Club success at Northamptonshire County XC Champs

Rugby & Northampton Athletic Club turned on the style at Wicksteed Park, Kettering to regain both the senior men’s and women’s team titles at the Northamptonshire Cross Country Championships.

Spurred on by missing out on both gongs in 2013, the club scored seven team victories on top of five individual winning performances to cement their place at the top of the county cross country table.

R&N’s men claimed back the title they last won in 2010 with their best performance in a decade, as they took victory by over 100 points.

Jacob Allen scooped second place on the day as he scored for the seniors for the first time, completing the course in 36.25, 41 seconds behind Corby athlete Tom Bark, who took his fifth county championship victory.

Sixth place William Gardner (39.36) and seventh place Robert Male (40.00) were also first time scorers, and completed the win with the help of Robert Gardner (8th, 40.02), Chris Lamb (9^th, 40.09) and Luke Robinson (13^th, 40.48). The times for Allen and Male saw them take a one-two finish in the under 20 men’s category.

The mother-daughter combination of Rosanna (daughter, 4^th, 21.42) and Penny Andrews (12^th, 24.18) helped R&N’s women to a ninth county title in 12 years, aided by eighth place finisher Genevieve Roberts (23.52).

Kettering-born former Great Britain junior Sian Edwards was victorious in the senior women’s race in a time of 19.28 to pick up her fourth title.

Other R&N team victories came from the under 11 boys and girls, the under 13 boys and girls and the under 15 boys. The club took runners-up spots in the remaining under 15 girls and under 17 boys and girls age groups.

Holly Walker (7.21), Elysia Lay (7.27) and Amelia McMurtie (7.29) took a one-two-three finish for R&N in the under 11 girls to secure team gold, while their elder team-mates came within touching distance of completing the same feat; Poppy Carmichael (1^st, 10.47), Amy Walker (3^rd, 11.02) and Charis Hayes (4^th, 11.20) separated only by Kettering’s Emily Williams (2^nd, 10.53).

Scott Kruck (4^th, 6.47), Harry Boynton (5^th, 7.07) and Noah Bennett (6^th, 7.10) secured victory for the under 11 boys, while Adam Searle (2^nd, 9.36), Joe Musgrove (3^rd, 10.01) and Matthew Chronicle (6^th, 10.24) did the same for the under 13 boys, Searle being credited with the same time as winner Adam Caulfield from Northampton School for Boys.

Joshua Lay (2^nd, 16.25), Oskar Potomski (4^th, 16.42) and James Wizard (6^th, 18.09) scored R&N to victory in the under 15 boys, while Emily Wintsch’s victory in the under 15 girls (17.43) helped her team to second spot, with Lily Carmichael (4^th, 19.21) and Georgeina Willix (10^th, 20.18) also scoring.

Kirsty Goddard (21.29) took individual victory in the under 17 girls, with Nicole Johnson (8^th, 25.12) and Charlotte Murphy (9^th, 25.16) contributing to a team silver medal.

The under 17 boys also finished as runners-up as Hizam Sheekh (4^th, 19.28), Ben Musgrove (5^th, 19.28) and Michael Kinder (7th, 20.28) all finished inside the top 10.