It was another day of success for Kenilworth Runners at the hugely popular Two Castles Run from Warwick Castle to Kenilworth Castle, with Phil Gould and Nardia Poole taking third and second places respectively in the men's and ladies races, Paddy Roddy winning the junior boys race, Martin Dorrill and Pete Bryan finishing first and second in the Super Masters category, and the men’s team taking second position in the club competition.

Flanked by some appalling weather, the 10km long Two Castles Run was thankfully blessed with near perfect conditions for racing and spectating - still with sunny skies and temperatures not too warm after an unseasonably cold night. Those further down the field though did suffer in the increasingly warm sunshine and it was noted by some that had runners enjoyed the healthy tailwind present along much of the course a day earlier, times may have been significantly quicker.

The event was won by Ryan Kenny of Coventry Godiva Harriers, who celebrated his 24th birthday in style by dominating the race from the gun, winning comfortably in 32:46. Third was Phil Gould of Kenilworth Runners, the former winner of the Two Castles Run amazingly ran a PB equaling time of 33:50 - the third occasion he has clocked these figures.

Seventh was Andrew Siggers in 35:10, although not classified in the race as running for Kenilworth Runners due to a mix up at registration. Paddy Roddy won the junior race and was tenth overall in a big new PB of 35:35. Matthew Kingston-Lee was next home for the club in sixteenth place (36:15) and Phil Fusi completed the men’s team of four (the omission of Andrew Siggers prevented the club from taking top honours in the team competition) with an excellent 37:06. Just behind Phil finished Martin Dorrill who won the Super Masters category in 37:16.

Nardia Poole was the first Kenilworth Runner lady to finish and she was a superb second in a new PB of 39:37, twenty one seconds behind race winner Amanda Deavy of Northbrook. Next lady to finish was Ros Matthews in 45:18, and Sara Habib ran well to finish just over a minute slower in 46:29.

As in previous years members of Kenilworth Runners have entered this local race en masse. With 75 finishers, just under half of all club members took part in the event, thanks in part to the race forming part of the club’s internal race league. There were a plethora of new Personal Bests (quite an achievement on a course that is significantly net uphill) and excellent achievements. Personal Bests, as indicated by website Power of 10 (which means the runners may have run faster in non England Athletics sanctioned events or at events prior to the website’s creation), were achieved by: Paddy Roddy (35:35); Paul Royle (37:16); Andrew Holbrook (37:58); Roger Homes (39:13); Richard Green (39:13); Nardia Poole (39:37); Dave Ramus (41:18); Stephen Chalkley (45:58); Julie Pearce (49:37); Laura Gould (53:37); and Samantha Calder (54:51).

There were 3295 finishers in total and the race reached full capacity just days after entries were officially opened. Finishers received a goody bag including a t-shirt and medal for their efforts.

† Not technically a club member at this race.

* As I’ve used gun position and chip time (as Power of 10 do), some people may be lower placed than those above them but with a quicker time.

‡ Ladies positions not available for these finishers.