Worthington 5

Club’s women to the fore!!!!
Tuesday night saw the 6^th race in this year’s Burton & District Summer League, the Worthington 5. Normally one of the toughest races on the circuit, because of roadworks on the normal route this year’s event was a lot more forgiving, going out & back along the Cloud Cycle Trail. Again, there was a great turnout from the Club with 30 runners lining up on the start line with 200 others. Mercifully, the heavy showers had stopped by race time & there followed some terrific inter-club battles & some tremendous performances, particularly from the Club’s women. Louise Insley set the standard as she won the women’s race in a superb 30.21, which was also good enough to give her 20^th place overall. Giving tremendous support were Christina Cooper & Katie Cotton who recorded 33.46 & 35.44 respectively, which ensured the trio secured the well deserved women’s team prize. The prizes didn’t end there as Tracey Glover continued her trophy winning form with 37.07, which gave her 1^st place in the WV35 category. Nikki Reeves was next in 38.42 followed by Sam Skidmore, who was justifiably pleased with her 39.00, which on this occasion gave her the edge over Lisa Wright (40.14), Laura Storer (41.07) and, making a really welcome return after a long injury, Rebecca Atkins (43.25).
The really tight inter-Club battles were mainly amongst the men though with Andy Hawtin confirming he won’t give up the Club Championship without a fight as he managed, on this occasion, to get the better of Dominic Sharman in times of 29.09 & 29.19 & finishing positions of 10^th & 11^th respectively. Alex Roberts-Black & Jack Leafe both ran brilliantly to record 30.15 & 30.48 and finishing positions of 18^th & 26^th with Chappers Jnr., making a welcome return to form, not far behind in 30.54 and 29^th place. James Cassidy, after his 3^rd place finish in Sunday’s Marchington 10k, continued his good form to finish in 31.19 while Chappers Snr. put in his usual strong finishing burst to just edge out Colin Mee by one position in finishing times of 31.33 & 31.37. Chris Mason was next in 31.49, which was good enough to secure the MV60 prize, with the fast improving Chris Crosby 3 places back in 48^th place and a time of 32.33. Andy Orme & Stuart Halsey then had a close battle with Andy just edging this one with his 32.44 to Stuart’s 32.46. Club stalwart Rob Lower looked as good as ever in recording 33.21 with Christian Glover not far behind in 33.27. Steve Leafe gave his usual maximum effort in recording 34.30 while Chris Hughes & Adrian Middleton continued their steady improvement in recording 35.08 & 35.35. Another continuing to improve is Tim Argent, whose 40.54 gave him the edge over Richard Ward’s 43.50 & Mark Skidmore’s 50.22. Club Secretary Roger Barraclough continues to defy the year’s & medical science with his 57.16 completing the finishers for the Club on another great night of racing.