Athletes battle strong winds at English Road Running Association men’s 12 and women’s 6-stage champs at Sutton Park
Leeds City AC and Thames Valley Harriers won the men’s and women’s events respectively as the races took place in relatively mild weather with temperatures of up to 18C with strong winds buffeting the runners on Saturday (April 6), Martin Duff reports.
Associated with Storm Kathleen, the wind blew the long stage athletes out to the Jamboree Stone and beyond, but they had to battle against gusts of sometimes over 40mph on the way back from Streetley Gate.
With teams from the other home countries also competing, there were UK medals up for grabs as well as separate English championship gongs. However, no clubs from the Celtic nations figured in the medals.
Matthew Grieve (Graham Smith)
Leeds City triumph in men’s 12-stage
Leeds had a balanced dozen runners out and packed their middle order with experience that eventually yielded a three-and-a-half-minute victory over Bristol & West.
The third team medal went down to the wire and it was just taken by 2016 winners Highgate, who had been second for the past two years.
This was only after they had been caught and passed by Cambridge & Coleridge’s Thomas Bridger before just fighting back, yards from the line, in a successful frantic effort to snatch bronze.
He may have missed the team medal but, on a day of wind-affected times, Bridger’s 15:08 for the 3.165-mile stage was the day’s best and slotted in 11th on the post-2014 lists.
Over the longer 5.34-mile stage, a fair few of the quicker times were on the opener, but the fastest went elsewhere. It was Olympic marathon-bound Phil Sesemann, whose 25:27 on stage nine was the best here and 14th best since the lap length was introduced in 2014.
A total of 65 men’s teams toed the start line compared to the nearly 80 who were eligible to apply to compete. Reigning champions Central AC, who had enjoyed a Scottish six-stage victory a week earlier, spent the entire race midfield.
On the first leg, it was Bedford & County’s Jack Goodwin who narrowly took the plaudits from Midland champions Western Tempo’s Dom James and Alex Laurence of Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets.
Goodwin said: “Most of the way I was tucking in and was sheltered by the Victoria Park man.”
He now says that he aims to get his club’s 5000m record, which stands at 13;24, this summer.
His club stayed ahead on the short second leg through Ben Davies’ 15:27, who…
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