First and second for Kenilworth Runners at a windswept Coombe 8

Run over woodland tracks and tricky crater-filled fields around Coombe Abbey to the east of Coventry, the conditions on the day were wet and windy and very muddy underfoot.

In addition to a strong Kenilworth contingent, 30 Spa Striders headed over, with the race forming the fifth in their club league series.

Paul Edwards, despite not enjoying cross-country racing, led the men home in 52:06 for fifth.

There were also top-ten places for Kevin White (9th in 54:36) and Chris McKeown (10th in 54:49).

Tom Gotts (33rd in 59:12) made up the fourth member of the men’s scoring team, which came second to Coventry Godiva Harriers.

Brian Miller was one of just two Leamington C&AC athletes taking part, finishing 24th in 57:43. Paul Okey was 40th in 60:38.

In the ladies’ race, Kenilworth Runners’ Rachael Siggers had an excellent run, finishing second lady in 59:35, just 16 seconds behind Helen Talbot of Nuneaton Harriers.

Striders’ Carolyn Wilkinson ran strongly, especially on the sections into the strong headwind, to finish fourth female and first V45 in 61:02.

Behind her, Kate Gadsby and Fiona Edwards completed Spa Striders’ scoring team, gaining several positions over the second half of the race to finish fifth lady and seventh lady, respectively in 61:27 and 61:47.

Kenilworth Runners’ Claire Murphy was sixth lady in 61:42 and there were 279 finishers.

Selected others (Spa Striders unless stated): 26, Anthony Morgan (Kenilworth Runners, 57:58); 32, Rob James (Kenilworth Runners, 59:08); 44, Simon Parsons (61:14); 53, Rich Sykes (61:55); 65, Caroline Whitehouse (63:08); 70, Colin Bailey (Kenilworth Runners, 63:26); 71, Susie Stannard (63:28); 85, Clive Parpworth (65:11); 87, Andrew Marsh (Kenilworth Runners, 65:27); 89, Clare Hinton (65:48); 93, Gary Morgan (Kenilworth Runners, 66:24); 99, Andrew Roach (66:39); 105, Alex Kennedy (67:10); 116, Neil Smith (Kenilworth Runners, 69:10); 119, Vicki Smith (69:33); 120, James Civil (69:33); 128, Dan Martin (70:27); 135, Tom Williams (Kenilworth Runners, 71:29); 140, Matthew Leydon (72:01); 145, Lucy Tugwell (72:31); 149, Jude Baum 72:44); 155, Anne Hurrell (73:28); 156, Amanda Wiggins (73:34); 163: Chris Jones (74:33); 164, Claudine Piper (74:45); 168, Helen Forrest (1:15:11); 179, Lorraine Parsons (1:17;06); 180, Luke Hillson 1:17:06); 192, Helene Wright (1:18:51); 213, Suzi Graham (1:21:46).

Kenilworth Runners’ Laura Pettifer coped well with the wet and windy conditions to win the ladies’ race at the Kingsbury Water 10k.

Run over some very muddy trails and footpaths around Kingsbury Water, Pettifer finished 11th overall and first lady in a time of 43:51.

The race was won by Damien Taylor of Team Derby Runners in 35:36.

Kenilworth Runners’ Pavan Ayyalasomayajula and Richard Broadbent took part in the inaugural Newark Castle Festival of Running which was beset by marshalling and signage problems.

The festival offered an 11k option, half-marathon and marathon, with Ayyalasomayajula and Broadbent both taking part in the half.

The course took in the streets of Newark and nearby fields and included additional loops to make up the distances.

Many parts of the course were single file and in order for the event to take place the council insisted that runners walk a particular 200m stretch through the town (twice in the half, four times in the full).

A missing marshall and a problem with signage being stolen and defaced meant the lead group of 11 runners, which included Broadbent, failed to notice a key turn and found themselves covering an additional two miles.

This caused many who were in contention to just jog to the finish, with Broadbent eventually coming home 28th in 1:57:05.

Ayyalasomayajula, who did take the correct route, albeit in footwear not designed for the muddy trails, was 17th in 1:53:46.