Holly Hayes Woods saw a good turnout given it was probably the busiest running weekend of the year or XC season so far. With the men struggling to field a team at our own Cross Country in the last race due to being short 1 V40, 3 V40 men laced up their shoes for this one. Unfortunately, despite it being his birthday, coming from Edinburgh and his best efforts fighting a cold, Dave Limmer just missed the start of the race and so became a supporter rather than runner. Thanks very much for trying though.
Ladies had 4 runners and saw them finish 5th in Division 2, which for the season meant they kept 2nd place in Division 2! Well done ladies. I wonder if this will lead to promotion for next season.
The men managed 7th in Division 1 which meant they finished the season 5th in Division 1.
Team result was 5th, which means we end up being 4th in Division 1. Well done everyone.
Bethen Padbury picking up 10th lady overall, first lady back for Hinckley and first in her age group of U15. Great performances for Petrina Lancaster and Jenny Green too.
For the ladies, runner of the day goes to Céline Guéry. After battling with the mud at Belvoir on Saturday she came back for more on Sunday and put in an excellent performance. Then to read on Facebook she then did 8 miles on Monday night too. Fantastic! She’s leaping from strength to strength!
For the men’s division we fielded 9 runners including 3 veterans to complete the season with a full side. George Birt, Ben Harding and Ben Masser were Hinckley’s one, two and three, as they have been for most of the season. They’ve really kept the team competitive! Chris Limmer finished in 70th place. Simon Bedder heroically stepped up to make sure the team had sufficient numbers when we were only 20 minutes from the start with a worrying 7 runners. Our missing member, Ed Briggs, cut it fine, but he did make the start line having run 20 miles to Coalville to join in!
In the last race we fell foul of the rules and we pleaded for veteran men to have a legal side this time. The efforts of Karl Scally, Mark Bailey and Ed Briggs were much appreciated to help us with our league position. Since he was first to volunteer, ran in borrowed shoes and was our first vet home – runner of the day goes to Karl Scally!
Thank you to all the runners and helpers.
Ed, Andrea, Jon and Leanne