Heanor RC secured top-spot at the Malt Shovel Relay last Thursday evening as Joe Rainsford led the men’s “A” team home to first with the fastest time of the night and a new course record.

With the Midland 6 & 4 Stage Road Relays now just three weeks away, the yellow and blue showed just why they love a relay as nine teams of three turned out for the undulating 2 mile relay route, organised by Dave Denton.

The men’s “A” trio added victory in Wirksworth Moor to wins already achieved this summer at the Derwent River Relay and the Hairy Helmet Relay.

Joe finished four seconds clear of teammate Dale Annable on leg one in 10:26. Dale, who threw his name into the hat a little too late to take a spot on a HRC team, ended up forming his own team and ran all three legs himself to finish second overall in 34:19.

Phil Baynes (11:34) and Steve Ashmore (11:26) completed the winning team’s effort and the threesome finished fifty-three seconds clear at the finish.

The young Heanor Whipper Snappers trio of Dylan George (12:15), Lily Winfield (13:05) and debutante Kyle Handford (12:08) secured a top-ten position in ninth as the Heanor Bog Trotters – Stuart Chadwick (11:44), Eddie Baynes (13:30) and Andy Parkin (12:32) – finished eleventh.

Three teams finished side-by-side and less than a minute apart in the top-half of the thirty-seven teams strong field, with M4 (Gary Mellors, Ed Godber and Rob Page), M2 (Matt Chambers, Paul Mercer and Paul Winfield) and M3 (Abbie Leivers, second HRC debutante Laura Robinson and Joe) finishing 12th, 13th and 14th respectively.

The trio of Scott Wigman, Dave Henton and Jeff Everitt crossed the line 27th whilst HRC’s sole women’s team, Lizzie Poole (14:55), Rita Fisher (15:34) and Jo Potter (16:40), finished third in their category and 30th overall.

Full results HERE

The Double or Quit Race, hosted by Ilkeston Running Club, at Shipley Park on Saturday evening saw Laura Beth James-Hutchinson walk away with the female category honours in the 5 mile event.

Laura was one of three Heanor RC members competing over either the one lap (5 mile) or two lap (10 mile) distance and finished a brilliant 16th overall in 36:24.

Gary Mellors (33:40) cracked the top-10 with a sixth-place finish in the one-lap event whilst Lizzie Poole opted to go the whole ten miles and finished 59th in a 145-strong field in a time of 1:25:11.

Full results HERE & HERE

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