Ivanhoe Runners successful foray in the Derby Runner cross-country league continued over the muddy hills of Sinai Park in Burton, where the ladies team claimed a brilliant second place in League One and the men second in League Two. The ladies were superbly led home by the Armstrong girls in first and second places, Ellie clocking 38.44 to Isabel’s 38.58. Rosie Dear had her usual strong race in 29th with 45.42, followed by Karen Bell 31st (45.47), Emily Wideman 35th (46.21) and Victoria Smith 46th (48.53). Ladies cross country skipper Teresa Talbott had a good race to finish next, in 59th place (50.51), ahead of Carolyn Osborne (64th, 51.28), Emily Partridge (67th, 51.39), Karen Hartland (71st, 52.05) and Laura Collier (85th, 53.54). Amanda Bradbury, Helen Smith and Sarah Malone all made the top 100: Amanda in 93rd (55.27), Helen in 97th (56.00) and Sarah in 98th (56.06).

Trish McPherson was 106th in 58.11, followed home by Sam Toon 110th in 58.20, Ruth Green (who had run to the race) 126th in 61.00, Grania Towle 133rd in 61.58, Lucy Allsop 137th in 63.02 and Karen Edwards 142nd in 67.12.

The men were led home by Ramzi Sidani 32nd in 36.08. He was ably backed-up by Gez Eivors 44th (37.01), Alastair Burgwin 48th (37.14), Nick Rowles 52nd (37.27), Craig Hinds 63rd (38.01), Matt Pleass 73rd (38.33), Phil Stevenson 74th (38.34) and Andy Pearce making a rare appearance 79th in 38.55. These made up the scoring eight for the team, but as ever, the rest of the team make a huge contribution by pushing other teams scorers further back. Steve Baggott was 82nd in 39.05 and the last Ivanhoe Runner to break into the top 100. There followed some good team “packing” with Andy Lindley next home in 113th (40.47), four places ahead of Tom Smith (41.03), who was followed by Mark Bradford (122nd, 41.21), Louis Barnes (126th, 41.34),  Mark Parker (127th, 41.38) and Pav Mazur (129th, 41.50). James Cox was next, 148th in 43.26, with Patrick Horn clocking 43.34 in 152nd, men’s cross-country captain Martin Yeomans 159th (44.09) and Ian Potter 162nd in 44.31.

Damon Bland ran 45.07 in 176th, followed by Alan Edwards 189th (46.18), Julian Rawlings 198th (47.37), Mark Eydman 215th (49.40), Tim Moore 234th (51.57), Tim Sturla 247th after running to the race (54.03) and Keith Baron 249th (54.29).

The combined efforts for the men and the ladies saw the squads leading seven men and three ladies score a total of 418 points which saw them place a brilliant third overall in the combined team competition. After four races, Ivanhoe lie an excellent third in the Combined Team League One, second men’s team in League Two and the ladies a brilliant second in League One. The next race is the re-scheduled Bagworth fixture, now on Sunday 29th January.

Written by Kevin Sanders - last updated on 23/01/2017