Birmingham League Race 2, Sat 5 December
Team 12th at Alexander Stadium to move out of Relegation zone
Stuart Nelson led home Rugby & Northampton yet again in the second race of the Birmingham Cross Country League Division 1 held at Birchfield Harriers Alexander Stadium. After going through a bad patch mid race with an attack of stitch Nelson held on to 67th place to cover the six mile course in 34 mins 5 secs and helped the team to finish in 12th spot on the day and move them out of the bottom three relegation zone.
The race consisted of three laps of mainly flat grassland around the grounds of the stadium and the R&N squad was strengthened with the inclusion of 19 year old Josh Cardwell. Now training with the Loughborough students Cardwell has seen a massive improvement in form and finished as the second man home for the club in 72nd position with 34 mins 11 secs. Making his debut in the Birmingham League was Matt Howes who performed well to finish 94th in 34.55 and chasing him across the line was the first Veteran for the club John Gercs who recorded 35.03 in 95th spot. Paul Birch scored in the team for the 5th time when he was timed at 36.15 to place 129th and having a good solid run to complete the scoring six was Veteran Brendan Moen in 130th place with a time of 36.22.
There is no B team competition for Division 1 this year, therefore no league table will be produced. Leading them home was Terry Egan in 147th position with a time of 37.02 closely followed by Steve Milner (149th in 37.11) and Vince Carroll (151st in 37.18). Greg Spellman just got the better of Mark Armstrong with the former recording 37.54 in 160th and the latter 37.58 for 161st. Neil Willsher closed off the B team in exactly 200th place with 40.49 and making a comeback after injury was Steve Dixon (213th in 43.00).
With R&N now lying in 13th place overall from 16 teams things are looking good for maintaining that top flight competition with the next race at Coventry on January 16th.
