In order to gauge progress, any club with ambitions of a place at the top table of competition needs to test itself against the best the sport can offer. Last Saturday, on the iconic short and long laps round Sutton Park, Birmingham, a dozen Sunderland Harriers got the chance to see how they rank from a national perspective as they raced the English 12-Stage Road Relay Championship.

The outcome was more than satisfactory. On a crisp, sunny but breezy Spring day, all 12 athletes gave their absolute all on the scenic but very testing undulating paths through the park, and a finishing place in the top 30 was just reward for their efforts.

The opening stage in the National relay, over the longer 5.38 miles lap, is always ultra-competitive with a flat-out sprint down the first hill in a battle for position. Andy Powell showed admirable restraint to start steadily in the pack of 67 teams from Cardiff to Cambuslang and all points in between, and as he had at the Northern, moved through to a highly respectable 36th, his 28:25 remaining unbeaten amongst his teammates on the day.

First out on the short leg of 3.165 miles was Jake Jansen who judged his effort to perfection in recording 17:07, second fastest short leg of the day for the club, and handed over in 37th place.

At this stage of the race there is a lot of gaining and losing places as a lot of clubs put their best runners on the early legs to be as competitive as possible, and Ian Dixon (30:01) and Ian Ritchie (17:23) showed real grit to maintain a placing just outside the top 40.

From then on, although the field thinned making it more difficult to catch and overtake, it was progress all the way as Nathan Reed took four scalps on his long effort of 28:29, followed by Mark Smith who edged one further position forward with 17:23 to hand over in 36th place at the halfway stage.

In form Matt Devlin crept one place higher with 29:36, as did Mark Hood who continued his comeback from injury with a very encouraging leg of 17:00, fastest short leg of the day.

Despite the growing distance between the teams spread throughout the course, Steve McMahon managed to pull back a further three spots with his 29:04 effort on Leg Nine, followed by Jack Tallentire (17:53) who overtook one club, and Steve Rankin who did likewise with his run of 29:13.

By now the field was very strung out and although anchor man Michael Edwards gained ten seconds in his pursuit of the Herne Hill Harriers vest ahead of him, he couldn’t quite close the gap, but nor did he lose any places and brought the Royal Blues home in 29th place with an overall finishing time of 4hrs 39min 13secs, some 23 minutes behind winners Highgate Harriers.

Team manager Albert James declared himself satisfied with the result, but concedes there is still work to be done to get into a position to challenge for a spot in the top ten, and ultimately to be in the mix for medals. The improvement of so many athletes, not just amongst the 12 who made the team at the weekend but throughout the club as a whole, is clear to see, but this result also drives home just how much work is still to be done.