PRESS RELEASE
1st March 2016
RUGBY & NORTHAMPTON SHINE ON NATIONAL STAGE
Athletics club achieve top-10 finishes at National Cross County Championships
Rugby & Northampton had a memorable day at the National Cross Country Championships at Donington Park over the weekend, clinching two top-10 finishes and breaking a seven-year record.
The top performer from the 52-strong squad in Derbyshire was under-15 boys runner Adam Searle, the Midlands runner-up completing the 4.5k course in 29th place with an impressive time of 17 minutes and 24 seconds.
Led by Searle’s stellar race, the U15B team clinched ninth spot with good runs from Joe Musgrove (59th – 17:55), Muss-Ab Hassan (63rd – 17:57) and Matthew Chronicle (125th – 18:34).
Going one better were the U20 Women, who finished in eighth position at the event. The team’s stand-out performer was Rebecca Leadbeater in 40th spot, recording a time of 24:52 over the 6k track. Emma Bond followed shortly after in 51st (25:20) and Ciara Moore was next over the line in 29:27 to place 110th.
The Senior men broke a seven-year record when they completed their eight-mile race, securing their highest finish since 2009 by taking 44th position.
Robert Male clinched the Senior Mens Club Cross Country title, producing a superb run to finish in 203rd place with 48:46, and was followed by the R&N Veteran Champion Brendan Moen in 537th (54:02). The next two over the line were Joe Lantsbery (547th – 54:15) and Paul Birch (581st – 54:49). Achieving his highest-ever National placing was Nigel Roberts in 637th (55:39) and closing out the six-man scoring team was Vince Carroll (701st – 56:22).
Terry Egan completed his 25th Senior Mens National race (953rd – 59:32), which dates back to his first one in 1985 and, along with Adrian White (1089th – 61:45) and John Saw (1659th – 78:55), completed the nine-man squad.
Also in action in Saturday’s showpiece was Molly Williams, who led the U13 Girls 3k race with a 42nd-place finish (14:57). Following her home were Neve Satchwell (111th – 15:31), Claudia Searle (124th – 15:35) and Amelia Dickens (190th – 16:04) who combined to earn the quartet 15th overall.
The U15G team also made the top 20, coming 19th with Amy Walker completing the 4k route in 43rd position (17:48). Abigail Pearce came in next (133rd – 18:59) and the team was completed by Lucy Stevens (150th – 19:12) and Olivia Sheehan (216th – 19:57).
A 20th-place finish for the U17 Men was the prize as four R&N athletes completed the 6k race in under 25 mins. James Wizard was the top man in 126th position (22:53) followed by Cameron Roberts (161st – 23:27), Joseph Childs (192nd – 24:04) and Finn Hutton (195th – 24:12).
Harry Boynton was the first U13B across the line for R&N, completing the 3k course in 14:53 for 174th place. Noah Bennett just edged out team-mate Michael Corbett by one second, with the former finishing in 202nd on 15:04 and the latter two places adrift. Jake Hope completed the scoring (307th in 15:52) to put them in 29th place.
Emer Wintsch was the sole competitor for the club in the U17 Womens event over 5k, but she had a good run to finish in 50th place with 22:14. In the U20 Mens 10k race, Ben Musgrove recorded 40:51 for 54th spot, while Jack Bond sealed the Junior Mens club title, clocking 42:15 for 75th place.
– Ends –
