Inter-Club Road Race

Kenilworth Runners men’s team dominated the Inter Club Road Race between themselves, Spa Striders and Stratford AC on Thursday 26 July 2012 with a crushing display of strength and depth. The men took the top three positions, had seven of the top ten and fourteen finishers inside the top twenty, leading to a comfortable victory in the team competition. The ladies had an excellent showing, with Nardia Poole finishing second and the team finishing just twenty points behind the strong Spa Striders. This helped the club to retain the prized overall shield for the third year in succession.

It was Spa striders turn to host the event and they chose to base it in the small village of Stoneleigh on the outskirts of Kenilworth. For Kenilworth Runners it very much felt like a club night run with the mixed terrain course skirting the perimeter of their club HQ at the Wardens Cricket Club. The course was constantly undulating with a particularly steep and tough off road climb at Stoneleigh in the closing stages of the 5.75 mile course. Using a mixture of trails and public footpaths across fields for around a quarter of the course meant that there were gates to negotiate that slowed the going.

The biggest factor that slowed many runners on the night however was the weather which, in a moment of rarity in this wettest and coolest of summers, was sunny, hot and humid, with temperatures still in the high twenties even as the race began at 7pm. Because of the conditions Kenilworth Runners volunteered their services to provide a much welcomed drinks station at approximately halfway.

Following the formalities of the pre-race team photographs, the race commenced and from the off it was clear that Kenilworth was set to dominate the race. There was however an interloper shooting off at the front of the race in the form of a ghost runner, unique amongst the 142 strong field for he was not sporting club colours. Indeed his attire was so casual it was assumed by some that he wasn’t even an official race entrant and was merely an enthusiastic (and talented) supporter. With the field strung out after the first mile and a half this blue shirted wonder was still comfortably leading the race from a trio of Kenilworth Runners.

As the race transpired it turned out that this ghost was actually Pete Hawkins, a member of Spa Striders. Fortunately for Kenilworth his exuberant start got the better of him and he was eventually hauled in by three marauding green vested runners. It was Andrew Siggers who came home first in 32:53, twenty two seconds clear of Rich Simkiss, who was around the same distance clear of an impressive Phil McCorquodale. Behind fourth placed Hawkins, it was Stuart Hopkins, Jim Sawle Paddy Roddy, and Martin Dorrill who filled placed five to eight.

Behind Spa’s Rich Merrell it was the unfortunate Andrew Cockerill who was the first Stratford runner to finish. Andrew was in eighth place until he took a wrong turning before the final climb of the race, dropping two places, and then suffered badly with the heat, performing heroically despite being clearly disorientated to hold onto tenth position.

The first lady to finish was Kate Wright of Stratford AC in 38:10, followed by Kenilworth Runners’ Nardia Poole, who ran excellently to finish second one minute later. She was followed by Jennie Spillane of Spa Striders, who finished in 40:03. For Kenilworth Runners, Jayne Mumford was second home in 43:03 and Ros Matthews was our third finisher in 43:54.

In the team competitions, twenty three men from each club scored in the men’s race, eight in the ladies. The men won impressively with 421 points, to Spa’s 1425 and Stratford’s 1511. The ladies’ was a much closer affair with Spa edging out Kenilworth by twenty points with 390 to 410. Stratford finished on 769 points. Combined, Kenilworth won comfortably on 831 points to Spa’s 1815 with Stratford on 2280. A total of seventy members of Kenilworth Runners turned out to race.

