Men 12th in National 12 Stage Road Relay
Our men rounded off the 2011-12 winter season with an excellent 12th place at the National 12 Stage Road Relay in Sutton Park, Birmingham, on Saturday. There was a mixture of solid and very good running from most of our men and the position was significantly higher than most had predicted, helped by some weak performances from traditionally strong clubs.
Having finished 4th at the South of England 12 Stage three weeks ago, 7 of that team had meanwhile become unavailable. Nonetheless, others had become available and, on paper, this team was at least comparable. We thought we could run a team time of between 4 hours 20 minutes and 4 hours 22 minutes, and felt this could put us into the top 15, compared with 2011's 20th.
We put Daniel Agustus on leg 1 - Dan has become something of a team leader through his quiet reliability and we knew he could deliver something solid on what is always the best-quality leg of the day as many teams field their fastest man. In fact, Agustus delivered better than solid on the 8.692 km "long" stage as he ran a very quick 27.18 - 5.03 mins per mile. This left us 25th - as good as we could have expected.
On leg 2 (short - 4.835 kms), Tim Prendergast was the only one of our men to be disappointed with his run. We put him on what is usually a busy leg with plenty of runners as he only has 5% vision, but in fact he found himself in a bit of a no-man's land as the guys in front went away and the only men who came past were moving at such a speed (James Shane of Newham, Anthony Whiteman of Shaftesbury and Mark Buckingham of Holmfirth all ended up amongst the top 10 fastest short stages of the day) that he could not latch onto them. He ran 16.03 and we dropped to 28th.
There was quite a bit of chopping and changing on the psychologically long run out to Streetly Gate and back on stage 3, but Tom Beedell kept his head amongst all the movement and delivered close to what we expected on stage 3, 28.42, and left us in 29th. Our rivals Highgate were already 2 minutes ahead of us, and Serpentine and Shaftesbury were too.
With no real form behind him, Gavin Lewis had quietly accepted an unhelpful Leg 10 spot in our B team in the Southern Champs, but he let his legs do the talking there as he ran quicker than some of our A team men. His reward was Leg 4 here in the National, and he produced the goods again. Though only 21, this was Lewis's 4th appearance in this event, and he ran 20 seconds faster than his previous best as he streaked to 15.09, passing 6 men in the process to leave us 23rd. Lewis looks set for a good summer over 800m!
We were pleased to make use of some rare Matt Gunby availability on leg 5. Top triathlete Gunby had recently raced in Peru, Ecuador and Brazil (it's a hard life!), but he then fractured his wrist in a fall from his bike, so his tri plans changed and he was able to represent us here, compensating hugely for the loss of Hywel Care who was our fastest long stage in the Southerns. He set off 6 seconds ahead of Blackheath's Michael Skinner, who has represented Great Britain many times in the World Cross Country Championships. Skinner went past him early on but Gunby stuck with him all the way out to Streetly Gate, gaining the impression that the Blackheath man was rather surprised and did not recognise this Woodford man on his shoulder (who has a 10K best of 30.10 and was 28th in the English National CC in 2010). All the way back, too, until 22 minutes had elapsed and finally Gunby's wheels came off with a mile to go. In that mile, Skinner took 29 more seconds out of our man, but we had gained 4 more places and were now 19th. With 27.17, Gunby pipped Agustus to the team's quickest time of the day by 1 second.
We were delighted to give a debut to Ed Shepherd, who was cleared to run for us on April 1st after moving from Herts Phoenix AC. Shepherd only turned 18 in December but has impressed in his training with our group under Richard Thurston at Ashton Playing Fields and won an England U20 CC vest in February. The youngster appears to be a nerveless character and was clearly unfazed by the occasion as he relentlessly chased Blackheath and passed him late in the stage. Shepherd's 15.00 was the 4th fastest overall on stage 6, plus our fastest short stage of the day, and he goes straight into 9th in the club's all-time short stage ranking. On a team level, though, he crossed the line level with Stockport and 1 second behind Morpeth. So though officially 18th we were, in practice, tied for 16/17/18.
