Saturday 26/10/2024 – Long Eaton
By Men's Team Manager Glenn Savage
After cancellation in 2023, due to the venue, West Park in Long Eaton, being flooded by Storm Babet, this much-loved event returned to the racing calendar at its traditional home. Building works in progress at the site resulted in a new course, by and large a reversal of the familiar tried and tested 3km route. However, it still retained its fast and flat profile, as evidenced by some super-quick times throughout the day.
Sale Harriers had 4 teams that made the journey to the East Midlands. These were led by the ladies, who, under the guidance of Team Manager Anne Chinoy, had enjoyed podium finishes at recent BMAF Relays on road and cross country, including silver for our W45 team the last time these championships were held in 2022.
An injury to one of our key W35 runners meant that Anne had to reshuffle the squad in an effort to make us as competitive as we possibly could be in both the W35 & W45 races. Our W35 A team were relatively inexperienced, but the trio were not daunted by the opposition. First up was Rachael Rozhdestvenskaya, a consistent performer for the club, and fresh from a recent Sub-3 Marathon PB. It was clear that a very strong Charnwood outfit were going to take some beating, with the very good Potter twins and former European Cross Country Champion Gemma Steel making up the team, and their intentions were clear from the start. Nevertheless, Rachael kept a close order and was prominent throughout, giving the team a great start in 4th place (11:57). Club newcomer Jess Welsh was next. She didn’t let nerves get the better of her, and ran a great race to take us into 3rd (12:03). Bizunesh Deggefa represented Sale at last year’s BMAF Road Relays and has clearly got the relay bug now. Biz is not afraid to mix it at the sharp end. Here, it was a very controlled effort (12:02) to retain 3rd place and bag bronze medals for the team. Amazing that only 6 seconds separated all 3 ladies – what a consistent team effort!
A little further back, our W35 B team were presenting their own challenge. Newcomer to the veteran ranks, Sarah Goulden, was making a return to racing after some time out. Sarah gave her usual gutsy performance, coming home in 11th place (14:05). Club legend Carla Ousey dropped down an age group (you wouldn’t know it, looking at the evergreen Mrs Ousey), and her solid run, finishing in 13th place (15:15), even included the customary double thumbs-up for the cameras! The baton then passed to Harriet Hamilton, another club stalwart. Despite still recovering from the tough Yorkshire Marathon only 6 days before, Harriet ran a storming leg (12:24) to bring the team home in 10th place and 1st B Team.
As previously mentioned, our W45 team had enjoyed some success at recent BMAF Relays, so hopes were high that we could yet again challenge for medals. Team Manager Anne Chinoy led the team out. Anne is another recovering from a recent marathon (Chester), but this didn’t get in the way of another excellent performance. Anne ended the first leg with the team in 2nd place, and her 12:25 was the 4th fastest W45 time of the day. The team reshuffling meant that Caroline Kinghorn, a W55 runner, answered the call and dropped an age group to the W45 team. She didn’t let anybody down, finishing her leg in 3rd place (14:47), with a fantastic run. Caroline was starting to get excited at the prospect of a medal, and it was understandable with the reliable Helen Armitage on the last leg. Helen didn’t disappoint, making that 3rd place her own, and storming on to the podium, her 12:56 being the 6th quickest W45 time.
The call to arms had been met with a rather muted response from our veteran men, and we were just represented by one team at these championships. But what a team it was! It has not gone unnoticed that in recent times we have had a number of elite Sale athletes moving into the M35 ranks, and their availability for events such as this would represent a great opportunity to win medals.
Will Onek, an 800 metres specialist, was well equipped to take on the hustle and bustle of the first leg. Many clubs will put their faster runners on this stage to get the best possible start. Will certainly got us off to a great start, coming home in 3rd place in 9:50. The Charnwood runner who led on the first leg was their only runner, which effectively left us in 2nd place as leg 2 got underway. Nigel Martin had made a recent return to racing following a long term injury problem, and his fitness is clearly coming back, as he wasted no time in closing the gap on Salford’s Joe Bailey, before opening up an impressive lead. His time of 9:10 was the second fastest of the day. It was shaping up to be a straight battle between us and Salford, but at this stage it went somewhat unnoticed that Bristol & West were making steady progress through the field.
Marathon runner Rob Dunn could have been forgiven for feeling like a hunted man, as he set off on leg 3 with the rest of the field chasing him. It certainly didn’t affect his running, as his 9:59 maintained a healthy lead with just 2 legs remaining. Leg 4 saw a superb run from Nick Barry, his 9:22 being the joint 4th fastest of the day, and identical to the Salford runner on the same leg, meaning the lead had not been shortened. When Carl Hardman set off on leg 5 for Salford, it soon became apparent that, barring a disaster, he would not catch our Phil Richardson, and gold medals were looking increasingly more likely. However, there was to be a twist in the tale. As Phil emerged into the long straight just before the final turn, it was evident that Salford had been overtaken by Bristol & West, whose leg 5 runner, Ben Robinson, was on his way to the fastest time of the day (8:51), and making inroads into what seemed an unassailable lead for us. Clearly, Phil had something in reserve (he wasn’t on the glory leg without justification), and a posse of Sale runners and supporters shouted him home to a brilliant victory, the gap being just 13 seconds at the finish. Phil’s time of 9:22 was also the joint 4th fastest of the day.
All in all, it was a hugely successful and very enjoyable day. These championships are well worth supporting. They provide an excellent standard of competition, but they are also very friendly events, and typify the great camaraderie that exists within the running community.
Well done Sale Harriers Manchester!
