Jon Grix reports: “Our boys take 8th in the National Masters Relay Championships”
A formidable squad of 4 BvH men took on the best of the nation’s vets on Saturday, 15th May at Sutton Park, finishing an excellent 8th in a new club record of 1.05.27, over a minute inside the club’s previous best.
Bournville’s current man in form – across the age groups – Rob Andrew, led the squad off on leg one in some style. Fresh from storming results on the track, Rob took the race to the UK’s leading vets, leading the initial charge up the brutal ‘cardiac’ hill. Our man maintained good form to finish an excellent 10th overall and 4th in the M35s in an equal club best of 15.34 for the testing 3 mile, measured course.
Dean Parker, returning to form after illness, had an excellent run putting the team into 8th overall (and 4th M35) on leg 2 recording a scorching 15.44, only ten seconds behind his (now joint) club record from last year. Dean passed on to (relatively) new recruit, Andy Clayton, who is currently making rapid progress back to fitness after being out of the sport for a while. Andy improved immensely on his recent short stage effort – although the courses are different, the distance is the same – by some 40+ seconds to record a solid 17.08.
Andy Crawford – formerly known as ‘Crawfie the calf – did not disappoint with a strong last leg of 17.01 to take the team to 16th overall and 8th in the M35 category, despite the fact that both Rob and Crawfie are giving some 12 years away to younger competitors.
An analysis of the results reveals that for us to ‘medal’ the team would need to find another 2 minutes over the 4 legs, a feat that whilst difficult, is not impossible.
Brian Smith has kindly emailed to remind that his photo set can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/baldeagle/sets/
Linda’s photos are at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/runningrabbit/sets/72157624066588974/