​Squirrels race to victory at Stopsley

Thirty eight hardy North Herts Road Runners were unfazed by the freezing, icy conditions on Sunday morning making the short drive over to Stopsley to take on the notoriously hilly third race of the Three Counties Cross Country league which finishes with a steep uphill affectionately called Cardiac Climb which was even harder to climb this year due to icy patches!
 
The combined North Herts team took top spot ahead of rivals Bedford Harriers. Men's team captain and XC manager John Auld reported he was 'thrilled with the result and that the treble league win is most definitely on! Let’s keep the momentum going in to the next race at Wing - where we have a brand new course.'
 
The men's team were led home by Ben Hadman, Rob Jowett, Travis Kruger, Andrew Leach, Matt Sayers, Vince Wright, Mike Banister and Steve Mckeown and the team just edged out Bedford Harriers into second. The women’s team were led home by Rhia Botha, followed by Hannah Ridley, Tracey Pitcairn and Helen Nutall, and finished in second behind Rugby and Northampton AC. 

This is the second successive victory for both the men and the combined team, whilst the women continue to place on the podium, now having placed 1st, 3rd and 2nd in races 1, 2, 3 respectively.

John thanks everyone who was able to contribute on Sunday: runners; scorers; supporters; photographers and score takers.

Overall (provisional) league standings after 3 events...

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Men
🥇 NHRR 39 pts (lower score)
🥈 BH 39 pts
🥉 WDAC 37 pts

​Women
🥇RNAC 40 pts
🥈NHRR 39 pts
🥉BH 35 35 pts

Team
🥇NHRR 41 pts
🥈BH 38 pts
🥉RNAC 37pts

Snowy Winter Spine Sprint
Meanwhile up in the Lake District Anna Gibson successfully completed the absolutely brutal Montane Winter Spine Sprint which involved running 46 miles along the most iconic and demanding trail in Britain: the Pennine Way. Anna took to the start line in relentless ice and snow, finishing in 17 hours, 4 minutes and 58 seconds crossing the line at 5.19AM the next day. Anna commented 'It was epic and also the hardest race I've done!. When I signed up I wasn't expecting 46 miles of snow!' Anna was supported by a special squirrel support crew, who no doubt helped keep spirits up in the challenging conditions.

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Big PB at Hatfield 10k
Tom Kingham kept to the road at the Hatfield 10k today and was happy to bag a new personal best time of 00:47:24.

Parkrun roundup:

Jersey: Tom Barclay (19:08)

Letchworth: Kris Whitmore (21:15), James Dalton (23:41), Katie Harbon (23:45), James Godfrey (26:24), Rhiannon Botha (27:10), Ian Datlen (27:12), Barbara Sayers (27:49), Nick Walker (28:10), Steve Brenton (29:09), Lucy Hurley (29:14), Viv Lucas (29:24), Frances Stanton (30:22), Jo Harbon (30:38), Philip Flack (38:33)

Longrun Meadow: Jim Mcconnel (23:08)

Millennium Country: Georgia Barker (31:30), Richard Barker (31:31)

Pocket: Jon Hunt (23:20), Richard Harbon (24:41)

Sloughbottom: Chloe Lucas (21:47)

Stevenage: Daniel Wrigley (21:43), Andrew Coates (25:53), Adrian Sherwood (28:07), Emily Yossarian (30:03), Hannah Bloomfield (33:19)

Storeys Field: Bev Rimmer (34:20)

Wimpole Estate: Anna Greetham (27:53), Matt Roberts (27:53)