Winchester women win silver medals at National Road Relays

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nThere was one change to the Winchester line-up from the team
nthat had won the Southerns – Hayley Munn’s appointment with the Brighton
nMarathon on Sunday meant that Julia Davis stepped in to run one of the two
nlonger legs this time round.
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nThe configuration of longer and shorter laps also meant a
nchange in running order for the WADAC ladies, and so it was Lorna Russell who
nopened proceedings on the 5.38 mile long first-leg. Lorna, the only survivor
nfrom WADAC’s last appearance at the NRRs in 2011, ran an impressive 30m53 on
nthe undulating course, leaving the team in third place, a minute behind leaders
nSwansea. Leeds were in second, Cambridge in fourth, Southampton fifth, and habitual
nwinners AFD, holders of the title continuously since 2010, lay in sixth place.
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nNext up for Winchester was Mel Wilkins, and her very
ncompetitive 18m13 on the 3.16 mile shorter leg saw the team remain in third
nposition, with Leeds now holding a lead of 1m30 over Bristol in second, and a
nfurther 14 seconds back to the WADAC team.
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nThird runner for WADAC was India Lee, who made her NRR debut
nfor Winchester as a member of the 2006 silver-medal team. Another superb run,
n17m21, saw the girls storm up to second place overall, and a deficit of only
neight seconds on the Leeds athlete. India’s time was the fourth fastest over
nthe whole day from some 200 athletes who ran the shorter leg of the course.
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nThe fourth leg reverted to the longer lap, and marathon
nrunner Julia Davis turned in a time of 32m08 to keep Winchester in second place
noverall, 14 seconds ahead of Cambridge in third place. The Leeds runner had
nmanaged one of the fastest longer legs of the day, and their advantage of over
ntwo minutes overall was looking decisive.
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nWith temperatures by now becoming uncomfortable for runners
n(though lovely for spectators), triathlete Simone Dailey was the fifth leg
nrunner for Winchester, and her 18m41 again kept WADAC in second overall, with a
nslightly increased lead on Cambridge in third and some 2m31 behind Leeds, who
nhad the gold medals clearly in their sights.
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nOnce again the job of seeing the team home to the medals was
nleft to Vicky Gill. Running in what were now extraordinarily high temperatures
nfor early April, Vicky’s 19m19 ensured third place for the black and gold of Winchester,
nseconds behind Swansea, who narrowly secured second-place. Leeds, by now not
nunexpectedly, were worthy winners on the day.
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nThere was a twist in the tail with the medals : as most readers
nwill be aware, third place would normally mean bronze medals, which were indeed
npresented to the Winchester team. However, a change in rules this year meant
nthat Swansea in second place were winners of silver medals for the race only,
nas opposed to for the English Championships (the geographically-minded will
nnote that Swansea is in Wales, not England), and so WADAC will apparently be
nthe recipients of silver medals from organisers ERRA in the very near future !
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nFor Winchester, this was confirmation of a welcome return to
nthe top level of national team endurance running, emulating the teams of
n2006-2008 and their three consecutive top-four finishes in this race. Coach
nNick Anderson commented “Once again these girls have shown that WADAC can
ncompete with the best teams nationally in endurance racing, and we look forward
nto building on their fabulous achievements. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
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