SEAA 12/6 Stage Road Relays 2014: Women 7th, Men 8th
Our women's team finished 7th and our men's team 8th on Sunday in the South of England Road Relays, 12 stages for the men and 6 stages for the women. Both will go forward to the National Championships in 3 weeks' time.
Fastest legs were run by Kat Gundersen, Martyn Cryer and Gavin Lewis.
Photos (by Terry McCarthy)
Men's A team
It was a bright and warm Sunday that greeted the runners, a long way from the cold and frozen paths that caused this event to be cancelled last year, as teams from all over the south gathered for the Southern 12-stage road relay championships.
Opening for the A-team was Martyn Cryer, who is nearing the London Marathon where he is set to make his marathon debut, but said he would come and do a leg (or two – see below) for us and incorporate it into his training. He set off at a good rate and was right up there from the start, coming in 5th place with a great opening leg of 24.09s, which was 16th fastest long leg (7664m / 4.76 miles) of the day.
Jonathon Cook was next, on the short leg (5053m). He had come down from Durham and spent the night in a hotel, how would the travelling have affected him? Not much, it seemed - as this manager had hoped, Jon knew exactly how to get things right to get the best from himself as he ran 16.02, which was 7th fastest on his leg (19th fastest of the day) and put our A team in second place.
Third out was our Swiss international Stephan Wenk. Stephan was in a good mood as he surveyed the blue skies and course map and even the sight of Chris Thompson and Scott Overall on his lap couldn’t dampen his mood. He ran an excellent 25.06, 7th fastest on his leg, which as he had Chris and Scott both come past made it even better, as in relays it is all too easy to be put off by flyers such as these coming from way back (Thompson ran the fastest long leg of the day, 22.35). This put the team in 5th place.
Our next short leg was James Stockings, the youngest man in the team. He had only been able to train once in the week due to work commitments and so was unsure how he would perform. 16.34 was the return, which James was not too pleased with but, lying on the floor afterwards, it was clear he could have given no more, and it was good enough for 6th fastest on that leg and ahead of notable Met League man Brahma Pochee, so shows the level James is now at. This put the team up to 4th place.
Fifth out was Angus Holford, who had been to the velodrome the night before to see some top class cycling. He ran a 27.13, which was a bit down on what Angus would have wanted as such a solid performer. But as always he had given it his all and he had a tough leg as the other teams started to make a move to try and get in medal contention, so we were in 10th.
CJ Shepherd was up next. He had delivered this manager’s first curve ball the night before saying he had not been 100% in the week and asking what I thought about him staying in the A-team. I thought we’d see the next day, and although the next day CJ was still unsure, I wanted him in. His time of 17.51 showed he was not 100% but CJ had given it his all, even gritting his teeth and sprinting in, which is the sort of spirit which is needed in every team, and thanks to him digging deep we only lost one place so we were in 11th.
Darren Southcott was out seventh for us. Coming off his 32.30 10km he had not been able to train in the week, but said he was feeling good due to rest after the 10km. This showed in his lap, where he did 26.04 which was the 12th fastest on the lap and meant we were only 18s behind 10th place.
Joe Everitt was our eighth man out. Delighted to be in the A-team, he ran a good leg of 17.33 which was 14th fastest on his leg, and moved us back into 10th place. Joe is very much an improving athlete and with his consistency and dedication so far it will be interesting to see how he goes this summer.
On the ninth lap was Kevin Murphy. This winter Kevin has produced performance after performance and this was no exception as he ran 26.22 for 12th fastest on his lap and kept us in 10th place moving us clear of 11th and leaving us 30 seconds behind 9th place Brighton and Hove AC.
Before this relay this manager had had to look at the team, and a number of factors have to be taken into consideration. Our tenth man Bertie Powell is carrying an injury and this manager knew Bertie is the type of person that if his leg came off, he would be seen hopping down the home straight just not to let anyone down. Could Bertie be put in this situation? But Bertie is unique and despite the bad injury conveyed belief that it would hold, and it did, as he ran 16.39 which was 5th fastest on the 10th stage, and although we had remained in 10th now had 9th and 8th just seconds in front of us.
Eleventh was Birmingham Uni man Ed Shepherd, who needed no second invitation to overtake the two runners in front as he sped round to our second fastest long leg of the day at 25.00 and was 5th fastest on his leg (39th fastest of the day). And the team was up to 8th.
Anchor man was Gavin Lewis, who has put together some solid training and indoor racing after injury problems earlier in the winter. He was looking forward to the leg, so much so that with an hour to go before his leg he looked more relaxed then some people do at the beach, but with Gav this is always a positive sign, and he again showed his class, turning in our fastest short leg with 15.43 and 3rd fastest on the 12th stage, which is always a loaded stage, for 13th fastest short stage of the day. Finishing the team in 8th place with 4.14.15s.
