A total of 413 runners descended on Bosworth Country Park on Sunday, meeting for the fifth leg of the Derby Runner Cross Country Series. The Ivanhoe turnout was slightly diminished this time around, due to the Stamford 30k being run on the same day, but a 25-strong team certainly made up for this with some strong finishes. Ankle deep mud and three water crossings, or rather trudgings, certainly made the Ivanhoe contingent work throughout the whole course, with both the men and ladies teams finishing 7th in their leagues.

First home for the men was Phil Stevenson, finishing in 62nd place with a strong time of 41:26, closely followed by Nick Rowles and Osian Flowers who finished 73rd and 75th with times of 42:26 and 42:36 respectively. Martin Yeomans and Andy Lindley were next back for the Ivanhoe men, crossing the line in a flurry of finishers with times of 45:04 (106th) and 45:12 (111th) respectively.

Damon Bland (51:02 and 180th) and Julian Rawlings (51:19 and 182nd) put in strong performances to finish 6th and 7th for Ivanhoe, just ahead of Kev Wright (51:51 and 189th) and Bob White (52:09 and 193rd). A mere two seconds separated Chris Finney (52:57) and Alan Edwards (52:59) who finished in 202nd and 203rd positions respectively, with Keith Baron and John Lewis completing the Ivanhoe field with 63:30 (262nd) and 68:33 (268th) respectively.

The ladies started 10 minutes after the men, giving the course time to not only clear but to get thoroughly muddied up to ensure no one came home clean! First back for Ivanhoe in an impressive 26th postion overall was Rosie Dear with 48:25, followed by Victoria Smith in 57th position and a time of 53:31. Third back of the ladies was Gabby Smith, finishing 73rd with 55:31, just ahead of Teresa Talbott in 74th with 55:56.

Carolyn Osbourne (56:26) and Alison Sturla (56:35) were closely matched to finish 79th and 80th, followed by Trish McPherson (59:41 and 98th). Less than a minute separated Lucy Allsop (64:23 and 113th), Grania Towle (64:52 and 116th), and Natasha Quick (65:02 and 119th), with Katie Poole (67:51 and 127th) and Zoe Allery (75:14 and 144th) completing the Ivanhoe Ladies contingent.

The first four men and women home for Ivanhoe counted for the overall team scores, with both finishing in 7th position within their leagues. Combined, Ivanhoe finished 9th in League 1 – meaning the team remains in 8th position overall in the league. The men’s team is currently 4th in League 2, and the women’s 2nd in league 1 with one race left to run. The final race of the series takes place on 1 March at Whitwick.

Race report by Gabby Smith

Written by Ruth Green - last updated on 17/02/2015