The day following the Ivanhoe Awards Night a slightly jaded team took on the Allestree Park race in the Derby Cross-Country League. The six mile two lap course turned out to be one of the toughest most Ivanhoe Runners have done, due to both the hills but especially the very deep mud on most of the course. However the squad had a stunning day with the ladies winning the League One race by 6 points over Hermitage Harriers, leaving them in second place after four races, and the men finishing second in League Two keeping them in second place after four races - both brilliant performances. The combined team were thus fifth on the day in League One, and eighth after four races.

First home for the men was ace air-guitarist Ramzi Sidani, who finished 35th, followed by Gerard Eivors 54th, Craig Hinds 58th, Phil Stevenson 62nd, Osian Flowers 80th, Andy Pearce 97th, an exhausted Nick Rowles 113th and cross-country captain Martin Yeomans 132nd. Behind this scoring eight but nicely packing to push other teams back, were Andy Jeyes 139th, Pav Mazur 147th, Andy Lindley 153rd, Dave Allery 169th, Alan Edwards 185th, James Cubitt on his cross-country debut 194th, and Alistair Bargwin 196th. Outside the top 200 were Ian potter 205th, Mark Eydman 230th, Kevin Sanders and an “ill" Nick Teige 237th and 238th, Keith Baron 258th and finally Kev Wright 267th. This gave the men's team a score of 631, a great result.

The ladies had several new members making their cross-country debuts. First home was youngster Ellie Armstrong in a brilliant 5th place, followed by Faith Tipper 14th, Rosie Dear 23rd and Ingrid Redmond 50th, giving the ladies team an excellent score of 92. Next home was Emily Wideman 62nd, Carolyn Osborne 72nd, Victoria Smith 75th, Amanda Bradbury 76th, mud skipper Teresa Talbott 84th, Karen Hartland 87th, Sarah Malone 97th and Sally Jeyes 100th. It was Jane  Hines first cross-country race, and she did well to finish 120th, ahead of Fiona McKean 128th and Grania Towle 138th, before a crop of new members ran their debut cross-countries, including Jenny Hope 145th and Chrissy Betteridge 148th, and the team was ably completed by Helen Thurogood in 151st.

The day could have finished in a very different mood were it not for the training and quick acting of Ivanhoe's Ruth Green, who leading Heather Swan, Alison Morrison and people from other clubs saved the life of a fellow competitor who suffered a heart attack early in the race. Ruth used her all doctors training to revive the gentleman before paramedics and the Air Ambulance arrived to take him to hospital where he is thankfully making his recovery.

Written by Kevin Sanders - last updated on 26/01/2016