It’s been a few weeks now since government guidance advised social distancing and once a day outings for exercises and, with the exception of a few rogue individuals, these new rulings have largely been accepted and embraced by the distance running community.

That said, the, all-be-it inevitable, cancellation of the regional and national 6 & 12-stage road relays was a bitter blow for many runners up and down the country.

For many clubs, the spring relays are the athletic pinnacle of the year, an opportunity to showcase not only the best athletes in the squad but also the depth of talent that is essential to be successful in a race contested over a 4-5 hour period (in the case of the 12-stage).

The virtual relays

The ingenious idea of moving the relays to a virtual platform belonged to Mark Hookway and Massi Dendani, inspired by the success of the Belgrave vs Herne Hill Harriers virtual relay match.

Former University of Birmingham athlete James McCrae stepped up to direct the event assisted by UoB stat man-come Countdown reality tv star Jonny Currie. Within two-weeks, the inaugural virtual national road relay championships (VNRRC) had amassed over 5000 entries, a testament to the team’s fast work and strong PR.

The rules are simple, competitors upload a GPS-measured 5k effort that must be completed solo within a 5-day window. If that wasn’t already brilliant enough, the organisers saw the opportunity to promote the NHS Charities Together which, at the time of writing, has accumulated nearly £3000 in donations. [It’s now a brilliant £5000 –  Ed.]

This isn’t a detailed results summary, that is to come. This is an article based on one obvious observation – people are running seriously bloody fast.

When this was written, just two days into the upload-qualification period, the women’s race has seen 5 sub-17 and 11 sub-18 performances while the men’s race has seen 1 sub-14, 35 sub-35 and 135 sub-16 performances with much more to come.

Even in the context of a normal race, these runs are FAST. In the whole of 2019 which included some of the fastest ever times at Armagh and Ipswich among others, 38 men went sub 14:10 on the roads. Five athletes have just ran under this time with, in theory, thousands more left to attempt the time trial.

Similarly five women have currently stopped the clock below 16:42 a time that would have gotten all five women into the 45 of the 5k UK rankings in 2019.

This is as of Sunday (5^th April) and I expect much more is to come. So what is going on?

Limitations of GPS and dodgy choice of course

Yes, let’s get this out the way. Some of these runs are obviously a bit dodgy.

Net-downhills, and potentially strong tail-winds (for point-to-point routes), the latter being particularly difficult to police, will be a contributing factor to a subset of fast runs. GPS is also not an adequate substitute for a measuring wheel, as we know from the track, courses consisting of multiple small (<1 mile) loops are especially likely to be over-measured by our watches.

These factors, whether deliberate or innocent will have artificially enhanced some times and that’s not taking into account more minor infractions such as rolling-starts. 

But even without the statistics, it’s clear to see something else is going on here. How are people able to run so close or even (unofficially) breaking their PB’s in a solo, time-trial situation in a time when we aren’t even able to train normally? Here’s a few suggestions: 

Maybe time-trials aren’t so bad?

How many world records have you seen within a ferociously competitive race, all battling for the front, pushing each other right for the line with the victor edging their competitors by a fraction of a second? Not many.

Yes, they often still have the roaring crowds and the race-day adrenaline but the point is even some of the fastest runs ever are done largely alone. At the more amateur level, this might also be of some relevance.

You can run the race exactly how you want to, no worries about whether to ‘go with it’ and potentially getting sucked into too faster pace with energy-depleting surges for the front. Or, if you’re like me with a long gangly stride and slow cadence – you just like your own space!

Are we better rested?

Speaking to popular club runner Dave Norman, he felt some athletes working from home may finally be getting the bed (and general) rest that many of us so often neglect.

How many runners work 40+ hour weeks with an additional hour long commute each way, get home, train, shovel in some food and then stay up for a few hours (because otherwise what’s the bloody point) knowing full-well you aren’t going to get those magical 7+ hours sleep before it all starts again?

