AAA 6-Stage Road Relay, Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield

Belles exceed expectations in National 6-Stage

Catherine Eastham writes:- Having listened to the men’s pre-race pep talk that morning, the ladies were glad not to be facing that level of pressure just yet. Still, pressure of a different sort came when two of the team, Juliette and Helen S, still hadn’t arrived by the time the team needed to be declared and couldn’t be contacted on their mobiles. A swift team restructure was needed, which may have actually benefited the team in the end. Although overall, all runners times (except Maria Sharp’s) were slower than predictions, undoubtedly due to the strong wind, the team’s final position of 11th was 4 places better than predicted. So it was a good day for the Belles.

Stage 1

Having had a strong run in the Southerns on the anchor leg, Maria Sharp wanted to reverse the order and take the lead, figuring that starting up with the main pack would pull her around to a faster time. And that it did. Maria’s 9th place finish in 17.01 gave the Belles their fastest leg of the day, beating Maria’s own previous best time for the course and also ensuring that she won a bet with the men’s first leg man, Paul Freary, as to who would finish higher up the field! Maria’s run placed her as 18th fastest overall on the day.

1 Chester-le-Street 16:20; 2 Wirral 16:38; 3 Swansea 16:41; 4 Leeds 16:47; Sale HM 16:49; 6 Salford 16:51; 9 Belgrave 17:01.

Fastest: 1 D.Heneghan (Chester-le-Street) 16:20; 2 H.Lawrence (Wirral) 16:38; 3 C.Dugdale (Swansea) 16:41; 4 L.Wright (Leeds) 16:47; 5 S.Thomas (Sale HM) 16:49; 6 L.Heyes (Salford) 16:51; 9 M.Sharp (Belgrave) 17:01.

Stage 2

As the first of three of the Belles marathon team to go out on the course there was interest in whether Louise Cooper would find the extra training beneficial or whether the marathon would have tired her out. It seemed the wind was the biggest problem on the course though, as by two and a half miles Louise began to find the struggle beginning to tire her. Battling to the end though, Louise brought the team through in 17th place, roughly as expected.

1 Salford (+5) 33:45; 2 Swansea (+1) 33:53; 3 Sale HM (+2) 34:06; 4 Tipton (+3) 34:28; 5 Chester-le-Street (-4) 34:38; 6 Leeds (-2) 35:14; 17 Belgrave (-8) 36:50.

Fastest: 1 R.Jones (Salford) 16:54; 2 R.Goddard (Swansea) 17:12; =3 D.Riding (Sale HM) and C.Martin (Telford) 17:17; 5 H.Jennings (Tipton) 17:35; 6 J.Colleran (Liverpool) 17:47; 23 L.Cooper (Belgrave) 19:49.

Stage 3

Helen Alsop, team captain and running in her first National road relay was nervous pre race, but confident that she wouldn’t lose many places over the course. In fact, she maintained the team’s position with a 19.19 leg which made her the third fastest Belle of the day. Again though, the wind and the hilly course made it a tougher run than expected. Meanwhile, starting to pull away at the front of the field was Sale Harriers who had already gained a 1 minute lead over Salford.

1 Sale HM (+2) 50:43; 2 Salford (-1) 51:57; 3 Swansea (-1) 52:11; 4 Shaftesbury B (+6) 53:12; 5 Liverpool (+2) 53:20; 6 Chester-le-Street (-1) 53:21.

Fastest: 1 J.Heath (Sale HM) 16:37; 2 J.Craft (Headington) 16:46; 3 S.Murphy (Shaftesbury B) 17:07; 4 N.Ashe (Windsor SE&H) 17:37; 5 L.Egan (Liverpool) 17:46; 6 J.Cook (Salford) 18:12; 17 H.Alsop (Belgrave) 19:19.

Stage 4

Angela Walker was the second of the marathon team to head off down the considerably shorter 2.995 mile course. Her task was to pull up one or two places and bring the Belles nearer to their top 15 place. Angela went one better and pulled up 3 places, with the Belles moving into 14th. The top three places hadn’t changed, but Sale’s lead had extended to 1 min 15 secs.

