This weekend it’s the Masters Road Relay Championships, which take place in Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield. Sutton Park has become the home of National relay championships with the English National 12 and 6 stage for men and the 6 and 4 stages for women. So it’s fitting that British Masters also hold their championships at Sutton Park, though in the past it was passed around the different regions. The event includes both men’s and women’s teams through 10 year age groupings, starting at 35.
The championships are still relatively new, only beginning in 1988. Back then not all age groups appear to have been covered and there have been a number of changes over the years. Perhaps the most controversial change has been with the men’s 8 stage relay, thought of as the blue riband event it has traditionally been for the M40-49 age grouping but this year it changes to M35-44. In 2006 a 4 stage event was added for the M35-39 age group, now it’s been decided that these athletes should be incorporated into the main event. This change means the M50-59 group now becomes M45-54 and so on up the way. By age this moves me into the older, 6 stage, race, however it’s likely I’ll be moved down an age group into the main event, to compete against guys 11 years my junior. Mind you I won’t be alone as my mate, Mike Deegan, who last weekend won the European M55 10KM title, is likely to be in the Salford M35 team, and he’s 55. For the purposes of this blog I’m going to concentrate on the age grouping I’ve been associated with.
Since the start of the championships, M40-49 successful teams have included Aldershot, Swansea and Cambuslang, with 3 wins apiece, but the most successful team has been Bristol & West with 4 wins, gained from 2005-2008 with a 3rd place in 2009 and 2nd in 2010 (note Westbury won in 2000, before amalgamation with Bristol). They also hold the course record. Bristol & West, like my own club, has some great athletes, but we’ve both relied on pretty much the same guys for the last 5 years and as you can imagine that puts the bulk of the team at the older end, or beyond, of the age grouping. So it will be interesting to see how they cope with the influx of youngsters.
I turned 40 in 2005 and in the same year I joined Herne Hill Harriers. My clearance went through in time for me to represent them in this championship, alas it was not to be as the team suffered too many injuries, myself included, and we had to pull out. Bristol & West won it this year, their first time, setting the current course record.
In 2006 we were even more keyed up for the event. We’d travelled down to Newport in October 2005 and snatched the Masters Cross Country Relays from Bristol & West’s grasp with a superb team effort, but we’ll always remember Dave Robinson’s last lap overhaul of Nick Rose as the defining moment. This year we managed to get a full complement of runners to the line. Keith Newton kicked us off, on a rare first leg excursion, running a good 15:33 to bring us home in 7th place. Dave Robinson took us up into 1st place with our fastest leg of 15:06. Team Captain, Geoff Jerwood, put in a brave run, having struggled with injury for some time, to run 17:12 but we were back down to 6th. Tony Harran’s 16:42 dropped us down two further places and by now Bristol & West were in the lead. The next four legs are where the race is generally decided as some teams start to run out of stamina. I was on 5th leg, running 15:28, which took us back into 2nd position. Vic Maughn (16:03), Mike Boyle (15:30) and Francis Marsh (15:40) finished off the team, cementing 2nd place with Bristol & West too strong at more than two and a half minutes ahead of us. Close behind us were a strong Sunderland team.
We approached the 2007 event knowing that we were stronger than the previous year but also that Bristol and West were still the team to beat and Sunderland had been matching us over the other national events. Geoff was no longer able to compete, his injuries had forced him into early retirement, but he still managed the team and without his encouragement and tireless background work we’re all conscious we may not get a team together. In to replace Geoff was Rob Jacobs. Other newly turned M40, Iain Lockett, was also in, but we were missing Dave Robinson. Francis Marsh took the first leg and ran a time similar to Keith’s of the previous year, 15:34, to come home in 13th (now that the M35s had joined us they were included in the results for the first 4 legs). Tony Harran ran a much improved 16:00, overtaking 6 teams to bring us up into 7th. Rob Jacobs ran an almost identical time to Geoff’s of last year, 17:11, but we were back down the field into 15th. Iain Lockett took the race by the scruff of it’s neck, advancing us back to 7th with a very nippy 14:54. Keith Newton continued our advance to 2nd, with a 15:40 leg. Bristol and West were now in 1st position and held a good gap over us. Both Vic Maughn (15:43) and Mike Boyle (15:27) ran faster than the previous year but both the Bristol & West boys were quicker, advancing their lead over us. I was on last leg and Mick O’Doherty was well down the road when I set off. We were well clear of Sunderland so I did the only thing I could and went off hard. Unfortunately it was too hard and I paid for it in the second half, running 17 seconds slower than the previous year, 15:45. Mick on the other hand ran a snappy 15:29 to pull further ahead to make it a hatrick of wins for Bristol & West. We were a lot closer to them, taking a minute off our time of 2006 but still just over a minute behind. Sunderland were again 3rd, but were slower than the previous year.