This is quite possibly the biggest advantage professional athletes have on amateur runners and maybe some runners for whom sleep deprivation is a consistent problem, are finally starting to see why. 

At this point, I would like to state that this will certainly not be the case for everyone. Many are struggling. Within our community we have people ill, key workers on the front line working god-knows what hours in extremely stressful conditions, we have bereaved friends and family members or those with sickening levels of anxiety and stress about what the next day brings for their isolated loved ones.

For some, keeping fit is very low down on the priority list, others may struggle to motivate themselves to jog much more than once or twice a week. And that’s okay. Running and hard training will be there for us when we want it.

Switching to singles

Also suggested by Norman, who ran 15:00 flat around a SportCity car park he admitted was maybe worth a few seconds, is the idea that some people may be benefitting purely by a switch to pure singles. It’s something I’ve felt could make a difference myself.

As I discuss in my ‘Stop copying and start personalising’ article, it is unlikely that every single runner will equally benefit from a traditional schedule of 2-3 midweek doubles on session days. Maybe some of us would gain more from longer aerobic runs instead and some of us would gain more from a bit of extra sleep. [Managing fuelling around double days could also be a factor – Ed.]

Photos of Matt Holt’s vest (Salford) and Gavin Hill (Sale) provided by Dave Norman.

Race flexibility

This one is more of a technicality but it still fits into the theme of training and racing personalisation.

Like, the INEOS 1:59 challenge, the VNRRC bestows on us the unique flexibility of choosing when to put in our effort. This has advantages that extend beyond the obvious meteorological ones.

If you’re a lark you can put all that energy into an early morning effort or if the mere thought of a 9 AM parkrun makes you nauseous then you can wait until the evening for your 5k smash-up. Also, it means that you have a contingency plan in case that Jalfrezi comes back to haunt you.

Remember it’s a bit of fun too

The VNRRC were set up predominantly as a bit of fun mixed with some competitive spirit and should be treated as such.

Yes, there will always be some who flout the rules or at least push the boundaries, but generally the event is succeeding in being a fun, innovative distraction to runners all over the country in amongst so much chaos and uncertainty.

We didn’t expect so many runners to be able to post such fast times in such strange, isolated conditions. But maybe if we start to think about some of the possible reasons for why this might be, we might be to make changes for the better in our training going forwards.  

There is still time to donate so here’s the link. We went on to check to see what the total was and it was £5000, so 100% of the target. Well done to all involved. 

The post Why are athletes running so fast? appeared first on Fast Running.

Brits excel in the Czech Republic

A few British athletes headed out to the Mattoni Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon in the Czech Republic and it was a very worthwhile trip with Jess Piasecki’s run the pick of the bunch.

The women’s race offered some huge surprises. A small group of runners came together shortly after setting off, but at the fifteenth kilometre mark the only two left were Jess Piasecki and Daria Mykhailova. In the end victory went to Piasecki who delivered a fantastic time of 1:11:34, enhancing her personal best by two seconds. “The time is great, though I had wanted to do it a bit faster. I mainly concentrated on beating Daria. The finish was pretty tough. It was a good performance because I’m training for the Frankfurt marathon,” the winner revealed.

Seventh placed in 1:15:31 was Bristol and West AC’s Jenny Spink, who we interviewed earlier in the year after the evergreen athlete won the Manchester Marathon. In the men’s race Josh Griffiths was fifth in a strong 1:04:23, which is a 31 second PB for the Welsh marathoner.

Rotherham Harriers & AC and Leeds City AC claim Northern title

The road relays remain a central feature and of the British endurance running scene with all the romance of the national cross. Whilst the depth may not be what it once was when I speak to athletes road relay medals and successes are almost amongst the first mentioned and imbued with the most pride.

We had a full update on the Welsh Road Relays last week. Also taking place last weekend was the Northern Road Relays. Great thanks goes to Elizabeth Renondeau who gave us a real sense of the competition in a closely fought women’s race where just one minute separated the top five teams.

