No half measures as Royton group excels

Debbie Fiddling, of Royton Road Runners

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ROYTON Road Runners dominated the challenging Huddersfield half-marathon, with commanding victories in both the men's and women's races.

Rob James, running on home soil and with previous experience of the course, cruised to victory in one hour, 20 minutes and 40 seconds, an incredible seven minutes and 20 seconds clear of the field.

Debbie Fiddling (1:49:07) ran superbly to win the women's race by more than five minutes, with fellow club member Debbie Shaw (1:54:44) coming home second.

Remarkably, Fiddling and Shaw both compete in the FV50 age category.

Behind James, Royton had four other top 10 finishers. Owen Flage was fifth (1:31:31), Shane Reading seventh (1:32:54), Nick Cuff ninth (1:37:54) and David Emanuel 10th (1:38:43).

A little further back there was a great battle between five club members who finished within a minute of one another. Robert Fairbanks (1:39:52) was closely followed across the line by Dave Peart (1:40:01), Mark Wilde (1:40:07), Neil Brock (1:40:27) and Dave Hall (1:40:51). Richard Fiddling (1:45:28) just managed to beat Eamonn Nolan (1:45:32), while a lung-bursting sprint finish between Dave Freer and Jason Keast saw them both given a time of 1:53:20.

Selina McLean (2:03:18) celebrated her 25th club race with a fine eighth place in the women's race, while Lee Higginbottom (1:50:15) also joined the "25 Club" as he finished just ahead of Stuart Hulme (1:50:57).

COMPLETED

The degree of difficulty of this course is shown by the fact that only three other Royton athletes completed the race in under two hours - Carl O'Callaghan (1:46:10), Matthew Kilburn (1:47:10) and Rob Marsden (1:47:20).

Other Royton finishers -

Angela Rogowskyj (3:16:13), Carol Robinson (3:15:58), Mary Freer and Nefa Nessa (both 2:44:18), Anne Jones (2:29:19), Jillian Heywood (2:28:50), Lisa Howarth (2:28:45), Dave Watt (2:25:32), Martin Jones (2:09:11), Margaret Bluer (2:08:08), Vikki Smith (2:07:14), Garry Bower (2:03:46), Stephen Rogowskyj (2:02:10) and Paul Cooke (2:01:42).

The Huddersfield race came just a few days after a different event, the last of the Littleborough 5K series.

James was victorious there, too, his winning time of 16:23 just five seconds outside the course record he set a month earlier.

James led the Royton men's team to victory alongside Chris Lowe (fourth overall, second V40, 18:17) and Shane Reading (sixth overall, third V40, 18:20).

Not to be outdone, the Royton women also completed a fine win, led by Debbie Shaw (first FV50, 21:40), with excellent support from Val Kilburn (first FV45, 21:43) and Natalie Fitzpatrick (second FV35, 22:12).

Two new Royton members made their club debuts at Littleborough, with Gary Marshall (27:02) running well and Jarrod Gritt (19:51) finishing in an excellent 21st place.

The total number of club members competing in the three-race series reached an impressive 91 with first appearances from Brian Swindells (second V65, 31:20), Carol Robinson (third FV40, 30:33), Dave Watt (24:54), Ray Williams (24:04), Dave Hall (first V55, 20:50) and Brad Howard (20th, 19:47).

OVERALL

Just 34 runners completed the full series - 24 of them from Royton. The top three overall performers were all from the club and it was a close finish - Shane Reading coming out on top with an aggregate time of 55:24 (an average of 18:28 per race), followed by Rob Battye (55:52) and Robert Fairbanks (55:59).

The women's competition was more clear-cut, with Rochelle Evans (69:44, after claiming the first FV40 prize in the final race) finishing ahead of Becky Mercer (71:07).