RUGBY 6 MILES
MAY 17th 2017
Forty athletes from Rugby & Northampton AC completed the Rugby 6 miles road race with the Senior and Veteran Ladies achieving a hat trick of victories in this third race of the East Midlands Grand Prix Series.
After a day of torrential rain the start of the race came in dry conditions and the host club were out in force with Vicky Nealon leading the R&N Ladies to their third consecutive victory of the series. Her time of 37:08 earned her second spot and she was chased home by Amy Sarkies in third just 15 seconds adrift, which put her as the top F35 once again.
Tori Green closed out the winning team in 4th place on 37:35.
In 12th position Liz Robinson recorded 41:40 and was followed by veteran Zoe Shepherd with 42:29 , which put her as the 2nd over 35 in 14th overall. Angela Copson BEM claimed 17th position in 42:48 to win the F70 race and complete the successful veteran team.
Caroline Carroll and Helen Jones both finished third in their respective age groups. Carroll with 43:33 in the F40 event (22nd overall) and Jones on 43:53 in the F50 competition (26th overall).
Valerie Cross gained another 2nd spot in the over 65 section with 65:11.
The Senior Men just lost out on team victory by three seconds and as the reigning Grand Prix champions the R&N men are still looking for their first victory of the series.
Phil Melling followed up his good run at Blisworth by finishing in 4th place on 32:47 and was also 3rd in the M40 category. The R&N Junior club cross country champion Ben Musgrove put in an appearance and duly won the M20 race with a superb run of 33:02, which landed him 6th spot overall.
Veteran Stephen Marks crossed the line in 8th position on 33:28 ( M40 5th ) and all four of the R&N team made the top ten when Daniel Mould finished 10th in 33:43.
Matthew Chronicle was the second U20 in the race ( 11th in 34:08 ) and three other athletes followed within half a minute. Alistair McDonnell ( 12th in 34:13), Daniel Williams ( 15th in 34:19) and Richard Latimer ( 16th in 34:34 ).
The Veteran Men did clinch their first victory of the series and joining Melling and Marks in that team were Dean Oldfield with 34:59 (18th M40 7th ) and Paul Birch on 35:46 ( 25th M45 3rd ).
Making it twelve men in the top 30 for the host club were Mike Andrews with 35:53 ( 27th M40 10th ) and Iain Botheroyd timed at 36:04 ( 28th M45 4th ).
Joe Childs completed an U20 clean sweep for the club in 3rd on 36:25 ( 32nd overall ).
