National 12- and 6-Stage Road Relays
Once the women's team was finalised, an average stage time of 17.30 for each 2.995m leg looked realistic for a total team time of roughly 1hr 45 mins, which looked as though it could possibly leave the team in position 3-5 based on the 2008 result. But this was a year in which the course record was broken by the first two teams and the overall standard was higher.
Women's 6-Stage
All 6 of our athletes produced performances which reflected their current form and the team closed in 1:44.50, but at no stage did we threaten the top 5 places. Linda Jackson, surrounded by athletes in many cases 20 years younger on the start line, ran 17.26 for 17th out of the 63 teams that began the race. This left a line of athletes ahead for the team's fastest woman, Jessica Sparke. It was Jess's second race back after lengthy injury and she was relatively unconcerned by what time she ran, being focused largely on her track season. Nonetheless, she passed 10 teams and her 16.27 left us in 7th after Stage 2.
18-year old Georgie Sales' ran a nicely controlled race. She started relaxed and retained her form well up the big hill that comes early on each stage, i.e. she conquered the impetuosity and nerves that can come with a debut national relay. When Bedford's international Katrina Wootton cruised past on her way to a day's 3rd fastest time of 15.38, Sales continued to run her own race and was rewarded with a solid time of 18.06. On Stage 4 Kat Gundersen, who had run 19.22 in 2008, knew that she would be overtaken but she kept her focus and ran her own race despite losing 4 places, and she ran 40 seconds faster this year - 18.42.
Lauren Stewart recently ran a fine 79 minutes at the Reading half-marathon, and she had another excellent run here, probably the best run on the team in relative terms, as she pipped Jackson's time by 4 seconds as she put us back in 9th place with 17.22.
On the anchor leg, Olympic triathlete Jodie Swallow started 1 second in front of Coventry Godiva's Celia Brown, 14secs behind Winchester's Karen Hazlitt, and 21secs down on Swansea's Amanda Jones. As she steadily pulled away from Brown, neither Hazlitt or Jones showed genuine weakness but Swallow, running with her characteristic strength, gradually edged closer. As the 3 turned into the final, uphill 350m straight, with Hazlitt and Jones level and Swallow 10 yards behind, Hazlitt kicked effectively for home. Jones struggled to hang on and Swallow, while lacking genuine speed, had enough power to pick her off and secure an 8th place finish.
After finishes of 14th (2008) and 31st (2007), 8th was a best-ever position for the women, pipping our 9th of 2006 (time 1:48.34: Jackson 17.54, Morser 19.11, Care 17.51, Cutler 18.02, Griffith 18.07, Snow 17.29). The fact that a team time of almost 4 minutes faster only left us 1 place higher than 2006 indicates a major improvement in the overall standard, which must be a good thing for British women's endurance running. Winners Charnwood and runners-up Aldershot both ran 1hr 38mins to break the old course record of 1hr39. Hopefully this raising of standards across the boards will drive our own women to improve on a personal level too. This year the fastest leg was run by Aldershot's Steph Twell in 15.15, which compares with Hayley Yelling's course record of 14.47.
Men's 12-Stage
Three separate and careful analyses of our prospects by Bertie Powell, Alan Bird and team manager Terry McCarthy had each predicted a team time a fraction faster than the 4:16.23 which earned us a best-ever 6th place in 2008. What position this might result in was a hazier issue, with pre-race online rumour suggesting that a few teams might be stronger than last year. In actuality, our team ran over 2 minutes slower than last year and the Internet gossip proved accurate as last year's time would this year have only earned us 10th place.
Whereas last year we were never outside the top 10, this year we were never in it! Again, it can only be a good thing for the sport if standards are in the process of rising long-term. On Stage 1 Hywel Care was a little disappointed with his 27.14 for the 5.38 mile "long" leg, having made a decision not to stay with a group for longer halfway around the leg. This left us in 17th of the initial 68 teams. Tim Prendergast ran a decent 15.20 on Stage 2, though we lost 4 places. He reported that, on this occasion, his limited vision was only a factor insofar as he only realised he had reached the "kick for home" point when he was some way past it. Ewen Malloch then regained the 4 places in running a nifty 27.10, a little heavy-legged after his final training run prior to his debut marathon next week in London when he hopes to run sub2.25.
In running 15.30 and raising us 1 place on Stage 4, 18-year old Gavin Lewis confirmed that he is well-capable of racing good relay legs at national level, so the club has an excellent asset for the future. On Stage 5, Daniel Agustus passed a fading Cardiff outfit who were 2nd after Stage 2. Agustus ran 28.02, which compares to a fastest around this course of 26.52 when winning a silver medal with Sale Harriers.