A stunning 21:12 final leg from Nicola Devine dragged Rotherham Harriers & AC (1:27:07) from 5th place through to take the win a performance which saw her finish a full 38 seconds faster than the next quickest athlete on stage four, Rochelle Harrison of Lincoln Wellington.

The Rotherham Harriers & AC team of Zara Knappy (22:09), Keril Pearson (22:02), Jenny blizard (21:44) and Nicola Devine finished 10 seconds clear of a strong Leeds AC team (1:27:17) which included England runner Lucy Crookes (20:57), Sarah Hodgson (22:15), Leila Armoush (22:03) and Georgia Malir (22:02).

Lincoln Wellington were 3rd in 1:27:20 (Abbie Donnelly – 20:14, Laura Wilkinson – 22:18, Claire Cooney – 23:03, Rochelle Harrison – 21:45). Close behind were Ribble Valley Harriers (Hannah Stroud – 21:58, Helen Glover – 22:30, Eleanor Bolton – 21:14, Nicola Squires – 21:55) and Vale Royal (Liz Renondeau – 21:01, Holly Smith – 22:17, Amelia Pettitt – 22:22, Sarah Murphy – 22:03).

The fastest legs were run by Abbie Donnelly (Lincoln Wellington) in 20:14, Lucy Crookes (Leeds City A) in 20:57 and Abigail Howarth (Leigh Harriers A) in 21:00.

Credit: Steve Bateson – www.runningpix.co.uk

Sesemann leads the way

The men’s race didn’t see quite the same close battle for the win but there was a strong battle for podium places with Morpeth Harriers & AC (2:05:28) just edged out by Salford Harriers 3rd in 2:02:59 and Sale Harriers Manchester 2nd in 2:02:43. The winners by over were Leeds City AC in 2:00:31.

A strong overall team performance from Leeds saw fastest legs from Matthew Grieve (leg two – 20:19) and Phil Sesemann (leg four – 19:18). Finishing leg one in 7th place 21 seconds down on the lead after the leg run by John Ashcroft (20:12), Grieve’s performance on leg two pulled them into the lead which they held and extended to the finish with efforts from Linton Taylor (20:26), Philip Sesemann, Alex Bellew (20:26) and Graham Rush on the anchor (19:50).

Sale Harriers (Philip Robertson – 19:58, Patrick Magner – 21:06, Gavin Hill – 20:16, Nigel Martin – 19:36, Daniel Kashi – 20:59, Matthew Barnes – 20:48) were in the mix throughout never dropping outside the top four places with Barnes sticking closely to Carl Hardman of Salford Harriers to secure the silver medal.

Salford Harriers (Elliot Palmer – 20:20, David Rigby – 20:59, Joseph Bailey – 20:24, Marc Brown – 20:18, Karl Darcy – 20:12, Carl Hardman – 20:36) moved into a podium spot on leg three and held it to the finish. Salford Harriers as a club fielded an amazing eight teams.

Fastest legs were run by Philip Sesemann (Leeds City A) – 19:18, Mohammed Aburezeq (Altrincham A) – 19:22,  Carl Avery (Morpeth Harriers A) 19:27.

Credit: Steve Bateson – www.runningpix.co.uk

Birchfield dominate the Midlands

A stunning performance from Omar Ahmed capped a fine victory for Birchfield Harriers A in 1:48:30 (Ed Banks – 18:40, Alex Tovey – 18:36, Sam Johnson – 18:14, William Richardson – 17:28, Andrew Peat – 18:33, Omar Ahmed – 16:59. Ahmed’s 16:59 was comfortably the fastest leg on the day but by that point a fine team display had all but sealed their victory from Bristol & West AC in 2nd (1:50:47) and Notts AC in 3rd (1:51:23).

