Saturday 16th April 2016
Competitors at the National Road Relay Championships were faced with cold winds, sunshine, rain and snow flurries.
The Senior women’s team finished 14th. Nicky Squires got the team off to a good start on the opening long leg, finishing 14th in 31:46. Charlotte Slack, not helped by the cold conditions, was 19th on the 2nd short leg in 20:31. Hannah Whitelam, recovering from injury, was 20th in 20:54. Zanthe Wray on the 2nd of the long legs came in 15th in 32:51. Hannah Fletcher maintained her position on the next short leg with 19:06. Charlotte Ward, making her debut for the team, matched Hannah’s time to bring the team home in 14th in 19:06.
The Senior men did very well to field a complete team despite a number of absences. Tom Bains led off, running the fastest long leg for the team, finishing 25th in 27:39. Nic Barber on the first of the short legs was 31st in 17:11. Ben Beattie finished 35th in 29:25 and Mike Sprot 39th in 18:12. Andy Challenger moved the team up to 31st on his long leg with a time of 27:56. Connor Milnes ran the fastest short leg for the team with a time of 15:47 to move to 28th. Rob Little ran another strong long leg to finish in 25th in 27:50. Gareth Phoenix was 27th in 19:03 and Matt Hobbs maintained the position with 29:22. Sam Peters ran 18:18 or 27th with Zak Mellard gaining one place on the final long leg with a time of 29:35. Josh Walton completed the final short leg in 17:39 to finish 26th.
Many thanks to Hannah Whitelam, Nicky Squires and Andy Challenger for their hard work in getting the teams together.
