AAA Women’s 4 Stage Road Relay, Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield

Belles solid - but it's 20th in AAA 4 stage road relay

With high hopes of a top ten position for the Belles there was an element of disappointment with the final team position, although not with the women’s individual performances. All runners ran to expectations, incredibly with less than 20 seconds between each of them. With an overall team time 10 seconds faster than the previous year (where we placed 15th), it’s fair to say that the standard for the women’s nationals has suddenly become considerably tougher.

Stage 1

With conditions cold and overcast Angela Walker braved the scramble for the start and headed off in the middle of the pack. Not helped by a trip and a push at the top corner, Angela dug in and showed her usual tough approach to racing. Despite solid running, and still having the energy to overtake three runners on the hill towards the finish, Angela brought the team home in 35th place.

1 Wirrall 14:08; 2 Salford 14:28; 3 Wakefield 14:30; 4 Sale 14:32; 5 Windsor SE&H 14:38; 6 Royal Sutton Coldfield 14:41; 35 Belgrave 16:04.

Fastest: 1 H.Lawrence (Wirrall) 14:08; 2 B.Jenkins (Salford) 14:28; 3 P.Thrackray (Wakefield) 14:30; 4 K.Gillibrand (Sale) 14:32; 5 J.Lodge (Windsor SE&H) 14:38; 6 L.Kenney (Royal Sutton Coldfield) 14:41; 35 A.Walker (Belgrave) 16:04.

Stage 2

With this being Birhane Dagne’s first road race in about a year (thanks to baby Emmanuel!), Birhane knew she wasn’t going to achieve the 14:34 time she’d managed over the course two years previously. Still, it was great to see Birhane back in action, and within the safety of stage 2 she was able to gain eleven places to bring the team back into 24th place. Birhane managed to clock the fastest Belgrave stage of the day, just, which was an added bonus for her in her efforts to regain form. Meanwhile, at the front, positions were changing significantly with Wakefield taking the lead, Wilkinson of Chester Le Street gaining fourteen places to bring her team into 2nd and Bailey of Havant gaining eleven to bring them into 3rd spot.

1 Wakefield 29:27 (+2); 2 Chester-le-Street 29:43 (+14); 3 Havant 29:51 (+11); 4 Sale 30:04 (0); 5 Charnwood 30:13 (+3); 6 Wirrall 30:27 (-5); 24 Belgrave 32:04 (+11).

Fastest: 1 A.Allen (Birchfield) 14:33; 2 S.Wilkinson (Chester-le-Street) 14:39; =3 K.Bailey (Havant) and J.O’Mara (Wakefield) 14:57; 5 E.Ford (Liverpool) 15:15; 6 A.Granger (Bristol) 15:24; 21 B.Dagne (Belgrave) 16:00.

Stage 3

Sporting Belgrave colours in her hair ties, young Rosie Powell was next up for the Belles in her first ever National outing. Although somewhat nervous before the start, Rosie was able to channel that nervous energy into a positive run and managed to gain an additional six places bringing the Belles home in 18th place. Despite finding the course tough Rosie came back smiling and happy with her effort and yet another consistent run. With Havant only having 2 runners, they were now out of the medals, and more changes were taking place up front.

1 Chester-le-Street 44:10 (+1); 2 Charnwood 45:01 (+3); 3 Wakefield 45:06 (+3); 4 Sale 45:19 (0); 5 Liverpool 45:25 (+7); 6 Salford 45:55 (+4); 18 Belgrave 48:15 (+6).

Fastest: M.McDonnell (Chester-le-Street) 14:27; 2 J.Clague (Liverpool) 14:36; 3 J.Potter (Charnwood) 14:48; 4 C.Martin (Telford) 15:00; 5 A.Waterlow (Sale) 15:15; 6 A.Buckley (Salford) 15:17; 16 R.Powell (Belgrave) 16:11.

Stage 4

Given that a top ten place now seemed impossible to achieve, Tilly Heaton, also in her first National relay outing, decided to just give it her all in an effort to bring the club home in as strong a position as possible. Unfortunately, we hadn’t reckoned on Hayley Yelling starting only 20 seconds behind, clocking the fastest leg of the day and sweeping past to gain an extra place on us. Whilst first and second place stayed the same, Sale managed to gain almost 10 seconds on Wakefield to take the honours for third place.

1 Chester-le-Street 59:09 (0); 2 Charnwood) 59:25 (0); 3 Sale 59:58 (+1); 4 Wakefield 1:00:07 (-1); 5 Shaftesbury Barnet 1:00:27 (+2); 6 Salford 1:00:32 (0); 20 Belgrave 1:04:32 (-2); 81 teams started; 73 teams finished.

Fastest: 1 H.Yelling (Windsor SE&H) 14:07 and K.Reed (Bristol) 14:07; 3 L.Elliott (Shaftesbury Barnet) 14:23; 5 T.Krzywicki (Charnwood) 14:24; 6 A.Parkinson (Sale) 14:39; 20 M.Heaton (Belgrave) 16:17.

Fastest overall: =1 H.Yelling (Windsor SE&H) and K.Reed (Bristol) 14:07; 3 H.Lawrence (Wirral) 14:08; 4 L.Elliott (Shaftesbury Barnet) 14:23; 5 T.Krzywicki (Charnwood) 14:24; 6 M.McDonnell (Chester-le-Street) 14:27.

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