It was actually Team Bath Ac who led at the end of leg one with Birchfield back in 7th but this had been overhauled by the end of leg four with a fine performance from William Richardson in clocking the second fastest leg of the day.

A strong Bristol & West team (Andrew Watt – 18:17, Harry Allen – 18:03, Jed Bartlett – 19:04, Kurt Taylor – 18:15, William Christofi – 18:49, Andrew Chambers – 18:19) saw them challenging hard early on holding the lead at the end of leg three.

Notts AC (Patrick Townsend – 18:48, Anthony Woodward – 19:00, Stuart Spencer – 18:12, Freddie Hessian – 18:25, Tim Hartley – 19:06, Alastair Watson – 17:52) fought back from 10th at the end of leg one to third after a strong third leg from Stuart Spencer which they held to the finish with Watson’s leg the 4th fastest on the day.

The fastest legs were run by Omar Ahmed (Birchfield) – 16:59, William Richardson (Birchfield) – 17:28 and Thomas Mortimer (Stroud & District) – 17:48.

AFD and Cambridge & Coleridge victorious at the Southern’s

Cambridge and Coleridge’s women’s team clinched an exciting victory passing Reading AC in the final 200m with Aldershot Farnham and District in third. The AFD men however came out on top ahead of Serpentine in 2nd and Bedford & County in 3rd.

At the time of publishing we were still waiting on full results w- we will update this report when they are available…

Senior women on leg 1. Credit: Tracy Barlow

Gunn and Carruthers lead Birchfield charge

Birchfield Harriers A (1:00:47) were women’s winners as they led from start to finish after a strong first leg from Bryony Gunn (14:55) saw them with a 24 second lead. Carli Baldwin (15:50) and Elizabeth Watters (15:41) maintained the lead but a strong run from Taunton AC’s Hannah Taunton (15:21)  saw their lead cut to just three seconds before handing over to Hayley Carruthers. The England marathoner ran the fastest leg of the day (14:21) to make the overall win look more comfortable than the numbers appear on paper.

Charnwood AC are always expected to be in the mix and they finished 2nd with 1:02:40 with stalwarts Juliet Potter (15:14) and Gemma Steel (15:02) joined by Mia Atkinson (15:32) and Eleanor Here (16:52). Charnwood were one second off the lead at the end of leg two but slipped to 4th after leg three before Gemma Steel ran the third fastest leg of the day to pull them into second.

Taunton AC were one of the stories of the day claiming bronze with a fine overall team display from Alice
Murray-Gourlay (15:26), Katie Drew (15:42), Hannah Taunton (15:21) and Kirstie Booth (16:59). Well done to club coach Charlotte Fisher for carving out one of the strongest teams in the area.

The fastest legs on the day were run by Hayley Carruthers (Birchfield) – 14:21, Bryony Gunn (Birchfield) – 14:55 and Gemma Steel (Charnwood) – 15:02.

Cockram and Clements claim victory in Swansea

Natasha Cockram claimed a huge PB to win the Admiral Swansea Bay 10km running 33:26 to take over a minute off her previous best. The Micky Morris Racing Team athlete will count this as one of the best wins of her career as she fought of a strong challenge from Clara Evans (33:35) and Jenny Nesbitt (33:46).

The men’s battle was just as right with Shaftesbury Barnet’s Kieran Clements taking the win with 30:03. Second place went t0 10km first timer Liam Dee whose incredible debut time of 30:17 was enough to see off the challenge of James Hunt (30:22) for second.

Other road 10ks

Cade Wright (36:45) and Marc Brown (30:49) were the winners of the Scottish 10km on the flat, fast course in Musselburgh. Brown was joined on the podium by Callum Reid (31:50) and Mark Haskett (33:40). The second placed woman was Ruth Joss who ran 37:03 to just edge out Jennifer Wetton’s time of 37:14.