In 2008 we were hit with injuries again and couldn’t get 8 men to the line as Bristol & West made it 4 wins in a row. Leicester emerged as their nearest challengers but were more than 5 minutes behind them.
2009 We were back and meant business. Having had to sit out last year’s championship we didn’t just want to come back for 2nd again. We’d lost Tony Harran, Mike Boyle and Rob Jacobs but had Dave Robinson back, newcomer Kofi Agyei and, thankfully, Dave Adam making the long trip down from Dundee, despite suffering a hamstring injury. Again it was a solid start with Kofi bringing us home 8th with a good 15:29. Francis March matched Kofi’s time, bringing us through the field into 2nd. Vic Maughn, oldest man in the team, ran slower than the previous year but still managed a sub 16:00 clocking with a 15:59, losing 1 place in the process. Now it was my turn, running the 3rd 15:29 of the team I brought us back up to 2nd. Keith Newton then took is into the lead with a superb 15:22, which Iain Lockett maintained with another great run, 15:00. Now it was crunch time, Bristol & West were missing some of their top runners and they looked like they were out of it but Leicester had 2 great runners to finish off, in Gareth Deacon and Simon Cotton and they were lying in 2nd. It was our riskiest moment, Dave Adam had agreed to run the race but there was a risk his hamstring would go, without Dave we were down to 7 men and it takes 8 to make a team. Understandably we were all nervous but Dave set off on his run, with all the stress of the hunted, doing some damage to his leg but, thankfully, not too much. Seeing Dave gutsing it out down towards the final twisting section was nerve racking, Deacon was catching but Dave was trying his best. Dave made it home in front, a hard run 17:04, and it was over to Dave Robinson, tasked with holding onto the position. Dave wasn’t in his normal great form but ran the leg he had to and brought the trophy to South London. His 15:46 was beaten by Leicester’s Simon Cotton’s 15:20 but it was enough to hold them off by 18 seconds. What an exciting finish to a great race. Bristol & West’s Mick O’Doherty finished their last leg sneaking them into 3rd position, so although they’d lost their trophy they still maintained consistency to medal again.
