The U16 Boys team enjoyed a stellar fortnight in which Anas Briki, Thomas Hennigan and Ivan Derian (below left) took the silver medals at the National Road Relay Championships at Sutton Park near Birmingham on 3 October, following on from their gold medal-winning performance at the Southern (SEAA) Relays two weeks earlier at Aldershot (below right).
In the National Championships in Sutton Park Anas Briki led off, posting a time of 12:26 over the 3.88km course, with Ivan Derian on the second leg clocking 12:33, and Thomas Hennigan bringing the team home in 12:16.
At the earlier SEAA Championships, Anas on leg one (9:12) and Thomas on the anchor leg (9:13) were joined by Max Harrison who ran 9:39 on leg two over the 3km course. The next highest scoring team at the SEAA event was that of the U18 Men (Harry Allen, Max Barckhahn and Theo Creed) who were fifth, with all three athletes notching almost identical times over the 4.6 km course: 14:29, 14:31 and 14:28 respectively. However, the quickest leg of the day (14:23) was posted by Dylan Gilbert on the anchor leg for the B team which finished in ninth.
The Senior Men, a mix of youth and experience, finished in eleventh over six stages. U20 Pancho Panchev led off, covering the 6km course in 18:48 and handing over in 22nd to Will Lewis, who posted the fastest leg (18:31) to bring the team up to 12th. Fred Slemeck (18:52) gained three more places to hand over in ninth to U20 Rafferty Haigh who ran 19:19 to secure tenth position. Stuart McCallum, still trying to regain his form after injury, nevertheless held onto tenth (in 19:24) with Jack Wyllie bringing the team home in 19:09 in 11th of 73 complete teams. The B team of Joe Clark, Sam Todd, Dave Grima, James Stockings, Sonny Nicoll, and Richard Jones, were 29th.
The Senior Women progressed steadily through the field over four stages of 6km, led off by W40 Claire Grima, whose time of 23:09 saw her hand over in 33rd to Poppy Robson, who clocked 23:45 to come home in 29th. Eloise Davies (22:58) gained another nine places, with Philippa Chambers on the final leg clocking the fastest time of the quartet (21:54) to bring the team home in 17th of the 46 complete teams.
Cracker Jack
Two weeks later the Senior Men headed to Sutton Park, with Fred, Pancho and Rafferty joined this time by U20 Jack Hobden, Ed Mallett and a valiant Richard Jones stepping in at the eleventh hour on the anchor leg as a disappointed Hector Revill came down with illness.
Rafferty, on the lead off leg, posted a time of 17:19, handing over in 47th to Jack (below right) who delivered the stage of the day, clocking 16:27 and gaining 14 places, after which Fred (16:53), Ed (17:04) and Pancho (17:00) picked off places by the handful to bring the team up to 21st, with Richard battling home in 29th in 19:17.
Home Nations Triumph
Competing for England, Andrew Penney (below left) was part of the gold medal-winning team at the Home Nations 5K in Bute Park, Cardiff, on 27 September
Photo by Graham Smith
Vitality Statistics
U20 Isabella Harrison raced back into fine form after injury in the British Athletics One Mile Road Championships which were incorporated into the BMC Bannister Wave at the Vitality Westminster Mile on 26 September. She finished third in 4:39.94 in the elite race populated by senior athletes and internationals. (photo LM Events).
In the main race Gina Galbraith was fourth woman home and third W50 in 5:36, with Lisa Thomas eighth and first W60 in 6:02. Anna Garnier in 24th was first W70 (6:49) and Caroline Helder in 30th was second W65 in 7:03. Amongst the men, Tom Cheetham was 14th M55 in 6:41, while Peter Giles was the first M80 home in 6:46.
Gold in the Hills
Former Men's Captain Fred Slemeck, stalwart of the Club's road and cross country teams, added another accolade to his collection over the weekend of 12/13 September, when he won the South of England (SEAA) Fell Running Championships on the Isle of Wight, with fellow Club athlete Eoin Brady finishing sixth.
Based around the seaside resort of Ventnor, the Championships are incorporated into the annual Isle of Wight Fell Running series, organised by Ryde Harriers and the Ventnor Fell Running Championship Association. Runners cover 22 miles of racing over 4,300 feet of climbing, split across three races: two on Saturday (The St. Boniface Fell and Ventnor Horsehoe), and The Wroxall Round on Sunday.