We had used up our 2 long stage big hitters now, so our remaining long stage men could only be expected to return something solid and wait for opponents to weaken. Harold Wyber did a great job defending our position on leg 7. After a quickish start, Stockport and Morpeth went away from him, and a quick Belgrave man flew past. On the other hand, he was able to pass Gateshead late in the stage, and we were still in 18th.
At this point, some of the teams above were starting to waver, and Oli Heeks took great advantage of the fact on leg 8. Heeks had run 1.52 for 800m in Australia last month but was unsure how this and his 800m training since returning would translate into a 5K. But things went like a dream and he was fluid until the foot of the final 400m climb which hurts everyone equally. He passed people at regular intervals and his 15.04 proved to be the second-quickest of the stage. There was great excitement in our camp as he crossed the line in 12th, now just 21 seconds behind Highgate, who were also staying strong.
Highgate's team manager, the experienced Ben Pochee, led them out on leg 9, and it was Matt Shone who was tasked with chasing him. Shone worked hard on the way out, but by halfway he had only halved the gap. Then, when he turned, he felt himself crumble. The long road back, he reported, was "awful, slow and gut-wrenching" and Pochee disappeared into the distance. A quick Belgrave man came past, too, and late in the stage Liverpool Harriers passed us. However, Shone picked off the Shettleston (from Glasgow) man so the net loss was 1 place and we were 13th. When Shone learned he had run 28.25, he was pleasantly surprised and he realised he had run the first half quicker than he realised.
At this point, astonishingly, Bristol, who had been lying 9th, could field no more runners so we were automatically 12th again. Our Bertie Powell gave everything in his chase after the Highgate man, Deane, and both clubs closed and passed Liverpool. Powell caught Deane on the line and was given the verdict - officially we were 10th and Highgate 11th but in reality both clubs' stage 11 men set off together. 15.12 was a very good run from Powell and the 5th fastest on stage 10, and it suggests he could have an excellent summer track season over 5000m.
It was a great coincidence that our Tomaz Plibersek and Highgate's Ryan McKinlay began leg 11 neck-and-neck, because they have become friends and training partners while steeplechasing in our British League track team - McKinlay competes for us under the Higher Competition rule. McKinlay has had a very fine winter season but went into this race troubled by a hip injury, so we were hopeful that Plibersek could limit their gains and give our leg 12 man a shot at passing a club with whom we have become very friendly rivals. It was a difficult tactical situation for Plibersek, who knew that McKinlay was quicker, but did not know how much quicker. He possibly ran a fraction quicker than ideal in the first half of the race, and he suffered badly in the last 2 miles. McKinlay clocked 28.05, and was certainly affected by his injury, to Plibersek's 28.48. A very good Liverpool man went passed us, too, so we were 12th.
The gaps in front of Angus Holford on leg 12 were roughly 30 seconds to Liverpool and 43 to Highgate, and all he could do was chase and hope. He paced his race well so that he was finishing strongly. The gaps concertina'd as Liverpool closed on Highgate, but Holford was moving fastest of all. But ultimately the stage was perhaps half a mile too short, and Liverpool crossed the line 13 seconds ahead of us, and Highgate 9. It was another exciting finish - not on a par with the Southerns, but exciting nonetheless and very competitive all the way to the end. Holford was timed at 15.39.
Our cumulative team time of 4:21.24 was our 3rd fastest in this event, and 12th was our 3rd highest position (after 6th in 2008 and 11th in 2009). 12th was higher than we had expected, and worth more than our 12th in this year's English National CC because this event features strong teams from Wales and Scotland. On this occasion, however, we were surprised to see Cardiff field just 2 runners, while Shettleston have gone downhill since their 3rd place in 2010. Morpeth, 3rd last year, could only manage 17th and Swansea, 7th and 9th in the last two seasons, dropped to 31st. Shaftesbury, 13th last year, were back in 38th, 20 minutes behind us.
Team Manager Terry McCarthy commented, "4th in the Southern 12 Stage, 4th in the Southern CC, 12th in the National CC and 12th now in this, while winning the Met League again - I'm very pleased with the consistency we're achieving. Really, it's what Woodford are all about - being very solid and not making mistakes. The athletes are extremely helpful and proud to represent their club, and we are successfully bringing the younger lads through in the correct way. This was a great end to a very rewarding season."