Colin Potter 10k & Hungarton 7

On a hot Friday evening, writes Steve Leafe, the Club were well represented in a field of just under 400 finishers at the Colin Potter 10k, with 18 runners completing the course, half of whom finished in the top 100.Pride of place once again went to Christina Hawtin, who finished in an excellent 2^nd place in the women’s race, and 52^nd overall, in a time of 41.49 seconds, beaten only by Club colleague Louise Insley who, on the night, was running for her first claim club, Heanor AC. Not to be outdone, Andy Hawtin finished 5^th overall, in a time of 36.42 which was a great result in a highly competitive field. Not far behind Andy was Shane Chapman, fresh from recent triathlon success, finishing 16^th in 38.48. Stuart Halsey, who is returning to his best form, was next finisher for the club, his time of 41.13 earning him 42^nd position, and 3^rd place in the vet 50 category.
Andy Orme continued his consistent run of form, finishing 57^th in a time of 42.17, followed by Steve Leafe in 63^rdplace in 42.40, and Paul Chapman, recovering from a spell on the side lines with injury, in 68^th position in 42.50. Chris Gunstone has been concentrating on shorter track races this season, but still ran well in the heat for 73^rdposition in 43.17 and Jon Mayman, gradually getting back into racing, also finished well inside the top 100 with his time of 44.26 earning him 91^st position. There was then a tight finish between Katie Cotton and Kelly Knight, who both had an identical finish time of 48.05, though Katie just pipped Kelly at the line to get 138^th, with Kelly in 139^th; though both runners achieved chip times under 48 minutes. Paul and Tracey Glover have both had a heavy schedule of racing recently, and on Friday Paul, in 144^th place in 48 minutes 12 seconds, finished ahead of Tracey in 162^nd position in 49.09. Laura Harper has also had a busy schedule recently, and ran another strong race in 187^thposition in a time of 51.16.
David Lunn, despite racing two days earlier, ran well for 231^st place in 53.30, and Stuart Reeves, despite injuring an ankle a week earlier, ended the race in 268^th position in a time of 56.18. The next two SDRR finishers were also fairly close behind, with Karen Wilkes’ time of 57.35 gaining her 277^th place, not far ahead of Maria Allen who finished in 285^th place in a time of 58.03.
On Wednesday, the hottest day of the year so far, two members of the Club braved the evening heat to take on the third race in the Leicestershire Road Running Summer League. With mostly cows and sheep as spectators, the Hungarton 7 proved to be a tough and hilly (but very pretty) route through the East Leicestershire countryside.
Dave Lunn came in 396th with a time of 70.16, followed by Kat Smith in 460th place in 80.32.
Kat Smith writes ‘definitely one to try again next year, hopefully in slightly cooler conditions’!