McCarthy enters late but makes his move early to win the Not The Roman

Kenilworth Runners and Spa Striders came away with a clutch of awards from the Not the Roman IX on Sunday, with a late decision to enter by training partners Chris McCarthy and Richard Simkiss paying dividends as they secured a memorable one-two.
By The Newsroom
Published 25th Jan 2014, 11:52 BST
Chris McCarthy powers towards the finish at the Not The Roman IX last Sunday.Chris McCarthy powers towards the finish at the Not The Roman IX last Sunday.
Chris McCarthy powers towards the finish at the Not The Roman IX last Sunday.

The Stratford-based race had been cancelled last year due to bad weather but there were near-perfect running conditions for the 12k run on predominantly country rounds around Tiddington and Loxley with a couple of challenging hills thrown in.

As always, it was a popular event in the race calendar with 27 Striders and 14 Kenilworth Runners taking part.

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McCarthy and Simkiss moved to the front of the field in the third mile, with McCarthy opening up a 22-second winning margin by the finish.

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Simkiss traded positions with Scott Hazell of Coventry Godiva before sealing second place with a strong closing kilometre.

A little over half a minute further back, Connor Carson completed Kenilworth’s winning mens’ team, in fourth place overall and first M40, followed by Steve Page in eighth.

Striders’ men were led home by Kevin White, finishing in a credible 20th place in 44:57.

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Spa Striders ladies took the female team prize, with event debutant Jo Kirby working her way from fifth to third, overtaking clubmate Carolyn Wilkinson in the process, to finish in 49:45.

Wilkinson finished fourth lady in 49:45 and also took the first LV40 prize, with Clare Hinton completing the winning trio in 51:29 (1st LV35), in the process knocking more than six minutes off her previous Not The Roman run.

Stef Lunn was the first Kenilworth lady to cross the line in 53:41.

Not the Roman results (Spa Striders unless stated. Finishing positions are gun time, with chip times in brackets): 1, Chris McCarthy (Kenilworth Runners, 40:05); 2, Richard Simkiss (Kenilworth Runners, 40:27); 4, Connor Carson (Kenilworth Runners, 40:55); 8, Stephen Page (Kenilworth Runners, 41:46); 20, Kevin White (44:57); 26, Alex Atkinson (Kenilworth Runners, 45:19); 28, James Browne (45:22); 37, Andrew Graham (47:00); 39, Tim Down (46:59); 50, Clive Pearce (Kenilworth Runners, 47:33); 57, Neil Sheward (Kenilworth Runners, 48:21); 62, Robert Thompson (48:37); 74, Jo Kirby (49:45); 78, Carolyn Wilkinson (50:15); 85, Greg Harris (50:27); 88, Hartwig Busch (50:45); 94, Ben Parkinson (51:12); 98, Clare Hinton (51:29); 109, Andrew Roach (52:42); 119, Fiona Ferguson (53:08); 129, Melissa Venables (53:42); 135, Pablo Giner (53:44); 139, Stef Lunn (Kenilworth Runners, 53:41); 146, Caroline Whitehouse (54:07); 158, Stephen Payne (Kenilworth Runners, 54:30); 179,Susan Cox (55:24); 187, Dave Lindsay (55:55); 191, Nadine Lee (56:08); 218, Dale Nash (57:03); 226, Daniel Fleming (57:36); 245, Mark Hone (58:05); 247, Andy Heath (57:52); 248, Mark Hall (Kenilworth Runners, 58:22); 303, Anne Hurrell (1:00:37); 311, Simon Mottershead (Kenilworth Runners, 1:58.00); 346, Elizabeth Keell (Kenilworth Runners, 1:02:34); 420, Gary Perkins (1:04:45); 429, Frank Walsh (Kenilworth Runners, 1:05:55); 432, Jackie Lindsay (1:05:04); 435, Richard Bicknell (1:05:13). 463, Pauline Dable (Kenilworth Runners, 1:06:59 ).