Men 23rd in National 6-Stage Road Relay
After another great day's sport at the home of the National Road Relays, Sutton Park near Birmingham, our men's team finished 23rd in the 6-Stage Championships on Saturday. Tom Beedell and Oli Heeks made their national relay debuts for us, and there was a welcome reappearance from Matt Shone, but Daniel Agustus was, once again, our fastest man on the day.
We have only ever finished higher than 20th on one occasion in this event - 13th in 2006 (clocking an unexceptional 1:50.53). We usually hover around the 20th mark and this year was to prove no exception.
Daniel Agustus had again earned the sought-after Leg 1 spot due to good runs in the South of England 6-Stage and the first London City Runner Metropolitan League race. This year the quality seemed particularly high, possibly because of good, sunny, still conditions and Agustus came in 32nd of the 83 starters. He was underwhelmed with his run, despite the fact that his 18.02 for the 5.847K course was quicker than his last two outings here. Last year 18.02 on Leg 1 would have been good enough for 24th.
Hywel Care took over on Leg 2, fresh from being selected to represent Wales in the Great South Run 10-mile race to be televised on 30th October. Happily, his 18.09 was the fastest he has run for us in the five editions of this race he has run for us since joining in 2007. As the positions changed dramatically he elevated us into 27th place, despite being passed by our Met League rivals Highgate, Shaftesbury and Serpentine who all played big-hitters on this leg. He was also passed by Blackheath's Scott Overall, who probably booked himself an Olympic Marathon spot two weeks ago when he ran 2hrs 10mins in Berlin.
On Leg 3 Alex Cornwell kept up the forward progress, taking us another 5 places higher to 22nd and overtaking the aforesaid rivals once more. 20 year old Cornwell's 18.13 signalled decent progress from his 18.31 in 2010 and 18.40 in 2009. Next year he will be looking to go through the 18 minute barrier which only 4 Woodford men have ever done (Fiachra Lombard, Simon Plummer twice, Matt Shone twice and Matt Barnes-Smith).
As the battle raged, the positions continued to change on leg 4. Tom Beedell was making his road relay debut for us after notching a good 15th at Claybury last week. He was passed by Notts, Highgate (Ben Noad, a 28.47 10000m man as far back as 2000) and Aldershot's B team. Yet it was a sound run from Beedell as his 18.37 took him past Derby, Wells and Bideford and kept us in 22nd.
On Leg 5, former Commonwealth Games 800m man Matt Shone had won himself selection on the back of a 3-week intensive training regime incorporating regular back-to-back sessions. Heading out towards the Jamboree Stone landmark after 1/3 of his stage, team manager Terry McCarthy completely misjudged the situation, estimating that Shone might be drifting back into 23rd place. For, a mile later, he had moved into 19th and had his eyes set on Highgate further down the road. A man never to be underestimated! He was rewarded with a fine 18.27 and is looking forward to build on this in the weeks to come.
Whereas Shone had been blessed with chasing some weaker runners, our anchor man Oli Heeks did not have the same luck. Coventry, Stroud and Glasgow-based Central AC were all playing trump cards on legs 5 and 6 and closing fast from behind. Derby passed us, too, so we slipped back to a finishing position of 23rd. Heeks is still re-building his training after a summer knee operation and did all that could be expected of him in clocking 19.11.
Our team time of 1:50.39 was our 3rd fastest around this course and 23" down on our own course record. The 1:50.00 barrier continues to defy us. Of our rivals, Highgate finished a good 16th, Serpentine 25th (though 90" behind us) and Shaftesbury 39th. As well as Central, we were beaten by Scotland's Shettleston (9th), and Wales' Swansea (5th) and Cardiff (11th). However, we beat Southern bronze medalists Kent (28th), while Southern 4th-placers Winchester did not field a team here.
At the front of the race, Aldershot won the title in 1:44.51, approx 1 minute per man quicker than us. The fastest leg of the day was run by Leeds City's James Wilkinson. His 16.38 is the third quickest in the 11 years on this course, 5" slower than Mo Farah in 2009 and 13" slower than the course record held by Telford's Chris Davies, 'The Flying Postman' who trained at our Ashton base last summer while visiting his friend Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Team Manager Terry McCarthy was perfectly satisfied with the team's performance. "This is always a great race to come to. It helps to keep our feet on the ground. It underlines the fact that the Met League is just that, a local cross country league. Once you get to southern and national level, the challenge is far more severe."