Kettering Charity Cup Cross Country - Sat 10th Dec
Victory for Masters and Senior Women
Rory Grant continued his good form to finish in second place in the Mens Charity Cup Cross Country race at Kettering’s Wicksteed Park. The Rugby & Northampton youngster narrowly missed out on the victory by just three seconds when Ben Sharman of Kettering clinched his fourth consecutive title.
Grant covered the three lap 10k course in 34 mins 52 secs to lead home R&N to second place in the team competition behind Kettering Town Harriers after winning it for the last four years.
The race also incorporated the County Championships for Masters over the age of 35 and Stuart Nelson won the title in his first year as a veteran when he finished in 4th position with 35.17.
Third man home for the club was Greg Spellman in 9th spot on 37.37 and although he missed out on an individual medal he was once again part of the winning veteran team, which took the County title for the 8th time in the 10 years since R&N were formed.
Junior Robert Male finished in 11th place when he recorded 39.29 and Nigel Roberts crossed the line 30 seconds later in 13th position.
Completing the six man Charity Cup team was veteran Brian Summers in 14th with 40.39 and closing off the victorious Masters team was Neil Willsher who was timed at 41.32 for 17th spot.
Running in his first ever Charity Cup race was Nathan Smith in 18th place with 42.49.
The R&N ladies won both team competitions with the Veteran trio of Alison Cooper, Angela Copson and Kate Williams when they finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively in the Charity Cup and all one place higher in the Masters race. This meant that Cooper also won a bronze medal with a time of 21.12 over the 4.9 km course with Copson recording 21.44 and Williams 21.59.
Lauren Byrd finished in 8th place with 23.23 and Rachel Shaw followed just one place behind in 23.57.
There was an individual victory for R&N’s Lily Carmichael in the under 13 girls race. She completed the 3k distance in 12.47 and was backed up by Georgia Willix in 4th spot with 13.48 and Millie Mason 10th in 14.33 to give the team second place only one point behind Kettering.
Also finishing were Poppy Carmichael (12th in 14.39) and Lucy Major (15th in 15.09).
The corresponding Boys race also saw the squad finish second when Adam Searle clinched fourth in 12.19 followed by Thomas Glennon 5th in 12.40 and Calym Young (14th in 15.29).
Rhys Kelly was the winner of the under 11 boys race over 2km with a time of 7.46 and he led his R&N team mates into third place in the team race with Matthew Rushton finishing 5th in 8.23 and Will Bodsworth 25th (10.25).
Fenella Downes recorded 11.13 in the under 11 girls section to finish in 14th place.
The under 15 girls saw Isobel Hughes cover the 4.3 km course in 20.43 for 5th position with Emily Byrd coming home next in 6th on 21.24. Christopher Male was 8th in the u15 boys race with 19.35.
