Set against the back drop of Nottingham’s majestic Wollaton Hall, three Grantham Athletic Club athletes competed in the North Mids XC league match on Saturday 13th Jan.

First off were Isabel Hobday and Harry Denton. Both ran intelligent races, starting off steady then picking the pace up to work their way up through the pack to finish 13th and 21st respectively.

The course was mostly on firm grass which led to some fast running – especially on the long descent from Wollaton House which saw athletes practically flying down the hill. Unfortunately, what goes down must also come back up and the payback was a gruelling long incline in the middle of the lap which forced athletes to dig deep!

The adult’s course was a longer-than-usual 10.72K so times looked slow but the long tarmac section of the extra loop gave athletes the possibility to crack on, but only if they made the choice not to use spikes!

Report by Stephen Hobday

Results:

Isabel Hobday (U15) – 13

Harry Denton (U17) – 20

Stephen Hobday (Seniors) – 95