There were outstanding performances from the junior women and the mixed relay team at the English National Cross Country Relays Championships at Berry Hill Park.
The junior women’s team of Ffion Collins (9:30), Jessica Dale (9:43) and Lucy Hellingsworth (9:26) finished in twelfth place with the race ran over 2.5k legs.
Then came a new event, seen previously at World and European level but never before in Mansfield; the 4 x 1.6k mixed relay,
The order of the runners was entirely down to the team’s choice, and both A and B teams went for the male, female, female, male combination.
Peter opened for the A team with a time of 4:48 to put Halesowen in tenth, handing over to Phoebe Dodd, who ran 5:50 to cross the line in twelfth.
Nicole Bailey put the team in fourteenth after running 6:05 before Alex Taylor took back four places, running 5:06 to secure a top ten finish for Halesowen.
Team captain Peter Dear told Radio Halesowen Town: “It was very tough to get into the right pace as everyone else went off like lightning bolts at the start.
“I managed to keep it together and close people down in the forest and I felt strong towards the end as well.
He added: “I think it went really well and we performed really strongly against all the other teams.”
The B team of James Thomas (5:04), Michelle Dale (6:51), Sarah Gill (6:37) and Ollie Dodd (5:29) came home in 29th place.
In total, 49 teams completed the race.
Two Halesowen teams lined up for the men’s race, raced over the traditional two lap 5k course.
The A team finished in 86th place with three of the four athletes on double duty having run earlier in the mixed race.
The fresh legs of Ethan Jordan put the team 121st after a run of 18:32 on leg one, James Thomas gained an incredible 21 places after running 17:00 on the second leg and Ollie Dodd’s run of 19:03 put Halesowen in 103rd going into the final leg.
Peter Dear took 17 further places and ran the quickest leg of 16:45 to firmly secure a top 100 berth.
The B team of Matt Wilkinson Jr (18:48), Aron Goode (22:30), Rob Jones (22:46) and Jamie Sircom (29:23) finished 160th out of the 165 complete teams.
Jamie had to quickly drop his Radio Halesowen Town microphone to answer a last minute call to run!
It was another enjoyable day for all who run which was rounded off by the customary post-race carvery stop!
Full results can be found on the following link from FR Systems.
More photos and the post-race interview with all four members of our mixed A team can be found below,
#upOwen
Team Photos from Jenny Taylor
RADIO HALESOWEN TOWN Interview
PHOTOS FROM GRAHAM SMITH PHOTOGRAPHY
PHOTOS FROM DAVEY P PHOTOGRAPHY and SWISH PICZ
Full galleries available on the links below:
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