Midlands Road Relays – 21st September 2019

Stacey Marston reports: Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Midlands area Road Relays on Saturday 21st September at Sutton Park. A huge turnout of 57 Tealsters; the most represented club for Seniors and Masters, took part in large part thanks to the organisation of our Team Managers, Simeon Whiting and Jude Glynn.

The message to enter responsibly for these races (free to members as they are paid for from club subscriptions) appears to have registered with few last minute changes and nearly all of the teams taking part were complete. The strength in depth shown by the club is exceptional; giving the Team Managers a selection headache at times. The four stages for Women were 4.3 km each and the Men’s teams comprised six legs of 5.8 km each.

Even with one or two of the fastest runners unable to participate, there were some superb individual performances, including notable returning squad members; Caroline Harlan-Marks putting in the fastest leg for the women (17:35). We enjoyed watching impressive debuts from new arrivals Joe Philips, Ady Turton, Jonathon Bellman, Stuart Bird, Rob Styles, Vicky Read, Lorna Almond, Clare Third and Emma Hawkey. Extra speed was added with strong performances from those who have gone from strength to strength thanks to their recent efforts in training, including Rhian Littlewood and Tom Bunn who both stepped up to the ‘A’ teams and Paul Coughlan, whose 20:24 leg was the fastest for the men. Miriam Stevens was another notable improver, with a significant course PB in the late summer sun. All agreed that Ian Mackenzie’s shorts were a further secret weapon in the fashion stakes and worthy of comment in the race report!

The Road Relays are a first and foremost a team event and the six men’s teams and six women’s teams certainly gave their all in representing the club.The Men’s ‘A’ team were 37th (William Mckemey, Jon Stanforth, James Ashley and Paul Thompson joining Paul and Tom) and only just missed out on Nationals qualification. The Masters Men’s team (Iain Jones, Stephen Forcer, Sean Rose, Stuart Pearson, Andy Hoole and Stewart Bond) were 11th out of 20 complete master’s teams. The Women’s ‘A’ team (comprising the aforementioned Caroline, Rhian, and Vicky along with Alison Price) was worthy of this week’s Performance of the Week, finishing one place higher and 30 seconds faster than last year’s team, with each of the four runners completing the challenging course in under 19 minutes.

The team spirit and support from fellow runners, friends, family and dogs on the hill and around the course was second to none, with many staying until the end to cheer in our last runner enjoying the September sunshine in the park. We also had the opportunity to enjoy the presentation of September’s Member of the Month to Lesley Pymm. Some great action shots were shared on the Facebook group after the event, including those used here, which were kindly taken by Pete Hickman.

The Women’s teams will next take part in the National Road Relays on 6th October (where supporters are welcome to join at Sutton Park, where the racing will begin at 2:10pm), and the next team event will be the Cross Country events.

The Road Relays return in the Spring where once again we’ll be looking to compete and have fun along the way.

Results

28 Bournville Harriers ‘A’ 1:12:18
1 Caroline Harlan-Marks (35) 17:37, 2 Rhian Littlewood (33) 18:11, 3 Victoria Read (29) 18:37, 4 Alison Price (28) 17:53

42 Bournville Harriers ‘B’ 1:15:32
1 Laura Leslie (70) 19:38, 2 Lorna Alani (50) 18:20, 3 Lorna Almond (44) 18:51, 4 ClareThird (42) 18:43

64 Bournville Harriers ‘C’ 1:21:30
1 Emma Hawkey (78) 20:10, 2 Jo Green (75) 20:39, 3 Laura Gale (64) 19:44, 4 Alison Davies (64) 20:57

77 Bournville Harriers ‘D’ 1:24:59
1 Rebecca Jones (95) 22:06, 2 Jaeda Goodman (83) 20:12, 3 Fiona Barker (79) 21:46, 4 Jude Glynn (77) 20:55

99 Bournville Harriers ‘E’ 1:43:13
1 Anna Mcmanus (114) 25:44, 2 Clare Mullin (115) 29:29, 3 Miriam Stevens (105) 21:41, 4 Suzanne Bunn (99) 26:19

105 Bournville Harriers ‘F’ 1:52:52
1 Nicola Tautscher (107) 24:06, 2 Linda Howell (105) 25:41, 3 Lesley Pymm (106) 29:16, 4 Claire Daniels (105) 33:49

Men

37 Bournville Harriers ‘A’ 2:07:30
1 William Mckemey (43) 20:43, 2 Jonathan Stanforth (38) 20:48, 3 PaulCoughlan (33) 20:24, 4 James Ashley (35) 21:41, 5 Tom Bunn (36) 22:02, 6 Paul Thompson (37) 21:52

63 Bournville Harriers ‘B’ 2:19:46
1 Jon Mould (75) 22:25, 2 Joe Phillips (64) 22:03, 3 Ian Mackenzie (70) 25:18, 4 Jonathon Bellman (69) 23:30, 5 Sam Weaver (65) 23:51, 6 Ady Turton (63) 22:39

86 Bournville Harriers ‘C’ 2:31:43
1 Dave Ellis (104) 25:06, 2 David Harte (92) 23:51, 3 Xenofon Gogouvitis (87) 24:25, 4 James Evans (86) 25:44, 5 Peter Hickman (89) 27:17, 6 Oliver Kirkland (86) 25:20

101 Bournville Harriers ‘D’ 2:51:43
1 Richard Shearing (109) 26:04, 2 Guy Marston (106) 26:50, 3 Stewart Crowton (104) 28:26, 4 Stuart Bird (104) 30:00, 5 Stephen Doswell (104) 30:31, 6 Robert Styles (101) 29:52

Bournville Harriers ‘E’ (Incomplete)
1 Barrie Roberts (120) 32:28, 2 Jon Seadon (114) 31:52, 3 Tony Hayward (112) 36:17

11 Bournville Harriers Masters 2:18:11
1 Iain Jones (14) 22:10,  2 Stephen Forcer (14) 23:36, 3 Sean Rose (14) 22:49, 4 Stuart Pearson (11) 23:20, 5 Andrew Hoole (11) 23:35, 6 Stewart Bond (11) 22:41