Northern Men's 12 stage and women's 6 stage road relays 26th March Birkenhead park

The traditional area relay fixture for mens 12 stage, and women's 6 stage club teams took place at a new venue - Birkenhead Park. The event also includes Northern 5Km championship races for under 15 and under 17 club athletes. The women's race has two long legs and 4 short, the mens race 4 long and 8 short

The club's senior ladies team were winners in 2012, 2013 and 2017, but were up against a very strong team from Leeds City AC. Team manager Nigel Brookes had two teams entered and both performed extremely well. The A team couldn't match the Leeds team strength - they were in first place from leg 2 onwards, but the team did finish well clear in second place to take silver medals - their 6th set of team medals in 7 years.

New member Hayley Carruthers, who has been running extremely well on the roads this winter, had been put in the B team as this was her first road relay event. Hayley had another brilliant run to finish first on leg 1 and set the fastest long leg time of the day with a 26:42 clocking. Hayley's start leg was backed up by her team mates to finish a very creditable 9th overall and they were awarded the 1st B team medals.

The men's team were looking to again qualify for the National championships - only the first 25 club teams from each area qualify for the national event - held at Sutton park on the 14th April.

The team were 11th and 3rd Yorkshire club behind Leeds City (5th) and Hallamshire Harriers (7th). This is the 6th successive year that the club has finished inside the top 15 clubs - a remarkably consistent set of performances that are a credit to team manager Pete Shaw and to the athletes themselves. A big thankyou to Joe Massingham for his support after competing the previous day at Nottingham. Daniel Kestrel ran the clubs fastest long leg time at 24:06, and his training partner Arron Larkin ran the fastest short leg time of 12:08.

In the 5K championhsips 4 club athletes were competing, Elliott Morton and Keiva Rennocks having good runs to finish 5th in their races, Beth Mount and Lahana Vardy also competing.

Results

Women's 6 stage

1 Leeds City Ac 'A' 1:47:49

1 Lucy Crookes (2) 26:45, 2 Alice Leake (1) 13:24, 3 Claire Duck (1) 12:33

4 Heather Sellars (1) 28:12, 5 Harriet Buswell (1) 13:41, 6 Georgia Malir (1) 13:14.

2 Rotherham Harriers & Ac 'A' 1:49:37

1 Jenny Blizard (4) 27:15 2 Stephanie Burns (3) 13:55, 3 Emma Parkinson (4) 13:42,

4 Sophie Cowper (2) 27:41, 5 Zara Knappy (2) 13:51, 6 Samantha Hughes (2) 13:13.

3 Salford Harriers & Ac 'A' 1:53:13

9 Rotherham Harriers & Ac 'B' 1:58:10 (1st B team award)

1Hayley Carruthers (1) 26:42, 2 Natalie Harris (5) 15:05 3 Diane Elliott (8) 15:39,

4 Fiona Davies (7) 28:11, 5 Naomi Armitage (9) 16:10, 6 Robyn Lanceley (9) 16:23.

Mens 12 stage

1 Lincoln Wellington AC 'A' 3:11:31

11 Rotherham Harriers & AC 3:20:42

1 Luke Cotter (15) 24:14, 2 Kyle Craib (19) 13:21, 3 Aidan Johnson (19) 24:53,

4 Gareth Sampson (19) 12:30, 5 Jonathan Johnson (19) 25:26, 6 David Tune (19) 13:09,

7 Daniel Kestrel (13) 24:06, 8 Joseph Massingham (12) 12:13, 9 Arron Larkin (12) 12:08,

10 Richard Harris (11) 12:20, 11 Philip Hoole (11) 13:06, 12 Sam Clegg (11) 13:16.

U17 Women's 5K championships

1 Jessica Cook Liverpool Harriers & AC 19:06

5 Keiva Rennocks 20:21

9 Bethany Mount 21:01

U15 Boys 5K championships

1 Scott Nutter Barnsley Athletic Club 16:10

5 Elliott Morton 16:33

U15 Girls 5K championships

1 Megan Dingle Vale Royal Ac 18:23

16 Lahanna Vardy 21:00