6 Bristol & West AC. ‘A’ 1:06:52
1 Amy Nicholls (19) 16:31
2 Jessica Heffer (8) 16:00
3 Anna Ford (6) 17:09
4 Megan Powell (6) 17:12
19 Bristol & West AC. ‘B’ 1:10:40
1 Kirstin Bamford (30) 17:08
2 Eleanor Carney (18) 16:55
3 EmmaClarke (12) 17:15
4 Louise Cronin (19) 19:22
Only two of last year’s two teams were available for this year’s 4 stage relays. Nevertheless, when Mike asked me how the teams would do I responded “if everyone runs well, A team 6 th , B team in top 25”. Ergo everyone ran well! Amy Nicholls, now at Birmingham University, had the unenviable task of running the first leg. It needs a level head to navigate the first leg, because the vast majority of the clubs put out their fastest runners. Amy gave the team just the start it needed finishing in 19 th position.
Examination of the results reveals just how competitive and close the field was on that first leg. Newcomer to the club, Jess Heffer made a very impressive debut, overtaking eleven women and recording the 5 th fastest time on the leg. Jess has a 2.51 marathon to her credit, but in training has shown she has a real turn of speed. There is a lot more to come there! Anna Ford had another solid run, and despite being slightly disappointed that she didn’t match her time last year, picked up another couple of places on leg three. That left tri-athlete Megan Powell, the second medic in the team, to run the last leg. Again, Megan had a solid run holding on to 6 th place and finishing less than half a minute behind 5 th place Leamington.
Kirstin Bamford, another tri-athlete, ran the first leg for the B team. Kirsten was apprehensive before the start of the race because she had spent since last Sunday recovering from a half-ironman and had only one gentle run since. No worries. Kirstin ran creditably to finish in 30 th position. Eleanor Carney made her debut for the club on the second Leg. Eleanor, I knew from the way she has being going is in good shape, so I was not surprised that she recorded the third fastest time by a Bristol runner on the day, pulling back twelve places.
Eleanor is, reassuring for some, in geriatric medicine. Emma Clarke showed how well she has come on since recovering from her broken leg pulling a further 6 places back on the third leg. Super-veteran, Louise Cronin agreed to step in and run the last leg at short notice. Although Louise lost a few places, she ran well enough to justify my first 25 prediction. Looking at the times run in the accompanying master’s race shows just how well Louise ran!
So, congratulations to all the team members and thanks to Sian for mustering the teams. There are now real grounds for optimism for some good performances at the National Road Relays on Saturday September 5 th .
Nippy Ladies please let Sian know if you can run.
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