Black & Gold in top half at the ERRA National 12 stage relays

The National 12-stage relays are a real test - not only of a club's strength and depth but also of it's management of logistics and availabilities.
nEven being there is a success as it requires pre-qualification through the highly competitive Southern Relays.....at least 12 speedy men required in Milton Keynes for that....but then requires mobilising 12 speedy men to Birmingham only a fortnight later. Plus of course the Nationals is the best in the country so maybe just another notch up the quality stakes. Massive kudos and thanks again to Marcus Green for being team manager and getting us there by whatever combination of negotiation and arm twisting as was necessary.
nSo to the racing itself, being late in the alphabet we were Team No.66 and very happy to finish in 32nd place having been as high as 17th and as low as 37th. This event is a combination of 6xlong (8.6km) and 6xshort (5km) legs so totalling 82km (50miles) and no small endeavour. The quality is very high with the winners (Tonbridge AC) completing the course in just over 4h13 which is sub-5min/mile pace overall. Impressive though that is we should be proud that our 12-men completed the course in 4h38min which is an average pace of 5'28 min/mile (3'25 min/km)....not too shabby at all!
nOur fastest long leg runner was again Toby Cooke with 26'26 for 8.6km and our fastest short leg runner was again Sam Roberts with 17'01 for 5km.
nMoving on there is one remaining event in the Spring Road Race calendar....the British Masters BMAF Road Relays on Saturday 23rd April again up in Sutton Park Birmingham. A chance for the slightly more mature end of our membership spectrum to strut their stuff on the National stage.....mind you some of our Masters are still fast enough to run as Snr Men. If you'd like to be involved let Sam and/or Marcus know.