It was good to be back in Sutton Park after a 2 year absence and our athletes also thought so as they were on top form.
Men's Six Stage
The senior men brought home the gold medals with a strong all round team performance. Led off by Alex Tovey whose time of 18.15 out the team in 7th position. He was followed by Ed Banks who made up 4 places to finish in third place with a time of 18.12. Next to go was Shaun Evans (18.02) and with a strong run made up two more places to come home in the lead. He handed over to Will Richardson who flew round the course in a time of 17.37 and putting the team almost a minute ahead of the second placed team. Fastest of the runners, Omar Ahmed, did not hold back on the fifth leg and his time of 16.50 was also the fastest leg of the day overall. Birchfield had a significant lead going into the last leg and Jayme Rossiter (19.03) finished off an excellent team performance to win the race by almost two minutes.
The B team also had a good day finishing in 10th position which secured two team places for the national road relays. Daniel Swain led off strongy finishing in 24th with a time of 19:09, Orlando Corea (19:05), made up 7 places with Alex Jolly (20.22) maintaining this position. Jason Bennet in his first outing for the club had a strong run (18.59) to make finish in 11th position and Joseph Heathcock (19:35) and Dominic Smith (19:56) had strong legs to put the team in 10th spot.
SENIOR WOMEN’S 4 Stage
Six in a row! Birchfield ladies won their sixth successive Midland 4 stage road relay championships, a feat that has never been done before so well done ladies.
The winning margin was 1min. 56secs. so it was a strong team performance. On leg 1 Tamara Armoush, who has been with the club a long time and had driven up from London to compete after coming back from a long standing injury problem, was not sure of her form but needn’t have worried as she put the team in a strong position coming back in 5th with a time of 15:11. Leg 2 saw Senior Aircraftwoman and prolific racer Chloe Richardson, who stepped in at the last minute with a real blast of a run taking us into the lead with the second quickest time of the day 14:38. Next was Ella Shirley making her relay debut for the team and she held onto first spot with a time of 16:24. If there was ever any doubt about the result, Bryony Gunn on last leg, put it to bed with a superb lone run to get the quickest time of the day 14:35
B TEAM
On leg 1 Naomi Collier, who also came up from London where she is a Doctor in a busy A&E, gave the team a great start with a time of 16:00 and 15th place. Next to go was Vicky Bradbury whose normal sport is target sprint but helped by her running coach Keith Holt, her running has come on hugely and she ran 16:47 and brought the team up to 11th. Following her was Carli Baldwin and her run 16:04 gained three places to bring the team up to 8th. Finaly, Rae Nicholls with her first race for a while closed the team at 9th with a time of 17:26.
C TEAM
This was incomplete team but Sarah Conway who always turns out for us she ran 18:06 Frances Vickers ran 17:33 and Laura Hopcroft ran 19:09
YOUNG ATHLETES ROAD RELAYS
Our youngsters were also in action and the highlight of the day came from the U15 boys who won the Midlands title.
FIrst off was the U13 boys. We are currently not as strong as usual as a result of us not being able to take on new athletes during the COVID lockdowns. However the three boys that did run made a good start to their road racing. The team finished in 17th place, with 1 DanielWood 15:15 2 Sebastian Grant 15:23 and 3 Corin Bradley 18:09.
Next to go were the U15 boys and we had high hopes as it was a strong A team. Led off by Charlie Smith (13:21), the team was in third going into the second leg. A fine run by Oliver Cresswell (13:40) brought the team into first place. Ash Burgess with the fastest leg of the day overall of 12:48, concillidated the position with a winning margin of a minute and a half.
The B adn C teams were 19th and 20th so very close to each other.
B team JailanSohna 15:31, Simeon Swain 14:57 and Zac Yates 15:04. C team Thomas Adams,14:56 Finbar Birchall 16:34 and Jesse Bradley 14:24 Alfie Williams was the lone runner in the D team with a time of 16.18
We had two U15 girls who did themselves credit as many had suffered various illnesses and injuries which had set back their preparation. The A team was 15th on the day, Kiera Nee 15:47, Lexie Robins 17:02 and Emily Symes 15:50. The B team was 27th Cassie Pearson 18:22 Jenny O’rourke 17:21 and Lucy Godwin 18:31.
THe U17 men were not far off a medak as they finished sixth but timewise close to the third placed team. Tyler Hawley led off the team with a time of 12:58 2 Luca Bradley then gained several places with his time of 13:19 and FinnanRobins brought the team home in a time of 13:38. The B team was 25th Leo Merritt 14:51, Connor Blincoe 16:05 and MaxChappelle 14:10 The U17W A team were 14th with the B team an incomplete team due to illness. The A team was Amy Harland 15:55 2 H Mehager 16:42 AmeliaTaylor 17:24. The incomplete B team was Olivia Scott 15:55 and KatieGilhooly 16:44