Birmingham League Race 1, Sat 30th October
Rugby & Northampton started their Birmingham League Cross Country campaign exactly as they did last season when the Mens squad finished in 15th place out of 16 teams in the division one race held at Leamington.
Leading them home for the first time was 20 year old Josh Cardwell in his first winter as a Senior man when he completed the tough 7 mile course in 75th place with a time of 39 mins 59 secs.
Paul Birch had a good solid run to cross the line next in 92nd spot with 40.44 and has now scored in the team seven times for R&N. Making his debut amongst the Senior men was 17 year old Luke Robinson, who was the only Junior taking part for the club. He gave a good account of himself to record 41.03 in 102nd position.
The first over 40 veteran across the line for the team was Greg Spellman continuing his form from the summer, which saw him win the Northants road running league for his age group. This race saw him finish in 105th place on 41.13.
Making a return to competition after 5 years was the 2005-06 Club Champion Chris Perez. After being plagued by recurring injuries Perez, now 34, completed the course in 43.23 for 140th place to make the scoring six for the 20th time in his career. Running in his third league race Ben Malia made the ‘A’ team for the first time finishing 12 seconds behind Perez in 144th spot.
R&N are 100 points behind the next team above them and with three teams being relegated they have a lot of work to do if they are to keep their status in Division one.
John Saw led home the B team, which finished in 9th place, when he was timed at 43.58 to place him 150th. The rest of the team was made up of Veterans, which included three athletes that have been the lifeblood of the Mens team. Club captain Vince Carroll (157th in 44.59), Brian Summers ( 168th in 46.12) and Terry Egan ( 186th in 48.37).
Completing the B team was Pete Thomas (192nd in 49.05) and Adrian White (193rd in 49.11).
