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National 4-stage Road Relays

Report: Philip McCann

Jenny, Sarah and Sharon all came back from Amsterdam with personal bests

Another huge success for Stockport's ladies who traveled to Sutton Park, Birmingham for the National 4-stage Road Relays.

Having only twice had teams entered in this event before in 2001 and 2004 we finally made up for lost time.

We recorded our fastest time and finishing positions for both the A and B-teams.

The A-team consisting of Toni McIntosh, Jenny Knass, Helen Hudson and Jenny Murray. The B-team consisting of Carley Davies, Carla Stansfield, Claire McMurdock and Vicky Barrett.

With a quality field of runners including internationals Helen Clitheroe and Cathy Mutwa to name a few, it was always going to be tough, however they all took up the challenge.

With a record field of 98 teams running the start was heavily congested as this is the most important leg trying to get your team in contention.

Toni and Carley on the 1st legs set off with a lot of pushing and shoving going on.

Helen Clitheroe on this leg recorded the fastest time of the day to record 14-11.

Toni battled well to bring the A-team in 16-11 / 46th, with Carley taking on the 1st leg mantle and on her first time at the Nationals clocking 18-10 / 79th for the B-team.

Jenny Knass took over from Toni to keep up the momentum making up 8 places to record 16-37/ 38th. Carla for the B-team stormed off to record 17-31 / 64th to hand over to Claire.

Helen Hudson on the A-team 3rd leg was a little disappointed with her run but still kept us in the frame to come home 17-07/ 39th. Claire on the 3rd leg for the B- team ran hard to continue to move them up places for 17-26 / 59th.

Finally Jenny Murray returning to racing ran the 8th fastest leg on stage 4 to bring us home to our highest finishing position 15-15 / 25th. Meanwhile Vicky brought the B-team home to their highest as well clocking 17-54 / 54th.

Overall a terrific day in the history of Stockport Ladies, long may it continue.

National 4-stage Relay Results
A-team - 25th B-team - 54th
Toni McIntosh (46th) 16-11 Carley Davies (79th) 18-10
Jenny Knass (38th) 16-37 Claire McMurdock (64th) 17-31
Helen Hudson (40th) 17-07 Carla Stansfield (59th) 17-26
Jenny Murray (25th) 15-15 Vicky Barrett (54th) 17-54

National Young Athlete Road Relays

Report: Dave Turnbull

Stockport Harriers under-17 men's and women's teams were in fine form at the National Young Athlete Road Relays at Sutton Park, Birmingham on Sunday. They took 2nd and 3rd teams at the National event.

Two outstanding runs were from the club's UK number one 1,500 metre runner Ross Millington who claimed the fastest overall leg of the day in 11-45.

Also reigning Under-17 AAA's 1,500 metre Champion Jess Coulson who recorded the 2nd fastest leg of the day in the women's under-17 race which was also faster than the previous course record in 13-09.

The under-17 men were 35th on the first leg after Steve Barber in 13-08 fresh from his holidays kept the team in contention.

Leg two Steve Pearson clawed back an amazing 24 places to hand over to Ross who stormed home in the fastest time of the day in 11-45.

In the Women's under-17 race Leah Kay came back in 6th position in 14-12 handing over to sister Sarah who kept the team just outside the top ten in 12th in a time of 15-43. Jess Coulson fought back ten positions to claim the bronze medals for the team with 13-09.

Young Athlete Relay Results
Under-13 Boys - 12th Under-13 Girls
J Corbishley (33) 15-56 H Coulson (33) 16-39
J Nixon (22) 14-22 A Hughes (19) 16-26
R Hindley (12) 14-18  
Under-15 Boys - 30th Under-15 Girls
D Thompson (44) 14-21 M Wiblin (9) 14-49
M Logue (36) 13-48 C Pendlebury (41) 17-40
N Ludlaim (30) 14-22  
Under-17 Men A - 2nd Under-17 Women A - 3rd
S Barber (35) 13-09 L Kay (6) 14-12
S Pearson (11) 12-19 S Kay (12) 15-48
R Millington (2) 11-45 J Coulson (3) 13-09
Under-17 Men B - 38th Under-17 Women B - 24th
M Cook (45) 13-44 R Jenyon (34) 15-33
P Nixon (44) 14-44 A Osooki (25) 15-51
S Cameron (38) 13-52 J Bauer (24) 17-24

Manchester Area Cross Country League

Saturday's first match saw some great performances with team wins for both the under-13 and under-17 boys, while the under-15 boys finished second.

Leah Kay had an individual win the under-17 girls' race and Michelle Wilbin second in the under-15 girls.

The senior ladies' team were beaten into second place by Macclesfield by just 1 point.

Next match is on Saturday 18th November at Boggart Hole Clough.