We finished about three minutes from the teams both side of us. Special mention must go to Aldershot, the winners, whose performance was 4 minutes faster then the Newham team who won here two years ago. I was interested to see that our A-team had 11 new people compared to the A-team two years ago, as a team that is a lot of change, so ours was a fair result.
To put things in perspective, we and Newham were the only Essex clubs participating. Moreover, we finished ahead of last year's national champions (subsequently disqualified) Belgrave, while Southern XC champions Shaftesbury only fielded 4 men.
Men's B team
Opening for the B team was Daniel Mann. Daniel, like our A-team opener Martyn, is also getting ready for an appearance at the London Marathon, and he is pleased with how training is going, and he ran well as he came in with 28.04 which was our second fastest long leg on the B team, and put our team in 43rd place.
Second out was Sam Benge. Sam has been saying how well training has been going, and it was pleasing to see Sam show it in the Woodford colours as he ran an excellent lap of 17.16 to run 26th fastest on his lap and bring up the team into 40th place.
Our third man out was labelled as Harold Wyber, who had mysteriously not appeared on the day after sending a cryptic email about skiing two weeks previously, and so in his place was Martyn Cryer. Who, 22 minutes after his first leg had finished, was jogging to the start line, asking what is the slowest he could run. He was told that 30 minutes would be sufficient, but Martyn once going promptly showed his class, running 25.30 which was 13th fastest leg on the stage! This propelled the team up into 25th place.
Adam Frith, the postman who is aiming for a good 1500m time was next. He said he is getting used to doing his job and training, his route is 10miles every day so no need for mileage training Adam! He ran very strongly and posted 17.47, the 25th fastest on the leg and second fastest short leg on the team, so it shows what ever he is doing is going well. The team stayed in 25th but moved further away from 26th place.
Louis Clark was next up, just back from injury and wondering if his car breaking down was a sign he should stay in bed this weekend, he still came out, and despite lying on the floor after his run proclaiming that it was horrible and for people not to do it, his 28.19 was a very creditable time, although his morale boosting speeches may need some work! The team was now in 29th place.
Andy Coleman had come with his fiancée Steph McCarthy, and both were in good spirits on this bright day. Andy was eyeing up a big lap, i.e. a lap where everything remained attached to him, and although training had not been as good as it had been, he still delivered a sub 20 lap, coming in 19.38 and putting the team in 30th place. But would his time, he wondered, be good enough to keep Paul Stockings from super vet team title?
Rob Wilbraham was up next and had admitted beforehand that training has taken a back seat in recent times as holidays and work commitments had taken over. As such he was probably not delighted to hear that he was on a long leg not a short but he made no complaint and delivered 29.17 on very much a time trial leg, as there was a big gap opening between us and 29th, the Kent B team, and 31st place.
Peter Caton was eighth man for the team and was on the same leg as A team training partner and good friend Joe Everitt. Pete in running 18.11 showed that maybe the distance and terrain suited him better then a muddy 8k CC as he was 25th fastest on his leg, the team remained in 30th.
Tony Russell was next long leg, it has been a hard winter for the ex-semi pro footballer as injury has been followed by low iron levels, so that training hasn’t moved Tony forward but has just left him in the same place, the most annoying situation. He ran 29.18, but it is testament he came out to run for the team when only just back to 100%, and I hope the run is the first of training that pushes him to his summer goals. The team were now in 32nd place.
Tenth out for the team was Paul Stockings. He had seen Andy Coleman go out and do that sub 20 lap, and Paul knew it was a hard task as recent injuries had started to make themselves known again, so it was good to see Paul enter the stadium in one piece and clock up a 21.28 as the team ran in 34th.
Eleventh out the gate was Steve Lambert, who was looking so good at the end of his second long lap, that ex-team manager Terry ‘Tel’ McCarthy tried to make him do a third thinking he’d only done one. Steve was momentarily flummoxed, but quickly saw through the situation and sped off for the finish, but was annoyed to miss the 30 min barrier as he came in 30.18, and the team remained 34th.
Anchor man for the B team was Jim Roche who had to run a time trial effort as he saw no one the entire 5km and came in with 18.02 which kept the team in 34th place with an overall time of 4.43.08s.
It was pleasing to close a B team, and the team spirit was very good on the day, with every athlete giving it 100%. A few athletes mentioned how good the support was out on the course so thank you to all the spectators who made the journey up to see the races, it is always noted how well supported we are at these events. We qualified the A team for the national, so onto Birmingham for the last fixture of the winter season, where I hope we can place well again!