In the Scottish Half Marathon Howell Craske fought off the challenge of Sam McCutcheon (68:45) to win in 68:26. Lindsay Gordon was third in 69:37 and Hugh Campbell also cracked 70 minutes with 69:46. Alison Rowatt was a dominant women’s winner in 78:43 ahead of Sheena Logan (81:49) and Lisa Macdonald (82:44).

The RunThrough Olympic Park 10km took place yesterday with Finnish athlete Tuomo Salonen winning in 33:09. The 3:46 1500m man was well clear of second placed Patrick Vis of Leeds City AC (34:41) and Eoin Brady of Herne Hill (35:07). Marina Johnson was the winning woman in 40:51 ahead of Lauren Wallace who also ran 40:51 but with a gun time of 41:46 with Kate Rose (41:49) in third.

Three’s a crowd

It was an incredible at Stafford 10km with first three athletes dead level on their chip times. James Egleston of Telford Harriers was the winning man with 33:42, exactly the same chip time as 2nd place Pravesh Patel and 3rd place Lee Gratton just sneaking the win by a second off the gun.

Giorgia Chattwood was the standout performer overall taking over three minutes off her PB to win in 36:05. Heaton’s Danielle Smythe was 2nd a few seconds outside her own PB in 37:46. Third was Kelly Butler in 38:40.

The Vets AC 10000m Champs took place in the week with Ben Goddard running the fastest time on the day with 33:12 ahead of Aaron Burgess (33:43). Susan McDonald ran the fastest v50 time in the UK this year with 39:11 with Simon Bean running the 3rd fastest v60 time with 38:27. Terry Booth clocked a PB with 34:42 seeing him move to 6th on the 2019 v50 rankings.

Thompson in back to back wins

Having won last week’s Richmond RunFest Marathon Chris Thompson won the Great Eastern Run Half Marathon this weekend in a time of 66:43, two minutes clear of Andrew Rooke of Framlingham who ran 69:38 and Danny Rock in 3rd in a PB of 70:21.

Havering’s Lauren Deadman was a comfortable women’s winner clocking 79:03 with Sophie Delderfield 2nd in 82:20. Alice Heather-Hayes was third running 87:38.

Both course records tumbled at Rutland Water Marathon with Beth West the winning woman in 3:13:54 and Phil Martin crossing the line in 2:47:17.

At Hull Marathon there was a good tussle between the eventual winner Gareth Cooke who crossed the line in 2:31:02 and Joshua Rowe who finished in 2:33:54. Finn Nugent was third in 2:40:55. There was a similar winning margin between the leading women with Sally Ford the winner in 3:17:38 ahead of Joey Armitage (3:19:57) and Sammy Bunce (3:23:59).

Anne Marie McGlynn a popular winner in Belfast

Anne Marie McGlynn ran a superb 72:58 to win Belfast City Half Marathon nearly five minutes clear of second placed Gladys Ganiel (77:26) with Joanne McCandless completing the podium with a big new PB of 79:50.

There was also a dominating performance in the men’s race with Gideon Kipsang Kimosop winning in 66:58 ahead of Eoin Hughes in a new PB of 68:30 and John Black of North Belfast also running a big PB of 69:12.

The Swindon Half Marathon is now in it’s third year and it was Christopher Wood of Wimborne who triumphed with a time of 73:44 in a tight race with Brendan Morris who finished eight seconds back with 73:52. Alex Smith was third with 75:13. Susannah Gill was the women’s winner running 86:57 again in a tight race just beating Rachel Owen (87:06) and Miriam Jones-Walters (87:40) to head the podium.

RunMaccFest saw races over 5km, 10km and half marathon. The 5km was won by Finley Proffitt (16:19) and Alannah Birtwistle (19:35). Colin Bishop (35:46) and Hannah Bridger (41:06) topped the podium in the 10km.

Andrew Heyes broke the course record at Asda Foundation Sheffield 10km with 30:44 well clear of Mohamed Saleh of Sheffield RC (31:23) and Jamie Hall (32:13).

