Race Date: Wednesday 13th May 2015

First thing, we have to thank Tony Horstead and team for getting Striders to these 5 milers.  It was a mammoth task arranging everything behind the scenes, especially with the level of interest this year.

Also, SYCAA themselves and the running clubs involved for putting on a fantastic set of races.  I wouldn’t like to think about the logistics of getting 400 people per race running on open roads etc.

Before we get into the actual Oxspring result, lets look at the overall Striders attendance and the team and overall standings.

The Numbers

• Lodge Moor: 89 Striders from 419 runners (21%)
• Wombwell: 63 Striders from 388 runners (16%)
• Low Bradfield: 86 Striders from 389 runners (22%)
• Oxspring: 73 Striders from 398 runners (18%)
• Total number of different Striders who took part in the 5 mile series: 139

Team Standings

There are 3 classes counted through the series; all age women, senior men (under 40) and veteran men (over 40).  Each club’s best finishers in each race (best 3 for ladies and best 4 in the men’s categories) have their times combined.  At the end of the 4 race series, the team with the lowest combined times is the winner.

All Ladies

Despite having the majority of our A team out with injury and the likes of London training we still put in a brilliant effort to finish in 3rd place behind Totley AC and Sheffield RC.

Congratulations to Emily Hunt, Hannah Helmore, Nicola Ross, Jennifer Rich and Amy Duck.

Senior Men

Despite being up against a formidable Sheffield RC team, our boys really gave it their all to secure 2nd place.

So well done Ben Jones, Craig Shaw, Sam Needham, James Rose, Colin Hardy, Martyn Goldsack, Jon Taylor and Jon Street

Vet Men

Despite our bright start we were up against it into the final race as Penistone had overtaken us after the third race.  Thankfully phone calls were made and faceman pulled together the A Team to help secure victory by just 19 seconds to Penistone.

Your V40+ winning team are Simon Bennett, Andy Davies, Michael Greer, David Palmer, Mick Wall, Alastair Lawson, Paul Stuart, Phil Howson and Mark Gray.

Overall Standings

To qualify for the overall standings you had to run in all 4 races, congratulations to the 26 Striders who did, your overall placings are listed below.  Great stuff, well done everyone.

Senior Ladies

4th, Emily Hunt

8th, Ashleigh Barron

11th, Amy Housley

15th, Ruth Kaiser

FV35 Ladies

3rd, Nicola Ross

FV45 Ladies

5th, Catherine McKeown

FV50 Ladies

3rd, Mir Jansen

FV55 Ladies

3rd, Stephanie Street

FV60 Ladies

3rd, Carol Beattie

Senior Men

8th, Craig Shaw

9th, Sam Needham

11th, James Rose

13th, Colin Hardy

15th, Steve Helmore

34th, Matt Gibson

39th, Alex Arblaster

V40 Men

15th, Roger Watson

V45 Men

4th, Simon Bennett

6th, Paul Stuart

7th, Phil Howson

V50 Men

8th, Ben Heller

10th, Andrew Woffinden

MV55 Men

6th, Richard Pegg

7th, David Beech

12th Ian Blackburn

MV60 Men

5th, Graham Hague

Oxspring Result

The final 5 mile race of the season saw 398 runners, 73 of which were Striders.  As per the other 3 races, we had the largest turnout by some considerable margin with 46 runners the next best turnout on the night.

Daniel Chan of Barnsley AC took first place (26:00) in a tight finish with Will Beauchamp of Sheffield RC just 7 seconds behind.  Strider David Palmer took the final podium place in 27:14. First lady home was Fiona Davies of Kingstone in 29:24