William Gardner scored his second successive victory for Rugby & Northampton AC in the East Midlands Grand Prix Series when he won the Harborough 5 miles in a time of 26 mins 22 secs. In the sixth race of the series Gardner led home the club to give them a fifth team triumph in the Senior Mens competition with a winning margin of 8 seconds over Alexander Ash of Wellingborough & District. In third place was Coventry Godiva’s Harvey Speed in 26:48 who could be in a close battle for the overall title in the final race at Milton Keynes. The next R&N athlete over the line was new member David Green in 4th spot on 27:01 and making his debut in an EMGP race was Duncan Birtwistle in 7th position on 27:41 with Daniel Mould completing the scoring team in 28:12 for 11th place. The Veteran Men also won the team race for Rugby & Northampton and are now equal first in the overall standings with Kettering Town Harriers. Stephen Marks led them home in 14th overall on 28:43 and clinched his 4th win in the M40 category. Backing him up were Dean Oldfield in 29:44 ( 30th and M40 4th ), Mike Andrews in 30:01 ( 33rd and M45 3rd ) and Jonathan Taylor in 30:16 ( 38th and M40 6th ). Adam Bebbington finished as the second Junior man in 32:23 to become the overall champion for his age group.
Kelly Barnett of Wellingborough & District clinched the overall Senior Women’s title after taking her second outright win of the series when she recorded 32:20. This gave the 27 year old her second series win following her first in 2016. In second spot Coventry Godiva’s Myshola Kirkham won the F35 category in 32:39 with Sarah Ward in 3rd on 32:45 and leading the host club Harborough AC to their first Senior Women’s team victory since 2002. Wootton Road Runners Veteran Women won the overall series for the 7th time in the last 12 years when they took their third race win. Rugby & Northampton had two ladies taking part with F50 champion Alison Cobb finishing 24th on the night and 2nd in her age group with 37:27, while in the same age category Helen Jones finished 6th and 52nd overall on 40:48.