1 Sale HM (0) 1:07:36; 2 Salford (0) 1:08:18; 3 Swansea (0) 1:09:45; 4 Chester-le-Street (+2) 1:10:19; 5 Shaftesbury B (-1) 1:11:17; 6 Windsor SE&H (+3) 1:11:22; 14 Belgrave (+3) 1:15:35.

Fastest: B.Jenkins (Salford) 16:21; 2 A.Waterlow (Sale HM) 16:53; 3 R.Brown (Chester-le-Street) 16:58; 4 C.Dickie (Windsor SE&H) 17:12; 5 E.Sherr’d Smith (Swansea) 17:34; 6 S.Cox (Shaftesbury B) 18:05; 10 A.Walker (Belgrave) 19:26.

Stage 5

In only her second outing for the Belles, Helen Smethurst awaited the start of her leg with nervous anticipation, having never competed in the relays before. With the other team members reporting back on how tough the course was, how tough would Helen S be and could she maintain the team’s position? Finishing as the Belle’s second fastest of the day, Helen looks set to be a regular feature in forthcoming fixtures and brought the team back in a very respectable 11th position. Whilst Sale’s lead was extended to nearly 4 minutes, WSE&H had pulled into 3rd with a strong leg from Paula Fudge.

1 Sale HM (0) 1:24:47; 2 Salford (0) 1:28:30; 3 Windsor SE&H (+3) 1:28:57; 4 Chester-le-Street (0) 1:29:01; 5 Shaftesbury B (0) 1:29:15; 6 Swansea (-3) 1:30:10; 11 Belgrave (+3) 1:34:44.

Fastest: 1 L.McCreesh (Sale HM) 17:11; 2 P.Fudge (Windsor SE&H) 17:35; 3 I.Robertson (Headington) 17:40; 4 R.Connolly (Wirral) 17:54; 5 K.Armstrong (Shaftesbury B) 17:58; 6 H.Robinson (Chester-le-Street) 18:42; 8 H.Smethurst (Belgrave) 19:09.

Stage 6

The final leg saw Juliette Clark taking over for the Belles. Although Juliette’s not in the form she was in this time last year she is still a consistent and strong athlete and we knew that she wouldn’t succumb to the pressure of being anchor leg. By holding on with a solid 19.28 run Juliette enabled the Belles to hold on to that 11th place, surpassing expectations by 4 places. Hayley Yelling, meanwhile, clocked the fastest leg of the day but it was only enough to bring WSE&H back in silver, with Sale finishing a good 3 mins 56 clear. ChesterLeStreet claimed bronze.

Given that the Belles didn’t have the talents of Birhan Dagne, Getenesh Tamirat, Catherine Berry and Anne Hegvold on the team, one can only wait in anticipation for future results…

1 Sale HM (0) 1:41:00; 2 Windsor SE&H (+1) 1:44:56; 3 Chester-le-Street (+1) 1:45:32; 4 Shaftesbury Barnet (+1) 1:47:31; 5 Headington (+2) 1:48:27; 6 Salford (-4) 1:48:34; 11 Belgrave (0) 1:54:12; 43 teams started; 28 teams finished.

Fastest: 1 H.Yelling (Windsor SE&H) 15:59; 2 K.Gillibrand (Sale HM) 16:13; 3 M.McDonnell (Chester-le-Street) 16:31; 4 T.Galbraith (Headington) 17:28; 5 C.Entwhistle (Wigan) 17:31; 6 S.Bigham (Hillingdon) 18:16; 13 J.Clark (Belgrave) 19:28.

Fastest legs of the day

1 H.Yelling (Windsor SE&H) 15:59; 2 K.Gillibrand (Sale HM) 16:13; 3 D.Heneghan (Chester-le-Street) 16:20; 4 B.Jenkins (Salford) 16:21; 5 M.McDonnell (Chester-le-Street) 16:31; 6 J.Heath (Sale HM) 16:37; 18 M.Sharp (Belgrave) 17:01.

Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.