Aldershot relays
Aldershot Relays – Rushmoor Arena – Saturday 24th September
Our largest team yet went to the Southern road relays at Aldershot. It would be fair to say overall we found it quite a stern test. But our policy is not shy away from the best competition available, with some cracking individual performances in the sunshine.
Our best team performance came in the under 15’s boys with a superb 1st leg from Joseph O’Hara with a time of 10.14, with very constant performances from Andre Stone, Ben Matthews & debut Joe Crawford a fine 16th place.
Under 17’s boys we had two teams, with a lot of competition to be in the A-team, but it was the b team leader Tom Wright who set the fastest time off all with 13.05, the fastest A team leg runner was Billy Somogyi with 13.11, the A-team brought themselves home with Adam Willis, Lewis Elsey & Nick Armstrong to finish 17th. The b’s with Charlie Winch, Luke Francis & Joe Gunton finished in 36th.
Under 13’s had a very promising race, with Harry Jarvis, Mitchell Horne, Robert Lawrence all running well. Hat’s off to Luke Bullen our 4th leg runner who’s never run anything like that distance before to bring the team home in 34th.
The ladies
Under 15’s Girls team Harley Wooler, Eleanor Winch & Olivia Baily done well with 56, but special mention must go to Marion Bullen who’s original team didn’t make it so running up and in the first leg, you would expect Marion to find it very tough, far from it she was the 2nd fastest of our young ladies overall.
Under 17, Ellen Newark set off in mid field then slowly reeled in the other teams to come across fairly high up with a very good run crossing in 16th place. Difficult for Sarah gates & Kattie Hyde to follow but they both had good steady runs for an overall finish in 29th.
Senior ladies, our team didn’t materialise but Beth Armstrong was our sole runner doing very well with her 24th leg placing (57 teams). Come on ladies I know we can put a good team out?
Summing up, it is fair to say we found it a bit tougher than we thought, but good mileage to start the cross country season. We were not too badly placed as a Kent team’s either. Certainly we had some very strong runs from a number of our youngsters which can only give them confidence. Everyone copped well with the competition and we had no individuals who could be disappointed with their run.
Thanks to everyone who made the Trip, Jon & Richard, Laura plus Graham our photographer. Plus Andy our entertaining coach driver.
Kevin Winch