Lilly's absence keenly felt by Severn
With leading runner Josh Lilly still missing through injury, and several other key athletes lacking form, they placed 11th out of the 16 competing teams.
It was always going to be tough in what is considered the toughest cross-country league in the country.
Tim Dalton, struggling to regain full fitness, was the club's first finisher in 37th, closely followed by Gary Hope in 41st.
The pair ran together for most of the race until Dalton opened up a 10-second gap on the final lap.
Alex Hope had a solid race in 86th and the fourth and fifth scorers were separated by just four seconds, with James Rose in 118th and Dave Lander in 122nd. Simon Fortnam completed the scoring six in 133rd.
They were closely followed by Ian Smith (138th), with Gareth Howells making a return to racing after a long lay-off with injury.
Rising star Kyran Hale finished a fine seventh in the supporting Under-15 boys race.
Team spokesman Simon Fortnam said: "Josh Lilly's absence just highlighted our current lack of depth and we desperately need him back and the other team members putting in some hard training in the coming weeks if we are to avoid getting into a relegation battle.
"We have successfully linked our track and field section with Gloucester AC over the past two years and today's result proves quite conclusively that we need to give a total merge very serious consideration if the city is to be a major force in the sport."
Severn's Jo Fletcher just missed out in her attempt to regain the Police Marathon Championship she won in 2007.
In this year's race at Leicester, Christine Howard won in three hours exactly and Fletcher was second in 3:01.46.
Club-mate John Holland ran the Abingdon Marathon, producing his quickest ever first three miles – inside 19 minutes – before his ankle weakened.
He jogged the rest of the course with a friend to finish 556th in 4:17.26.
BIRMINGHAM XC LEAGUE: 37 Tim Dalton 33.59, 41 Gary Hope 34.09, 86 Alex Hope 35.49, 118 James Rose 37.02, 122 Dave Lander 37.06, 133 Simon Fortnam 37.28, 138 Ian Smith 37.45, 149 Gareth Howells 38.13, 205 Martyn Whitlock 43.14, 207 Anthony Bethel 43.21.
Gloucestershire Cross Country League (Guiting Power), SENIOR MEN: 4 Gary Hope (V40) 32.58, 11 Alex Hope (2nd V45) 34.05, 19 James Rose 34.50, 21 Dave Lander (V40) 35.00, 32 Ian Smith (3rd V45) 36.02, 43 Steve Hale 36.59, 66 Steve Bradley 38.45, 70 Andy Norman (V50) 39.16, 71 Dave Lowthian (V40) 39.18, 102 Derek Lightstone (2nd V60) 39.18, Ian Pollard (V55) 44.25.
Under 17: 6 Oliver Starkey 18.44.
Under-15: 1 Kyran Hale 17.40.
Teams: Senior 3rd, veteran 1st.
Ladies: 3 Gwen Kinsey 24.56, 85 Sandra Brown (V50) 37.04, 97 Vanessa Anderton (3rd V55) 41.24. Team 17th.
Stockport 5K: 121 Mike Anderton (V50) 26.14.
● On October 1 The Citizen reported that Tom Russell had been given permission to run all four stages of the Plock Court relay race by the event's organiser Terry Haines.
Haines wishes to clarify that he was not approached for permission.
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