11
Previous Record - 4:03:54 (Shaun Dixon, 2024)
* First sub 4 hour time for Ham & Lyme and was under by 10 minutes
* Defeated strong competition, including a number of multiple time podium finishers of this race
* Was his first ultra race
CASE FOR WAYNE TO WIN....
Wayne had been contemplating running Ham & Lyme 50k for years but wanted to do so when he knew his training was in the right place and he had a chance of doing something special. With the number of fast runners in the field for 2025's special 10th edition we knew that the winning time was likely to be rapid, but nobody could have predicted quite how speedy it would end up being!
A 2:30-ish marathoner, we knew Wayne had the wheels to challenge for the top spot but his inexperience in ultras meant he might fade in the final miles. Not a chance!! He ran strong from start to finish, superbly crewed by his wife Jen and his good friend Phil, barely stopped along the way and set a time that will take some beating. What makes this extra impressive was how much he broke the course record by when it was already pretty fast. If it hadn't been for this run we may very well be talking about Joel Seward in similar terms, who ran 3:55 to take 2nd place, but Ham & Lyme 50k 2025 was Wayne's world.
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HOLLY STABLES (HAM & LYME 50k FEMALE COURSE RECORD)
4:18:37
Previous Record - 4:57:13 (Gill Pearson, 2024)
* New course record by 39 minutes
* Fastest ever time by a woman in any Albion race
* Only runner, male or female, to be 1st in both Ham & Lyme 50k and Ham & Lyme 100k
CASE FOR HOLLY TO WIN....
When Holly said she was going to aim for the female course record in 2025 the only question seemed to be how much would she break it by? Existing record holder Gill Pearson lined up alongside her and would have to run the race of her life to take her 3rd win in a row. As it happened Gill went under her own course record by a massive 25 minutes!... However, Holly was even faster and took the win in a pretty ridiculous time of 4:18:37.
This was the fastest time any woman has run for an Albion race so far, and was achieved despite helping joint 4th overall finisher James Warren, who had a bad reaction to a bee sting early in the race! James had a magnificent season himself though, as you will read, so you could say they helped each other to this time. However, Holly has been an absolute legend of the ultra scene for years now and is a previous overall winner of Ham & Lyme 100k so it seemed almost inevitable that she would win this race. The time was faster than we could have imagined.
ALEX HAMMOND (MENDIP MARAUDER 50 OVERALL COURSE RECORD)
6:54:37
Previous Record - 7:46:30 (Neil Cox, 2022)
* Fastest time for any 50 mile race of ours, including two 'easier' ones
* Broke previous course record by 52 minutes
* Was leading from around mile 4 and increased gap throughout
CASE FOR ALEX TO WIN....
In terms of sheer 'wow' factor, this run takes some beating! On a miserable day on the Mendips, weather-wise, several young men along with other nominee Beth Ingham raced hard over the hills. Before the race it had been identified that Alex and Callum Hill would likely be the ones to beat, having both placed high in the field at this race previously. Callum ran what would have been a winning time in a number of years to take 2nd but Alex felt great early on, went with it and managed to hold a lethal pace all the way to the finish!
'The Corsham Comet' first came to our intention when he was just 18 a couple of years prior to this, taking a podium spot in this very race. He bagged another in the Ham & Lyme 100k 'clash of the titans' last year, but the run that really announced his presence in the ultra world was a 4th place at the mega competitive North Downs Way 50 by Centurion Running in May of 2025, which earned him a special mention on their podcast from race director James Elson.
We knew he had it in him to run a fast time at Mendip 50 but with great courage, stamina and strength he recorded the fastest time for any of our 50 mile races, overtaking Ben Warren's 6:55 from Westcountry Ultra Flat 50 in 2021. Ben and Alex remain the only runners to achieve a sub 7 hour time for one of our 50s. His time absolutely amazed us, along with Holly Stables, who was waiting at the finish for one of the runners she coaches at the time. All of this at just 20 years of age too.
CLAIR FRENCH (CONQUEST OF AVALON 30 FEMALE COURSE RECORD)
4:19:21
Previous Record - 4:30:55 (Sarah Trim, 2023)
* Broke previous course record by 11 minutes
* 2nd fastest time by a woman on any Albion race
* Was only her second ultra race
CASE FOR CLAIR TO WIN....
