Edwards masters the Midlands League to lead Leamington to gold

The final race of the campaign was held at Aldersley Stadium in Wolverhampton, with the men joining them for their final Birmingham Cross Country League outing.

Eighteen ladies from LCAC ran the muddy and slightly confusing course which snaked around fields and a disused railway.

Edwards ran a strong race to finish 13th overall in 22min 54sec, with Monica Williamson (24:04) not far behind in 16th to claim the series bronze.

Jenny Jeeves (24:25) was next home for the club in 20th and with Zara Blower (24:50) 26th the ladies’ team finished an impressive third on the day and fifth overall.

Wendy Daniels completed the masters’ team, finishing 34th in 25:23.

An injury-depleted Kenilworth finished 14th out of 15 teams on the day but secured enough points to finish ninth overall.

Their masters team finished runners-up behind Leamington to claim the series silver medal, with ladies’ captain Laura Pettifer, held up in traffic and arriving just before the start, 23rd overall and sixth master in 24:41.

The improving Jane Kidd was second counter for the masters in 27:08, with Stef Lunn (27:22) third. Rachel Kerr (27:59), finding some form after injury, and junior Bella Doxey (28:37) had good runs to finish fourth and fifth counters.

Spa Striders finished in 12th position overall for the season, with their masters’ ladies taking home the bronze medals.

Laura Peake led the ladies home in 45th, ahead of Carolyn Wilkinson (26:10), Jo Fleming (26:30), Bethan Gwynn (26:54), Clare Hinton (26:58) and Anne Hurrell (27:15).

Leamington’s men finished the Birmingham League season in seventh place after again being led home by Callum Hanlon who finished 14th in 29:42.

Phil Gould was next home in 32:23 for 51st, with Kieran Chahal hot on his heels in 32:45 (59th). Tom Foulerton was just three seconds and three places behind Chahal.

Paul Andrew, on the comeback trail, was 85th in 32:24, with Richard Merrell (32:38) making up the A team in 91st position.

The B team also ran well to secure their fifth place, with Greg West their first scorer.

Battling cramp, he finished in 33:31, crossing the line at the same time as clubmate Vassilis Andreoulakis.

Jack Savage (34:02), Gavin Fowler (34:52) and Dean Mawby (35:15) had been closely packed throughout the race, with Marc Curtis also running well to finish in 35:59 to make up the B team.

Despite missing key runners and finishing 15th of the 16 teams on the day, Kenilworth Runners did enough to maintain tenth position and secure their top-flight status.

Ben Taylor led them home in 36th in 30:57, followed by Kev Hope (32:27), with George Crawford (32:50), Matt Dyer (33:56) , Dewi Williams (34:05) and Stanley Doxey (34:12) completing the team scorers.

Spa Striders’ men finished tenth on the final day of the Birmingham League season at Cheltenham to finish 13th overall and stave off relegation to Division Three.

Striders were led home by Chris McKeown who finished 31st in 39min 13sec.

He was followed by Adam Notley (47th in 39:55), with Paul Edwards (68th in 41:00), Keith Wilson (76th in 41:36), Steven Taylor (95th (42:26) and Ian Allen (106th in 43:07) completing the scoring team.