Solid team packing saw the HRC men’s team finish third for the second race running whilst there were a pair of 10th place finishes and a podium position in the junior races at the third North Midlands Cross Country League fixture of the season.

On home turf at Shipley Park, the event proved a successful dummy-run ahead of the combined Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire County Championships on January 4th.

The testing course, which started & finished by the Visitor Centre and headed out towards Bell Lane and down to Shipley Hall Cricket Club before heading back up, saw over 400 runners compete across nine category races.

Alberto Sanchez of Derby AC romped to victory in the senior men’s race.

Hitting the front from the off, Ed Highton & Danny Hallam of OWLS AC kept Sanchez company for the first medium lap before the Spaniard pulled away convincingly in the second half of the 9.5k race to win in 31:40.

First home for Heanor RC, and finishing three positions higher than at both the previous fixtures, Stuart King crossed the line in 7th. Club mate Chris Rainsford nipped and tucked with King the whole way before being edged out to 8th.

Joe Rainsford showed the huge strides he’s made since the last fixture in Corby, improving by 11 positions to record his highest ever North Mids finish of 14th. Matt Bickerstaff built on his third place in last week’s BDL to finish 16th as Ashley Deeming held off fellow vet John Knibb in the finishing straight to complete the team’s scorers in 49th.

The overall score of 94 was enough for third on the day, just eleven positions off Charnwood AC in second, as OWLS AC romped to a third consecutive team victory.

Also in action in the senior race were Andy Basey (69th), HRC debutante Danny Heathcote (85th), Ed Godber (125th), Paul Winfield (136th) and Paul Bratby (185th).

The opening race of the day – the combined U13B & U15G 2.7k race – saw a pair of tenth placed finishes for Dylan George & Danielle Smith as Lily Winfield recorded her best North Mids finish of the season so far in the U13G event. Lily improved on her 4th at Derby and 7th in Corby to get herself on the podium this time, crossing the line third.

Lily’s younger sister Phoebe competed in the U11 fun run whilst Milly Newton made a welcome return to racing for HRC in the U17G race, coming home 14th.

Full results

Paul Clarke’s race video HERE

Photo by Paul Mercer

Over the border in Nottinghamshire on Sunday, Carl Hughes and Rose Leivers competed in the Keyworth Turkey Trot. Carl ran his second fastest half marathon of the year to finish 79th in 1:28:40 as Rose did likewise to cross the line in 1:43:39.

Full results