Carson riding high as Kenilworth finish with a flourish

The 16 Division One teams headed to Pittville Park, where runners were faced with a dilemma over spike length in their shoes, given that parts of the three-lap rolling parkland course were soft and muddy yet shaded areas were still frozen after the prolonged cold snap.

Athletes also had a stream jump to contend with on each lap of the course which measured at approximately 10k.

Connor Carson set off like a man possessed and kept on going to finish first Kenilworth Runner in 34th position.

He was followed by Phil Gould, Rich Simkiss - returning from injury - Stuart Hopkins, junior runner Phil McCorquodale and Mike Johnson, who finished 84th as the A team finished tenth on the day.

The B team performed admirably to finish fourth among the B teams.

Kenilworth Runners finishers: 34, Connor Carson (32:27); 50, Phil Gould (33:02); 63, Rich Simkiss (33:42); 74, Stuart Hopkins (34:02); 81, Phil McCorquodale (34:22); 84, Mike Johnson (34:27); 102, Pete Bryan (35:22); 113, Liam Chapple (35:57); 116, Jim Sawle (35:59); 138, Pete Matthews (37:24); 149, Richard Steel (38:01); 150, Phil Fusi (38:08); 151, Mick Williams (38:12); 192, Martin Broomfield (47:37); 193, Tom Dable (48:37); 195, Stef Shillington (49:30).

Seven Kenilworth Runners braved the cold conditions to take on the 16th Wyre Forest 8, a multi-terrain race of approximately eight miles around the paths and trails of the Wyre Forest, near Bewdley in Worcestershire.

The normal downhill start was slightly amended to avoid the treacherous packed ice which prevailed throughout the whole of the race

Junior runner Patrick Roddy ran an excellent race to finish fifth overall in a highly creditable time of 50:15.

This was despite Paddy suffering the remnants of a cold he caught earlier in the week.

He was followed by Richard Green (23rd, 56:15), Nicki Maritz (71:30), Tom Dable (72:27), Frank Walsh (80:28), Paul Buchan (86:26) and Pauline Dable (87:32).

It was bitterly cold for the Reading Roadrunners-hosted Bramley 20 mile and ten mile road race.

The event, held on rural undulating roads, is a popular race for those seeking a fast ten-miler or for those taking on two laps of the course, an early opportunity to take see how their spring marathon preparations are going.

One such athlete was Leamington C&AC’s Steve Hundal, who came home 40 seconds inside his target time of 2hr 12 after running the second ten miles in 66:29 after an opening lap of 64:51.

The performance saw Hundal finish 62nd overall and fifth in the M45 category.

“That was just about as perfect as it could be,” said Hundal. “I was in control for most of the time with the exception of the odd mile - a hard but pleasing run.”

Roger Eadon, who trains with several Leamington athletes, ran a very controlled race, completing the first lap in just over 80 minutes and the second just under to finish 341st in 2:39.37.

Kenilworth Runners’ Rod Good-win paced Claire Goult (2:47:48) for much of the run before easing away in the closing stages to take on Stephen Chalkley (2:48:03) and Steve Wright (2:48:03), clocking his own chip time of 2:46:01.

Iain Critchlow finished in 2:49:41.

In the ten-mile race, Kenilworth Runners’ Clive Pearce had an exceptional run to finish 18th with a personal best of 1:03:04.

Leamington C&AC’s Susie Tawney faded badly in the last two miles to finish in 73:46, well outside her seven-minute mile target.

The time did earn Tawney second W50 and 20th lady (11th overall).

The race was won in 48:59 by Chris Powner of Winchester and District AC.