SEAA Women’s 4 Stage Road Relay, Rushmoor Arena nr. Aldershot
Best ever performance from the Belles - medals in sight
Catherine Eastham reports:- What a result for the Belles. In our best ever Southern 4 Stage performance, the A team all exceeded expectations to bring the team home in an incredible 5th place, with the B team not too far behind in 19th. All athletes ran their socks off and with conditions being quite good, despite bad weather threatening in the distance, fast times were the order of the day.
Leg 1 Angela Walker stepped in to head the A team off, after Getenesh revealed she was feeling very tired. With a marathon, a triathlon and a Surrey relay course record under her belt in the previous weeks Angela was happy to take on the additional challenge, although admits to finding the course tough. Just trailing B team runner, Tilly Heaton, at the half way stage, Angela found some inner strength and brought the A team home in 16th place, knocking a minute and a half from her previous best over the course. Tilly’s run too was exceptionally strong with a 21st place after leg one for the B team.
Leg 2 Rosie Powell took over for the A team on leg two and with the bit between her teeth picked off runner after runner to bring the A team up to 9th place. Louise Cooper, meanwhile, wasn’t too far behind and both athletes were momentarily ahead of Sonia O’Sullivan who tore round the course to clock the fastest leg of the day in an astounding 12.03. (Benita Johnson’s third leg in 11.43 didn’t count as she was an uncleared athlete).
Leg 3 With the Belles maintaining a steady position towards the top of the field Helen Alsop took over on the third leg intending to improve on last year’s time and bring the team home in a position where Getenesh could challenge the front runners. With an improvement of over 30 seconds on last year’s time, Helen achieved all that and more, bringing the A team back in 13th place. In the B team, Helen Smethurst was determined to do her bit and managed to gain five places in the process.
Leg 4 With Shaftesbury’s lead looking unchallengeable, Getenesh’s goal was to pull the Belles as far into the top 10 as she could manage, this despite feeling below par. What a performance! Getenesh already holds the two fastest Belgrave times over the 3.8km course and now managed to better both those times. Great running and a level head helped bring the A team into its best position yet in the Southern 4 Stage. Medals must surely be on the horizon in the coming years. But, lets not forget our B team who also exceeded expectations to finish in 19th place, with the last leg completed by Juliette Clark, who’s only be running again for the past 3 weeks. Well done to each and all of you. No doubt people are starting to notice just how far the team has come in recent years, and we look forward to seeing where it is going….
1 Shaftesbury Barnet 53:47; 2 Highgate H 55:07; 3 Havant AC 55:30; 4 Bedford & County 55:48; 5 Belgrave H 56:03; 19 Belgrave H B 59:12; 46 teams finished; 57 teams started.
A – A.Walker (16) 14:04; R.Powell U20 (9) 14:14; H.Alsop W35 (13) 14:47; G.Tamirat (5) 12:58.
B – M.Heaton (21) 14:15; L.Cooper (23) 14:56; H.Smethurst W35 (18) 14:50; J.Clark W35 (19) 15:11.
Fastest: S.O’Sullivan (Thames H&H) 12:03; C.Hoyte (Arena 80 AC) 12:41; L.Elliot (Shaftesbury Barnet) 12:45; H.Yelling (Windsor SE&H) 12:46; L.Damen (Bournemouth AC) 12:50; G.Tamirat (Belgrave) 12:58.
Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.