2014/15 Derby Runner XC Series – Final Race (Holly Hayes Wood)

Christina’s out in front!
On a busy racing weekend for the Club it was inevitably the climax to the Derby Runner Cross Country Series at Holly Hayes Wood which took centre stage. With the individual prizes resolved the emphasis in this race were the team prizes with the Club looking to clinch the men’s & mixed team prizes in the 2^nd Division. At time of writing the final places haven’t been confirmed but certainly the teams couldn’t have done more with, as far as the team prize is concerned, Christina Cooper leading the way with a superb 1^st place finish in the women’s race. Jenny Laing provided brilliant support with a 5^th place finish with Tracey Glover & Nikki Reeves, who the day before had tackled the gruelling Belvoir Challenge, digging deep again to finish in 36^th & 47^th positions respectively. Inge Moore completed the Club’s finishers in the women’s race with a gritty 138^th place finish.
The men’s team were significantly strengthened by the returning Dominic Sharman & he didn’t let anyone down by finishing in 12^th place just four places ahead of the consistent Chris Pearson in 16^th. Like Chris, another who has contributed significantly to the team performances across the series, is Andy Hawtin, who again ran well to finish in 31^st. Injury has deprived the team of James Cassidy in recent races & his 49^th place emphasised how much he has been missed by the team. Paul Chapman recorded a valuable 61^st place finish before a tight battle between Chris Gunstone & Andy Orme who finished in 92^nd & 95^th places respectively. Christian Glover, another who tackled the Belvoir Challenge, completed the men’s team scorers with a determined 147^th place finish. Tom Eyre & Adrian Middleton, in the closest inter-club battle of the race were virtually inseparable with Tom’s 155^th place just edging out Adrian in 156^th. Malcolm Moore completed a hard working series of races in 180^th before Paul Glover & Gary Price showing significant reserves of energy after the Belvoir Challenge to finish in 205^th & 215^th places. Mark Nixon, Richard Ward & Dave Renshaw, who have contributed significantly across the series, completed their campaigns with hard working 226^th, 234^th & 242^nd places respectively.
On Sunday three of the Club’s runners were in half marathon action with Shane Chapman & Wayne Kelleher tackling the undulating Coventry Half Marathon & Laura Storer racing the iconic distance at Bath. All should be well pleased with their performances with Shane & Laura recording excellent PB’s of 1.23.00 & 1.49.08 respectively & Wayne a well-run 1.51.04. Shane’s time was good enough to give him an excellent 60^th place out of 3564 who completed the race.
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