There's been no resting on laurels for our triumphant National cross country title winners, as their attention switched just seven days later to the roads for the Midland 6-stage road relay championships, which, as usual, took place at Sutton Park’s traditional course.
It was a title we hadn’t won since 2017, but whether inspired by their National victory or simply determined to prove it was no flash in the pan, our team didn’t just regain the title—they dominated the race from start to finish, never relinquishing the lead once team captain KURT TAYLOR put us in control on the opening leg.
The net result was that our other five runners were left to complete a series of individual time trials, gradually extending our lead to almost two minutes by the finish. Despite the lack of competition, we still posted our best-ever overall time in the event by more than a minute, achieving 1:46:45. Almost as impressively, our B team worked their way through the field to finish in the top ten out of the 120 teams that started, securing 8th place—a standout result that easily qualified them for next month’s National final.
Although rain had been forecast mid-race, it never came to much, and the race took place under nearly ideal conditions, with warm, cloudy sunshine and a light breeze. Only the fourth-leg runners encountered a brief shower.
KURT TAYLOR (17:32), who had been disappointed to miss out on the cross country team’s success the previous weekend, was in no mood to accept second best a week later and gave us the perfect start. Positioned within a small leading group at the head of the large field ascending the opening climb, he waited until the turning point just after halfway before injecting a short surge of pace that only Leamington’s CALLUM HANLON could match.
That’s how it stayed until the final short climb before the run-in to the finish, where Kurt’s class shone through as he pulled away to give a narrow four-second lead to LUKE BURGESS (18:20) in a time that turned out to be the day’s third fastest. Luke, on a redemption mission after being hindered by a stitch in the National cross, showed no signs of a repeat and extended our lead by nearly 20 seconds.
Next, JOE MORROW (18:07), in his first outing on the Sutton Park course, found experiencing its twists and contours beneficial ahead of the National final. He felt he had some energy left at the finish, but still extended our lead by ten seconds to over half a minute.
While the race was already nearly secured when Joe finished, JACK MILLAR (17:30) made it almost certain on the fourth stage, despite a shower, storming round in the second-fastest time of the day and increasing our lead to well over a minute.
BEN ROBINSON (18:11), preparing to defend his World Canicross title in Italy in a few weeks, continued his fine form, clocking the second-fastest time on the penultimate leg and extending our lead to a minute and a quarter, with only the anchor leg remaining.
In the circumstances, WILL BATTERSHILL (17:05) could have cruised through his leg given our strong lead, but he clearly had other ideas. Despite being unfamiliar with the course, he left a memorable mark by completing it in the fastest time of the day by nearly half a minute. His stunning run secured our victory by almost two minutes over WESTERN TEMPO (1:48:26) and BRAT (1:49:11), who had also solidified the silver and bronze positions early on.
“It’s certainly a course with a character of its own,” commented Will, “so having the chance to run it before the National will help me pace it better. I actually felt good and was pleased with my performance.”
TOP TEN SUCCESS FOR B TEAM
We had felt our second team was as strong as it’s ever been, and that a top-ten position was achievable. The team delivered on that potential, starting with ALEX STEWART (18:45). Although he finished just inside the top 20 on the opening stage in 17th place, he was close behind a cluster of other teams.
Following Alex, student STEVE KERFOOT (18:57), who is completing a year’s work placement in London as part of his degree, moved up three places before handing over to fellow Loughborough student FLYNN JENNINGS (19:44). In his first club race since January’s South West cross championships due to injury, Flynn, though pleased to have run with no issues, inevitably dropped five places in a closely contested pack.
Flynn was followed by another recovering athlete, JOE CONNORS (19:22), the most experienced member of the team, who regained four lost places. That left our two promising squad newcomers, ALASTAIR MATHESON (18:50) and DYLAN RIGBY (18:44), to secure the five remaining places needed to achieve our top-ten target. Both delivered, with Alastair gaining four spots to finish 11th and Dylan overtaking three more on the anchor leg to finish in an impressive 8th place, just behind defending champions Birchfield, who were missing their Ethiopian stars OMER AHMED and KADOR OMAR.
Although only two teams can qualify for the National, the C team wasn’t far from securing the top 25 required places, ultimately finishing 30th. ALED ANDERSON (19:35) placed them 32nd after the opening stage, and while AARON BRUCE and WILL CHRISTOFI lost eight positions, LEE GAWLER, ANDY GRIGG, and TOM NEWMAN each dipped under the 20-minute mark, reclaiming ten places to secure a top-30 finish.
Another memorable day, and whether we like it or not, we’ll go into the National final in two weeks as one of the pre-race favourites. But as captain Kurt reminds us, the Southern and Northern regional championships present a far tougher challenge, with more on that next week.
PS More good news: two familiar names, PETER LE GRICE and HUGH SADLER, made a strong return at the Vitality London 10K, finishing 5th and 6th. Pete narrowly missed breaking 30 minutes by just two seconds, while Hugh set a personal best of 30:36.
MIKE DOWN (Team Manager)
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