Glory for Mansfield Harriers at the Midland Road Relays

Mansfield Harriers went to the event with teams in eight out of the ten races and came away with unprecedented success as they took three Midland team titles, two bronze medals and two athletes recording the fastest legs. This was without doubt the clubs best ever performance at this fixture and the club can now rightly place itself as one of the best in the Midlands on the roads.

The Masters races are for athletes over 35 and Mansfield can now claim to have the strongest team in the region as they took gold in both the men and ladies race. Mansfield have never taken a medal before in any female senior road relays but have assembled a formidable team that went into the event under the radar.

A superb first leg from Hayley Gill saw her come in 2nd with a time of 15.37 for the 4.33K distance which turned out to be the second fastest time of the race. Carolyn Hay moved the club into first with 16.35 for the 7th fastest overall and handed a narrow lead to Gillian Newbould who recorded 18.20 on leg 3. Going out on leg 4 Mansfield had the British Masters F45 1500 champion Kath Malone who took over with a six second lead over the Shrewsbury team.

Using all her track experience Kath managed the lead throughout extending the lead by a further three seconds as she recorded 17.21 to claim the team win.

Defending the title they won last year the men had a gun to tape victory over the 5.88K race with Kristian Watson leading out in 19.04, Paul Wright 18.31, Dan Wheat 20.01, Jan Bailey 19.00, Marlon Dunkley 19.52 and Chris Patterson 18.58 for a total team time of 1.55.26 and a massive 4 minute win over Birmingham Running and Triathlon.

Such is the strength in depth the B team placed an impressive 7th pace through Adam Wright 20.48, Simon Fisher 20.48, Joe Henstock 21.07, Paul Whittingham 22.03, Gary Berzins 22.59 and Matt Bottomore 21.00. Four of the five quickest times of the day came from the Mansfield team, with Paul fastest, Chris 3rd, Jan 4th and Kris 5th.

A strong A team for the Men saw them come home in 10th place after a close fought contest between the teams coming between 4th and 12th. Jake Richardson ran strongly on the opening leg recording 18.24, followed by Lewis Boswell 19.07, Johar Ali 18.53, Ed Sankey 18.54, Jordan Boam 20.18 and Sam Gilliver 19.01 as the team qualified for the National finals.

The B team placed 64th through Dave Cass 20.45, Jamie Macintyre 22.32, Geoff Bottomore 24.06, Chris Kilburn 21.25, Tom Newbould 25.02 and Ben McClemens 22.30. The senior women came home in 39th place with Hannah Wragg recording 18.29, Sophie Toyn 17.44, Emma Mason 20.36 and Sarah Bradbury 20.17.

The young athlete races were all over a distance of 3.88K and Mansfield were confident of a medal in the Under 17 men category. Jude Ryan came home 2nd on leg 1 with 12.09, Eddie Holden ran confidently on leg 2 to record 12.27 and hand over a clear lead to England Junior International Jacob Nugent who confidently extended the lead to 41 seconds recording 12.09 as Mansfield team took gold. The Under 17 women ran well for 10th place with Katie Leese going out first recording 16.14 followed by Amelia Arbon 16.09 and Amy Newbould 17.04.

The club had high hopes that both Under 15 teams would take top 6 places, both finishing well above all expectations coming away with bronze medals. For the boys Jack Pares put in a terrific finish on the first leg to come in first recording 12.31 which was also the fastest time of the day, Ollie McClemens had the run of his athletic career to date as he extended the lead with 13.18 and after being ill for most of the week Dan Adams ran a terrific last leg of 13.51 to claim the medal.

Teddy Macintyre ran 14.46 as a sole athlete in the B team. Charley Whysall put in her trademark brave run coming in third on the first leg for the girls with a time of 13.58, Emily Pares 15.40 and Lily Mason 15.06 consolidated a clear bronze medal for the team.