South of England Men's 6-Stage Road Relay: 11th
Conditions were horrible for our men's opening race of the season, the South of England 6-Stage Road Relay, at Rushmoor Arena near Aldershot. Hopes that we would get close to our fastest ever time on this course were dashed as the athletes battled cold, winds and lots of surface water. Other factors, too, contrived to slow us down. Nonetheless, we finished 11th of the 66 teams who closed, one place up on our 2011 result. Despite running with the remnants of a cold, Matt Gunby was our fastest man and 16th quickest overall on the day.
Team Manager Terry McCarthy only discovered shortly before the race that it would, in fact, begin 30 minutes later than he had told his athletes, so the early leg runners were forced to try to stay warm with no club tent and, in several cases, inadequate clothing - this was a sharp reminder that the winter season is upon us! Nobody was inconvenienced more than first leg runner Daniel Bruynooghe, who had been called into the A team the day before when Tomaz Plibersek dropped out with a cold, cycled from Aldershot station to the venue with children Henri (3) and Lola (1) in a cycle trailer. The children were unable to emerge from their waterproof cocoon due to the rain, so dad Daniel and supporter Charlie Crump struggled to occupy them with the rain teeming down.
81 men began the race and our basic aim was to make the top 20 and qualify for the Nationals. We had Darren Southcott running for an incomplete B team, and it was he who led Bruynooghe around on the first lap, going through halfway in 9.45, a couple of seconds ahead of Bruynooghe and both in around 40th position. On lap 2 however, Bruynooghe's experience told as he ran even splits so that he clocked 19.51 for 36th to Southcott's 21.16 for 46th. Bruynooghe was disappointed with his time and regretted wearing tights which had got heavy in the wet, but in the circumstances he had done a terrific job for the team. For Southcott it was a season-opener that blew away the cobwebs.
On leg 2 17 year old James Stockings was making his senior debut and he had to contend not only with the cold and wet, but with a couple of very fast men flashing past him, which can be disconcerting to the inexperienced. As a result, his lap times were uneven as he suffered second time round. But his 19.57 was probably only 20" down on a satisfactory time given the conditions, and we remained in 36th place. Rob Cox was our second and last B team runner and clocked 21.07 running very even splits which he was pleased with. He lost 4 places.
Unfortunately Harun Abdi was not ready for his handover and lost around 10 seconds even before he started running. He had struggled to keep warm in his non-waterproof Ethiopia track suit, and had not raced since April, but nonetheless he began reeling in athletes. Though not sharp, he looked strong and his time of 19.19 pulled us through into 25th, so it was a promising start to the season for this talented young athlete.
Martyn Cryer freely admitted that, if he had been running only for himself, he would never have left the house to face these conditions. But he got on with leg 4 and produced what he called a "solid" run, our first sub19 of the day, and he pulled us 11 places higher leaving us in a far more respectable 15th, with a few guys lined up not far ahead. It was simply good to have "Cryer Flier", who has missed so much running over recent seasons, back in the mix.
On leg 5, Matt Gunby started like a train and caused no little excitement in the camp when he caught Shaftesbury's quick young Michael Callegari within the opening minutes. But by the time he was back around completing lap 1 he was clearly finding it hard to breathe. In fact, he had raised the warning flag with manager McCarthy on Friday, saying if he had to make a decision then and there, he would have to pull out. But on Saturday he had given himself a fitness test, decided that he would survive, and opted to help the team. His 18.28 was 16th fastest of the day but, with only 2 men breaking 18 minutes, he could have placed much higher if healthy. He left us in 11th place.
Leg 6 began with an exciting tussle to decide team positions 3-7 and another one to decide places 10-13. Both Daniel Watts of Shaftesbury and Naz Dawit of Thames Valley quickly caught our Matt Shone, but all three caught Belgrave legend Will Cockerell and proceeded to complete the first lap shoulder-to-shoulder. On the second lap, on the shortish off-road section, Watts used his excellent cross-country prowess (34th in the 2011 National CC) to create a 15 metre gap which Shone, notoriously poor when the going is slippery, was simply unable to close. Meanwhile, however, he ran away from the fast-starting Dawit. On the uphill finishing straight, Shone launched one last-ditch attempt to catch Watts but finished 2 seconds down in 11th place. His 18.54 was extremely pleasing, almost eyebrow-raising.
Our team time of 1:55.28 was, in fact, our 3rd fastest at this venue and 22" down on our 2009 time which put us 7th. The race was won by Southern 12 Stage champions Kent AC, with Aldershot and Bedford taking silver and bronze. Our Met League rivals Highgate were a fine 6th, our Essex rivals Chelmsford 25th, and our other Met rivals Serpentine 33rd.
For Team Manager McCarthy, "It was a slightly messy start to the season, literally and metaphorically. I didn't help the boys by giving them the wrong start time. We got caught out through not having a club tent. Matt Gunby's annoying cold. Harun's missed handover. Dan Bruynooghe's tights. In British Cycling terms, these were "marginal losses"."
But he went on to point out that the competition had been good. "There were a lot of quick young athletes out there today, which is great for the sport. Tonbridge, in 5th, did fantastic with their young squad. Similarly Norwich in 7th. And Southampton in 9th were a real surprise to us. But, as we say each year, we should be a good bit stronger for the Nationals in 3 weeks time!"
In fact, there are currently doubts hanging over the National Championship scheduled for 13th October. Traditional venue Sutton Park has suffered an outbreak of e-Coli, and cannot be used. Organisers are currently looking at Milton Keynes and Aldershot as possible alternatives.