Rose wilts in the sun to narrowly miss out on sub 3-hour marathon at Brighton

In-form Sarah Rose was hoping to break the female club record of 2:57 but despite a valiant effort in the searing heat, finished agonisingly outside the sub three-hour barrier in 3:00:03.

However, it was still a new personal best by over five minutes to place her tenth lady overall and second LV40.

Wayne Briggs was also affected by the heat, coming home in 3:10:08 having at one stage been on course to break three hours.

Briggs was nevertheless happy with a new PB by over 20 minutes and a Good For Age time for next year’s London Marathon.

Despite running his slowest marathon for a few years, it was Dave Pettifer who was probably the happiest of the Kenilworth Runners finishers.

Running a controlled race because of the heat, Pettifer finished in 3:34:03, just 60 seconds behind the V65 winner which earned him an England call-up for a masters’ event being held within the Chester Marathon in October.

Fay Manders was next home for Kenilworth, finishing 710th lady in 4:09:12, with Tom Williams, suffering in the heat in the second half of the race, crossing the line in 4:12:27. Williams was followed by Tammy Gisbourne in 4:28:09.

Spa Striders’ Tom Gotts worked exceptionally hard on his marathon debut to finish in 3:32:20.

The men’s race was won by Stewart Hawkes of Tipton Harriers in 2:27:36 and the ladies’ winner was Helen Davies in 2:42:40.

Spa Striders’ Chris McKeown continued his London Marathon preparation with a third place in the EY Foundation Birmingham 10k, coming home in 37:35 in a race won by Badgers’ Chris Baxter (36:30).

Kenilworth Runners’ Richard Zanetti and Anne Thomas took part in the Norwich Half Marathon, coming home in 1:38:01 (146th) and 2:37:07 (1,773th), respectively.

Striders’ Kim Fryer clocked 2:37:13.

The winner was Piers Arnold of Norwich AC in 1:12:32.

The unexpected heat of the weekend was an added challenge for the Leamington C&AC runners competing in the National Road Relays at Sutton Park in Sutton Coldfield on Saturday.

Having qualified two weeks previously by finishing 14th in the Midlands event, the men’s team endured a 12-stage relay in rising temperatures made worse by having to race past what has become an iconic ice cream van en-route.

Alternating between long laps of 5.6 miles and short laps of 3.1, the men battled their way up from 61st place to 56th with Tom Foulerton running the fastest long lap of the day in 31min 3sec and Phil Gould running the fastest short lap of 17:43.

Other Leamington C&AC finishers: Long leg: Gavin Fowler (32:44); Marc Curtis (34:01); Garrath Schule (33:46); Simeon Howson (31:31); Paul Caruana (37:22). Short leg: Paolo Foglini (21:12); John Knibb (20:17); Jason Hill (19:08); Michael Ondrej (19:24); Steve Webb (20:54).

Leamington’s women also fielded a team in the six-stage relays which comprised two long legs and four short.

Zara Blower ran the first leg for the ladies, putting them 41st in a time of 35:59.

Danielle Mohacsi was pleased with her short leg, running it slightly faster than two weeks previously despite the heat to come in in 22:41 and move the team up to 38th.

Robyn Mcdowell took the next short leg (24:44) followed by Courtney Thornberry on a long leg (39:54).

Susie Tawney ran the short course in 21:54 to lift C&AC to 39th with Laura Gould bringing them home in 24:21 for 37th overall.

Closer to home, Leamington’s track and field athletes travelled to Nottingham for an open meet.

Mary Donaldson continued her strong start to the season by winning first senior lady with a throw of 27.76m in the javelin.

India Phillips ran in 100m coming first in her heat in a time of 14.17.

Phillips also ran the 200m in 29.20 for third place.

Spa Striders’ Charlotte Everard continued her good form at the Chedworth 10 mile trail race.

Everard finished second lady and 24th overall in 74min 28sec.

She was joined by fellow Striders Dawn Clark and Anne Hurrell who clocked 1:28:38 and 1:31:04, respectively.

Several Kenilworth Runners took part in the 40 mile A Coventry Way ultra, a complete circumnavigation of Coventry on footpaths.

Michael Scandrett finished third in 6hr 49min, with Sally Hicks fifth lady in 8:02.

Andy Snow and Ian Baynes both came home in 8:29, while Kenilworth were the second-placed relay team in 6:43.

Striders’ Lucy Tugwell finished fifth lady and second in her category at the Hereford Sprint Duathlon.