Top-12 finish for Leamington C&AC at Midlands Road Relays

Leamington C&AC's women's A team finished an outstanding 12th at the Midland Road Relays at Sutton Park, equalling their best performance in the event.
By The Newsroom
Published 27th Sep 2018, 10:25 BST
Updated 27th Sep 2018, 11:29 BST
Spa Striders enjoyed their return to the Midland Road Relays. Pictures submittedSpa Striders enjoyed their return to the Midland Road Relays. Pictures submitted
Spa Striders enjoyed their return to the Midland Road Relays. Pictures submitted

Relay debutant Natalie Bhangal clocked a fine 16min 31sec for the 4.33k course to hand over to Megan Rothman in 15th position from 121 teams.

Rothman then moved the team up three places with a time of 16:34.

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Wendy Daniels (17:06) claimed a further place, with Zara Blower (17:45) bringing C&AC home in 67:56, just six seconds outside their 2008 best.

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Leamingotn C&AC's Courtney Depala.Leamingotn C&AC's Courtney Depala.
Leamingotn C&AC's Courtney Depala.

A second Leamington team of Jade Holt (18:20), Sarah Price and Eve Walpole (both 19:28) and Courtney Depala (19:41) were 40th overall in 1:16:57.

Spa Striders ended a four-year absence at the championships with their A team of Jo Fleming, Susan Cox, Katherine Lambeth and Clare Hinton finishing 34th and further teams finishing 78th, 82nd and 86th.

Kenilworth Runners’ ladies finished 30th, 65th and 68th with Laura Pettifer (17:02) recording the 12th fastest fourth leg time.

The race was won by Birchfield Harriers in 62:57.

The strain shows on the face of Clare Hinton.The strain shows on the face of Clare Hinton.
The strain shows on the face of Clare Hinton.
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Kenilworth Runners times: A team: Louise Andrews (19:13); Kelly Burnett-Nicholl (18:24); Jane Phillips (18:42); Laura Pettifer (17:02). B team: Shani Samarasekera (19:15); Jenny Vaughan (18:48); Rachel Armstrong (20:14); Lesley Mellor (26:44). C team: Ros Brooks (21:24); Sophie Cookson (21:29); Lucy Williams (20:36); Emma Wreford-Bush (20:35).

A decimated Leamington men’s team did well to finish 30th, qualifying for the Nationals as one of the top 25 A teams.

Charlie Eastaugh showed his improved form to clock 18:33 on the 5.88k course, the fifth fastest all-time for the club.

He was backed up by Dean Mawby (21:20), Charlie Staveley (21:21) Iain McLaughlin (20:35) and Jack Savage (20:36) who knocked two minutes off his previous best, before being brought home by Vassilis Andreoulakis (21:01) for an overall time of 2:03:37.

Natalie BhangalNatalie Bhangal
Natalie Bhangal
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Leamington’s B team, with an average age of 54, came home 86th of the 107 finishing teams behind Birchfield Harriers’ winning time of 1:48:01.

Lead runner Jason Hill (21:45) was followed by Nick Tawney (23:50), John Knibb (22:34), Kevin Walpole (23:51, 64-year-old Dave Potter (25.51) and Alex Montgomery (28:43).

Kenilworth Runners’ 
men’s A team finished in 36th place overall, with their B 
team placed 72nd.

Spa Striders’ A team of Chris McKeown, Gethyn Friswell, Rob Egan, Simon Ludford, Dan Fleming and Dave Mills finished 58th with their B team 92nd.

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Kenilworth Runners times: A team: Ben Taylor (19:58); Kev Hope (20:21); Nick Williams (22:04); George Crawford (20:30); Stu Hopkins (21:02); Wayne Briggs (22:13). B team: Neil Sheward (22:47); Ryan Baker (23:46); Ian Baynes (23:19); Chris Lyons (23:49); Dan Leng (21:57); Anthony Young (23:59). C team: Darren Pettifer (25:59); Stewart Underhill (24:22); Craig Phillips (25:01); Ivan Wilson (29:27).

Kenilworth Runners’ under-15 boys did extremely well in a highly competitive event to be placed 13th from 32 complete teams, a marked improvement on 2017 when they were 31st and 47th.

Sam Crouchley ran 14:25 for the 3.88k course, with Ryan Hill clocking 14:48 and Billy Doxey 14:22 for a combined time of 43:35.

The event was won by Taunton AC in 39:32.

Leamington C&AC’s Mel Gould, Emily Lovett and Ana Lovett ran 49:42 to finish 23rd in the under-15 girls’ race.

Related topics:Leamington