Midland Road Relays - 21/9/22
22 September 2024
Impending thunderstorms didn’t stop the Harriers from shining at the Midland Road Relays. The U13 boys started the day in style with an impressive victory by 33 seconds!! Alistair Spurr took on the challenge of leg one finishing in 2nd place in a time of 13:37, the 5th fastest time overall. It was then the turn of Monty Wilkins who ran a strong leg to maintain 2nd in 13:56, the 2nd quickest time of all runners on leg 2. Finally Jack Shingler took on leg 3 running the fastest time of the day overall, 13:15, and coming in a clear 1st place!
(Photo: The winning U13 boys team)
The U13 girls team finished in 6th place with Kimberley Hodgkinson running 16:14 on leg 1 for 12th, Ivy Wightman moving the team into 7th with the 3rd quickest time on leg 2, 15:55, and Eliza Nolan moving the team up one more place into 6th with 15:45, the 4th quickest time on leg 3.
The U15 boys had huge strength in depth fielding two teams. The A team finished just off the podium in a superb 4th place led out by Teddy Spurr who ran the 9th fastest time overall to finish 5th in 13:16. Jack Pennell then moved the team into 4th with 14:04, the 7th fastest time on leg 2 before Patrick Paul finished for the team in a brilliant 12:51, this was the 5th fastest time overall and 2nd fastest on leg 3. The B team ran well to finish in 26th with Noah Seabright running 15:36, Ethan Hendry 15:40 and Oliver Wilson 14:58.
(Photo: 4 members of our two U15 boys teams)
The U15 girls team of Isla Harvey, Freya Braiden and Bella Watts finished in 17th. Harvey started with an impressive run of 16:01 for 22nd, Braiden moved up 4 places with a run of 16:42 and Watts secured 17th with 16:57.
(Photo: U15 girls team after a brilliant 17th place finish)
In the U17 age group the boys team finished 10th with the girls finishing in 9th. Tom Wightman took on leg 1 finishing in 13th in 13:20 before Rhys Haines ran 13:26 to maintain 13th and Sam Wilson moved the team up with the 6th fastest time on leg 3, 12:28. Meanwhile Jess Sheppard ran 15:56 on leg 1 for 15th, Amelie Paul ran well to finish in 17:39 and Erin Musty finished in 15:30, the 7th fastest time on leg 3.
Our senior men's team were affected by bad traffic en route meaning Martin Foster was required to swap to leg one at the last minute. Despite the change and the rush to prepare he ran well to finish in 22:07 in 70th place. Luckily during leg 1 the remaining runners arrived meaning Finlay Willcott was ready to take on leg 2 which he completed in 21:30, moving the team into 61st. Al Raitt ran well to move them up to 57th with 21:27 and Elliot Prince moved them up one more place with 22:05. The ever reliable Andy Gore ran a strong leg to move them up once again to 55th with 22:41 and Matt Evans brought them home in 22:34 maintaining 55th place.
The Senior women fielded a young team with two U20s, Izzy Watt and Milly Foster, who demonstrated big potential by still performing superbly despite being against much more experienced athletes. Watt took on what is arguably the hardest leg too, leg 1, running 16:17 to cross the line in 15th. Watt passed on to Sarah Sheppard who ran well to finish in 24th in a time of 18:30. Milly Foster then battled hard on leg 3 with a stitch but was still able to produce a brilliant time of 20:00 for 32nd. Rachel See returned from a long injury to bring the team home in 22nd in 17:02.