Heanor RC hosted the combined Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Cross Country Championships for the first time in the club’s history last weekend and the organisational success of the event was matched by team victories and individual medals across various age categories for those in yellow and blue.
Heanor RC built on the success achieved at the same championships twelve months ago to take home double-team gold as well as individual medals across senior, veteran and junior categories. A strong turnout across the ten category races from both counties suggested the lure of ‘proper cross country’ isn’t yet dead. The tough conditions underfoot caused the undulating Shipley Park course to pose an even sterner test than just a month before at the same venue for the North Midlands Cross Country League fixture.
In the combined senior and veteran women’s 8k race, Lisa Palmer finished second to repeat her silver medal-winning feat from 2013 and also led the women’s team to gold. Louise Insley (4th), Wendy Roethenbaugh (13th) and Jill Burke (16th) completed the scoring four to take the honours ahead of North Derbyshire RC. Rose Leivers secured an 18th place finish to round off the team’s efforts.
In addition to team gold, Louise also secured victory in the V40 standings to add the Derbyshire XC title to her Midland Masters road 10k accolade won last September whilst Jill also secured a podium place in the V50 category after finishing second.
Chris and Joe Rainsford led the senior men’s quintet to team gold for the second year running although Chris was unable to successfully defend his senior men’s crown. In a race won by GB triathlete Tom Bishop, Chris managed a fourth-place finish just ahead of brother Joe in fifth who once again proved his proficiency on the mud.
Mark Morgan returned to cross country action and matched his position from twelve months ago to finish eighth whilst Ben O’Connell grabbed the final spot inside the top-10. Ashley Deeming in 20th completed the team’s scorers and also picked up silver in the V40 category for his efforts.
Highlighting the club’s current strength in depth, the Heanor RC ‘B’ team, featuring Steve Ashmore (23rd), Simon Lloyd (32nd), Andy Basey (40th), Paul Mercer (50th) and Paul Winfield (64th), also picked up team bronze. Paul Bratby finished off the men’s Derbyshire efforts in 93rd.
In the junior categories, Lily Winfield continued to show her potential with a third-place finish in the U13 girls. Lily has achieved consistent top-8 showings in the North Midlands Cross Country League already this season and equalled her bronze medal-winning position from Wollaton Park a year ago on Saturday. In the opening race of the day, Lily’s younger sister Phoebe finished 22nd in the U11 girls 1500m event.
The penultimate race saw two Heanor RC athletes make the top-8 and with it the county team for the Inter-Counties XC at Cofton Park, Birmingham on 8th March. The U15 girls 4000m race saw fourteen year old Danielle Smith improve on her 6th place last year to come away with an impressive bronze this time whilst Emily Deeming also jumped up the pecking order by five positions to finish 6th.
With county affiliation based on birth or residency, Heanor RC was also represented in the senior men and U13 boys Nottinghamshire races.
Twelve year old Dylan George ran brilliantly on his debut at the event to take home silver in the U13 boys category whilst James Mee ran through recent injury and illness to secure 7th and a place in the county team in two months’ time in the senior men’s race.
Tom O’Mara grabbed a spot on the U20 team following a fifth place finish (15th overall) as Danny Heathcote completed the Nottinghamshire efforts in 47th.
Next up for Heanor RC is another cross country league double-header this weekend, with the North Midlands Cross Country League on Saturday at Wollaton Park followed hot on the heels by the Booth Decorators League at Allestree Park on Sunday.