Pettifer’s display catches the eye on a busy weekend of action

Particularly noteworthy was the performance of Kenilworth Runners’ Dave Pettifer who added a sensational marathon time to his portfolio of impressive performances in 2012.

The 63-year-old headed north-west to take part in the third MBNA Chester Marathon and ran exceptionally well to clock 3hr 9min 28sec.

In a competitive race that hosted the Welsh Masters and the Cheshire Marathon Championships, this netted him 149th position overall and second V60 finisher.

Kenilworth Runners sent a strong team to the Midlands Cross Country Relays at Walsall Arboretum on Saturday and were rewarded with seventh place from 46 clubs.

The four-stage relay was held on a pancake flat but very boggy two-lap course totaling approximately 6k.

Men’s team captain Phil Gould led by example on the opening leg with a storming run of 21:47 to put the club in seventh position.

This was only bettered by Rich Simkiss, who posted 21:45 on the final leg, with Paul Andrew clocking 22:37 on the second leg and Chris McCarthy completing the third leg with a hole in his shoe in 22:23.

The fastest leg time of the day was posted by Phil Nichols of Tipton Harriers, who ran 20:06 on their second leg. This hauled them from eighth position to first place by the end of leg two and they held on for a narrow 17-second victory over Notts AC’s A team in a time of 1:24:26. Kenilworth Runners finished in 1:28:32.

Leamington athlete Ryan Kenny, competing for Coventry Godiva, was third after leg one in 21:15, with his team going on to finish sixth overall.

Kenilworth Runners and Leamington C&AC both headed to Cotswold Park Farm to take part in the opening race of the Gloucester Cross Country League.

For fans of real cross country running, the challengingly lumpy and bumpy Cotswold course provided a welcome antidote to the flat sterile offerings increasingly prevalent in recent years.

Leamington’s team got off to a great start with debutant Andy Savery running a controlled race for seventh over the 8.5k course and a strong second half to the race allowed Jamie Langley to move through to ninth.

Craig Bower (48th), a resurgent Steve Roberts (55th), Steve Howes (56th) and Brian Miller (79th) completed the scorers to place C&AC fourth in the team event. Paul Caruana (99th), Adrian Mawby (108th) and Graham Roberts (168th) completed the Leamington finishers.

Kenilworth finished ninth of the 18 teams. First counter was Graham Birch who finished 41st, four places ahead of Pete Matthews, who was immediately followed by cross-country debutant Stephen Page. Roger Homes was 52nd and Jimmy Atkins ran well to finish 97th.

In the ladies’ race, Kenilworth Runners’ Ros Matthews had an excellent run to finish 28th in 28:51, the same time as Jayne Mumford whom she just pipped on the finish line.

Marie Voice made her cross-country debut and ran superbly to come home in 45th position, the third and final counter for the tenth-placed (out of 22 teams) Kenilworth ladies’ team.

Leamington’s Janet Mee was 58th.

Kenilworth finishers: Ladies: 28, Ros Matthews (28:51); 29, Jayne Mumford (28:51); 45, Marie Voice (30:37); 46, Sara Habib (30:43); 78, Pauline Dable (36:31); Men: 41, Graham Birch (35:49); 45, Pete Matthews (36:08); 46, Stephen Page (36:14); 52, Roger Homes (36:24); 97, Jimmy Atkins (38:49); 146, Martin Smith (43:14); 176, John Dagnan (46:36); 186, Tom Dable (48:31); 188, Stef Shillington (49:37).

Also at Cotswold Park Farm, Leamington’s under-13 boys claimed third in the team event after all seven runners finished in the top 25.

Alex Ibbs led them home in tenth, with Keiran Chahal (11th) and Greg West (15th) completing the A team.

Tim Virr was 16th, with Dominic Priest’s 20th and Toby Loveday’s 24th helping the B team to fifth.

Alistair Robinson was only one place and two seconds adrift of Loveday to complete a promising day for the club.

In the under-13 girls’ race, Lara Murray was 11th, while Emily Baker was fourth in the under-17 event.

Five Kenilworth Runners headed to Blenheim Palace to take part in the British Heart Foundation Blenheim Half Marathon.

First to finish was Liam Chap-ple, who came home 14th in 1:26:40.

Ros Matthews ran excellently, considering she had performed strongly a day earlier in the Gloucester League Cross Country Race, clocking 1:41:33.

Results: 14, Liam Chapple (1:26:40); 154, Gwyn Davies (1:38:43); 179, Stephen Chalkley (1:40:21); 206, Ros Matthews (1:41:33); 1,158, Chris Hart (2:12:35).

Similarly, both Tom (50:51) and Pauline Dable (55:41) were pleased with their runs at Stourport-on-Severn Shuttle 10k following their exertions the previous day.