Grant roars to county cross-country success
Rory Grant became the youngest ever winner of the senior men’s race when he won the Northants County Cross Country title at Corby’s West Glebe Park.
The 18-year-old Rugby & Northampton athlete took the title by three seconds from his conqueror in the Charity Cup Ben Sharman of Kettering.
The 10k course consisted of three large laps and one small lap on a mild and dry day and Grant was content to stay in the leading pack in the first half of the race, but when early leader Stuart Nelson dropped out with stomach cramp the main contenders were whittled down to just five with four Kettering Town Harriers challenging Grant at the front.
With four-time champion Tom Bark already detached there was going to be a new winner, and with 800m to go Grant put in a surge and broke the field.
He maintained form down the home stretch with Sharman giving chase and crossed the line in 33 mins 38 secs.
Consolation for Bark, who finished sixth, was when his club Corby AC successfully defended the team title and despite Grant’s victory Rugby & Northampton could only finish third.
Chris Lamb was the second man home for the club in ninth place with 34.41 and was followed by Liam Ratcliffe who duplicated last year’s position in 14th on 35.45 and first year senior Robert Gardner 15th with 35.57.
Conor Hills produced a terrific sprint finish to make the team in 17th place with 36.13 and this gave him the silver medal in the Under 20 race.
Completing the scoring six was veteran Greg Spellman in 36.17 for 20th spot.
The senior ladies race saw a repeat of the top three from 2010, but on this occasion the victory was more emphatic from Sian Edwards.
Formerly employed in Northampton, but representing Kettering, Edwards produced an awesome display of front running, which gave the former International victory by 27 seconds over the 6k course with a time of 21 mins 48 secs.
Nicole Roberts of Birchfield was the runner-up.
Kirsty Whigham gained the bronze medal running for her new club Rugby & Northampton in 23.39, and this helped the Ladies team to win the title for the eighth time in the last 10 years.
Joining her in that team were Alison Cooper in seventh place on 25.35 and Daisy Melville (8th in 26.11) who had to work hard to hold off Angela Copson (9th in 26.13) and Maree Jesson (10th in 26.20).
Gabriella Moriarty applied herself well in her first race against Senior athletes, and she was rewarded with a silver medal in the under-20 category with 27.33 and her R&N team mate Charlotte Inwood clinched the bronze in 28.31.
Jacob Allen won the under-17 men’s title for the second time when he finished the 6k distance 16 seconds clear in exactly 21 minutes.
Tom Charteress won bronze in 22.19 and Joseph Lantsbery completed the winning R&N team in 5th place with 22.54.
The under-17 ladies team also took the title for R&N with Sarah Bennett turning last year’s silver into gold when she covered the 5k race in 20.31 for a 14 secs margin of victory.
The bronze medal went to Bethan Goddard in 21.21 with Clarissa Blake claiming that final team spot in fourth on 22.08.
In the under-11 boys race over 2k Cole Mason took the title for R&N in 8.16 and was backed up by Oliver Murphy in fourth with 8.35 and Harry Andrew on 9.08 for ninth to give the trio a team victory.
Likewise for the under-11 girls, with Amy Walker winning the race in 8.30 and Abigail Pearce sealing third spot on 8.49 followed by Olivia White (4th in 9.18).
The team race in the under-13 boys competition over 3k was a close affair with the R&N trio just clinching it by one point.
Haydn Arnall led them home in second place with 11.30 and was joined in the team by Joe Musgrove (6th in 12.16) and Ewan Roberts (7th in 12.20).
The under-13 girls won the bronze medals and were headed by Georgia Willix in eighth place on 13.36 for the 3k course with Constantia Liburd on 14.33 for 14th spot and recent Christmas relay winner Abbi Carter in 15th just two seconds behind.
Ben Musgrove helped the under-15 boys to the silver medals when he led home the club in the 5k race and won a bronze individual medal with a time of 19.33 Isaac Davis (19.52) and Kyran Wilson (20.00) finished fourth and fifth respectively.
The under-15 girls event was over a distance of 4k and Charlotte Murphy finished in sixth place for R&N with 16.17 and the silver medal winning team was completed by Kirsty Goddard (8th in 16.47) and Zoey Garlick (10th in 17.38).
THREE Wootton Road Runners took part in the County Cross-Country Championships at the West Glebe in Corby.
In the women’s 6km cross country race Jasmine Lowdon produced a excellent piece of running as she came sixth, covered the course in 24mins 53 seconds.
In the men’s race Steve Poole produced a fantastic piece of running as he covered the 10km course in 34mins 55 seconds to finish 11th. Next home was Steve Heighway, who covered the 10km course in 38mins 59 seconds to finish 35th.
At Milton Keynes, Paul Matthews finished the 5km Willen Lake Park run in 20mins 24 seconds.
Brent Perkins finished 49th in a time of 23 mins 49 seconds
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