MACCL Results
Female under-13
8 Amie Hughes 12.08
13 Nicola Berry 12.56
Male under-13 - 1st team
2 Richard Hindley 12.19
3 Jack Nixon 12.37
9 Sam Bowden 13.17
Female under-15
2 Michelle Wiblin 12.43
12 Amber Whewell 14.25
Male under-15 - 2nd team
3 Nathan Ludlain 15.59
4 Michael Logue 16.06
7 Harry Long 16.40
Female under-17 - 2nd team
1 Leah Kay 16.57
9 Sarah Kay 19.11
10 Ruth Jenyon 19.17
14 Jennifer Bauer 21.44
Male under-17 - 1st team
4 Michael Cooke 24.32
5 Tom Priestley 24.39
8 Phil Nixon 26.43
Female under-20
4 Carla Stansfield 29.03
Senior male - 4th team
9 Andrew Nixon U20 (3rd) 35.03
19 Steve Haylock V45 (1st) 36.20
29 Andrew Pavey SNR 37.29
42 Mike Shaw V40 38.44
54 Bill Shone SNR 39.31
56 Ben Gregory V50 39.36
59 Frank Reilly V60 (1st) 39.53
74 Mike Nixon V45 41.05
90 Huw Morris V40 42.03
98 John Parrott V50 43.22
107 Pete Nixon V45 43.59
110 Rob Taylor V55 44.31
156 Chris Bryans V65 (2nd) 54.47
Senior female - 2nd team
8 Toni McIntosh SNR 35.28
9 Helen Hudson SNR 35.47
15 Samantha Thomas SNR 37.20
23 Vicki Barratt V40 38.49
28 Helen Walch V40 39.12
40 Karen McCrackle SNR 41.03
42 Marty Moore V45 41.13
57 Alexis Dinsmoor V55 (1st) 43.17
66 Marie Kay SNR 45.17
79 Maureen Wilkins V40 49.23
Full results available from: www.bbresults.com

New 1,600 metre relay record

A 31-year-old record was broken on the track last week in the under-13 girls' 1,600 metre medley relay.

Olivia Wild (200m), Jessica Shaw (200m), Olivia Yates (400m) and Hannah Coulson (800m) ran a time of 4 minutes 48.6 seconds, bettering the 1975 record by almost 12 seconds.

Success in Amsterdam

Report: Philip McCann

Jenny, Sarah and Sharon all came back from Amsterdam with personal bests

Jenny, Sarah and Sharon all came back from Amsterdam with personal bests

Eight members of the Harriers traveled out for the Amsterdam 1/2 Marathon which proved to be very successful for us all. There were the three races, the Marathon which has proved very good for quick times, the 1/2 Marathon and the 10k.

The 6,000 marathon runners got under way at 10.30am with International Liz Yelling from England out amongst the Kenyans and Ethiopians.

Once we had watched them all exit the stadium we made our way to the 10k start. Sharon Glendon was still suffering from her virus which she had at the Great North Run two weeks earlier. She had decided to opt out of the 1/2m the day before at registration and run the 10k. This would not be to much of a strain for her and she would be able to recover with the cross country season coming up. At 10.55am Sharon lined up amongst the 4,000 10k runners and along with Jenny Knass, Sarah Lomas and myself we roared her off from the start.

We then made our way into the stadium to see the Marathon runners come through after their first 7km loop before heading back out for the rest of the marathon. Within no time at all the leaders of the 10k were coming in and too our surprise Sharon was into the stadium to clock a personal best by 1 minute recording a time of 42-59. She finished 190th overall out of the field of 4,000 and was 15th lady. Afterwards Sharon was on a real high and said the course and conditions were perfect. Once changed we found a nice coffee bar to sit in and watch the Marathon runners come home.

We managed to see the leading men come in and the first 8 women as well. Liz Yelling was 6th lady in a time of 2-31-27. Time was ticking bye and with 1/2 an hour to go we started our preparations for the 1/2m. Jenny, Sarah and myself managed to get into the front pen for the start. Joanna Bleakley (Robertson - just back from her Honeymoon!) was a little further back.

Also in there were Brian and Sue Holland, with Ron Wilkinson hoping to break 2 hrs. Jenny Knass was wondering how it would go as she had been out since August with a back problem this was to prove a real comeback for her.

The field set off at 2.00pm with Jenny speeding off into the distance - no fear there, followed closely by Sarah Lomas. Sarah will be coming along to the club to train and hopefully will be another addition to the ladies' squad. With a personal best of 1-40 prior to this she was hoping to be around 1-35. I myself was just hoping to be around the 2 hour mark having run 2-05 at the Great North Run. After 1km Brian Holland managed to overtake me and shouted a greeting I shall not repeat!

Like Sharon I had a slight virus and took it steady up to the first 8km after that I was feeling much stronger and upped the tempo. The course wound its way around Amsterdam and along the canals pass the big windmill and Museums. A predicted time of 1-50 was on the cards for me however I eventually paid the price and my pace dropped dramatically at 15k. With 6k to go i was starting to think I would walk but people in the crowd were shouting for Stockport and that a Stockport lady was in 3rd place. Not to let everyone down I pushed on through the pain barrier to see the Stadium come into sight. Crowds were making plenty of noise and I came into the Olympic Stadium and the welcome finish line to record 1-57-20.

Just beyond the finish in the stands were Sharon, Jenny, Sarah and Brian who gave me a big cheer. After collecting my medal and goodies we meet up to share our experience. Jenny Knass finished 1-22-57 a personal best by nearly a minute. She also finished 3rd lady and 87th out of the field of 7,000. Sarah Lomas knocked 10min off her personal best in 1-30-15 finished 5th lady and 331st. Joanna even after no training for 3 weeks what with her wedding and Honeymoon ran a personal best knocking off 2 minutes to record 1-39-15 and 65th lady. Meanwhile Brian had run an excellent race for a personal best in his age category 1-29-32. Sue Holland helped pace Ron Wilkinson round for a personal best and like me he knocked 8 minutes off his time.

I would recommend this event if you want to experience a well organised race. For me it was a terrific weekend and the success we had was the icing on the cake. We all met up later for that well earned drink a little weary but well worth it for the effort we put into the race.

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