This year's Conquest of Avalon 30 Miler, just like in the previous few years, was absolutely rapid! The amount of road on the route makes for fast times, which played to Clair's strengths but also to those of other female podium finishers Claire Poulter and Tilly Mayberry, who are usually marathon runners. Clair had a plan from the start and ran with partner Ricky Jackson along with Michael Turk, who they picked up along the way. Claire Poulter led for much of the race but a wrong turn led to Clair's chance to make her move and it was a decisive one!
She ran hard to the finish to record a new course record by a whole 11 minutes, which had bested the previous record set by Sarah Trim during a superb season for her in 2023. What makes this one super-impressive is that it was only Clair's second ultra race, the first being a 4th place finish at Ham & Lyme 50k a couple of months previously. She is likely to continue to improve, which means that this time was achieved while she is still on the way up - insane frankly!
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BETH INGHAM (CONQUEST OF AVALON 50 OVERALL COURSE RECORD)
7:27:22
Previous Record - 7:30:24 (Jamie Stephenson, 2019)
* Broke overall course record by 3 minutes, women's course record by 1 hour and 54 minutes!
* Fastest time by a woman on any of our 50 mile races
* This was 3 weeks after recording the second fastest women's time in the history of Mendip Marauder 50 miler
CASE FOR BETH TO WIN....
In terms of margin of victory on the day, margin that the previous record was broken by (absolutely colossal new female record) and sheer dominance, this run was every bit as impressive as Alex's at Mendip Marauder 50 a few weeks previously. Beth had recorded a time that only one woman had bettered in all of the years of that race - Clare Prosser in 2016. Clare's time of 7:58 was the overall course record for six years and no other woman had come especially close to it previously, with only two men having gone quicker until this year.
Beth was disappointed with her Mendip race, which indicated the mindset of a true champion, and at Conquest we got to see what she's really capable of. Her lead was 3 minutes at the first aid station, 8 at the second, 25 at the third, half an hour at the 4th... by the end she had a gap of 35 minutes on Russell Bennetts, who was 2nd overall. It was just incredible to watch, and there was speculation as she passed the final aid station as to whether the overall course record was on. She ended up beating it fairly comfortably. This was a truly mind-blowing run, and it'll be exciting to see what she can do at the Hilly 50 in May!
In the next categories we recognise the achievements of two men and two women who achieved consistently awesome results without breaking a course record.....
Most Impressive Season (Male)
DEAN BENNETT
Season highlights: -
* 1st place in Westcountry Ultra 100 Miler and Ham & Lyme 100k
* 100% record in the races he entered (nothing below 1st)
* Won 100 miler in May despite it being touch and go as to whether he would even be on the start line due to illness in the week leading up to the race
CASE FOR DEAN TO WIN....
It takes a certain type of humility to stop for an ice-cream whilst leading a 100 mile race! You might say it takes a certain type of arrogance, but this is definitely not the case with Dean. An awesome competitor but a thoroughly decent bloke, he wins races for fun with a smile and a friendly word for everyone he meets along the way. Having won Ham & Lyme 100k for the second time this year he became the first runner to complete the Westcountry Ultra 100 + Ham & Lyme 100k double win in the same season. Other runners have tried, including a young Danny Hawkins in 2019 (he came pretty close but was pipped to the post on that occasion.)
Having entered two out of the four events this year we can only go by the races he did take part in, but with two victories out of two it has to be said that things could have gone worse!
JAMES WARREN
Season highlights: -
* 1st in Conquest of Avalon 30 Miler, 2nd in Westcountry Ultra Flat 50, 3rd in Mendip Marauder 30 Miler, 4th in Ham & Lyme 50k
* Did all 4 events and didn't finish below 4th in any of them, getting a podium spot in 3
* Just 16 seconds off the course record in Conquest of Avalon 30 Miler
CASE FOR JAMES TO WIN....
