South of England Road Relay Championships

There were some very good runs from Chiltern athletes at the SEAA Road Relay Championships at Rushmoor Arena, Aldershot on Saturday. The best performing team was the U17 men’s A team that finished a very creditable fifth in a high class competition. Individually Chloe Willson was fifth on leg 1 of the U13 Girls race (ninth fastest of the whole race), Evelyn Wildman second on leg 1 of the U17 women’s race (sixth fastest overall), and Tom Ford and Edward Johnson ran the ninth and tenth fastest legs in the U17 men’s race.
 
The weather was mostly nondescript, grey and mild, except for a twenty minute deluge about 4pm. The U13s and U15s ran a 3k lap, the U17s 4.6k (2 x 2.3k), and the Seniors 6k.

First up were the U13s and the boys team were 42nd from 76. Barnaby Williams ran 11.41 on leg 1, Jack Dalton 11.42 on leg 2, and Thomas Cooper 11.56 on leg 3. Chloe Willson had a great run on leg 1 of the U13 Girls race, running 11.04 to be fifth. Lottie Monnington ran 12.58 on leg 2 and Emilia Ingham 12.41 on leg 3. The girls ended up 14th from the 57 teams.
 
Maya Davis ran well on leg 1 of the U15 Girls race to be 13th in 10.59. Nia Clarke struggled with a  breathing issue on leg 2 to run 12.59, and Bea Robinson had a good run on leg 3 with 11.17. The team were 17th overall from 65 teams. In the U15 boys the B team beat the A’s. For the B’s Jack Rogers ran 10.41, Toby Reynolds 11.20 and Harrison Lawrence 10.21. For the A’s Isaac Taylor ran 11.12, Isaac McCall 11.00, and Jacob McCall 10.51. The B’s were 46th, the A’s 59th from 91.
 
The U17 Men’s race saw a very strong field set off on leg 1. James Holdsworth ran a good leg on first of 14.53 to bring the team home in 20th. Tom Ford ran an excellent14.26 to move up several places to fourth, and Edward Johnson lost a place on third leg, despite running a great leg of 14.33. The A team were fifth from 90. The Chiltern U17 Men are a large and strong squad this year and the B team were 34th courtesy of Charlie Quantrill (15.50), Aidan Suleyman (14.52), and Thomas Reynolds (16.22), and the C’s 46th with good runs from Ben Reeder (15.39), James Henderson (16.13) and Eddie O’Brien (16.32). An incomplete D team featured Henry Keen (18.07) and Charlie De Sousa (18.22).
 
The U17 women’s race saw Evelyn Wildman continue her good form from the track season. Evelyn ran 16.23 on the first leg, bringing the team home in second. Issy Robinson (18.04) and Alex Whitfield (18.02) ran well for an overall finish of ninth.
 
Chiltern don’t normally have interest from senior women in this event but team manager Soraya Lockwood had prepared two full teams this time. The A’s finished a very good 28th from 61. The team was Soraya (23.32), Bev Whitfield (22.50), Katie Repper (23.06), and Carys Evans (25.28). The B team was 47th thanks to Roxie Jones (25.13), Jess Orr (26.27), Jocelyn Davies (26.58) and Sue Slade (30.58).
 
There was a big field of 113 teams on the start line of the senior men’s race. The Chiltern team were 61st courtesy of Harry Cox (18.54), Alex Aldred (19.52), Daniel Munn (22.27), Callum Powell (21.05), Jonny Slade (22.08) and Jack Turner (21.57). Charlie Stone ran an individual race as lead off of the B team in 21.52. Callum ran in the twenty minute rainstorm encompassing his whole leg.
 
So a very good start to the autumn season. October sees a busy competition period with National Road Relays on the 4th, Chiltern Cross Country League on the 11th, and SEAA Cross Country Relays on the 18th.