McKeown's marathon mileage helps him to a big personal best at Draycote

Chris McKeown finished third in 35min 46sec, showing no signs of fatigue from recent high mileage marathon training to knock 80 seconds off his previous best.

Paul Edwards was fourth in 36:12, with Adam Notley a place and 11 seconds further back, also in a PB. Neil Smith was sixth in 37:27, while Pete Teevan (39:58) broke 40 minutes for the first time off the back of a 5k PB at Stratford parkrun the day before.

Graham Donoghue (44:04), Simon Ludford (44:13) and Doug Rattray (44:19) all celebrated significant PBs, as did Kevin Baskerville (48:05) who knocked 90 seconds off his previous mark, set only a week before.

Rob Egan (43:35), 10k debutant Neil Webber (50:06), John Wilson (52:56) and Matt Leydon (56:43) completed the male Striders contingent.

For Striders’ ladies, Clare Hinton showed an excellent return to form to clock 42:53 and finish second lady overall.

Melissa Venables (43:37) was third lady, with Claire Murphy (44:14) fourth, Bethan Gwynn (44:33) sixth and Nadine Lee (44:41) seventh.

Emma Bish (48:52) ran a three-minute PB and took first place in her age category after battling it out with clubmate Catherine Friggens (49:08).

Claire Westrope and Ruth Tennant crossed the line together in 50:55, with Kathleen McCann (56:43) knocking two-and-a-half minutes off her previous best on the back of her half-marathon schedule and Kathryn Houliston (62:32) showing the effectiveness of the club’s ten weeks to 10k programme.

On Saturday, Striders’ Monika Coleman completed the Wildest Peaks Trail Run in icy and wet conditions. Despite briefly losing one of her trainers, she completed the 25.6k race in 2hr 51min.

Kenilworth Runners’ Debbie Streets and Martin Dorrill took part in the first Naseby 16.45 mile race put on by Race Harborough.

Dorrill finished 17th and second V50 in 1:55:28, with Streets 167th in 2:32:51.

Keith Wilson completed the Liversedge Half Marathon in 1:26:32 for a 45-second PB.

Kenilworth Runners’ Wayne Briggs had an excellent run in the Ilmington 10k, the final race of the Tempo Winter Series, finishing fourth in a time of 39min 17sec.

This result ensured Briggs made the podium, finishing third overall for the series of five races run over the daunting Larkstoke Hill.

There was also a win on the day and an overall series victory for Dave Pettifer (48:09) in the V65 category and category wins on the day for fellow Kenilworth Runners Gail Audhali (49:07) in the LV55 and Pauline Dable (67:38) in the LV65.

Oliver (44:59) and Rebecca Beasley (47:04) ran well on their Ilmington debuts to finish fifth senior man and second senior lady, while Chris Lyons (45:29) ran the fastest of his five races in the series.

Spa Striders’ Simon and Lorraine Parsons both recorded their quickest times of the series, finishing in 41:40 and 55:45, respectively.

The race was won by Richard Simkiss of the McCarkiss Endurance Project in 36:55.

Kenilworth Runners’ Ryan Baker ran a new personal best of 1:30:08 in the MK Winter Half Marathon at Milton Keynes, narrowly missing out on his sub 1hr 30min target.

Clubmate Richard Cookson was 188th in 1:37:04, with Sophie Cookson 556th in 1:52:59.

The race was won by Paul Mizon of Marshall Milton Keynes in 1:13:00 and there were 1,636 finishers.

Four Kenilworth Runners took part in the Welly Trail Marathon at Castle Abbey House in Northampton on Sunday, described as one of the hardest races she has taken part in by Louise Andrews due to the mud and hills.

Andrews finished 39th in a time of 2:12:52, running together with Neil Sheward and Eddy Peachey.

Tom Williams was first home for Kenilworth in 19th position in a time of 2:05:16.

The race was won by Greg Spellman of host club Wellingborough & District AC in 1:35:26.

Leamington C&AC athlete Jenny Jeeves was overjoyed with her run at Pittville Park in Cheltenham, the venue for the third Gloucester League Cross Country on Saturday.

Jeeves finished in ninth place overall in a time of 28min 21sec.

Joining Jeeves in the ladies’ race was clubmate Carol Blower who clocked 36:07.

Kenilworth Runners’ Pauline Dable was 122nd in 44:38 and there were 129 finishers.

C&AC’s Graham Roberts ran as part of the MV65 race and was pleased to finish seventh in the category in 35:10.

Kenilworth Runners were the first MV65 team on the day courtesy of Stef Shillington (104th in 39:03), Tom Dable (113th in 41:02) and Colin Bricher (129th in 50:37).

In the men’s race, Marc Curtis was first over the line for Leamington C&AC in 39:35, with Kenilworth’s Wayne Briggs six seconds back.

C&AC’s Steve Howes clocked 41:14, with Roger Homes (Kenilworth Runners) 14 seconds behind him and Kenilworth Runners’ Stewart Underhill (42:22) and Leamington C&AC’s Steve Roberts (44:21) were also among the 168 finishers.

Alex Montgomery finished in 47:47 to help steer Leamington’s masters’ team to ninth on the day.

Leamington C&AC’s Mel Gould claimed the fifth and final spot for the London Mini Marathon after clocking a personal best at the West Midlands trials at Stourport Cycleway

Competing in the under-13 category, Gould, who missed out on a spot last year, settled into sixth place on the four-lap, three-mile course.

On the third lap she moved up a place into the all-important fifth, holding on to cross the line in 19min 45sec.

Gould will now represent the West Midlands in the mini marathon on April 22 which is run over the last three miles of the London Marathon course.

Gould’s teammate, Rositsa Gugutkova, also tried out, finishing 13th in the under-15 event in 20:56.