RUGBY & Northampton Athletics Club had another successful weekend, which saw them secure a best ever Division One result in the Birmingham XC League on Saturday afternoon.
Six finishers from the club made their way inside the top 55 runners, scoring 155 points and smashing their record of 238 from 2004, William Gardner in the Men’s being only the fifth athlete from Rugby & Northampton to make his way into the top 10 at the event – striding home with a 31:51 finish to place tenth over six-miles at Abington Park.
Dominic Jones (32:11) followed close behind in 16th, Muss-Ab Hassan (32:13) in 18th and Elisha De Mello following two seconds later in 20th saw a trio of R&N runners stride home in quick succession.
Hadyn Arnall recorded his personal best of 36th place in a 33 minute time, whilst George Goodwin completed the scorers for R&N in 55th position (33:36).
Rugby’s A team finished fourth overall on the day, which equals a best ever placing for a single race, the result ensuring they stand eighth overall after three races ran, with the fourth and final race day of the season taking place in Telford on Saturday 9th February.
Adam Searle made his debut on Saturday in the Birmingham League, the 18-year old racing home to a 34:07 finish and taking the B team to a 67th placing, Adam Wright – a B team team-mate – recorded a personal best of 34:27 in 80th.
It was a day of debutants as Jordan Simmons (35:26) came in at 107th, junior athlete Finn Hutton came in at 112th (35:37) with a personal best, Alistair McDonnell (35:48) and Dave Ball (36:10) finished 116th and 126th respectively for the B team – clinching the side third spot and eighth overall in their category.
Overall in a day of team and personal milestones, the Club had 27 finishers in total, while Vince Carroll ran a 100th Birmingham League race, finishing 181st in a time of 38:48.
From the Ladies’ point-of-view, it also proved to be a successful afternoon as they raced in the third round of the Midland Women’s XC League Division Two.
Bethan Goddard led the way for the club in Droitwich with a 10th place finish (27:19), helping her team to a seventh placing overall on the day, whilst Tilly Lea (29:36) in 44th, Sophie Wilkinson-Hargate in 47th (29:48) and Olivia Sheehan (31:00) in 68th followed shortly after.
The results mean Rugby & Northampton finished in ninth in the Masters – Kate Williams (32:57), Zoe Shepherd (33:21), Helen Jones (33:44) and Minerva Chesser (34:06) coming home in 98th, 110th, 117th and 121st respectively to wrap up a weekend of racing action for R&N Athletics Club.
