Sale and Charnwood among winners at British Masters Cross Country Relays

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Veteran club athletes battled for honours at Long Eaton in Derbyshire on October 26

After a year’s gap, thanks to when the course was totally flooded as part of the River Trent flood relief scheme last year, the event returned with increased fields.

Sale and Charnwood won the men’s and women’s races on a course that had been amended from previous years. The local council had decided to put a new tarmac footpath just where the start and finish had previously been held. This necessitated a move, which proved successful: the main lap was preserved but run in the reverse direction.

Charnwood’s W35 Team Clinches Title with Strong Performance from Steel and Potter Twins

Charnwood retained their W35 title from two years earlier and did so not only with the fastest again Gemma Steel but also with both Potter twins.

They had planned to run Juliet Potter first followed by sister Jane and rounding off with Steel.

All went to plan on the first stage as Juliet comfortably took the opener with a 10:54 clocking before their proposed order then changed as Jane was suffering from a calf niggle.

Steel then went mid-race and killed the proceedings stone-dead with the fastest time of 10:17, which was comfortably the best of the race and took Charnwood more than two minutes clear. Of the amended course, Steel said: “It was muddier this way round and towards the end, but I pushed it all of the way and love this course.”

Jane Potter then polished things off with an 11:31 split and increased the margin to three minutes. She said of her injury: “I felt it and had a cramp before the start.”

The Charnwood winning margin may have been more had not Vicky Gill gained two places for Winchester & District with the second-best W35 time of 10:52 on that third and final leg.

The W45 women shared in the fun and it was Bristol & West who led throughout after Jessie Sanzo’s fastest W45 time of 11:10 set them on their way. Helen Brown and W50 Annabel Granger then finished things off for a two-minute victory over Mansfield.

Bristol also added the W55 title but only after their Clare Jolliffe had to give ground on the first stage to the fastest W55 Kate Ramsey’s 12:04.

Over-65 Jill Harrison and, finally, Sarah Everett then gave Bristol a three-minute victory.

Yate & Sodbury took the W65 age group title after Marian Grace just got the better of Steel City’s W70 Dot Kesterton on leg one with 13:55, as these two were the fastest. Steel City were a minute down at the end with all of their three runners being over 70. However, the oldest woman was the winner’s second leg runner Caroline Lavis, who is 77 years old Charnwood.

W35 (3x3km): 1 Charnwood 32:42 (Juliet Potter (1) 10:54, G Steel (1) 10:17, Jane Potter (1) 11:31); 2 Winchester & District 35:52 (C Hoskins (6) 12:31, J Gandee (4) 12:29, V Gill (2) 10:52); 3 Sale 36:02 (R Rozhdestvenskaya (4) 11:57, J Welsh (3) 12:03, B Deggefa (3) 12:02); 4 Macclesfield 37:12 (F Sharpley (2) 11:20, K Gill (2) 12:10, R Lawrance (4) 13:42); 5 Cheshire Dragons 37:42 (S Avery (7) 12:36, O Bigmore (6) 13:19, L Thompson (5) 11:47); 6 Steel City 38:06 (C Brock (3) 11:29, H Murton (5) 14:16, K Liddiard (6) 12:21); 7 Beeston 39:55 (L Grant (8) 12:59, K Wood (7) 14:09, S Taylor (7) 12:47); 8 Lichfield 41:28 (J Atkin (13) 14:38, J Alsop (11) 13:54, J Hammersley (8) 12:56); 9 Redhill RR 41:41 (R Barson (10) 13:45, L Lindo (8) 13:39, N Radford (9) 14:17); 10 Sale  B 41:44 (S Goulden (11) 14:05, C Ousey (13) 15:15, H Hamilton (10) 12:24); 11 Kimberley & District 42:30; 12 Holme Pierrepont 42:57; 13 Nuneaton 43:21; 14 Long Eaton 43:55; 15 North Derbyshire 45:19

Fastest: Steel 10:17; V Gill 10:52; Juliet Potter 10:54; Sharpley 11;20; Brock 11;29; Jane Potter 11:31

W45 (3x3km): 1 Bristol & West 36:04 (J Sanzo (1) 11:10, H Brown (1) 12:49, A Granger (1) 12:05); 2 Mansfield 38:38 (S Brown (5) 13:31, L Rowley (2) 13:08, C Hay (2) 11:59); 3 Sale 40:08 (A Chinoy (2) 12:25, C Kinghorn (3) 14:47, H Armitage (3) 12:56); 4 Holme Pierrepont 41:30 (J Atkinson (4) 13:28, R Grant (4) 14:22, N Jones (4) 13:40); 5 Redhill RR 42:37 (M Butler (7) 14:14, V Craven (5) 14:37, S Simpson (5) 13:46); 6 Rushcliffe 43:10 (C Todd-Mcintyre (6) 13:44, C Scaum (7) 15:24, S Rathbone (6) 14:02); 7 North Derbyshire 43:20; 8 Beeston 44:36; 9 Lichfield 52:06, Charnwood

