LWAC - Northern Road Relays - Hartlepool

The Lincoln Wellington senior teams launched their winter season with some excellent running at the North of England road relays at Hartlepool. On an out and back course of 4k for the women and 6k for the men along the Hartlepool seafront the Wellington squads performed with great credit to finish in front of many of the much bigger clubs in the North.

Tom Doe got the men’s team away to a terrific start on the first leg with a strong run for 2nd place in 16m 06s in the field of 84 starting teams. Veteran Les Ball had a tough job on leg two but a typically determined effort saw him back in 8th place in 17m 22s. Phil Williams crossed the line in 17m 33s on leg three and dropped a couple of places back to 10th and Will Strangeway maintained that position with a good time of 17m 11s on leg four. Josh Stone worked hard on the fifth leg but slipped back three more places to 13th in 18m 15s before Matt Bowser tore round the course on the final leg in 15m 56s to pick up four places and bring the squad home in a fantastic 9th place. A couple of late withdrawals saw the Wellington B squad reduced to four athletes. Max Ware on the first leg had the misfortune to collide with a bollard along the course and did well to finish in 62nd place in 19m 14s despite being in a lot of pain. Chris Fullerton went very well on the second leg to pick up fourteen places in 18m 08s before veteran Jon Hughes dropped just four places on the 3rd leg in 19m 36s. A fine run on the 4th leg from Tom Straw, one of the club’s very promising younger athletes, brought him back in 38th place in an excellent time of 17m 51s.

The first leg of the women’s race was entrusted to Rochelle Harrison and despite running a long way beyond her normal race distance she produced a gritty performance to finish in 30th place in 14m 39s. A typical do or die effort from Harriet Canter on leg two improved the club’s position to 22nd in 13m 49s. And Blue Haywood then ran a stormer on leg three to pass fourteen athletes and bring the squad back in 8th place in 13m 05s. Veteran Susie Ardron was faced with a very tough task on the final leg but coped remarkably well to lose just four places and cross the finish in 12th place in a very creditable time of 14m 57s. Jane Clarke was the club’s solitary B team runner and she produced a very sound effort on the opening leg to finish in 39th place in 15m 16s.

This was an excellent start to the winter by the club’s endurance athletes and the next major test will come at the National Road Relays at Sutton Park Birmingham on October 18th.

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