August 12, 2013
Weekend Round-Up: 22-23 June
The weekend got off to a winning start on Friday night, with a race winner and four inside the top-12 at the inaugural Alport Heights Wedding Belle 5 mile road race.
Matt Bickerstaff, running unattached whilst he awaits his transfer to go through, claimed victory in 27:15 and finished almost a minute clear of second. Tim Holling (28:22) pipped teammate Paul Clarke (28:48) for third, with Carl Hughes (32:21) completing the quartet’s efforts in 12th.
All five HRC runners finished inside the top-20 at a damp and blustery Long Eaton 5 but it would be a strong Notts AC four that took home the team spoils.
Mark Powell and Dale Annable went toe-to-toe from the off, with the pair inseparable even as they approached the finish. Dale took the initiative heading into the long home straight but Mark found the finish to beat Dale to the line in 26:09. Dale finished a stride behind in 26:10, with the private battle ensuring the duo finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Joe Rainsford was under the weather but battled on to finish eighth in 27:47, whilst Tim Holling, fresh from his Friday night exploits, chanced the imminent birth of his first child to run and was rewarded with a top-10 finish in 28:07. Steve Ashmore chose Long Eaton over Underwood on the eve of the race and produced his trademark sprint finish to clock 29:39.
Steve Wardle ventured to the south coast and clocked 2:33.03 at the Torbay Half Marathon.
Lee Perkins was the stand-out performer for the yellow and blue at the Underwood 10k. On a notoriously testing course, Lee followed up his impressive run at the last BDL to finish 6th in 38:29. Garry Cooper (41:02) secured a top-10 finish whilst Jeffrey Everitt (49:46), Alan Smith (50:21) and Chris Booker (55:01) also ran. Lizzie Poole was the leading female for HRC, finishing 6th female and 44th overall in 47:17, with Jo Potter (51:30) finishing 75th.
Chris Rainsford gave a decent account of himself at the Midland Counties Track & Field Championships on Saturday. In blustery conditions, Chris finished fourth in 15:06.84.