Monday, March 17, 2014

Northern 12 & 6 Stage Road Relay Championships 2014 report



While always a force in the regional and national fell relays, and often providing runners for the county cross country teams, Keswick AC have been absent from the men’s 12 & women’s 6 stage road relays for many years. This changed on Saturday however, as the club travelled to Heaton Park in Manchester having assembled no less than two women’s 6 stage teams and a strong men’s 12 stage road team.

The park, which is comprised of the grounds of the grade I listed 18th-century country house Heaton Hall, is the biggest park in Greater Manchester and one of the largest municipal parks in Europe, and it’s network of well surfaced, undulating paths provided a great venue for the relays.

The Northern 12 & 6 Stage Road Relays take place annually alongside parallel events in the midlands and southern regions, and see the best running and athletic clubs from across the country take to the road to contest a 12-leg relay for the men, alternating between a long leg –this year around 5.5 miles- and short leg -this year 3 miles, and for the women, six consecutive short legs of 3 miles.

Sam Ayers led the way for the women’s ‘A’ team on the first leg, while Helen Winskill headed the ‘B’ team, clocking 19:51 and 20:57 respectively and returning in 29th and 39th positions (out of 56 clubs) after the undulating 3 mile loop. Both teams then progressed, gaining places on almost every leg, the ‘B’ team improving through Hayley Hodgson (22:19), Siobhan Brewer (22:54), Rachel Mellor (21:31), Caz Lyall (21:11) and Deb Edginton (21:22) to finish in 26th place. Following Sam in the ‘A’ team were Jenn Mattinson  (19:56), Jo Gillyon (21:06), Cat Evans (20:09), and Katy Moore (20:03) but making her debut for the club in team competition, it was Hannah Horsburgh who ran the fastest leg of the day for Keswick AC, clocking a swift 18:15 to bring the team back in a superb 12th place overall. This time saw Hannah ranked 29th fastest leg of the day (out of 314) in a list that included Olympic 1500m finalist Laura Weightman, and world indoor 3000m finalist Lauren Howarth amongst others, to cap off a great day for the Keswick AC women.

The Keswick AC men have taken teams to the annual men’s 6-Stage relay for the last two years, but it was a step up, to field a competitive 12 stage team. As with the women’s relay, the men’s field was equally stacked with the best domestic talent including current and former national cross country champions and World and Olympic finalists, a real chance for the Keswick AC men’s runners to test themselves in a high quality field. Phil Winskill, tasked with the duty of getting a good start for the team, took on the first leg, and clocked the fastest long leg of the day for the club, running 30 minutes and 30 seconds for the 5.5 mile leg to bring the team back in 26th. He was then followed by Sam Stead, who with Josh Hebson (posting exactly the same time!) clocked the fastest short leg of the day of 17:12, then Marc Brown (33:22), Chris Brewer (17:45), Peter George (33:41), Stu Edgington (19:50), Ian Davies (33:15), Rob Wynne (18:17), Chris Edis (34:20), and on the 10th leg, Lee Newton (18:31). Going into the 11th leg Keswick trailed local rivals Kendal AC, and Barrow-in-Furness Striders & AC by around a minute, and 30 seconds respectively, but like the Keswick women, the men had saved two of their best runners until last -a sound tactic as Steve Hebblethwaite (30:49) overhauled both runners, before Josh Hebson (17:12) extended the advantage on the final leg, to bring the team back in 28th (out of 73 top clubs) delighted to have picked up the scalps of these two teams, and finish second only to Border Harriers out of the four Cumbrian clubs that had raced on the day. 

These team days are what it is all about -as a number of the runners remarked, it is a real pleasure to spend a day running alongside club mates striving for a common goal, in a sport so often a solitary pursuit.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Northern Athletics 12 and 6 Stage Road Relays at Heaton Park, Manchester


Keswick AC fielded 12 men for the 12 stage road relays at the weekend.  The routes are made up of 6 long legs at just over 5 miles and 6 at just over 3 miles. Keswick AC also took 2 ladies teams to the event, made up of 6 runners each. The leg started with a flat section followed by a gradual climb for 250 metres before dropping down to the base of the longest climb. The course was very undulating which made it hard to pace correctly especially for the later runners who were running mainly in isolation. All 12 men and women ran really well considering most of the 3 teams were made up by fell runners while the majority of other competing teams were track and road specialists more suited to this type of event. It was great to see Keswick field 24 runners for this event and shows the club has a good core of runners all at a good level. The future looks fruitful at the club and things will hopefully go from strength to strength with some quality runners and so many people improving week on week. Keswick AC runners, position and times are listed below.  The men were 28th from 73 teams, and the women were 12th and 26th overall out of 52.

        Phil Winskill    (26) 30:30

        Sam Stead        (25) 17:12

        Marc Brown       (29) 33:22

        Chris Brewer     (28) 17:45

        Peter George     (33) 33:41

        Stuart Edgerton  (34) 19:50

        Ian Davies       (36) 33:15

        Rob Wynne        (34) 18:17

        Christopher Edis (36) 34:20

        Lee Newton       (34) 18:31

        S Hebblethwaite  (29) 31:04

        Josh Hebson      (28) 17:12

 

        Samantha Ayers   (29) 19:51
        Jenn Mattinson   (22) 19:56
        Joanne Gillyon   (19) 21:06
        Catherine Evans  (19) 20:09
        Katy Moore       (13) 20:03
        Hannah Horsburgh (12) 18:15
 
        Helen Winskill   (39) 20:57
        Hayley Hodgson   (39) 22:19
        Siobhan Brewer   (37) 22:54
        Rachel Mellor    (34) 21:31
        Caroline Lyall   (30) 21:11
        Deborah Edgerton (26) 21:22
 
 

 
In an altogether different race congratulations to Andrew Slattery who finished the 32 mile Haworth Hobble in just over 5 hours. Also well done to Lyn Thompson for finishing a strong 3rd at Middle fell on Saturday.