English CC Relays, Senior Women
Leading off for the Woodettes on the hotly contested first leg was Georgie-Lou Sales who, off limited training, brought the team home strongly in 31st position. The talented Sales was left slightly frustrated to find herself behind girls she would expect to beat when fit, but reflected she was probably missing out from not having trained with a group since finishing university a year ago. She could nevertheless be satisfied at running the team's fastest leg of the day in 11:19.
Taking over on second leg was middle distance specialist and England international Emily Moss. Admitting she may have got a bit over excited to be racing cross country over a more familiar distance, she set off hard, catching around 10 runners before the middle wooded section of the course. Finding the final, flat and exposed section tough after the quick start, she lost a few places, but continued to work hard and finished strongly overtaking 2 athletes before the line. Emily's run of 11:24 brought the team up to 22nd place.
On the final leg, off the back of half-marathon training, Kat Gundersen knew she had to get out of her comfort zone and vowed to set off hard. Fortunate that she had plenty of teams to chase, she closed a further six places, before also starting to struggle in the final km. Worried about who may be closing from behind, she was relieved to hold to her position bringing the team home in 16th place with 11:32. That 99 complete teams finished, compared to 66 at the recent National 4-Stage Road Relays at Sutton Park, shows the popularity of the event.
More than satisfied with the team's result and greatly having enjoyed the atmosphere of the event, the girls vowed the Woodettes would be back next year to challenge for the top 10.