Elaine Livera was the winning woman 37:39 ahead of Anna Watkinson-Powell (37:55) and Hannah May Fletcher (38:31).

Tooting was the location for the Self Transcendence 24 hour race where Robert Payne moved to 9th on the UK all time list running 251.989km. Jo Newens moved to 11th on the UK all time list as she ran 221.373km to finish first woman and 3rd overall.

The second placed man was Peter Windross who covered 230.283km with Nate Filer 3rd man and 4th overall with 210.036. Emma Bird ran 195.116km to finish 2nd woman with Alison Walker 3rd running 185.934.

Douglas and Collinge win the British Mountain Championships and Trial

The British Mountain Running Champs, and the trial for the World Mountain Running Association Championships in Patagonia this November, were held on Moel Eilio, in Llanberis this Saturday. Andy Douglas, who is taking a year’s sabbatical from work to focus on his mountain running, was the star of the day, winning by almost three minutes.

Douglas, who is the current leader for the WMRA World Cup series, was running for Scotland as part of a home countries international (we’re not really sure how many races were included in this one race, it was also the final of the British Mountain Running Challenge too).

Emmie Collinge has raced sparingly this Summer so it was unsure how well she would run over the up and down course. It was a much closer race in the women’s event, with only 33 seconds separating the top three. Italy based Collinge ran 62:32, whilst Philippa Williams was 10 second back in 62:42 and Heidi Davies just another 14 seconds back in 62:55.

The men’s podium was completed by Joe Steward (55:21) and Tom Adams (55:30), a fair way back of seasoned international Douglas in 52:32. A fine performance by Gary Priestley, a man rumoured to run through brick walls as part of his training regime, saw him take fourth spot in 56:46 ahead of fell runner Chris Holdsworth.

More in the mountains

At the Salomon Skyline Scotland Ring of Steall race Britain’s Holly Page was racing again and finished 2nd in 3:54:18 behind the winner from Switzerland Judith Wyder who ran 3:36:46. Fanny Borgström was third in 4:02:01.

Italian Nadir Maguet (3:14:47) finished nearly five minutes clear of his next challenger, the Swiss Marc Lauenstein (3:19:37) with American Max King in third (3:20:42). Ricky Lightfoot was the leading British athlete in 9th finishing in 3:35:40.

In the Ultra Scotland’s Murray Strain took the win in 7:51:31 with Yorkshire’s Katie Kaars-Sijpesteijn finishing 3rd overall and winning woman with 8:05:28.

Nadir Maguet Credit: James Philip Elson

Sub 2 attempt fails

Finally there was a fair bit of noise in the week about a sub two hour marathon attempt on a downhill course billed as The World’s Fastest Marathon’. As with many things in life the internet billing didn’t quite live up to reality with Kenyan Antony Karinga Maina eventually clocking 2:09:38.

A tweet from the race organisers stated that he was on for sub two hours until 30km, presumably before the wheels came off – an experience familiar to many readers I am sure. We think it was Grete Waitz who said “the race starts at 30km”…

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The post Piasecki PBs and all the action from the road relays – weekend roundup appeared first on Fast Running.

Men’s and women’s champions Tonbridge and Leeds City teams return to defend their ERRA National Road Relays crowns at Sutton Park on Saturday (April 6).

Last year close to Birmingham, Leeds City stormed to another women’s title and Tonbridge’s men won the club’s first crown.

The fastest legs of the day were clocked by Thames Valley’s Tracy Barlow and Kent AC’s Alex Yee, while Cambridge & Coleridge’s pair Julia Paternain and Kieran Wood ran the fastest short legs.

Going into Saturday’s women’s race, the strong Leeds City team can expect to face a tough test to retain their crown against Northern champions Rotherham Harriers, Southern champions Herne Hill Harriers, and the dominating Birchfield Harriers, who won the Midlands title by more than 10 minutes.

