Grantham Cup

Grantham Running Club hosted the Grantham Cup 10k trail race at the world-renowned Belton International Horse Trials on Sunday 17th April.  The club was well represented, with ten of its members tackling steep inclines and undulating terrain to complete the challenging off road race through the Belton estate.

Bright sunshine and very little wind meant competitors enjoyed near perfect race day conditions, with the coursesformidable ascents and descents made tricky by recent heavy rainfall.

Gavin Meadows maintained his recent run of solid performances for GRC, securing 9th place overall after a thrilling sprint finish, with a time of 46:00. In a credible performance, Holly Durham firmly cemented her place as one of GRCs top female athletes, scooping the 3rd ladies overall prize in a time of 49:16, only a week after a convincingperformance and personal best at the Manchester marathon.

"I'm absolutely thrilled to have finished 3rd at my local trail event," Holly commented.  "It was a tough race, especially after just having run the Manchester marathon. Conditions were very slippery under foot and after falling on the first hill and allowing other competitors to overtake me I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull it back to claim a place. "

Behind Holly GRC teammates Thomas Williamson 51:54 (41st), Liam Vincent 54:54 (59th), Rick Dobbs 56:27 (73rd) & Julie Riggall 1:13:15 (185th) all finished strongly, with GRC newcomers, Lizzie Potter 1:06:23 (156th), Victoria Dexter 1:08:27 (164th), Michelle Allbones 1:09:06 (169th) and  Margaretta Murray 1:18:48 (202nd), all running the course for the first time.