Rampant Runners have fun in the Coventry sun

The tenth running of the race incorporated the Warwickshire 10k Championships and made up the seventh round of the Warwickshire Road Race League.

An undulating course based at Jaguar Sports and Social Club on Browns Lane Plant and run over traffic-free and mostly rural country lanes in north-west Coventry, the Northbrook 10k is considered by some to be a PB course owing to a near 4k-long descent to the finish.

For others, the steady ascent for the opening 6k is enough to make it a hard slog of a course.

Ben Speed of Coventry Godiva and Mark Couldwell of Charnwood AC shot off at the start and were never challenged, Speed taking victory in 31:56, nine seconds clear of Couldwell.

Next came a trio of Kenilworth Runners, with Paul Andrew running another excellent race to finish third in 33:25, 24 seconds clear of a resurgent Rich Simkiss, who had to battle hard at the finish to hold off fifth-placed Chris McCarthy.

Andrew and Simkiss were rewarded with silver and bronze medals in the Warwickshire Championships.

Completing the victorious men’s team was eighth-placed Jim Sawle who put in a superb performance to earn himself a new PB of 35:13 and the accolade of Warwickshire M35 champion.

Next to follow was Paddy Roddy who, despite suffering from a stitch and a cold, was the first junior finisher in 36:50.

A below-par Matthew Kingston-Lee (37:07) was followed by Pete Bryan in 24th position, his 37:28 earning himself second position in the M45 category. Roger Homes ran excellently to finish in 38:37 and was closely followed by Richard Steel (38:45), Richard Green (38:46) and Nardia Poole (38:55), who was the fifth lady to finish and third in the Warwickshire Championships.

Pete Matthews (38:56), Clive Pearce (39:28) and new club member Stephen Page (39:39) also broke 40 minutes, the latter for the first time, while Dave Ramus (40:20) also secured a PB.

Selected others: 65 Jon Mettyear (41:12); 78, Jimmy Atkins (42:01; 107, Mark Hall (44:28); 140, Sigurd Assing (45:05); 147, Ros Matthews (46:17); 177, Sally Hicks (47:40); 182, Michael Crust (48:15); 184, Rebecca Smith (48:29); 195, Sara Habib (49:02); 267, Tom Dable (53:37); 279, Chris Hart (54:33); 297, Pauline Dable (56:26).

A strong Spa Striders contingent also took part, with Mark Urbanowski finishing 14th in a personal best time of 36:14.

Next back was Trevor Wilkinson, (40:04), with wife Carolyn leading home the first-placed women’s team in 40:37.

Clare Hinton (43:16) and Sue Cox (46:18) completed the winning trio.

The race attracted 383 finishers, who were rewarded with a generous goodie bag including a T-shirt and commemorative flapjack.

Selected others: Ben Parkinson (43:35, PB); Dave Lindsay (46:11); Sean Lonergan (47:38); Fiona Ferguson (50:22); Jude Baum (51:41); Ruth Tennant (51:43); Sandra Stokes (53:37); Melanie Carty (56:26); Ruth French (69:12).

The 20th edition of the Cherwell Runners & Joggers Hornton Classic Six was another victim of the wet and miserable summer.

Following a heavy storm 90 minutes before the start of the race, parts of the course were under water and runners were forced to run on the grass verges at the side of the road.

The circular course began at the village green at Hornton and stung the competitors from the off with two steep hills.

Another climb through Horley between three and four miles followed before the race finished with a descent in the final quarter mile.

Kenilworth Runners’ Tom Dable finished the race in 50:16 and was followed by wife Pauline in 56:08.

Meanwhile, much further afield, Spa Striders’ Nicola Wright made her debut at the Heritage Bank half-marathon in Queensland, Australia, coming home in 2hr 15min.