Hayley Carruthers ran the fastest long leg that day in the Midlands, while fastest long legs at the other English regionals were run by Blackburn’s Jess Judd and Thames Valley’s Barlow.

Photo: Stephen Lee

RELATED: No goal too big for high flying Hayley Carruthers

Herne Hill’s Katie Snowden, Birchfield Harriers Bryony Gunn and Liverpool’s Tiffany Penfold posted the quickest short legs at the recent regional championships.

In the men’s contest, Leeds City looks to be the team to beat after a superb win at the Northern Championships.

BUCS cross country champion Emile Cairess ran the fastest long stage at Birkenhead Park, while clubmate Philip Sesemann clocked the quickest short leg.

At the South of England Championships, Aldershot won the men’s team title with Joe Morwood putting the club in front on the penultimate stage after running the fifth fastest long leg of the day.

Belgrave Harriers’ Nick Goolab was the quickest on the South of England long legs, while Aldershot’s Ricky Harvie posted the fastest short leg.

Two weeks ago in the Midlands, Birchfield fought hard with Bristol & West, helped Elliot Giles and Omar Ahmed, who ran the two fastest short legs of the day.

However, it was Bristol & West who triumphed at Sutton Park, only once dropping out of the top three teams during the event. Notts AC ‘won’ eight of the 12 stages in the Midlands and secured team bronze, while the club’s Doug Musson ran the fastest leg of the day.

Defending champions Tonbridge have Maximilian Nicholls and Kieran Reilly among their declared athletes for Saturday, and will aim to show their class once again on the national stage after a sixth-place finish at the South of England Championships. South of England cross country champion Henry Pearce is also set to start.

Photo: Stephen Lee

RELATED: Bouncing back from a debut DNF to running a 2:19 marathon

The Scottish and Welsh clubs will also be on the start line and 2017’s overall winners Swansea Harriers will have Dewi Griffiths among their ranks.

Swansea’s Kris Jones ran the second fastest long leg last year, however, the club will have to manage without his services on Saturday.

Jones, who is sharing his running journey this year on Fast Running, is not in the team after Achilles issues in recent months.

RELATED: ‘Human errors’ cause uproar at English road relays

Timetable

11.00: Young Athletes 5k – Under-17 men
11.05: Young Athletes 5k – Under-17 women
11.15: Young Athletes 5k – Under-15 boys
11.20: Young Athletes 5k – Under-15 boys
12.00: Men’s 12-stage road relay
12.20: Women’s 6-stage road Relay

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Relentless rainfall was not able to dampen spirits however as the 51st edition of the Welsh Road Road Relay Championships on Saturday (September 22).

The event returned to Pembrey Country Park in Carmarthenshire for 2018, but this time used the newly built National Closed Road Cycling Circuit that recently hosted the Grand Depart of the Tour of Britain.

Swansea’s men’s team contested the Welsh national title as the current ERRA National Autumn Road Relay Champions, with the greatest competition always likely to come from Cardiff AAC who held the ERRA title in 2016.

However, Swansea’s quartet was far superior on the day with fastest leg honours shared between 2017 British Marathon champion, Josh Griffiths and 2018 Commonwealth Games steeplechase seventh placer Jonny Hopkins.

The pair were given the same time of 16:54 for the 5,480m loop.

Cardiff AAC was the second club home over four minutes later with a strong Aberdare Valley team delighted with their third-place finish just a minute back from the Cardiff team.

Alaw Beynon-Thomas led her Swansea team off, posting 19:42 to take fastest leg honours in the women’s race.

Kate Roberts made a welcome return to racing steering the club to the title on the last leg, with the second fastest time of the day.

Lliswerry Runners and Bridgend AC were the next teams home in the race that also saw a masters titles for Swansea Harriers in the MW35 category.

A little earlier in the day, Cardiff AAC had claimed U17 men & women’s victories with wins in the younger age groups shared between Menai Track & Field, and local club Carmarthen Harriers.

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