National Road Relay Championships at Sutton Coldfield

Chiltern’s youngsters had a good day at the National Road Relay Championships at Sutton Coldfield on Saturday. A sunny day provided good conditions in this high quality event where all age groups tackle a 3.88k circuit through scenic Sutton Park, and the six Chiltern teams all did well (all A teams in the top 20) with the Under 13 Girls taking the plaudits with an excellent fifth place finish.
 
The Under 13s were the first race off and Kara Gorman had a great run of 14.09 on leg 1 to bring the team home in third place. Evelyn Wildman was 20 seconds faster than last year with 16.10 to finish in 10th place on leg 2, and Maya Davis had a fantastic run of 14.52 to gain five places. The B team of Nia Clarke (16.28), Carys Jones (18.20) and Megan Lockwood (17.17) finished 36th from 49 complete teams.
 
The U13 Boys A team was 12th courtesy of Tom Ford (13.46), Charlie Quantrill (14.33) and Jacob McCall (15.26). The B team that finished 36th featured good runs from Isaac McCall (15.08), Kit Dixon (16.03) and Luke Coultate (15.45).
 
There were two Chiltern U15 Girls teams in action, the A team of Olivia Clarke (15.26), Marlie Nkoane (14.57) and Emily Ford (15.23) were 20th and the B team of Lily Jessop-Tranter (15.389), Lucy Wilkinson (15.22) and Izzy Martin (15.54) were 28th. Issy Robinson ran leg 1 of an incomplete C team in 16.06.
 
Alex Hughes had a very strong run in the Under 15 Boys race of 12.41 to bring the team home in third. Daniel Munn kept a good tempo to run 13.13 on leg 2 to finish 7th and James Holdsworth ran 13.48 and the team ended up a creditable 11th. The B team of Isaac Collier (14.43), Aidan Suleyman (14.12) and Soren Fox (16.12) was 58th. Danny Carruthers ran 15.48 in an incomplete C team.
 
The U17 Women were 7th after very good runs from Maddie Hughes (13.30), Frankie Baxter (14.28) and Ellie Shield (15.12). The B team of Lesedi Nkoane (15.53), Hannah Ashby (16.53) and Marea Logan (16.39) were 39th.
 
Another good effort came from the U17 Men with the A team a very good 11th. Archie Pinder finished 12th on the very fast first leg (12.13), Thomas Redmond (12.15) made up two spots and Isaac Jessop-Tranter lost just one (12.50). The B team featured Leon Doran (12.40), Matt Evans (12.59) but Ash Finch was held on the line for 40 seconds before being allowed to depart so his 13.45 should be classed as 13.05. The B team were 32nd but would have been ten places higher up without the delay. The strength in depth of the U17s saw the C team 44th thanks to Euan Pinder (13.57), Sammy Bennetts (12.56) and Max Baxter (14.33).