Inge, Anslow XC and Sneyd 10

The activities of South Derbyshire Road Runners were massively overshadowed by the sad news, early Tuesday morning, of the death of the Club’s well respected and hard-working Chairperson, Inge Moore. On Wednesday evening 90 of the Club’s members, after a minutes silence, celebrated Inge’s life by doing, what Inge loved doing, running together over a well-known winter route. Inge will be badly missed not only at the Club but by the wider Burton and South Derbyshire running community.
On Sunday, with Inge an avid spectator, 17 of the Club’s runners showed no ill effects from the Club’s Presentation Evening the night before by tackling the latest leg of the new Derbyshire/Staffs Derby Runner XC league at Anslow. Over a new course for many there was the usual mix of mountain goat friendly hills and water hazards it was again the Club’s all conquering women who took centre stage. Led by Jenny Laing, who was crowned 2017 women’s Club Champion the night before, who finished a superb 3^rd in the women’s race in 34:59, the women won the women’s team race and contributed significantly to the mixed team finishing in 2^nd place overall. In the women’s race Laing was given superb support by the ultra-consistent Nikki Reeves in 5^th place in 38:32, the highly promising Ellie-May Evans in 6^th in 39:43 and the gritty Tracey Glover in 7^th in 40:35.
In the men’s race Gareth Watkins showed what a class act he is by finishing in 2^nd place in 29:39 and leading the men’s team to a 2^nd place finish in the men’s team event. Andy Hawtin ran well for 5^th place in 31:21 before Christian Glover continued his upward trajectory by finishing in 12^th in 33:00. Richard Miller and Ross Clarke, two of quite a large group of the Club’s runners who are tackling the London Marathon in April, showed that their training is going well by finishing in 15^th and 17^th places in times of 33:28 & 34:06 respectively. Chris Hanman showed a welcome return to form in 19^th place in 34:34 with the redoubtable Matt Long in 24^th in 36:35, getting the better of skiing enthusiast Tom Eyre in 37:47 and clubman extraordinaire Andy Orme in 35^th in 38:15. Romain Chambard and Malcolm Moore were close in 38^th and 43^rd places in times of 40:01 and 40:52 with the closest inter-Club battle being between Paul Glover in 50^th in 43:34 and James Cobb in 51^st in 43:37.
Stuart Halsey, Gary Price and David Lunn were slightly further afield as they lined up with 260 others in the rearranged Sneyd 10 miler. For Stuart it was a continuation of his prize winning ways as he finished in 9^th place in a superb distance PB of 63:00 chip time. This was good enough for the 1^st MV50 age group prize and an age group UK ranking of No 1 for the distance. Gary Price and David Lunn gave their usual maximum effort in finishing in chip times of 83:22 and 88:41 in a weekend when, for a change, racing performances were put in perspective.