Inaugural running of Warwick Castle Half proves one to savour for Savery

Organised by the British Heart Foundation, the course took in the opening sections of the Two Castles before picking up part of the route used by the Kenilworth Half.

At the head of the race, Kenilworth Runners’ Rich Simkiss was eager to push himself towards a quick time and led until nine-and-a-half miles.

However, the few climbs in the latter stages took their toll and he was passed by Savery who went on to win the race in 1:12:05.

Simkiss finished second in 1:12:30 to record his fastest time since he set his half PB of 1:12:01 at Birmingham in October 2011.

Behind Simkiss, there was a gap to third-placed Rich Shephard, with the Spa Strider coming home in 1:14:57.

Leamington-based triathlete Peter Hawkins was fourth in 1:16:30.

There were some notably strong performances by other Kenilworth Runners.

Andrew Holbrook showed he is back to full fitness following injury in 2012 with a 1:23:31 clocking, earning him 26th place and first place in the V40 age category.

Alex Atkinson followed two seconds later in 27th, his 1:23:33 being a new PB by 23 seconds.

Pete Bryan (1:24:00) followed in 29th place to earn second place in the V40 age group.

Returning from a three-weeks training stint in Portugal, Leamington C&AC’s Sue Harrison decided to use the race to test her fitness levels.

Starting off with the lead men and going through the first mile in around six minutes, Harrison realised she was running too fast for the 83-minute target set by her coach and eased off slightly to finish 18th overall and first lady in 1:22.02.

Harrison said: “I passed within 200m of my home at one stage. I was so cold I wanted to pop in for a cup of tea.

“By the time I had reached the finish line my face was so cold I had a job to answer the man with the microphone’s questions.”

Selected finishers (Kenilworth Runners unless stated, positions by gun times): 1, Andrew Savery (Leamington C&AC, 1:12:05); 2, Rich Simkiss (1:12:30); 3, Rich Shephard (Spa Striders, 1:14:57); 14, Will Johnson (Spa Striders, 1:20:53); 26, Andrew Holbrook (1:23:31); 27, Alex Atkinson (1:23:33); 29, Pete Bryan (1:24:00); 30, Mark Urbanowski (Spa Striders, 1:23:14); 136, Richard Hales (1:33:50); 280, Jimmy Atkins (1:35:45); 189, Gary Morgan (1:36:15); 193, Martin Belcher (1:36:20); 532, Sara Habib (1:43:28); 1,167, Simon Mottershead (1:55:46); 1,119, Tacitah Riley (1:57:20); 1,183 Aidan Keher (1:58:39); 1,425, Paul Buchan (2:07:35); 1,541, Laurence Copeland (2:08:14); 2,054, Chris Hart (2:37:56*); 2,068, Michelle Hart (2:38:58*); 2,086, Arthur Smith (2:40:56*). *Gun times.

Other Striders finishers: Misael Mecias-Pedroso (1:25:28); Robert Thompson (1:29:14); Dan Stannard (1:30:09); Tom Gotts (1:34:44); Simon Radcliffe (1:35:21); Oli Brown (1:35:22); Andy Roach (1:36:06, PB); Greg Harris (1:36:56); Jonathan Wallis (1:37:38); Daniel Rowe (1:37:42); Ivor Westmore (1:38:14); James Glover (1:38:18); Charlotte Everard (1:38:28); Pablo Giner (1:38:51); Clare Hinton (1:38:52); Ben Parkinson (1:39:01); Lucy Burnett (1:41:29); Justin Mallard (1:42:38); Glen Charman (1:43:07); Pete Schofield (1:43:20); Neil Butcher (1:43:54); Chris Wallace (1:44:07); Sarah Timothy (1:44:08); Jude Baum (1:44:43); Peter Hill (1:45:07); Neil Ford (1:46:35); Nick Blythe (1:46:39); Tracey Murphy (1:47:14); Harki Kalsi (1:47:27); Jo Mimms (1:47:27); Patrick Recker (1:52:22); Julie Heaton (1:52:27); Caroline Ditum (1:53:42); Ian Shreeve (1:56:07); Gary Perkins (1:56:56); Sandra Stokes (1:57:17); Mick Stevenson (2:03:44); Mark Elliott (2:05:04); Helen Tudge (2:09:54); Becci Pell (2:12:15); Beth Gawthorpe (2:12:15); Nicola Wright (2:20:25).