THE SPA Striders men’s team produced a fine performance on the final day of the campaign to secure survival in Birmingham Cross Country League Division Two.
The men finished tenth on the day in Cheltenham on Saturday to finish 13th overall and beat the drop in their first season at this level, having only joined the league last year.
They were led home by Chris McKeown in 31st place (39:13), followed by Adam Notley 47th (39:55), Paul Edwards 68th (41:00), Keith Wilson 76th (41:36), Steven Taylor 95th (42:26), Ian Allen 106th (43:07), Dan Fleming (44:02), Simon Parsons (44:12), Pete Teevan (45:30), Chris Wilson (45:37), Rich Sykes (45:49), Rob Thompson (46:20), Robert Egan (50:44), Graham Donaghue (51:39), Paul Quinney (52:15) and Doug Rattray (52:24).
The women, who concluded their campaign at Aldersley in Wolverhampton, finished 12th overall for the season and took home bronze medals in the masters team competition.
Laura Peake led the ladies home in 45th (25:49), ahead of Carolyn Wilkinson 48th (26:10), Jo Fleming 52nd (26:30), Bethan Gwynn in 60th (26:54), Clare Hinton (26:58), Anne Hurrell (27:15), Helene Wright (27:58), Lucy Tugwell (28:18), Claudine Piper (28:18), Louise Dwyer (30:02), Amanda Wiggins (30:19), Jude Baum (30:44), Catherine Friggins (30:49), Lorraine Parsons (31:10), Rebecca Lonergan (31:16), Kathleen McCann (34:35) and Giada Pizzoni (35:01).
Sunny Dhesi impressed at the Mad Dash at Moreton Morrell on Saturday, finishing third in a time of 38:04.
Melissa Venables continued her ultra-distance dominance at the Beacon to Cardiff Ultra – a 70km one-way race starting in the Brecon Beacons National Park – finishing as first lady in 6:26:42.
Kevin Baskerville (49:30) and Lorraine Parsons (55:14) completed the Draycote 10km as part of longer training runs, whilst seven Striders made the long journey to take on the Bramley 20 in Berkshire, also as part of their spring marathon build-up.
First Strider home was Paul Edwards (2:13:57) in 52nd, followed by Hartwig Busch (2:29:53), Dave Lithgow (3:04:39), Pete Schofield (3:04:37), Frances Parkes (3:11:01), Mike Cox (3:32:37) and Gary Perkins (3:35:37).
