30^th January 2018

 

Emily Waugh and Eleanor Broome shine on foreign shores

Rugby & Northampton Athletic Club’s Emily Waugh ran the race of her life, finishing an incredible 16th at the Dubai Marathon in the United Arab Emirates last weekend.

 

Running her first competitive marathon, Waugh was only beaten across the line by 15 elite female runners, completing the 26.2 mile course in a club record time of 2:38.43. Her average pace was 6:03 per mile.

 

The 24-year-old finished first in her age group, and was the only under-25 runner to finish in the top 50. It was just reward for her commitment during 12 weeks of hard training, running well over 850 miles in preparation. A fantastic effort!

 

Continuing the international theme, R&N’s Eleanor Broome represented England at the Vienna Indoor Classic in Austria, competing for the first time since September. The 18-year-old, an U20 athlete, produced an effort of 5.93m in the long jump, and that secured a fantastic fifth place against senior competition.

Back on UK shores, 64 of the club’s athletes took part in the Midland Cross Country Championships held at Wollaton Park in Nottingham.

 

The U13 age group had the biggest success, with the girls winning the title and the boys clinching the silver medals.

 

Leading the way for the gold medal-winning squad was Alice Bates, covering the 3k course in 12:26 to finish in fifth place. She was followed by Olivia Williams with 12:40 for seventh, and completing the victorious team were Elspeth Unitt (19th – 13:06) and Abigail Thayanithy (22nd – 13:14).

 

Arthur Tilt was the first R&N boy across the line over the same distance, timed at 12:06 in 11th position. Just eight seconds adrift was Louis Buttrick in 17th, with Jenson Buttrick recording 12:39 to place 30th and Joshua Robson the final scorer (44th – 13:02).

 

The highest individual placing came from Northants champion Adam Searle in the U17 men’s race. He helped the R&N team to the silver medals when he finished fourth in 20:57 over 6k. Backing him up were Matthew Chronicle (ninth – 21:23), Muss-Ab Hassan (18th – 22:16) and Ben Hope (22nd – 22:21).

 

Bronze medals came courtesy of the U20 men, with Ben Musgrove leading them home in 13th place with 29:38 over a distance of 8k. Finn Hutton placed 23rd with 31:02, then came Joe Childs (27th – 31:48) and Adam Bebbington (35th – 35:48).

 

The U15 girls just missed the podium in fourth spot, but Claudia Searle finished in 18th place over 4k with a time of 16:45 to head her teammates of Molly Williams (21st – 16:52), Olivia Reeves (44th – 18:16) and Holly Walker (53rd – 18:29).

 

Amy Walker completed the 5k route for the U17 women in 20:37 which gave her 12th, and along with Georgina Woodward (38th – 22:46) and Lucy Stevens (45th – 23:05), the team finished in fifth place.

 

The U15 boys quartet had the unusual distinction of having 11 seconds and 11 places covering all four of them. Lewis Panter came 33rd in 15:17, Jake Louis (35th – 15:19), Tom Tyler (40th – 15:24) and Jake Hope (44th – 15:28). This packing over the 4k route put the squad in seventh position.

 

Dominic Jones had an excellent performance in the senior men’s 12k competition. He achieved the highest ever placing by an R&N athlete when he claimed 12th place in 42:58.

 

Jonathan Taylor was next over the line with the veteran athlete recording 51:54 in 144th spot and was chased home by Brendan Moen (151st – 52:12). Matty Gee followed (164th – 52:41) and then came Terry Egan competing in his 25th Midland Championships (314th – 59:21) with Adrian White completing the six-man scoring team (345th – 61:01). They finished in 22nd place.

 

County champion Gabriella Moriarty had a good run to finish 17th in the senior women’s event over 8k with a time of 33:24, and helping her out in the team, which finished 11th, were Bethan Goddard  63rd – 37:37), Tamara Hardman (97th – 40:07) and Zoe Shepherd (107th – 40:43).

 

Kirsty Goddard was the only competitor for R&N in the U20 Women’s 6k, but she had a good solid run in 21st spot on 28:19.

– Ends –