Southern Road Relays Crystal Palace
Winchester & District Athletic Club (WADAC) entered teams in the Southern Road Relays and travelled to the new venue of the iconic Crystal Palace Park with the start and finish on the Crystal Palace track. The course involved one lap for the under 13 and under 15 age groups of an undulating 2.5k leg. The Under 17 athletes did one lap plus a en extra small loop with Senior/Vet men doing 2 Laps each.
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nThe Under 13 boys were the first race off and they had a race consisting of 4 legs. Thomas Briggs 10.01 started off for WADAC and ran very well in a very rapid first leg finishing in 17th position. Matthew Duckering ran for the B team and had a time 10.39. Ben Chesterfield ran a steady race on leg 2 with 10.18 keeping WADAC in the top 20. Charlie Cox 10.32 was the WADAC B team runner on the 2nd lap. Michael Shingleton-Smith had a storming run moving WADAC into the top 10. Harry Harvey produced a sterling effort and raised the team to a superb 7th finishing position. The B team was closed in by Toby Pace 10.58 and Ben Yates 11.16 in 29th.
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nThe Under 15 girls race, which was composed of 3 legs per team saw Sasha Tydeman 9.50 running excellently on the opening stage, lying 14th at half way she stormed through the field to handover in 4th position. Also on leg 1 was Aisling Dunne was for the B team finishing in the top 30 teams. Leg 2 saw Isabella Beck run really hard to come home a very respectable 9th place in 10.29. Sophie Torrance ran solidly on Leg 2 for the B team. On the final lap much improved Hannah Foster ran a determined race and dug in well to close WADAC in a superb 11th place. Grace McKee finished off for the B team in 43rd in a very strong field.
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nWADAC coach Dave Vosser encouraged the Under 17 women in his training group to come out in force and they did with two complete teams. Alice Calder 10.04 led off for WADAC A and came in a splendid 9th position. Emily Coulson 11.29 ran for the WADAC B team. Poppy Clements was slightly under par but still ran 11.17 to bring the A team home in 18th position. Gabby Spelman ran her usual solid leg with 11.08 for the B team. Grace Mann rose to the occasion on leg 3 and gained a couple of places foe the A tem for 16th, Natasha Miles ran 1.33 to bring the B team home in 28th.
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nOn the first lap of the Under 13 Girls race Rose Chesterfield 10.13 had an outstanding run sprinting home in 5th position, only 17 seconds behind the leader. This left Amelia Moore11.27 and Ellie McErlean 11.44 to consolidate the WADAC team to 28th overall; this was great experience for these young athletes.
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nDoug Scally 9.28was given the task to lead off for the Under 15 boys and ran very well to come home in 28th position. Sam Roberts ran the second leg in 9.55 with the team being completed by Dominic Exworthy 10.17 and Max Anderson 10.23 in 29th position.
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nThe Senior and Veteran mens race was run at the same time with Seniors’ doing 6 legs of approx 5k and Vets teams running 4 legs (2 laps).
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nOn leg 1 the field set off at a frightening pace and Toby Cooke ran sensibly moving through the field to hand over the Senior mens team in 30th position. For the V40 team Mike Chambers ran 18.23 and for the V50 team Colin Armstrong ran 19.15. Leg 2 saw James Moore run hard to complete his run in 17,54 with Richard Bidgood 17.17 V40 and Dave Vosser 19.46 V50 being the other WADAC leg 2 competitors. Dan Cunnington had good run on leg 3 with 17.52 for the Senior men with Andy Parkinson 19.30 V40 and Steve Torrance 21.45 V50 completing the leg for WADAC. On leg 4 Humza Ahmed gained some places for the WADAC Senior team in 17.03. For the V40 team Pete Sansome had a storming run in 16.55 moving the team several places to close the V40 team 12th out of the V40 teams. Steve Oliver 9.38 completed the 50 team in 11th place in their category. On leg 5 for the Seniors George King had a fantastic run n 15.57 making up quite a few places to leave Tim Smales 16.35 to bring WADAC home in 40th place in a race of over 100 starting teams.