Saturday saw our runners travel up to Derby to compete in the first North Midlands cross country race of the season. Conditions were fairly pleasant and we managed to get a break from the rain which has been relentless for the last few weeks. We had a fantastic turnout of 14 runners in total, 7 on the men’s side and 7 on the women’s side. We saw many runner make their UOLRAC XC debut including, Ellie, Emily, Iona, Fiora Lewis, Luke, Peter Rudd and Romain. Fortunately, or unfortunately for some the mud was not too much of a hinderance.
After a warm up, the women’s team headed to the start line ready for two large laps around the scenic park totalling 6km. All women ran extremely well, with Frances leading the team in with a spectacular 10th place finish. Followed in hot pursuit by Iona and Holly who finished in 70th and 92nd respectively. The girls team as a whole is currently sitting in a very well deserved 8th place. Next was the men’s race, 3 large laps totalling just under 10km. As usual, they left their warm up to the last minute and made the mad dash to the start line with little time to spare. A strong start by Luke saw him leading the way for UOLRAC on the first lap, followed closely by James and Aric. In the end, James came in 58th, Aric 81st and Luke in 104th. The fantastic combined effort of all the men, resulted in a 10th place overall for the team. It was great to see so many returning runners better their time they ran previously on the course last year.
Well done to all who ran!
