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 18^th-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 29^th and 39^th 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 26^th 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 12^th place overall. This time saw Hannah ranked 29^th 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 10^th leg, Lee Newton (18:31). Going into the 11^th 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 28^th (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.