Beverley AC was the only East Riding club to send to runners to the Northern Athletics Road Relays at Stanley Park, Blackpool, last Saturday. Men’s teams consisted of 6 runners, each running a 6.5km leg. Women’s teams comprised 4 runners, each completing a 5.2km lap.
Improving on last year’s team placing of 39th, Beverley’s women ran very well to come in as the 33rd out of 45 complete teams. Recording a team time of 1:32:25, the fastest runner was Laura Egan who completed her lap in 21:43. Meghan Wilson clocked 22:01, Kate Ladell recorded 24:16, and the team was completed by Helen Storr who ran in 24:25.
Beverley was unable to field a full men’s team this year, however 4 members ran for the club, all completing the course in times comparable with members of teams quite high up the field. Andrew Johnson was Beverley’s quickest on the day, recording 25:38 for his lap. He was followed by Stuart Little (25:47), Philip Reese (26:51) and Andrew Tate (27:57).
The runners thoroughly enjoyed the experience, despite commenting that the course felt hard this year. “The park was lovely, with an interesting 1 lap course around fountains, gardens, woodland, and a boating lake, starting and finishing at the athletics track. We were able to cheer each other on when not running at this superbly organised event” said Ladell. After the race, the runners took a well deserved break with a fish and chip supper and lots of cake, before heading back to East Yorkshire.
The winning men’s team was the Leeds City Athletic Club ‘A’ team, with an aggregate time of 2:01:28 for their 6 runners. The same club also fielded the winning women’s team, with its 4 members recording and aggregate time of 1:14:06.