Fastest: Sanzo 11;10; Hay 11:59; Granger 12:05; Chinoy 12:25; Brown 12:49; Hermitage 12:56

W55 (3x3km): 1 Bristol & West 38:25 (C Jolliffe (2) 12:20, J Harrison (1) 13:23, S Everitt (1) 12:42); 2 Steel City 41:36 (F Jeffries (4) 13:19, K Clark (2) 14:29, K Scott (2) 13:48); 3 Holme Pierrepont  41:43 (K Griffiths (5) 13:22, S Chicken (4) 14:40, C Heaton (3) 13:41); 4 Vale Royal 43:02; 5 Charnwood 43:43; 6 Nuneaton 44:45

Fastest: K Ramsey (Charn) 12:04; Jolliffe 12;20; Everett 12:42; D Broad (V Royal) 13;13; Jeffries 13:19; Griffiths 13:22

W65 (3x3km): 1 Yate & Sodbury 43:48 (M Grace (1) 13:55, C Lavis (1) 15:32, M Derrick (1) 14:21); 2 Steel City 44:59 (D Kesterton (2) 13:56, C Beattie (2) 16:46, K Reece (2) 14:17);  3 Yate & Sodbury B 51:20

Fastest: Grace 13:55; Kesterton (W70) 13;56; Reece 14:17, also J Harrison (B&W) 13:23 in W55 race

W75: Lavis 15:32

There was something of a surprise on the first leg of the M35 five-man race when Charnwood’s Harry Lupton led Salford’s Bruno Lima, with eventual winners Sale half-a-minute down.

With what turned out to be the second-best time of the race, Nigel Martin’s 9:10 for the estimated 3km lap took Sale ahead on stage two and that is how it stayed for the rest of the M35 race. He said: “The ground was a bit wet today and maybe it (my time) will be the fastest,” but that proved not to be the case Charnwood.

Salford were now in second and that was how it stayed until the final stage, when Phil Richardson brought Sale home.

Bristol & West had other ideas and it was their Ben Robinson, the World Masters cross-country bronze medallist who chased hard to the line and closed to within 13 seconds with comfortably the fastest M35 time of 8:51.

He said: “I thought it (victory) was there and I was closing all of the time,” however, it was not to be but the second team and fastest lap was his reward Charnwood.

The M45s ran with their younger brothers and it was Notts who prevailed but only after coming from behind, despite always being there or thereabouts.

They had to thank their two master cross-country internationals, Tim Hartley and Alistair Watson to help them close a gap of more than two minutes over the final two legs Charnwood.

Firstly, M55 Hartley ran a 9:55 split to nearly halve the margin, before Watson finished the job with the fastest M45 split time of 9:05. He said: “Tim came in fourth and they were all lined up”.

The Nott’s winning margin was just 12 seconds as Phil Tedd moved Leeds up to the silver medals, with a 9:31 second-best age group time Charnwood.

It was his Leeds teammates who then won the M55 four-stage relay, which was held within the younger age group’s outings.

Their Jonathan Walton had given them a good start with a 9:58 split that then remained as the best of the age group. He said of his October running performances: “I have twice broken the British master’s marathon record recently Charnwood.”

This was firstly at Chester when he said: “I ran 2:32:33 then again, at York when my 2:33:14 was also inside the previous best, so I beat it twice in two weeks.”

This made his nippy split here, for 3km, all the more remarkable, but is understandable given his 80 miles a week, with two very long runs included.

Long-time servant Martin Roscoe then extended the lead but Leeds then conceded on the penultimate stage to the age group road relay champions Southport Waterloo by seven seconds. They had moved up on the second leg thanks to Francois Raffery’s third-best 10:18

Leeds’ anchor leg man David Parkin then overturned that gap with a 10:22 split for a Yorkshire win.

Earlier, the M65 men had raced over three stages and did so with the women, as long-distance travellers Cambuslang took the honours. They were behind Oxford City’s Brian Green on the opener where his 10:46 stood up as the second-best effort Charnwood.

Paul Thompson then took them ahead before Colin Feechan, with the fastest M65 split of 11:00, completed a three-minute victory over Oxford. They had travelled the previous day and stayed locally and Feechan said: “We were happy enough with that Charnwood.”

The Cambuslang trio said that they ventured south, as there was not much competition for their age group north of the Border.

There was only one M75 team entered and Salford took that title, but missing out on the fastest lap time was Oxford’s M75 John Exley, whose 15:10 would have counted had he been listed as an M75 entrant.

