SOUTH OF ENGLAND ROAD RELAYS

ALDERSHOT SEPT 26^TH & 27^TH

First report….

Fox & James strike Gold! Best ever set of team results across the age groups!

See Rogues Gallery for race photos!

Oliver Fox and Jon James both struck gold at the weekend when they were awarded the prestigious South of England AA Gold medals for being the fastest individuals in their age groups at the Road relays held in Aldershot. Their individual performances helped the u13 boys, and the V40 teams, respectively to each finish in 5^th place overall within the team rankings.

The races are held on traffic free roads around an old army parade ground close to Aldershot. The weather was hot all weekend, and teams were drawn from the south of England as far afield as Norfolk & Cornwall. The Harriers flew the flag for Somerset with their combined team made up of Wells and Yeovil athletes. 12 teams were entered by Team managers and 11 made the start line and completed which is a pretty good tally.

Proceedings got underway on the Saturday morning when, after an early start for those on the team minibus, the u13 girl’s race got away dead on 11.00am with the team of 3 completing individual legs of 2.3km. Each circuit includes one short hill and one longer hill. The experienced Jemma Jones led away on Leg 1 and was timed in at 9.01 to hand the team over in 17^th place, Annabel Arnold running this event for the first time, then ran an excellent leg in 9.05, and will be young enough to run again for this team next year. Annabel then handed over to Abigail Gibbons in 16^th place, and Abi then proceeded to pass 4 others on the final leg to finish the team in 12^th place with her own time of 9.13. This position improved on last year’s result when the team finished 14^th.

Next up were the two u13 boys teams with 4 runners in each team covering 3km each. There had been some final shuffling of the teams in the days leading up to the races when 1 or 2 late withdrawals meant a few substitutes coming in. Team managers and team-mates however were impressed at how the boys coped with these changes, with 6 of the 8 making their debuts at this event, and the majority having another year in this age group. The ‘A’ team was led away by Luke Prior who showed a wise head when coping with the frantic pace of the first km before settling down to run his own race and bring the team home in 19^th place with a time of 11.18. Charlie Martin celebrated the anniversary since he first ran for the team with a storming run of 11.10, over a minute quicker than last year, and brought the team home in 15^th place. Then came Ollie Mullins, making his debut in the Harrier vest, who showed that he is no slouch with a steady 11.46, and gained places to hand over in 11^th place. The Glory leg was once again left to Oliver Fox, and he did not disappoint pacing his effort to finish in 10.21, some 30 seconds quicker than last year, and hauling the team up to within a second of a team medal. He steadily closed down the leaders and was able to finish the team in 5^th place, a bog improvement on last year’s 12^th.

For the u13 boy’s ‘B’ team, we had a keen and enthusiastic quartet of runners all making their debut. First off was Tom Jones who showed that athletic ability runs in the family with his well judged 11.57. Then Jonathan Greenwood, Bradley Mullins and Jack Hale all proved equal to the task with great runs of 13.08, 13.05, and 13.04 to bring the team home in 30^th place overall, 6^th B team. Well done all!

The u15 girl’s race covered the same distance of 3km, with a trio of team members involved. Siobhan Stewart, despite suffering from a cold, managed to get round in 12.17 - quicker than her time last year- and handed over in 45^th position. Lily Hawkins made her debut at these races and passed numerous runners to finish in 12.13 and brought the team up to 36^th. This left Emily Smith to complete the relay with a nippy 11.15 and haul the team up to 18^th overall, a huge improvement on last year’s 36^th place.

The final race for juniors in which we had an interest was the u17 men’s race, run over a distance of 3.85km. The quartet of Cameron Rafferty, George Harris, Reuben Whitcombe and Tom Thick ran really well in conditions that were by now starting to really heat up. With the sun blazing down, Cam ran the first leg in 13.38, the quickest of the four, with George in 14.23, Reuben in 14.54, and Tom on the glory leg in 13.54. This was a good solid performance with a final position of 34^th gained after all had steadily improved the team.

The final race of Saturday saw the Women’s quartet toe the starting line of the 3.85km course. Laura Parker has been setting personal bests all summer on the track, and she brought that form to bear on the road with a 13.22 clocking for 6^th fastest on leg 1. Anna Lewis then took off on 2^nd leg and ran a good 14.36 time for the circuit, before Leighanna Chappell, stepping up from the u17s competition of last year, ran 16.10 and handed over to Katrina Prior for an excellent 15.48 to finish the team in overall 16^th place. This was a good performance by the quartet.

What a great day out this was. Well done to all the athletes, team managers and coaches, and supporting parents!

Day two report to follow. More photos will be added to Rogues Gallery when available.