National cross relays

The Annual National Cross Country Relays were again held at Mansfield this Saturday.  The 4 men relay team competed over an undulating twisting 5km course through Berry Hill Park.

Tipton men had the maximum 3 teams entered.  The first leg runners set off at a fast pace and Tiptons 'A' team runner Adrian Holliday and 'B' team runner Michael Aspinall were neck and neck sitting in the low 20's.  Aspinall (15.32) again showed good form and a strong finish to bring the B team in 17th with Holliday (15.39) 7sec back in 23rd.  Martin Williams took over 2nd leg for the B team and Phil Hinch for the A team.  Both runners made progress through the field and by the 2nd lap of the 5k course Hinch had closed the 7 sec gap and was running neck and neck with Wiliams.  Williams (15.37) just edged Hinch(15.29) at the end to bring the B team in 10th and Hinch, A team in 11th.  Ian Williams, B team, then went off just ahead of A team runner Phil Nicholls.  Nicholls set off fast and was immediately went ahead of Ian Williams chasing down the leaders who were 25-30sec ahead.  Nicholls (15.33) gained a further 3 places to 8th and handed over to Ryan Mcleod on last leg for the A team still chasing a 25sec gap to the leaders Bedford.  McLeod ran a storming first lap and closed down the gap to under 10secs.  The brave fast start by McLeod however just took the edge of his fast finish, as he finished in 6th place just a few seconds from a silver medal finish in the 7th fastest time of the day in 15.01.  Bedford reatined their gold from last year, Blackheath grabbing silver and Bristol getting bronze.
Encouragingly Tipton Harriers showed great strength in depth with their B team finishing 14th (1st B team home with Mike Buntin on last leg in 16.25) out of 151 teams.

In the womens Relays (3 legs of 3km) Tipton women finished 22nd of 83 teams.  New signing Hayley Jennings running the quickest Tipton leg of 10.58, Catherine Veysey in 11.45 and Lynne Cox 11.20.

In the junior ranks the competition was found to be a little too hot for the Tipton runners, junior women finished 20th out of 21.  Sophie Lynch the fastest of the Tipton trio in 9.27, Sophie Ward in 10.04 and Sarah Farmer in 11.31 for their 2.5km legs.
The junior men also struggled finishing 41st out of 48 on the 3km legs, Dan Stimpson 10.31, Manzu Lyn Cain 10.17 and Andy Lambert 10.40.