October 13, 2013
Weekend Round-Up: 12-13 October
Following impressive qualification at the Midlands event three weeks ago, Heanor RC got the chance to compete alongside GB internationals, European Junior champions and Commonwealth Games medallists in the National 6 & 4 Stage Road Relays this weekend.
The ladies quartet lined up first in damp and cool conditions at Sutton Park, Birmingham, with Louise Insley once again setting the team on its way on leg one. Louise (16:39) ran solidly just a week before the Valencia Half Marathon and handed over to Jill Burke in 52nd.
The team dropped just one position and remained in 53rd following the efforts of Jill (17:51) and Rita Fisher (19:56) – who ran exactly the same time as at the Midlands championships – before Rose Leivers (19:19) brought the team home a consistent 54th.
Despite not having a team to back her up, Sarah Fullaway (19:19) enjoyed a cracking run on leg one, running fifty seconds quicker than just three weeks before over the same course.
With five out of six that finished fourth at the Midlands Championships present, the men’s team lined up without Joe Rainsford, who had to pull out a few days before due to a calf problem and was replaced by debutante Ben O’Connell.
Stuart King set the ball rolling with an impressive run on the opening stage. Stuart (18:11) ignored the temptation to go off too fast and brought the team home 34th, running twenty one seconds quicker than three weeks before.
Mark Powell (18:42) maintained the team’s position – also knocking over twenty seconds off his Midlands time – before Ben O’Connell (19:52) more than justified his late call-up with a sub-20 minute clocking.
Dale Annable (18:08) made the most of fourth leg and overtook sixteen positions to hand over to James Mee in 33rd. James (18:26) continued the forward momentum by gaining another five positions before Chris Rainsford (18:26) anchored the team home to its highest position of the race in 27th.
The same trio of U15 girls that made club history at the Midlands Championships lined up in the wind and rain at the Young Athletes Relays at Sutton Park the next day.
All three girls ran faster than three weeks ago, with the combined efforts of Danielle Smith (14:58), Emily Deeming (17:09) and Georgia Stirland (18:20) seeing the three finish 55th.
Wendy Mullineux and Carl Hughes made the trip to Cheshire for the Sandbach 10k on Sunday. Carl came home in 41:20 with Wendy following just four seconds behind in 41:24, finishing third female in the process.
The Broxtowe Duathlon, comprising a 4k run-14k cycle-2k run, saw Lee Perkins finish an impressive sixth (and second in his category) in 57:57 and Garry Cooper (1:02:29), just two weeks on from his Robin Hood Marathon efforts, finish 28th.