RUGBY & Northampton successfully defended their East Midlands Grand Prix title for the first time in ten years courtesy of an historic performance in the Milton Keynes 10km which was the final race of the series.
The club’s senior men achieved their fifth series victory to clinch the title last Tuesday (June 28).
Leading the side home was fourth-placed Dominic Jones with a time of 33 minutes and 37 seconds, and he was followed shortly after by Stephen Marks (33.44) and William Gardner (33.48) in fifth and sixth respectively. Completing the team on the night was Jonathan Burke (36.54) in 26th.
Although Daniel Williams (37.03) just missed out on the scoring team, in 29th, he did clinch tenth place in the overall series, while Dean Oldfield (38.10) also produced a strong run to take 41st.
The senior women also performed impressively to finish as runners-up both in the race and in the series standings.
Amy Sarkies (39.06) secured fourth position overall and first in the over-35 category, with Vicky Nealon (40.19) crossing the line next in eighth. Lorna Latimer (44.18) completed the team’s scoring in 20th place, which was enough to grab third in the overall series standings.
Joining Sarkies in the veteran women’s team was Helen Jones (47.18) who clinched fifth in the F45 section on the night, and that secured fourth in the age group’s overall series standings.
Kate Williams (47.25) was the first over-55 to complete the 10km – that victory helped the team finish third on the night and climb to third in the overall standings.
The veteran men also completed the series in third, following a fourth-placed finish in Milton Keynes.
Brendan Moen (37.14) placed fifth in the M45 – his last race in the age group – while Nigel Roberts (38.11) soon joined him across the line to claim sixth in the M45 section, and sixth overall.
Laurence Scott (41.34) earned seventh in the M50 – enough to finish the series in seventh overall position – while club president Terry Egan (42.02) completed the veteran team with a second-place finish in the M55 category.
The overall standings led the Athletics Club to their best combined results for six years, with all four competing teams finishing in the top three.
R&N’s success continued on Saturday with second place in the British Athletics League Division 4, to move a step closer to winning promotion.
The penultimate competition of the series at Bracknell was dominated by Doug Stark, who notched 59 of the team’s 235 points on the day.
Stark won the high jump (1.85m), discus (39.91) and shot put (14.13m) events, added third in the pole vault (3.8m) and javelin (49.49m), and also secured fourth in the long jump (6.02m).
On the back of making the finals in the Great British Championships last weekend, sprinter Kyle Ennis set a new club record of 10.56 seconds en route to 100m success.
Clinton Osoba George (22.74) and Adam Wright (49.62) were victorious in the 200m and 400m races respectively, while Andrew Reeves (1.70m) won in the high jump.
Luke Townsend finished the 110m (15.73) and 440m (57.37) hurdles in second, and Connor Aldridge (56.11) completed the 400m hurdles double, winning the B-string race. Townsend (12.06m) also went on to achieve third in the triple jump.
Chris Morgan (5.67m) was runner-up in the long jump while Jonjo Fanning’s 36.62m hammer throw was enough for third.