2010 As reigning champions we were confident of repeating our 2009 feat. We had the same 7 guys who had run sub 16 minute legs the previous year, with brave Dave Adam being replaced by newcomer Carl Ferri. We knew Bristol & West were looking for revenge but I, for one, wasn’t aware how much they’d strengthened with Haggai Chepkwony joining and Rob Whalley running for the first time. Kofi Agyei led off again, running 15 seconds slower than the previous year he brought us home in 14th. I was originally down to run 2nd leg with Carl Ferri on 7th but, knowing how the pressure builds with each leg, we felt that might be too much pressure to throw a newcomer into so Carl took 2nd leg and ran fantastically, moving us up to 7th position with his 15:34. Francis Marsh took over, restricted by hamstring problems he still managed a sub 16:00 leg to maintain 7th position, running 15:57. Vic Maughn once again showed us how glad we were that he didn’t keep to his plan of retiring at 45, running 15:56 he lost 1 place, but with 4 of those teams finishing as M35s he was actually 4th with only seconds separating the teams around us. A below par Keith Newton produced a 15:50 clocking but still moved us up into the medals, with 3rd. With Salford and Bristol & West ahead of us it was time to unleash our ‘big’ guns. Iain Lockett was next. Iain had run two fantastic legs over the previous two of our attempts but during the winter he’d been suffering with illness. Still, he turned in a typical tough run taking us into the lead. Pressure was on, two legs to go and we held a slender lead over Bristol & West. I’d had a good start to the year, coming 2nd in the BMAF Cross Country Champs and setting a good 32:19 10km time, I’d also run well in the Southern 12 stage, but the week after that event I’d suffered a double groin strain training against the paras. I’d lost some form but, luckily not too much. In these pressure situations it’s not always about times, it’s about holding your nerve. At the turn I could see Phil Parry coming for me but pushed as hard as I could to maintain 1st position. I was disappointed with my time, 15:30, even more disappointed that I didn’t feel I’d given Dave Robinson a big enough gap to hold off Rob Whalley. But Dave is some runner, whatever pressure I felt on leg 7 must’ve been intensified on leg 8. Despite a great run from Rob, 15:09, Dave had enough in hand, with a 15:13, to bring us home as double champions, just 13 seconds ahead of Bristol & West. Two years as champions and two exciting races to be involved in.
So we come to this year’s event. Can we make it a hatrick? Will Bristol & West hit back after failing to win for two years? What impact will the addition of the M35s have on the 8 stage? I think Bristol & West will be back in force, I also think Salford will be stronger. The other team, I think who could challenge, would be last year’s M35 winners, Cambuslang. They’ve strengthened their team this year and have already won the Scottish Masters Road Relay Championship. What of Herne Hill? We’re missing some important guys, but then we have Mike Boyle back in the mix and a couple of M35s. Our team has been built on consistency, if one guy has a bad run there’s always another one to take his place, so we’ll have to see how things pan out on the day, hopefully it will produce another great race. Even more hopefully it’ll be a bunch of Denis the Menaces walking off with the trophy again.
One of the things I like about this championship is it’s a friendliness. Naturally everybody wants their team to win but there is a lot of cross team support, we received a lot of support as we tried to end Bristol & West’s dominance, no doubt people will be cheering our opponents this year. I’ve made some good friends from the other teams, particularly a number of the Bristol & West boys, as we’ve been involved in a number of close races over the past 6 years.
To finish, a quick update on my progress as I come back from injury. The knee pain is now all but gone, though not forgotten as it could return during any training run. The shorter runs and the leg strengthening I’ve been doing seem to be paying off. I also feel like I’ve got a bit more pace, which should give me more confidence for the relays. The downside is I’m in the process of trying to get everything sorted out on a house we’re buying. It’s dragging and we’re due to move out of rented on 24th. So there could be a lot of activity around the race weekend, we’ll see how that affects me and then there is the potential of having to move back in with the parents, after 28 years away! I’m sure they’re really looking forward to that. Ray, my Park Run companion, ran the Chester Half Marathon on Sunday, finishing in 1 hour 42 min, well inside his aim of 1 hour 45 min. We’ve been doing some good training sessions together and I’m keen to see how much further he can progress. I spent the morning in Manchester, supporting one of my Edinburgh friends, Jim Buick, who was running the 10k. Unfortunately I missed most of the race as I bumped into a former colleague and we got chatting about stuff. I did however get to see Jim finishing, just behind Chris Thompson. It was great to see Jim running so well at the end and luckily the BBC positioned their cameras well, so that I could see him running in behind Chris Thompson, who was being interviewed in the foreground after his own fantastic run.
And absolutely finally, if anybody is thinking about going along to Sutton Park, to watch the relays, here are the details.
11.00 am
Women W35+ 4 Stages
Women W45+ 3 Stages
Women W55+ 3 Stages
Men M65+ 3 Stages
Men M75+ 3 Stages
1.00 pm
Men 35+ 8 Stages
Men M45+ 6 Stages
Men M55+ 4 Stages
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