Men M35 (5x3km): 1 Sale 47:43 (W Onek (3)  9:50, N Martin (1)  9:10, R Dunn (1)  9:59, N Barry (1)  9:22, P Richardson (1)  9:22); 2 Bristol & West 47:56 (P Parry (7) 10:41, D Awde (3)  9:33, R Stewart (3)  9:35, O Jones (3)  9:16, B Robinson (2)  8:51); 3 Salford 48:43 (B Lima (2)  9:36, J Bailey (2)  9:57, M Latham (2)  9:58, T Hodgson (2)  9:22, C Hardman (3)  9:50); 4 Wolverhampton & Bilston 53:42 (D Milligan (10) 10:49, B Foster (8) 10:31, A Atkinson (5) 10:55, G Asbury (4) 11:09, G Worrall (4) 10:18); 5 Nuneaton 54:18 (J Ritchie (12) 10:56, C Jordan (5) 10:07, A Massey (6) 11:23, M Collins (5) 11:16, L Melling (5) 10:36); 6 Long Eaton 55:00 (A Higgs (6) 10:21, J Green (4) 10:37, T Halton (4) 10:59, C Magee (6) 11:54, S Horton (6) 11:09); 7 Coventry Godiva 56:26; 8 Sutton In Ashfield 58:46; 9 Redhill RR 59:00; 10 Steel City 59:06

Fastest: Robinson 8:51; Martin 9:10; Jones 9:15; Barry/Hodgson/Richardson 9:22

M45 (5x3km): 1 Notts 52:09 (S Long (2) 10:14, C Palmer (3) 10:42, M Benford (4) 12:13, T Hartley (4)  9:55, A Watson (1)  9:05); 2 Leeds 52:21 (M Hill (7) 11:25, C Fishlock (5) 10:37, M Burrett (3)  9:45, G Chatterton (3) 11:03, P Tedd (2)  9:31); 3 Salford 52:22 (D Hudson (5) 10:46, B McCartney (2) 10:00, R Hughes (1) 10:16, M Collier (1) 10:43, S Warburton (3) 10:37); 4 North Derbyshire 53:24 (C Shelton (1) 10:03, A Todd (1) 10:42, S Gascoyne (2) 10:24, W Church (2) 11:37, J Sanderson (4) 10:38); 5 Long Eaton 57:15 (D Hawley (4) 10:38, M Lay (4) 10:27, R Newman (5) 12:39, G Newham (5) 12:15, W Fodden (5) 11:16); 6 Newark 57:31 (L Hopkinson (3) 10:37, R Clee (6) 12:14, A Dix (6) 11:33, J Ludlam (6) 12:40, L Marshall (6) 10:27); 7 Beeston 57:59; 8 Holme Pierrepont 60:05’ 9 Cheshire Dragons 62:30

Fastest: Watson 9:05; Tedd 9:31; Burrett 9:45; Hartley (M55) 9:55; McCartney 10:00; Shelton 10:03

M55 (4x3km): 1 Leeds 42:59 (J Walton (1)  9:58, M Roscoe (1) 10:41, P Townsend (2) 11:58, D Parkin (1) 10:22); 2 Southport Waterloo 43:15 (F Rafferty (3) 10:18, R McGrath (2) 11:03, B Park (1) 11:10, D Hamilton (2) 10:44); 3 Macclesfield 46:10 (D Dunn (4) 11:06, J Noakes (4) 11:28, R O’Keefe (3) 12:12, M Lynas (3) 11:24); 4 Beeston 46:51; 5 Peterborough & Nene Valley 47:43; 6 Steel City 47:54

Fastest: Walton 9:58; Taplin 10:07; Rafferty 10:18; Parkin 10:22; Roscoe 10:41; Hamilton 10:44

M65 (3x3km): 1 Cambuslang 35:00 (D Dickson (2) 11:55, P Thompson (1) 12:05, C Feechan (1) 11:00); 2 Oxford City 38:24 (B Green (1) 11:46, B Vaughan (2) 13:16, T Dixon (2) 13:22); 3 Bristol & West 38:51 (J Goodland (6) 12:52, P Mountain (3) 13:28, D Bedwell (3) 12:31); 4 Charnwood 39:57 (P Whelpton (4) 12:46, S Mellors (5) 14:32, M Whitmore (4) 12:39); 5 Yate & Sodbury 41:27 (M Hamm (3) 12:38, R Crawford (6) 15:04, G Bath (5) 13:45); 6 North Derbyshire 42:44 (M Rose (5) 12:48, D Hicken (4) 14:22, K Loftus (6) 15:34); 7 Newark 43:08; 8 Long Eaton 45:50; 9 Beeston 46:03; 10 Redhill RR 49:03

Fastest: Feechan 11:00; Green 11:46; Dickson 11:55

M70: Bedwell 12:31; Whelpton 12:46

M75 (3x3km): 1 Salford 54:24 (T Daniels (1) 19:55, T Dermody (1) 16:53, R Bowness (1) 17:36)

Fastest: Dermody 16:53, but J Exley (Oxf C) 15:10 in the M65 race

(nn) is team position after the appropriate stage.

Olympians donate drawings to Mike Fleet’s charity project