ERRA National Road Relays Young Athlete Races 2016
The young athletes were in action at Sutton Park as part of the same schedule that saw the senior races. There were some impressive performances across the age groups as the English Road Running Association titles were decided.
Details of the senior races can be viewed here with the action from the young athletes races reported below.
Under 17 Men
Jeremy Dempsey anchored the Shaftesbury Barnet trio to gold in the Under 17 men’s event. Always in the medal positions they moved from third after Thomas Patrick’s 11:52 first leg to second through Thomas Fulton’s 12:05 second leg before Dempsey clocked 11:55 to give them gold (all George Harrison coached).
Also moving through the filed throughout were silver medallists Vale Royal. The Andrew Carter coached athletes group lay 10th after Benjamin Lee’s opener, moved to fifth thanks to Harry Dexter’s 12:13 second leg and then into silver medal position with Arun Dight clocking 11:45 for second fastest of the day.
Tonbridge held off the Reading AC trio to claim the bronze medals. After Simon Coppard’s (Peter Brenchley) opening leg they led after James Puxty’s 11:42 which would be the fastest of the day. While Sam Rodda (Rob McKim) pulled back to within two second’s Bede Pitcairn-Knowles held off his attack to secure the bronze medals.
Click here for results of the U17 men's race
Under 17 Women
Aldershot, Farnham and District overcame a strong Liverpool Harries team to take the Under 17 women’s title. Always in the top two it was Liverpool who led after two legs thanks to the work of Bethan Strange and Jessica Cook (both Lynn Webb) on the first two legs. At this point Aldershot, Farnham and District had gone into second after Maisie Grice and Eugenie Cockle (both Mick Woods) opened for them. Herne Hill’s A team had moved up from seventh after Ella Newton’s opener and Katie Balme’s (both James McDonald) second leg.
The third leg saw some fast clockings. While Amelia Quirk (Beverley Kitching) moved Bracknell AC to fourth with a 12:54 there was a 12:59 for Lucy Pygott (Mick Woods) who took Aldershot, Farnham and District to gold. Silver’s went to Liverpool who were anchored by Faye Ireland (Lynn Webb) and Alex Brown secured the bronze medals for Herne Hill.
Click here for results of the U17 women's race
Under 15 Boys
The Mark Vile coached team of Nicolas Harhalakis, David Dow and OJ Parmenter struck gold for Cambridge and Coleridge. After Harhalakis’ opener it was Dow who put them in the lead with his 12:29 second leg. The four fastest times were run on first leg as Alfie Bould (Andrew Carter) led the opening stage home for Vale Royal, with Josh Dickinson (Iain Wicock) of City of York second and Tommy Dawson of City of Leeds third
City of York held second after two legs with Vale Royal third but the last leg would prove crucial. Leeds moved back to second with Ethan Hussey’s (Andrew Henderson) 12:32 and Fraser Gordon moving Tonbridge through to finish in the bronze medal position.
Click here for results of the U15 Boys race
Under 15 Girls
Macclesfield Harriers moved from third to first on last leg to claim the Under 15 girls title. Sian Heslop and Lauren Robinson saw the club lying in the bronze medal positions at the end of two legs but the third Pauline Lynch coached athlete, Stephanie Moss, then produced a 14:03 last leg to take them through to gold medals.
Blackheath and Bromley also moved through – having been 11th after Lia Radus’s opener they went fourth with Morgan Squibb’s (Andy Frankish) second leg before Sophie Hoare (Phillip Kissi) unleashed the second fastest leg of the day to anchor them to silver medals. City of Norwich completed the medallists with Katie Goldsmith, Emma Hunter and Femke Rosbergen (all Dave Pring) progressing from 13th to sixth then third at the end of each athlete’s leg.
It was Kettering Town Harriers’ Emily Williams (Shane Smith) who was fastest of the day with 13:40 on first leg.
Click here for results of the U15 Girl's race
Under 13 Boys
The first race of the day saw a win for Herne Hill Harriers. Ben Harrison opened up with a 13:50 to end the first leg in 11th place but Jaden Kennedy’s 13:02 was fastest of the day and put his team into a strong lead. Jacob Harrison (the third of the three James McDonald coached athletes) completed the job with a 13:22 last leg – the third fastest leg of the day.
Harry Hyde was second fastest of the day and his 13:11 anchor leg for Aldershot, Farnham and District gained them the silver medals after opening legs from Ryan Martin and Theo Cheshire (all Mick Woods).
The bronze medals went to Tonbridge AC with Fin Croll (Helen Cohen), Matthew Taylor and Olukorede Fasina (Helen Cohen) producing one of the most consistent team performances of the day with just a six second spread across all their splits.
Click here for results of the U13 Boy's race
Under 13 Girls
Amy Harland got Birchfield off to the best of starts with a lead on the first stage and the fastest leg of the day (13:48) before Emmeline Grace held the lead through the second stage. But Poole AC moved through from third on the last leg to take the title courtesy of Ashia Wilson’s (Mark Pauley) 14:35 after openers from Heidi Taylor and Emelie Castagna. Wreake & Soar Valley also had a strong last leg, this time from Indienne King with a 14:14 after legs from Katie Parker and Flora Miskin-Young (all John Skevington) which saw them move into the silver medal positions at the finish as Birchfield claimed bronze with Hope Kendall on last leg.