The Northern Road Relays followed hot on the heels of the Lancashire championships two weeks earlier with this year's event held at Sportcity, Manchester on a mostly sunny and warm day punctuated with the occasional shower meaning conditions were ideal for fast times. The route was almost entirely flat, taking in 300m of the athletics track and then varying distances around the Etihad football stadium and adjoining car parks and ending with another 300m on the track.
Preston Harriers Junior athletes put in some outstanding performances and Harriers proved to be the dominant junior club in the North of England, collecting one gold, two silver and one bronze team medal. Ethan Warren, Tom Durney & Thomas Barnes got the squad off to a flying start by winning the Northern title, narrowly defeating a strong Salford Harriers team, just as they had a fortnight ago. Warren ran a brilliant 5th fastest leg of the day to put the boys in contention, Durney then put in a storming performance with the 7th fastest leg to give the lads a clear lead. Barnes once more ran a superb anchor leg to hold off Salford’s Sam Hopkins who ran the fastest leg of the day. Gregor Anderson & Ben Withers put in solid performances in an incomplete B team.
Next up the under 13 girls turned the form book upside down. After finishing 5th in the North West Counties, the girls turned in an outstanding performance to claim a superb silver medal, finishing just 5 seconds outside the gold. Imogen Blackwell ran the 5th fastest leg of the day to place the girls in 3rd after the opening leg. Faye Houghton moved the girls up a place with a great second leg and Scarlett Sutton with the 10th fastest leg held off a strong challenge from Birtley AC to claim silver. There were excellent performances from the girls B & C strings who finished 20th & 22nd. Grace Brown, Emily Reynolds, Emily Mason & Jessica Watson all put in fine performances. A special mention also for two young athletes making their club debuts, Grace Wignall & Esmae Harkins, who ran fantastically well to show that the future continues to look bright.
The under 15 girls kept the medals coming in. Darcey Lonsdale got the girls off to an excellent start, running the 8th fastest leg of the day to place the girls 5th. Emma Fulton moved the girls into medal position with a great 2nd leg and Lucy Treaddell ensured bronze on the anchor leg with a strong run. The B string of Caity Preddy, Alissa Darbyshire & Annie Duffy all ran exceptionally well to finish a creditable 14th & Kate Danby & Sophie Reid also put in good performances in an incomplete team.
The under 17 ladies were the next to gain a place on the podium. Ella Moulding opened up with a brilliant 7th fastest leg of the day to place the girls 5th. Charlotte Crook with the 8th fastest leg put the girls into silver medal position with a well-paced run, before Eleanor Ward stretched the lead to almost a minute over third placed Rotherham with an excellent anchor leg. The B team of Tegan Macuras, Sophie Rotherham & Charlotte Morris all put in fine performances to finish a well-deserved 15th.
In a strong field, the under 15 boys just missed out on a medal finishing in 5th place. Tom Roberts, Ben Preddy with the 8th fastest leg & Isaac Sharples all put in brave performances, while the B string of Matthew Fazackerley, Liam Blackwell & Euan Marsden confirmed the squad depth with an excellent 15th place finish. It was a similar story for the under 17 men who finished in 6th place. Nathan Dunn got the lads off to a great start running the 3rd fastest leg of the day to place the lads 2nd. Adam Roberts maintained the position with a strong second leg, but despite a good final leg from Dean Tierney the team was unable to remain in the medals. The B string of Niall Higham, Matias Grixti & Byron Sowerby finished in a creditable 19th place.
Terrible luck with injury and illness meant that, of the Harriers men’s team that won the Lancashire championship and a team confident of being competitive and making qualification to the national championship by finishing top 25 here, only Chris Durney could make the start line at Manchester. He ran a strong first leg and handed over in 22nd place; however the quality of the opposition took its toll on the weakened Harriers team and Sean Bellis, Richard Smith, Billy Johnstone, John Rainford and Alan Durney- making his first competitive appearance since January- finished about midway in 61st. Alex Waddelove, Daniel Higgins, Andy Gundersen and Stephen Bonsu also ran.
Preston Harriers senior ladies managed to gather a team together at the last minute, all of whom took part in the previous North West relays in Delamere 2 weeks ago. They all did smashing efforts alongside the men who set off running just 5 minutes ahead of the ladies!
The course was held together by numerous hair pin turns and with enough confusion to allow Jenny Wren to get lost mid race on leg one. Nevertheless, Wren pulled it back with 20:28. Second leg on the team was Emma Essex-Crosby in a cracking time of 21:32 and Victoria Cowling came in on leg number 3 at 22:16 making the event look painless! Vicki Sherrington wrapped it up with 24:08 and she "enjoyed it!" .
The ladies are super grateful to Philippa Walsh who organised the team and took (part of) the pressure off! The ladies team came 44th out of 63 teams.