Midland Road Relays, Sutton Park, Birmingham, 17 March 2018
As the mini ‘Beast from the East’ bit back with snow and bitter winds, CLC Striders Ladies and Men lined up for the annual spring Midland Road Relays in Sutton Park, Birmingham, along side more than 4 or so other teams from all over the region.
The ladies race was a six-leg event, with two legs of 5.38 miles and then four of 5k over a closed-road loop. While the men’s event comprised 12 legs – four of 5.38 miles and then eight over the 5k loop.
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Helen Knight with an impressive Leg 3, picking up four places.
In the ladies event, Karlien Heyrman led off over the longer distance, finishing in 18th position in a time of 36:10. Amanda Steer ran the 5k Leg 2, maintaining the team’s 18th position and running a time of 23:06. The second of the long legs was run by Helen Knight, who picked up four places, bringing the team into 14th place and running a time of 36:45. In her first season with the club, Cerys Jones ran 26:50 over the shorter distance, placing the team in 17th position. Helen Rawcliffe made a welcome return to club competition, running her 5k Leg 5 in 26:02 and placing the ladies into 20th place. And a blistering last leg from Amelia Mullins (22:46, the 7th fastest time over Leg 6), brought the ladies back up to 17th place in the overall standings.
The CLC ladies showed amazing consistency over the six legs, barely wavering in their team placing over the six legs.
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Iain Porter digs in on Leg 2
For the men, Will Ferguson led off on the long Leg 1, finishing in 7th place in a time of 28:17. Iain Porter battled the wind over the longer distance to complete in a time of 31:08 and a team placing of 14th. Leg 3 saw Will Pearce run 33:31, with the team now in 21st place and Tom Fletcher took the last long Leg 4, bringing the team home in 28th overall in an individual time of 34:46.
On the shorter legs, Mark Fuller took Leg 5, running a time of 19:56 and finishing in 29th place. Leg 6 saw Tom Kabala maintain that 29th position with a time of 19:24 and Tom Vickers kept 29th place on Leg 7 in a time of 20:36. Andrew Paterson ran 21:10 over Leg 8 to keep 29th place, and Leg 9 saw Andrew Gage run 22:29 to place the team in 30th. Chris Thomas ran Leg 10
in 25:07 for a 31st team placing, while Leg 11 saw Martin Bick come home in 24:00 for 32nd team place. Club captain Joel Freeland took the anchor leg, running a great time of 20:06 and placing in 31st position.
Overall the men finished in 30th place on the day.
Both the ladies and the men’s teams qualified for the National road relays competition, held back at Sutton Park on 14 April. This is the first time the men have qualified for the nationals and it is a great achievement for both teams in this, CLC’s 10th anniversary year as a club.
Andrew Paterson, showing just how testing the conditions were!
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