Until this point we had not witnessed any fireworks from our men but that changed with 17-year old Ronnie Sparke who had represented the GB U20 team at the World CC Championships in Jordan a fortnight earlier. Sparke took over from Agustus 3 seconds in front of Sale Harriers' Glen Comish, a man with a 10K road PB of 29.22 and a 3000 steeplechase PB of 8.34. It was the perfect scenario for the rapidly-developing Sparke. Comish quickly passed him. Sparke recognised a fellow talent and decided to hitch a ride. The duo passed Trafford's Holt fairly early on and went in chase of Aldershot's Reed and Shaftesbury's Jake Shelley, both a similar age to Sparke. Both are very good athletes. In fact, Shelley had had the better of Sparke early in the cross-country season. But with 400m to go, all four athletes were together. And it was Sparke, always strong on hills, who came out on top in the sprint finish. He recorded the same time as Comish - 14.43 - and was marginally faster than his two GB teammates Goolab, of Belgrave, and Wilkinson, of Leeds, who both ran the same leg.
Matt Shone also hitched a lift off Sale Harriers as Gareth Raven, with a 29.39 10K PB, ran a leg of 26.23. Raven passed Shone early on and Shone hung onto him all the way to the turnround point at the far end of the park, passing Coventry Godiva en route, before "admitting defeat". He was forced by his efforts into taking a breather for a mile or so and then kicked on again strongly to clock a course PB of 27.25. On Stage 8 Angus Holford never felt comfortable but ran 15.45, close enough to his predicted time. He was passed by Aldershot's Kevin Quinn but, in contrast, pulled back 27 seconds on Sale's Wetherall to give Bertie Powell something to aim at on Stage 9. Whenever Powell was spotted by our supporters he appeared to be running strongly so we were surprised to see his official time was no faster than 28.18, though he did pass Sale.
At the start of Stage 10 we were thus in 11th, a minute down on Aldershot and 17 seconds up on Godiva as Sale had fallen away. On 10, Aldershot pulled further away, but Craig Berg pulled away from Swansea as he ran 15.48. He had hoped to be much closer to the 15.25 he ran in 2008. Kevin Murphy, dubbed "consistency personified" pre-race by Ewen Malloch as he normally runs between 27.50 and 28.00, responded by pulling out a real shocker - 29.00! In the process Swansea, who had started over 2 minutes down, almost caught him! We were now over 2 minutes behind 10th place and there were good-natured calls for a public enquiry into the performance of such a reliable athlete. Was he bought? Had money changed hands? Could he possibly resurrect his career or even face his teammates again??
But we were secure in 11th as Martyn Cryer ran a terrific 14.34, which made him 11th fastest of the day overall, on Stage 12. In fact, due to the fact that the race start had been delayed by 45 minutes, all the Stage 12 runners except those of the top 8 clubs were made to join the so-called "mass start" which thus involved a straightforward race. Cryer was the first to admit that this had helped him, because he found himself chasing three runners - Bristol's Mitchell, Aldershot's Mashford and Trafford's Gilmour - who he calculated had run too hard over the early stages. He duly reeled all 3 in as he finished with excellent power to show why he has a 5000m PB of 14.09 from 2005. (Martyn brings the team home in style)
Belgrave won the race by 5 minutes in an impressive 4:04.43 from Newham, but 7 other clubs also bettered our 2008 team time of 4:16.23. Where did these other clubs come from? Perhaps a better question is, where did they go last year? Bedford and Bristol, for example, were surprisingly weak in 2008. Tipton were 4 minutes faster this time, winning bronze. Birchfield, in 5th, were 9 minutes faster. Shettleston Harriers (from Glasgow) were absent last year yet 1 second away from bronze this year, making the most of the fact that a group of Eritrean asylum seekers have joined them. Aldershot, Southern silver medalists this year and last, were 8 minutes faster than last year. The 10th placed team's time of 4.16.34 is the fastest 10th place by 2mins since before 2000.
If more athletes are wanting to run this championship for their club, it can only be a good thing as this race has always been a highlight of the year for British endurance runners.
Managers McCarthy and Alex Wardle released a joint statement to signal the end of the winter season, "This has been an excellent season for the club. Both teams have established themselves as amongst the top teams in the South and close to the top 10 in the UK. The women's performances have been slightly better than the men's, but the men were already one step ahead and this has been a season of very good consolidation for the men."
"With many talented young athletes, we can look forward to more exciting racing next winter, when we will again aim to feature at the front of all the club's targeted events. Many thanks to the great many athletes who have responded with loyalty to the club's call and done the club great credit. Good luck to those athletes aiming for a successful track season."
Consistency champions
The race decided the two consistency trophies on offer each winter. Linda Jackson won the Brenda Bray Trophy for the first time, while Bertie Powell remarkably won the Ken Bray Trophy for the 4th consecutive year (2008: shared with Matt Shone). Congratulations to both!