It was a case of ‘Mission Accomplished’ all round at Silksworth last Saturday as the club organised and staged an impeccable Northern 12 and 6 stage road relay event which was a huge credit to all involved, whilst all four men’s and women’s teams dug deep into their reserves on the tough circuit round the site of the former Silksworth Colliery and performed admirably in their respective races.
Team Manager Albert James declared himself satisfied as the men’s A-team rounded out the top ten in the 33.4 mile race which comprised four ‘long’ legs of 3.95 miles and eight ‘short’ legs of 2.2 miles.
In the absence of Nathan Reed, Andy Powell, who anchored the medal-winning north-east relay team in February, was first out on a very competitive first leg and moved steadily through the pack on the second of his two laps to finish 12th in 20:32, 29th fastest of the 196 long legs on the day, and lay a solid platform for the rest of the squad. Steve Rankin (11.17) maintained the placing on the first of the short laps, before Kevin Jeffress edged the Royal Blues into the top ten for the first time with a long stint of 20:24. Mark Smith’s 11:13 saw the team reach its highest position of the race, gaining two places to eighth with his fine 11:13 before strong legs from Ian Dixon (21:50) and Steve McMahon, whose 10:58 was the Harriers fastest short leg of the day, saw us sitting 11th at halfway.
As the race developed and gaps between the teams grew, gaining places became more difficult. After Matt Devlin (21:53 on the final long leg) and Mark Hood, making a welcome return after injury with a highly creditable 11:30 following such a long lay-off, maintained 11th place, Michael Laws was able to restore the top ten placing with his leg of 11:47 and that was where we stayed through Liam Roarty (11:18), Michael Edwards (11:52) before Michael Thompson anchored the team round the top bend of the track to secure a comfortable qualification for the National 12-stage relay on the iconic course in Sutton Coldfield on April 16th.
In addition, the men’s B team also qualified for Nationals by finishing in the top 30 overall, although only one team is likely to travel, but great credit goes Ian Ritchie (22:18), Jake Jansen (11:31), Steve Gordon (24:03), Al Knebel (12:31), Mark Head (23:56), Paul Collins (12:52), Jack Tallentire (23:44), Paul Merrison (12:30), David Lash (13:02), Paul Redman (13:41), Steven Graham (12:26) and Steve Tiltman (13:48) for bringing the team home in 29th position and showing the club’s strength in depth continues to grow by the race.
Michelle Avery led out the women’s sextette around the running track and onto the paths of the sports complex, coming home in 26:26 and placing 23rd. Jessica Fox gained six places on her short leg, clocking 13:06, before Sarah O’Mahoney (15:12) and Judith Thirlwell (27:10) set up the possibility of a top twenty finish by reaching the three-quarter point in 21st. Nicola Woodward duly obliged, moving through to 16th with her effort of 13:43 and Alice Smith brought the team home a further three places up in 13th with a fine leg of 13:32.
The women’s B team of Vicky Haswell (29:30), Helen Higgins (16:40), Angela Calvert (16:57), Catherine Morris (30:34), Vikki Cotton (14:54) and Catherine Purdy (15:47) placed 31st.
Whilst for the men’s A team tenth place and qualification for the Nationals was a solid performance, the race on Saturday also shows how far the club still needs to progress before it can compete with the Northern Powerhouse clubs such as Salford, Leeds City and Morpeth, who occupied the first three places. Every single one of the 36 Harriers who donned Royal Blue vests last weekend gave absolutely everything for the cause, and great strides have been made over the winter; the turnout for training on the track on Tuesdays and roads on Thursday is growing all the time, and the fact that 22 Harriers turned out the day after the relays to compete at Hartlepool, with another five taking in the Blyth Valley 10k, illustrates the collective spirit and shows the overall club membership is in rude health. But hard work still needs to be done before we can begin to close the near nine-minute gap on a depleted Morpeth 12 and challenge the elite for medals at this level. It won’t happen overnight, but the building blocks are in place, the talent, both on and off the track, is there, and the next few years will see the revival continue.