Joe Rainsford led Heanor RC’s A team to a dominant victory at the Derwent River Relays, hosted by Belper Harriers, last weekend (29/07). In beautiful conditions, Joe ran 17:13 over the mostly off-road three-mile route to clock the fastest time of the day. Steve Ashmore (18:07), Shane Rice (17:26) and chief-cameraman Paul Clarke (17:27) – click to see his race video – completed the winning team’s efforts and saw HRC successfully defend the title.

For the second year running, HRC had another team in the top-3, with the B side, comprising Adam Biggs (17:39), Garry Cooper (19:20), Ned Needham (19:18) and Carl Hughes (19:35), grabbing the bronze.

The vets sides in yellow and blue also fared well, with the women’s team coming out on top in their category. Louise Insley (19:23) set the team on its way on leg one before handing over to Jill Burke (20:51).Yvonne Hobday (22:46) continued the charge to victory before passing the baton on to Lisa Palmer (19:01), who anchored the team home to first and ninth overall.

The sole HRC vet men’s side also managed to pick up some silverware. Alastair Hobday (19:37) opened up on leg one before Tony Weatherson (18:30) and Paul Mercer (21:30) handed over to Ashley Deeming on the final leg in a healthy position. Deeming clocked 17:57 to bring the team home second vets and fifth overall.

In addition to four teams inside the top-10 and category winners, three more HRC sides competed well and picked up club championship points:

15th Paul Winfield (25:06), Chris Mellors (22:55), Jeff Everitt (22:56), Steve Ashmore (18:49)

18th Wendy Mullineux (20:49), Danielle Smith (23:25), Lizzie Poole (22:20), Abbie Leivers (24:38)

26th Jo Potter (24:08), Carla Fox (26:49), Heather Wesson (27:08), Wendy Mullineux (21:13)

Full results

In the fun run prior to the main event, five juniors ran across the three distances:

Half Mile – Phoebe (3:00) & Abbie (3:26)

1 mile – Kirsty (6:05)

1.5 mile – Lily (first in 8:01) & Jack (second in 8:30)

Latest Club Championship table