Kenilworth Runners' men get the jump on their rivals to win the Hilly 100

Kenilworth Runners fielded eight teams in the Cotswold Hilly 100 Relay and although their men retained their title, their women were pipped to first place by Spa Striders.
Spa Striders' winning female Cotswold Hilly team.Spa Striders' winning female Cotswold Hilly team.
Spa Striders' winning female Cotswold Hilly team.

Kenilworth’s men’s A team made a 6am start - an hour earlier than all the other first-string teams - to accommodate athletes who had later commitments and soon found themselves with a clear lead.

With no other club teams providing close competition at that time, Kenilworth’s runners were effectively running time trials on each leg.

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They were pleased to finish in 10hr 18min 34sec, a quicker time than their 2015 winning team, but had to wait for over an hour to make sure nearest-challengers Leamington C&AC had not dipped under their mark.

And, despite a blistering final leg of 55min 12sec for the ten miles by Andy Savery, Leamington were well adrift, finishing in 10:32:31.

Kenilworth’s men’s B team also had an excellent day, finishing in 11:05:33 to win the B team trophy.

Kenilworth’s ladies were within a few minutes of Spa Striders throughout the day with the lead changing hands several times.

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In the end, it was the Striders team of Caroline Whitehouse, Charlotte Everard, Laura Peake, Fiona Edwards, Susan Cox, Carolyn Wilkinson, Kate Gadsby, Susie Stannard, Melissa Venables and Clare Hinton who reached Stratford Cricket Club first in 12:03:00.

Kenilworth came home in 12:05:03, with both teams having beaten the previous record and the Green Army team rueing the intervention of the railway crossing on leg nine.

Kenilworth Runners’ Craig and Jane Phillips were forced to battle their way through the back of the 4,000-strong field after arriving late at the start of the Oxford Town and Gown 10k

Craig still managed a course best of 45:08, with Jane knocking five minutes off her 2014 time with 51:35.

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Leamington C&AC’s Chris Donovan was 46th out of 483 finishers and second V60 at the Crowle 10k, near Worcester.

Kenilworth Runners’ Connor Carson led Warwickshire to a 15th-placed finish at the Inter-County Fell Running Championships at Moel Eilio, Llanberis.

On a tough 12.9k route with 900m (3,000ft) of ascent, Carson clocked 69:28 to finish 40th.

Mercia Runners’ Lloyd Biddell was the county’s second runner in 71:48 (52nd), with Carson’s former Runners team-mate Rich Simkiss completing the team in 74:03 for 75th.

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The race was won by Calder Valley’s Ben Mounsey, running for Yorkshire, in 60:31.

In the ladies’ race, Kenilworth’s Mel Price was tenth in 75:41 to lead Warwickshire to fifth place.

Bal Kandola followed up a fine run of 9min 46sec at Leamington C&AC’s 3k Club Championships with first place at Leamington parkrun on Saturday.

The 16-year-old clocked a personal best of 17:41 to finish 13 seconds clear of runner-up Tom Young.