Position	Name	Club	Time
1	Andrew Siggers	Kenilworth - Gents	32.53
2	Richard Simkiss	Kenilworth - Gents	33.15
3	Phil McCorquodale	Kenilworth - Gents	33.36
4	Pete Hawkins	Spa Striders - Gents	34.19
5	Stuart Hopkins	Kenilworth - Gents	35.01
6	Jim Sawle	Kenilworth - Gents	35.07
7	Patrick Roddy	Kenilworth - Gents	35.14
8	Martin Dorrill	Kenilworth - Gents	35.53
9	Rich Merrell	Spa Striders - Gents	36.18
10	Andrew Cockerill	Stratford Ac - Gents	36.25
11	Matthew Kingston-Lee	Kenilworth - Gents	36.30
12	Peter Bryan	Kenilworth - Gents	36.42
13	Henry Morrison	Stratford Ac - Gents	36.44
14	Andrew Holbrook	Kenilworth - Gents	37.17
15	Roger Holmes	Kenilworth - Gents	37.25
16	Pete Matthews	Kenilworth - Gents	37.50
17	Richard Steel	Kenilworth - Gents	37.53
18	Dave Battersby	Stratford Ac - Gents	38.02
19	John Husie	Kenilworth - Gents	38.05
20	Kate Wright	Stratford Ac - Ladies	38.10
21	Michael Warner	Stratford Ac - Gents	38.17
22	Ben Linfield	Kenilworth - Gents	38.29
23	Keith Hawkes	Stratford Ac - Gents	38.37
24	Mick Williams	Kenilworth - Gents	38.48
25	Felix Langley	Spa Striders - Gents	38.55
26	Haydn Davies	Stratford Ac - Gents	39.03
27	Nadia Poole	Kenilworth - Ladies	39.12
28	Philip Fusi	Kenilworth - Gents	39.22
29	Sean Mitchell	Kenilworth - Gents	39.28
30	Stephen Page	Kenilworth - Gents	39.36
31	Dave Ramus	Kenilworth - Gents	39.38
32	Warren Bell	Kenilworth - Gents	39.42
33	Robert Ford	Stratford Ac - Gents	39.43
34	Patrick Taylor	Stratford Ac - Gents	39.51
35	Jon Mettyear	Kenilworth - Gents	40.01
36	Jennie Spillane	Spa Striders - Ladies	40.03
37	Carolyn Wilkinson	Spa Striders - Ladies	40.08
38	Paul Edwards	Spa Striders - Gents	40.14
39	Kieran Tursner	Stratford Ac - Gents	40.17
40	Mel Venables	Spa Striders - Ladies	40.45
41	Steve Ramus	Kenilworth - Gents	40.54
42	Christopher Simkiss	Kenilworth - Gents	40.59
43	Jo Kilby	Spa Striders - Ladies	41.17
44	Stan Alexander	Kenilworth - Gents	41.22
45	Mark Lewis	Spa Striders - Gents	41.34
46	Sarah Wheeler	Stratford Ac - Ladies	42.08
47	Hartwig Busch	Spa Striders - Gents	42.17
48	Chris Maher	Kenilworth - Gents	42.18
49	Peter Schofield	Spa Striders - Gents	42.24
50	Colin Bailey	Kenilworth - Gents	42.35
51	Ben Parkinson	Spa Striders - Gents	42.41
52	Clare Hinton	Spa Striders - Ladies	42.48
53	Dave Pettifer	Kenilworth - Gents	42.57
54	Daniel Stannard	Spa Striders - Gents	42.59
55	Nick Adams	Spa Striders - Gents	43.00
56	Jayne Mumford	Kenilworth - Ladies	43.03
57	Dawn Clark	Spa Striders - Ladies	43.19
58	Rich Sykes	Spa Striders - Gents	43.20
59	Nathan Stratton	Kenilworth - Gents	43.24
60	Nadine Lee	Spa Striders - Ladies	43.27
61	Mark Kelly	Stratford Ac - Gents	43.29
62	Mike Wilks	Spa Striders - Gents	43.30
63	Mark Hall	Kenilworth - Gents	43.46
64	Ros Matthews	Kenilworth - Ladies	43.54
65	Vicki Smith	Spa Striders - Ladies	44.08
66	Charlotte Everard	Spa Striders - Ladies	44.14
67	Stephen Chalkley	Kenilworth - Gents	44.18
68	Roger Wilson	Stratford Ac - Gents	44.24
69	Paul Quinney	Spa Striders - Gents	44.33
70	Caroline Whitehouse	Spa Striders - Ladies	44.37
71	Martin Belcher	Kenilworth - Gents	44.47
