Members of Grantham Running Club took part in a double whammy of cross-country last weekend. First up on Saturday was fixture 3 of the North Midlands League which took place at Shipley Park in Heanor. With chilly, windy, and wet weather conditions, the testing course was very wet and muddy underfoot. Run around parkland with a few hilly sections and a short stretch through woodland, the event was a proper cross-country experience.
In the Ladies race Caroline Davis and Sarah High both put in strong runs in their 6k, 2 lap course with Caroline finishing 7th in her age group and Sarah 2nd in hers.
The men ran a 10K, 3 lap race in deteriorating weather conditions. The drizzle that had commenced at the start of the ladies race developed into a fully blown icy downpour. Not put off, our chaps equipped themselves well against a strong, competitive field of 207 participants. The ever-impressive Rob Howbrook finished first for the team in 116th place, coming 4th in the V60 age group. In his first experience of racing in such challenging conditions Robin Atter came in second despite finding it tough. Chris Armstrong put in strong performance finishing third and was followed by a consistent Andrew MacAllister who brought the team home.
The great, supportive atmosphere between our club members and the continuing icy rain as we packed up afterwards topped off a 'proper' afternoon of cross country.
The combined efforts of the men has enabled the team to move up to 8th place overall in the league for male vets teams. Robin Atter is now currently 7th overall in the V40 age group.
On Sunday we were back for more as the club's cross-country stalwarts ventured North to Louth for the second fixture of the Lincolnshire League. Frequent showers on the journey up and on arrival cleared away to give brighter, drier weather. Caroline Davis and Sarah High again represented the ladies, running two and half laps of a really nice, purpose built cross country course with some technically challenging hilly, muddy switchbacks over a distance of 5.1K. Caroline finished in 16th place in time of 26.46 with Sarah following her in 17th place in 27.21.
For the men's team, Robin and Andrew were again in action accompanied Paul Davis. Having given themselves a motivational chat beforehand, all three put in strong performances with Robin leading the team home in 27th place in a time of 31.32. Paul demonstrated a return to cross country form over the 7K, three and a half lap course and finished in 35.54 in 39th place. Andrew brought the team home with his second fine run of the weekend in 37.14.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the cross country for the club over the weekend. There will be more in January.
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