Sibling pair Jack and Charlotte Murphy secured a brilliant county double in the NAA County One-Mile Championships at Kettering last weekend.
The event, incorporated into the 20th edition of the Chairman’s Cup, saw one of the biggest ever turnouts with former England international Steve Flint on hand to present the medals.
The highlight from Rugby & Northampton came from the Murphys, who were both successful in the under-17 age group.
Jack ran against the senior and junior men to finish third overall with a time of 5 mins 00.1 secs and his 14-year-old sister Charlotte took the title by finishing fourth in the combined ladies race with 5:51.3.
The senior men’s champion with the fastest time of the day was 20-year-old Rory Grant of Birchfield Harriers with 4 mins 27.9 secs and he was presented with the Michael May Memorial Trophy by former Northampton Phoenix runner Flint, who at the age of 19 in 1980 broke the four-minute mile barrier with 3:58.68.
The veteran men over 40 had their own race with a field of 11 athletes and Vince Carroll won his first county title at the distance.
The R&N runner kicked away from the field with 600 metres to record 5:03.2 and the final athlete from the club to win gold was James Wizard in the under-15 boys race with 5:21.5
There was a bronze medal for Scott Andrew in the senior men’s event when he was timed at 5:19.0 and just missing out on the podium was Brendan Moen in fourth spot in the veteran men’s competition with 5:14.2.
R&N coach Andy Byrd completed the one mile in 6:53.1, but it was down to his superb organisation and coaching of the under-11s and under-13s from the club that helped them to retain the Chairman’s Cup.
The fastest lady of the day was Wellingborough’s Kelly Barnett, who took the senior title with 5:36.5.
Lewis Hayes from the host club maintained his status as the county’s number one under-20 runner with a time of 4:33.3 and Rosanna Andrews of Northampton Road Runners won gold in the female equivalent with 5:53.3.
The veteran women’s over-40 race went to Caroline Parkins of Wootton Road Runners in 6:17.4 and there was a one-two for the Harborough twins of Niamh and Mollie Watson in the under-15 girls race with times of 5:42.9 and 5:47.5 respectively.
Seasoned road Wootton Road Runner Richard Fowler took the silver medal in the male Masters race with an impressive final lap to clock 5:10.
In the seniors races, Wootton’s James Armstrong rang a controlled race, again finishing strongly to earn a well-deserved silver medal in a time of 5:06 and Alex Winfield was able to claim bronze in the ladies race in a time of 7:07.