Athletics: Tim comes up trumps while Kate lands clean sweep

British & Irish Masters cross-country champion Tim Hartley changed tack on Sunday – and came up trumps in the Desford 10k, the latest Leicestershire Road-Running League race.

And, in the women's race, Barrow club-mate Kate Ramsey completed a clean sweep of league races this winter with her fourth consecutive victory.

Hartley had originally planned to travel to Northamptonshire to defend his Silverstone Half-Marathon title, where he won £1,000 last year.

But, after suffering from a cold and a frozen shoulder during the last couple of weeks, he decided that 13.1 miles of intensive effort would probably be beyond him, so opted for Desford instead. He was pleased he did.

He got home in 30min 54sec, 51 seconds ahead of Owls' runner-up Mark Powell, and said: "I was expecting to be hanging on to Mark, but I felt quite strong, though I suppose I've got lots of energy with not having done a lot in the last couple of weeks and Mark is marathon training.

"I was pleased to go under 31 minutes, especially around that sort of hilly course, though I was a bit disappointed that I didn't do the half, but maybe that would have been a bit too far."

Ashley Sabin claimed third spot in 32.28 to lead Leicester Coritanians to the lowest men's team score on the day of 181, not bad for a League Three side!

Charnwood's Mark Couldwell, who won the previous league race, the Kibworth 6, was fourth in 33.01.

In the women's race, Ramsey, another 40-year-old, had a battle with Charnwood's Clare McKittrick before edging the honours by just seven seconds.

Ramsey crossed the line in 36.59, and led home Barrow's winning women's team, with McKittrick clocking 37.06. Huncote's F40 veteran Nicki Nealon was third in 38.03. Leading details:

Men: 1 Tim Hartley (M40, Bar) 30.54, 2 Mark Powell (Owls) 31.45, 3 Ashley Sabin (LC) 32.28, 4 Mark Couldwell (Ch) 33.01, 5 Nathaniel Walker (Leic Tri) 33.18, 6 Ally Watson (Herm) 33.19, 7 Jason Williams (Owls) 34.19, 8 Simon Cotton (M40, LC) 34.26, 9 Richard Whitelegg (Hk) 34.30, 10 Karl Beardall (F&K) 34.34, 11 David Battersby (Bar) 34.50, 12 Rob Sheen (M45, LC) 35.01, 13 Paul Gregory (Herm) 35.03, 14 Richard Brown (Ch) 35.23, 15 Andy Hart (M40, LC) 35.30, 16 William Clapp (M40, Harb) 35.33, 17 Kingsley Cook (M40, Hunc) 35.50, 18 Brian Stout (Iv) 35.56, 19 Craig Sabin (M45, LC) 35.57, 20 Dave Pearce (M40, LC) 36.01, 21 Richard Bettsworth (M40, Wrk) 36.04, 22 Jake Harrison (Bar) 36.07, 23 Glenn North (M45, Ch) 36.08, 24 Mark Chamberlain (M40, RH) 36.09, 25 Neil Wright (Birst) 36.13.

Teams – League One: 1 Barrow 272pts, 2 Owls 480, 3 Hermitage 495, 4 Ivanhoe 658, 5 Birstall 702, 6 Wreake 763, 7 Stilton 772. Overall: 1 Barrow 77, 2 Owls 69, 3 Wreake 56, 4 Hermitage 55, 5 Ivanhoe 53, 6 Stilton 50, 7 Birstall 48. League Two: 1 Huncote 491, 2 Fleckney 498, 3 Hinckley 852, 4 Roadhoggs 987, 5 Desford 1177, 6 Shepshed 1206, 7 Beaumont 1295. Overall: 1 Huncote 77, 2 Fleckney 71, 3 Roadhoggs 57, 4 Hinckley 56, 5 Beaumont 51, 6 Shepshed 48, 7 Desford 48. League Three: 1 Leicester Coritanians 181, 2 Leicester Tri 391, 3 Nuneaton 736, 4 Harborough 774, 5 Charnwood 787, 6 Sth Derbys 1045, 7 West End 1187, 8 Whetstone 1334. Overall: 1 Leicester Coritanians 80, 2 Leicester Tri 65, 3 Nuneaton 55, 4 Charnwood 54., 5 Harborough 54, 6 West End 50, 7 Sth Derbys 49, 8 Whetstone 41.

Women: 1 Kate Ramsey (F40, Bar) 36.59, 2 Clare McKittrick (Ch) 37.06, 3 Nicki Nealon (F40, Hunc) 38.03, 4 Cath Draper (Bar) 38.47, 5 Nicola Roder (Leic Tri) 39.51, 6 Julie Lamb (F40, Owls) 40.55, 7 Rhona Makepeace (F45, Leic Tri) 41.04, 8 Janine Roper (Bar) 41.37, 9 Gina Vaughan (F45, Leic Tri) 41.47, 10 Charlotte Hardy (Birst) 41.56, 11 Monique Raaijmakers (Bar) 42.24, 12 Claire Naing (Hunc) 42.31.

Teams – League One: 1 Barrow 24, 2 Birstall 60, 3 Fleckney 87, 4 Barrow B 154, 5 Huncote 156, 6 Desford 210, 7 Wreake 229, 8 Owls 244, 9 Hinckley 245, 10 Beaumont (3) 217. Overall: 1 Barrow 77, 2 Birstall 71, 3 Fleckney 57, 4 Huncote 56, 5 Wreake 52, 6 Barrow B 50, 7 Hinckley 40, 8 Owls 40, 9 Desford 38, 10 Beaumont 35. League Two leaders: 1 Leicester Tri 43, 2 Charnwood 91, 3 Nuneaton 156, 4 Leicester Tri B 187, 5 West End 197. Overall: 1 Charnwood 95.5, 2 Leicester Tri 92.5, 3 West End 76, 4 Stilton 75, 5 Birstall B 66.