72	Peter Hill	Spa Striders - Gents	44.54
73	Gwyn Davies	Kenilworth - Gents	45.02
74	Mark Blackband	Spa Striders - Gents	45.16
75	Andy Roach	Spa Striders - Gents	45.22
76	Ian Taylor	Spa Striders - Gents	45.28
77	David Jones	Stratford Ac - Gents	45.30
78	Sally Hicks	Kenilworth - Ladies	45.32
79	Andy Brown	Stratford Ac - Gents	45.50
80	Dave Lindsay	Spa Striders - Gents	46.06
81	Nigel Fox	Spa Striders - Gents	46.07
82	Brian Weetman	Stratford Ac - Gents	46.12
83	Tim Owid	Stratford Ac - Gents	46.13
84	Rebecca Smith	Kenilworth - Ladies	46.24
85	David Brown	Kenilworth - Gents	46.27
86	Neil Ford	Spa Striders - Gents	46.31
87	Gus Davidson	Kenilworth - Gents	46.33
88	Simon Mottershead	Kenilworth - Gents	46.43
89	Gary Dilnot	Kenilworth - Gents	46.45
90	Stephen Payne	Kenilworth - Gents	46.53
91	John Turner	Stratford Ac - Gents	46.55
92	Debbie Cooper	Stratford Ac - Ladies	46.56
93	Aidan Keher	Kenilworth - Gents	46.58
94	Bethan Gwynn	Spa Striders - Ladies	47.11
95	Yvonne Caswell	Stratford Ac - Ladies	47.19
96	David Maundrell	Stratford Ac - Gents	47.42
97	Alex Zoro	Spa Striders - Gents	47.44
98	Sean Lonergan	Spa Striders - Gents	47.46
99	Larry Coltman	Stratford Ac - Gents	47.51
100	Mike Barrie	Stratford Ac - Gents	47.58
101	Sheela Kennedy	Kenilworth - Ladies	48.08
102	Thomas Dable	Kenilworth - Gents	48.25
103	Julie Heatons	Spa Striders - Ladies	48.41
104	Colin Underhill	Kenilworth - Gents	48.51
105	Keith Blake	Kenilworth - Gents	49.01
106	Kate Evans	Spa Striders - Ladies	49.05
107	Phil Brennan	Stratford Ac - Gents	49.14
108	Mairead Murphy	Kenilworth - Ladies	49.17
109	Phil Marshall	Stratford Ac - Gents	49.21
110	Stef Shillington	Kenilworth - Gents	49.26
111	Kirsty Fitzgerald	Spa Striders - Ladies	49.43
112	Beth Keell	Kenilworth - Ladies	49.58
113	Rod Goodwin	Kenilworth - Gents	50.06
114	Andreas Ruhnke	Kenilworth - Gents	50.11
115	Naomi Whittaker	Stratford Ac - Ladies	50.14
116	Ruth Tennant	Spa Striders - Ladies	50.24
117	Tony Jackson	Stratford Ac - Gents	50.31
118	Anton Raath	Kenilworth - Gents	50.38
119	Mike Crust	Kenilworth - Gents	50.53
120	Mick Barrott	Spa Striders - Gents	51.01
121	Stuart Batchelor	Kenilworth - Gents	51.27
122	Helen Tudge	Spa Striders - Ladies	51.38
123	Lisa Sears	Kenilworth - Ladies	52.06
124	John Woodrow	Kenilworth - Gents	52.09
125	Mark Newman	Stratford Ac - Gents	52.28
126	Ruth Calderbank	Stratford Ac - Ladies	52.33
127	Liz Williams	Kenilworth - Ladies	53.19
128	Marie Taylor	Kenilworth - Ladies	53.21
129	Richard Miller	Kenilworth - Gents	53.26
130	Gary Perkins	Spa Striders - Gents	54.14
131	Sam Calder	Kenilworth - Ladies	54.44
132	Helen Ferguson	Stratford Ac - Ladies	55.19
133	Fiona Salmon	Spa Striders - Ladies	55.29
134	Liz Hegan	Kenilworth - Ladies	55.24
135	Pauline Dable	Kenilworth - Ladies	55.25
136	Liz Cross	Kenilworth - Ladies	56.14
137	Paula Mitchell	Kenilworth - Ladies	56.40
138	Joan Mason	Kenilworth - Ladies	57.17
139	Sonia Todd	Kenilworth - Ladies	57.54
140	Ivan Wilson	Kenilworth - Gents	58.49
141	Sam Muffat	Kenilworth - Ladies	61.37
142	Sally Jacob	Kenilworth - Ladies	64.12
143	Alice Perry	Stratford Ac - Ladies	73.50