A cold day awaited the many runners from around the county and yet again Andover Athletic Club was very well supported with 15 athletes running in what was the fifth in the series of the Hampshire Road Race League, Portsmouth’s Victory 5.

The men’s race was fast with the overall winner coming home in just 22:54. Some way behind in 81st place Matt Lane brought the A team home with a stunning sub-30 minute five mile race, a new personal best for Matt by nearly two minutes. Only two minutes behind him was Rob Cliffe in 142nd (31:51), also setting a new pb. Ade Sinclair ran extremely well to get third place for the club in an excellent time of 32:14 with David Cleghorn completing the A team in 33:02. These results meant that the A team achieved fourth place in (A) Division 2 maintaining their overall position of fourth in the Hampshire Road Race League. The B team also came fourth in their division (B) Division 2 but move to third place overall, with good solid runs from Martin Welsh (206th pb) Kelvin Mason (237th), Ian Oldacre (280th) and John Goulding (309th).

The ladies were also out in force with two full Andover AC teams competing, a first for the club.

Emma Dunham was first back for the A team in 34th in the ladies’ race in a time of 33:49. Emma was followed home by Jo Samways in 40:08 in 106th place and Sandra Blowers in 120th place in 41:14 (a new pb). The A team came third on the day and stayed in fourth overall. The B team was led home by Sheila Oldacre in 156th place, with Katy Karas 12 places further back and Sandra Horner and Sally Vant bringing the team home in 210th and 220th places respectively. Following this fine set of results the B team now lies in third place in the (B) League Division 2.

Prospect Park in Reading was the location for the fourth in the series of five races that comprises the Hampshire Cross Country League which pits the athletes from neighbouring counties of Hampshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire and Dorset against each other in a winter endurance league.

The athletes were greeted with very cold and icy but beautifully sunny weather and unusually for this location - which is normally known for its mud - very hard icy uneven ground.

Despite the conditions the show always goes on and the brilliant sunshine and some very notable performances helped to make it a very enjoyable event. As is their trademark - the U15 boy’s team consolidated their reputation by taking first team place on the day moving them up the overall rankings to second. They now have a real chance of taking the title in the final match which will be held in Salisbury in February. This magnificent team performance saw all four athletes cross the line in the top ten - the best performance by a country mile by a young Andover distance team in many decades.

Alex Rudge was first man home in second place in 12:41 for the 4k course, followed by Dan Grinham in sixth (13:07), Tom Bennett, who is slowly returning to form following a shoulder injury in eighth (13:29) and Chris Neil in tenth (13:44). All four boys also feature in the individual league rankings where four of the five races must have been completed to qualify. Alex holds second place, with Dan Grinham secure in fifth, Tom Bennett seventh and Chris Neil eighth.

Christie Woodford and Chris Berntsen also had great races in their U17 age groups. Both attacked the race from the start and Christie finished the four kilometre course in fifth place her highest finish ever in 15:31 and Chris in sixth place in a time of 17.49 for the 5.6k race.

Also competing were Ellora Milsom, Vick Grinham, Charlotte Brown, Natalie Thomas, Margaret Smith, Caroline Bennett, Soloman Lane, Sam Winchcombe, Chris Adams, Matt Lane, Tim Bennett and Gordon Smith.