National 12 & 6 stage Road relay Championships

Warm and sunny weather greeted the competitors for the 2017 championships, held as usual at Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield. The club teams had performed well at the Northern champs a fortnight earlier; the women's team - victorious at Stanley Park Blackpool, were up against a very strong Leeds team, with GB internationals Claire Duck and Susan Partridge running the two long legs for the Leeds team. Leeds were 2nd after leg 1, beihind the eventual silver medal winning team, Swansea. but after Emma Clayton took them into the lead on leg 2 they were never challenged. The Harriers A team made steady progress from the solid opening leg run by Jenny Blizard, their progress achieved through some very consistent performances over the 4 short legs, and by Sophie Cowper's long leg (leg 4) time of 30:57 (The 8th fastest time of the day). Zara Knappy brought the team home in a very respectable 6th place - the second Northern team. The team beat the previous best time, set by the 2015 team, by 40 seconds

Unfortunately the B team had the misfortune of losing their first leg runner due to illness; Jenny Reed having to stop and seek medical attention on her leg. The remaining five runners were allowed to continue once the race referee was advised of the problem.

The men's team had qualified for the National final with a tenth place in the Northern event, and were confident of another solid performance since the team was strengthened by further strong performers being available for the National event. The athlete times were remarkably consistent throughout with all 6 long leg runners recording sub 30 minute times for the 5.36 mile leg, and all short leg runners running well - particularly the two juniors, Joe Massingham & Ryan Beale (making his debut in the National senior team) running the clubs fastest times.

This consistency ensure that good progress was made throughout the 12 legs with the team eventually finishing 25th team, and 6th Northern team.

Women's 6 stage Results

1 Leeds City Ac ‘A' 2:12:44

2 Swansea Harriers 2:16:21

3 Winchester & District AC 2:16:35

Rotherham Harriers & AC ‘A' 6th 2:18:03

1 Jenny Blizard (13) 32:03

2 Stephanie Burns (12) 18:29

3 Emma Parkinson (8) 18:46

4 Sophie Cowper (6) 30:57

5 Natasha Hatswell (5) 19:02

6 Zara Knappy (6) 18:46

Rotherham Harriers & AC ‘B' 2:52:28

1 Jenny Reed Did_not_finish (53) 40:09

2 Naomi Armitage (47) 21:00

3 Alina Stepanchuk (37) 20:14

4 Elizabeth Hutson (36) 36:14

5 Sharon Burton (37) 26:14

6 J Dutton (42) 28:37

Mens 12 stage

1 Swansea Harriers 4:15:06

2 Bristol & West AC ‘A' 4:19:55

3 Liverpool Harriers & AC 4:20:51

Rotherham Harriers & AC 25th 4:36:07

1 Philip Hoole (49) 29:35

2 Gareth Sampson (40) 16:47

3 Elliott Smales (38) 28:14

4 Jonathan Johnson (33) 16:49

5 Sam Clegg (32) 28:35

6 Joseph Massingham (30) 16:18

7 Kyle Craib (30) 29:42

8 Ryan Beale (27) 16:36

9 Richard Harris (27) 29:49

10 Arron Larkin (25) 16:47

11 Aidan Johnson (25) 29:19

12 Chris Adams (25) 17:36