A wet and windy morning cleared just in time for the start of the latest round in the Derby Runner Cross Country League at Bagworth on Sunday. A record turnout of 49 Ivanhoe Runners finished the event in glorious winter sunshine with several other members out on support. Despite the tough muddy hilly multiple lap course, it was to prove a very successful morning for the team with the ladies winning the team prize along with great individual performances from men and ladies alike with several members making their cross country debuts.

First home for the men’s team was the consistently fast Ramzi Sidani, 36th in 38:19 ahead of  great runs from Darren Jones 79th in 41:07  and Osian Flowers 98th in 42:23.   Simon Terry was next with another strong race in his first season with the club (115th, 43:16) just ahead of  Martin Yeomans, (118th 43:28)  Nick Rowles (119th 43:30) and David Hobbs (122nd, 43:40). Next came Jake Shaw finishing well in 139th 44:49 just beating James Cox, (140th, 44:50).  Andy Lindley was next with a great run (179th 47:09) ahead of Andy Jeyes (183rd, 47:16) and Ian Potter (193rd, 47:44).  Next came the Ivanhoe engine room all finishing close together: Damon Bland (215th 49:28), Andrew Pawley, (222nd 49:57), Kev Wright, (225th, 50:20) and Mark Eydman making his cross country debut (226th, 50:21). Julian Rawlings survived a finish line tumble to cross in  236th (50:45) just ahead of Jonathan Shaw ( 241st, 51:01) Bob White, (243rd, 51:07), and Alan Edwards, (244th, 51:08). Next came a good run from Chris Finney, (253rd, 51:45) just ahead of Jason Green who was also running his first cross country event, (267th 52:49).  Keith Baron was next finishing well in 291st (56:27) ahead of John Lewis (320th, 69:25) Brian Gough, (322nd, 70:3 and Andy Pole, 324th also making his debut.

The ladies fielded arguably their strongest ever team with Hannah Cox first home in an excellent 3rd  place  (41:58) just ahead of another fast run from Rebecca Hallam, 4th lady in 42:27. There was a good tussle throughout the race from the next two Ivanhoe finishers with Sarah Terry just edging it as she finished an impressive 10th in 44:23 with Laura Johnson 11th in 44:33, another great run as she returns to the team. Also having a brilliant run was Zoe Allery, 25th in 47:23 finishing in front of Rosie Dear, (37th in 49:13) and Karen Bell (38th in 49:15). Next came Laura Graves, 53rd in 51:37 and Karen Hartland, 60th in 53:05. The ladies engine room followed with good strong runs from Victoria Smith, (69th in 53:53), Amanda Bradbury, (70th in 53:54) and Rebecca Wilkinson, (84th in 55:42). Carolyn Osborne ran well despite recent injury, next (102nd in 57:28) followed by Alison Sturla who had another great race finishing 103rd in 57:36. Trish McPherson was next, (121st in 59:27) followed by Fiona McKean (131st in 60:00), Heather Swan, (145thin 62:03), Sarah Sanganee making her cross country debut, (148th in 63:12) and Ellie Shaw, (149th in 63:14). Karen Edwards finished strongly next (158th in 67:03) followed by Katie Poole who was also running her first cross country finishing well in 169th (70:25). Angela Wheeler was next, 173rd in 72:12 ahead of Elaine Moulton who completed the team finishing 176th in 73:51.

The ladies team were delighted to take first place, an excellent performance to which all runners contributed. The men’s team were twelfth overall and the combined team came 11th making it a great morning for the club. In the overall League tables after the first two events the ladies are lying second in Division one behind Barrow but on the same points, the men stand 4th in Division two and the overall team 7th in Division one.

Elsewhere Ian Kirk took part in the Nene Valley 10 mile race and had a great run to come home in 184th place in 1:15:24

Written by Ruth Green - last updated on 09/12/2014