Midlands Road Relays 24th September 2011
Striders’s Ladies impress and Men improve in the Midland Road Relays at Sutton Park. (More photos added!)
The ladies team travelled to Sutton Park to compete in the Midland Counties Road Relays at Sutton Park on Saturday 24 September 2011. This was the third year that the club had participated in this event and certainly showed how far the club has come over this period by turning out 3 womens’ teams.
What started out as a miserable day in Cheltenham turned out to be a glorious day in Sutton Park, and by the time the race started at noon the sun was out, making it perfect conditions for racing.
Rachel Vines got the A team off to a solid start by placing the team 24th after the first leg in a time of 17.05. Sian Holley, upped the pace and gained 10 places on the second leg, finishing in a time of 17.01. Third leg was Jo Wilkie who ran well to complete the course in a time of 19.02. Final leg was Hillary Agate, who had the run of the day and gained 7 places, flying home in a time of 16.14. The team finished 11thoverall.
The B team also saw some notable performances. Helen Howes completed the course in 21.31, followed by Amelia Mullins who worked hard to gain 4 places on her leg in a time of 20.04. Nicola Christian continued the theme pulling back another 2 places, finishing in a time of 21.13. Finally Nikki Smith dug deep to gain another 6 places finishing the team in 48thplace in a time of 19.51.
The C team consisted of Laura Finucane who finished the first leg in 22.52 in her Sutton Park debut. Harpreet Chawla followed running a time of 25.10.
With the ladies race over, the men’s race was soon underway, and there were some encouraging performances from the men’s team too.
Joel Freeland ran a well-paced second leg, gaining a number of places in the home straight to put the team in 65thplace after two legs; Dave Smeath ran another well-judged leg in 22:26 leg to gain a further three places and hand over in 62ndplace.
Next up was Tom Stone, who, in his first race for the club in several months, produced the leg of the day, making it round the 3.6 mile course in an excellent time of 21:05 and gaining 7 places in the process; John Howes continued the good work picking up a further place in his leg of 23:56 and with Jamie Paterson picking off two more in his final leg of 21:37, the men’s team finished in a solid 52ndplace.
Results:
Ladies A Team - 11th place (01:09:22):
Leg 1 - Rachel Vines - 17:05
Leg 2 - Sian Holley - 17:01
Leg 3 - Jo Wilkie - 19:02
Leg 4 - Hilary Agate - 16:14
Ladies B Team - 48th Place (01:22:39):
Leg 1 - Helen Howes - 21:31
Leg 2 - Amelia Mullins - 20:04
Leg 3 - Nicola Christian - 21:13
Leg 4 - Nikki Smith - 19:51
Ladies C Team (incomplete):
Leg 1 - Laura Finucane - 22:52
Leg 2 - Harpreet Chawla - 25:10
Men’s Team - 52nd place (02:14:40):
Leg 1 - Chris Driskell - 21:31
Leg 2 - Joel Freeland - 23:39
Leg 3 - David Smeath - 22:26
Leg 4 - Tom Stone - 21:05
Leg 5 - Jon Howes - 23:56
Leg 6 - Jamie Paterson - 21:37