Until the final race of the season, Conquest of Avalon 30 Miler, James had an unwanted reputation as being Albion's 'nearly man', having taken 2nd place in a number of races previously. We knew he had a victory in him and what a stunning victory it was, racing Adrian Kettle hard to finish within 16 seconds of his good friend Alex Bennett's course record.
This capped a brilliant season, which included a 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finish also. What was hugely impressive was his consistency across all of the races, being amongst the top finishers every time, and all whilst wearing his lucky pink socks and orange 'Channel Events' t-shirt. One of Albion's most impressive runners in the past few years for sure!
Most Impressive Season (Female)
EMMA CHALLIS
Season highlights: -
* 1st in Ham & Lyme 100k, 3rd in Conquest of Avalon 50 Miler and 2nd in Mendip Marauder 50 Miler
* Massive course PBs in 100k and Conquest 50
* Over 250 race miles in total in Albion races alone in 2025, with numerous others in between
CASE FOR EMMA TO WIN....
If you've run an Albion race in the past however many years it's likely you've crossed paths with Emma at some point. She's had podium spots before, but 2025 was the year she achieved her first Albion victory, along with two other podium finishes. Having battled various forms of adversity over the years, including a broken foot last year, low B12 levels and menopause fatigue, she just continues to get stronger.
The podium finishes were all achieved following a second completion of Westcountry Ultra 100 Miler in the spring, meaning some incredible mileage over the year. She credits a lot of her success to her ever-present and fabulous one woman support crew Laura (not her mum incidentally, as many have assumed!) It's hard to name an Albion runner with more endurance than Emma, and this year when she's started to feel better in herself again it's translated to some superb performances!
HAYLEY ANDREWS
Season highlights: -
* 1st in Westcountry Ultra Flat 50 Miler, 2nd in Conquest of Avalon 50 Miler
* 3rd fastest time ever by a woman in Conquest of Avalon 50 Miler
* 4th place overall in both the Flat 50 and Conquest 50
CASE FOR HAYLEY TO WIN....
Hayley is a more recent arrival on the Albion scene, but is arguably the 'breakout star' of 2025. She started the season superbly with a victory at Westcountry Ultra Flat 50 Miler, running her own race and battling the heat to take her first Albion win in her 3rd race with us. After achieving a significant course PB at Ham & Lyme 50k in July she missed Mendip Marauder through illness before returning strong at Conquest of Avalon 50 Miler and recording the third fastest time any woman has at the race to achieve 2nd place (the fastest time by a woman is by Beth Ingham, who won that race overall.)
Like Emma, Hayley highlights the importance of someone else in her successes; running buddy Andy Farrant has helped her achieve these awesome results - they actually met during the Flat 50 and decided to run Conquest 50 together. It seems to be a winning formula as Hayley and Andy were joint 4th place overall in both of these races, with Andy getting 3rd bloke in Conquest 50 alongside Hayley's 2nd female. What's been most impressive about Hayley's running this season is the strength and determination she's shown during two 50 mile races. Behind that smile is a steely resolve that has propelled her to awesome results.
HOW TO VOTE....
Have a good read and contemplate which of these athletes in each of these categories deserves the winning vote
All of these runners have achieved magnificent things during this season and picking a winner is just a bit of fun
For the most impressive course record consider factors like the runners' previous experience, the margin the record was broken by, the conditions on the day and how they may have played a part, the level of competition... each of these six new records has a case for being the most impressive but think about which one impresses you most taking everything into account
For the most impressive male and female seasons there are just two runners to choose from for each category - simply read about what they have achieved and go with your gut feeling about which one you would choose if you HAD to pick a winner ; ) No matter what the results, all ten of the runners across the three categories are truly awesome and all are winners (all have literally won races this year!)
*PLEASE NOTE THAT IF A RUNNER BREAKS A COURSE RECORD THEY WILL BE NOMINATED FOR THIS CATEGORY AND THE MOST IMPRESSIVE SEASON CATEGORY IS FOR THOSE WHO ACHIEVED AMAZING RESULTS WITHOUT BREAKING A COURSE RECORD
PLEASE EMAIL YOUR CHOICES FOR EACH CATEGORY TO albionrunning@hotmail.com - voting will close at the end of 30th September and winners will be announced early in October