Savery completes a district treble with Two Castles first

Andrew Savery and Danielle Stewart show off their trophies for first male and female alongside Kenilworth Rotary Club president Richard Martin. Picture: Mike Baker

More than 100 Kenilworth Runners and 50 Spa Striders made up a record entry for the 33rd running of the Two Castles last Sunday.

However, neither club had an answer to Leamington C&AC’s Andrew Savery, who pulled away from long-time leader Chris McCarthy at the eight-kilometre mark to complete a memorable hat-trick of district victories following wins in the Regency 10k and Warwick Half earlier in the year.

On a day which saw high temperatures and little wind, Savery crossed the line in 33:26 to finish 15 seconds clear of Dom Blake.

A delighted Savery said: “I set off at the front with a group but at 5k I got away on my own.

“They came back at 7k but I felt I could go again and this time I got away clear to the finish .”

Coventry Godiva’s Daniel Clarke was two seconds behind Blake in third with McCarthy paying for his early exertions to finish fourth in 33:50.

Kenilworth’s strength in depth was rewarded with five runners finishing inside the top ten - McCarthy, Andrew Siggers (5th in 34:13), Phil Gould (6th in 34:18), Stephen Page (7th in 34:55) and Peter Hawkins (8th in 35:02) - to earn them the team prize.

Leamington C&AC were runners-up courtesy of Savery, Callum Hanlon (13th in 36:10), George Loveday (19th in 37:13) and Dean Mawby (31st in 38:05), while 22-placed Victor Garanto (37:22) led home Spa Striders who were third.

Will Johnson (25th in 37:42), Tim Down (47th in 38:38) and Kevin White (58th in 39:06) completed the Striders quartet.

Coventry Godiva’s Danielle Stewart (38:16) was the first woman home, leading her club to the team prize in the process.

Leamington C&AC’s Monica Williamson was the second female and first FV45 in 39:43, with Zara Blower (43:04) and Angela Chahal (44:20) completing the second-placed team.

Spa Striders were third with Melissa Venables (41:56) just pipping Jo Kirby (42:03). Clare Hinton (44:18) completed the scoring trio.

Sabra Boldrini (44:23) was the first Kenilworth Runners lady home in 253rd position overall and 20th lady.

There were 3,490 finishers with Warwick and Leamington MP Chris White 3,320th in a chip time of 1:20:16.