High fives for Smith and pats on the back all-round for C&AC's Andrew

Leamington C&AC's Paul Andrew claimed a fine runners-up spot at the Northbrook 10k last Sunday, the latest event in the Warwickshire Road Race League.
Paul Andrew tucks in behind the early leaders at the Northbrook 10k, with eventual winner Alistair Smith (409) further back.  Picture: Tim NunanPaul Andrew tucks in behind the early leaders at the Northbrook 10k, with eventual winner Alistair Smith (409) further back.  Picture: Tim Nunan
Paul Andrew tucks in behind the early leaders at the Northbrook 10k, with eventual winner Alistair Smith (409) further back. Picture: Tim Nunan

Hot, humid weather combined with a new start position half-way up the Brown’s Lane hill meant the race was extremely challenging.

However, race winner Alistair Smith of Coventry Godiva found conditions to his liking, even having time to high five the crowds as he came home first in 32min 49sec.

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Andrew crossed the line 28 seconds later, with team-mate and fellow former Kenilworth Runner Phil Gould eighth in 35:55.

Dean Mawby (37:05) pipped teammate Vassilis Andreoulakis (37:06) on the line and also bagged the first under-20 prize.

Brian Miller (39:40) and Susie Tawney (43:48), fresh from winning their age categories in the East Midlands Grand Prix, were first M55 and W55, respectively.

With 64 finishers, Kenilworth Runners had the largest number of club runners in the race.

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Andy Siggers was first home for Kenilworth, finishing fifth in a time of 35:28, following closely by Steve Marr (6th in 35:35), who also won the V35 category.

With six runners inside the top 20, including a fine run by new member George Crawford (17th in 37:03), Kenilworth won the men’s team prize.

Pete Soley (36:23) led Spa Striders home in 13th followed by Ste Taylor (21st in 37:15) and Adam Notley (26th in 38:12).

For the ladies, Melissa Venables continued her fine racing form to finish fifth lady in 41:09.

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Kate Gadsby (43:59), Carolyn Wilkinson (44:25) and Clare Hinton (44:34) completed Striders’ scorers.

Laura Pettifer was the first female for Kenilworth Runner in 42:07.

New member Rebecca Beasley had an excellent debut for the club, finishing ninth lady in 43:15 and Louise Andrews was 15th in 44:06 to give Kenilworth second ladies’ team.

Jenny Jeeves was the leading Leamington female, continuing her fine form with a time of 42:41.

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Earlier in the morning, four of Leamington C&AC’s youth team took part in the Northbrook 2k fun run.

Mel Gould was first home for the club in fifth place overall and second girl in 6:33.

Younger brother James was just unable to overhaul his sister, coming home five seconds and two places back.

Kenilworth Runners took part in two races at Draycote Reservoir on Friday, suitably called 7 @ 7 as there was a 7k race in the morning at 7am and another 7k race at 7pm.

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In the morning, Louise Andrews finished first lady in a time of 30:06, with Stef Lunn winning the evening race in 30:37.

The morning race was won by Adam Newman of Daventry Road Runners in 24:37, with Kenilworth Runners’ Howard Lancashire runner-up in 26:07.

Newman again took the honours in the evening race in a quicker time of 23:55.

Leamington C&AC athlete Dean Mawby retained his title at the 5k Cavin Woodward Memorial race, which was run as part of the Whitnash Fun Day.

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Warm conditions resulted in Mawby finishing in 16min 57sec, 17 seconds slower than his winning time in 2016.

Ray Ball was again runner-up to take home the first Whitnash resident’s trophy.

However, an improvement of 40 seconds on last year saw the teenager finish just five seconds behind Mawby.

Cian McKeaney’s improvement was confirmed by a time of 17:47 and third place.

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Almost one-and-a-half minutes faster than his time in the 2016 renewal it saw him retain the Thomas Ellard Memorial Trophy for first under-16 runner.

Sixth place in 19:18 earned Trevor Symonds the Cavin Woodward Memorial Trophy for the first over-40 male, while former Spa Strider Harkiran Kalsi was the leading lady in 24:16.