Rugby & Northampton AC Senior ladies team clinched their third victory in the East Midlands Grand Prix Series when the competition reached its halfway point at the Corby 5 miles.
For the 13th year in succession the race was held at East Carlton Country Park and the R&N ladies were led home by Tori Green who was just pipped into second place by Higham’s Rachel Doherty with both athletes being given the same time of 31:05
Amy Sarkies clinched another victory in the F40 category to finish in 4th spot on 32:01 and Sarah Davis took the honours in the F50 competition to finish in 6th position on 33:22.Backing up the two veterans was Sally Baker in 10th overall and 2nd F50 to make it four wins out of four for the Masters squad and another win in the next race at Banbury will seal them the title.Tamara Hardman had another fine run in 16th place for 3rd over 50 with 35:52 and just one place and eight seconds behind was Zoe Shepherd, which gave her 2nd in the F35 race.There were just two seconds covering Elaine Morris (20th & F50 4th ) and Judith Rose ( 21st & F45 3rd ) with the former recording 36:27.
William Gardner made a return to racing and the former club cross country champion finished in an excellent 2nd place for R&N in the Mens race with a time of 26:52 and was followed home by Junior Haydn Arnall whose 10th spot won him the U20 race in 28:12.Second U20 was Matthew Chronicle in 30:29 for 32nd and completing the Senior Mens team was Vince Carroll ( 64th & M45 9th ). They finished in 4th place on the night.James Williams was next across the line in 75th position on 33:08 and seven seconds adrift was M50 athlete Max Chippington who was 8th in his category and 79th overall.
R&N completed a clean sweep of the top three Juniors when Adam Bebbington recorded 33:33 and closing out the Veteran squad were John Saw ( M40 18th ) and Richard Thomas ( M40 19th ) with times of 33:51 and 34:03 respectively for 6th spot in the team event.