British Masters Road Relays 2014 – An Alsop’s Salford Perspective

As last Saturday’s championship approached I had a growing anticipation of the race to come. It wasn’t quite the anticipation I had in the four years that I was a member of the Herne Hill team that finished runners up twice and won twice, but I was looking forward to a good day out in Sutton Park, with Salford. For starters there would be the usual bus full of Salford competitors and supporters, for the first time since I joined we would feature a ladies team in a masters relay, then there was the opportunity to catch up with old friends and competitors from years gone by, sadly Herne Hill, Belgrave and Edinburgh AC were without teams, but there were still plenty of people I knew, and lastly I was at least going to get a run this year, having missed out through injury last year. Still it was another injury that had put me into the Salford M45 B team, not a position I want to occupy but totally appropriate since I only started jogging a week earlier. I wasn’t alone, many of my Salford colleagues were returning from injuries, struggling with injuries or just hadn’t been able to make it to the start line at all through injury. But, what was good to see was so many old runners taking part and even more so, so many of them running really well, achieving times that runners many years younger would love to run.

All the Salford teams looked like they would be challenging for medals, could it be another Salford medal fest. As usually happens in the week before a major championship, there were dropouts, for various reasons, but we have numbers to cover and we were able to get five main teams out and a number of B teams to back them up, by far the largest contingent of teams and athletes in the whole event.

Arriving at Sutton Park it wasn’t just runners out enjoying the sunshine, the bottom end was packed with picnickers. As we approached the course the red and white Salford tent was standing out proud, with a number of the lads and lasses hanging around watching the first event, ladies and M65+.  We had a team in the W35 and, incredibly, three teams in the M65+. As expected the Salford A teams were in the hunt for medals and the Ladies were at one point leading the whole race. Unfortunately, on this occasion we just didn’t have enough strength in depth but it was a good start to the day, we’d shown our steel and there was more to come. The ladies finished 8^th, and the gents in 6^th, 10^th and 16^th respectively. Of course it wasn’t a complete medal free zone as Stan Curran picked up a bronze as 3^rd fastest M65 and Hayley Kuter took silver in the W35 event.

One race down, two medals taken as Hayley and Stan set impressive times

After my own warm up, I’d kept it short as I didn’t know how much running my legs had in them, I spent some time chatting with the many runners I’ve encountered in my 25 years as an athlete. It was good to catch up with Jon James, who I’d roomed with when we both ran for England, he’s had his own injury problems so it was good to see him back running, even more impressive to see him take a medal as one of the fastest M45 legs.

I was on 2^nd leg, the same as my mate Rob, so once the gun went there wasn’t a lot of time to hang around, last visit to the loo and then huddle around with all the other leg two’s waiting for your man to come in.

First man coming in to the handover area was Mark Johnson of Mansfield, with another impressive run, which would hold up as the 2^nd fastest M35 leg. Just two seconds down was the first of Salford’s teams, Matt Shaw bringing the M35 A team in 2^nd. These were followed in by a group of M35s before the first M45 team came home in 8^th, Thames Hare and Hounds, one of the teams tipped for glory. Eight seconds further back our reliable rocket, Dave Lockett brought Salford M45 A home in 3^rd M45 position, giving Rob Tudor two to chase. Steve Pennington handed over to me, M45 B, in 38^th position, Mike Grace wasn’t far behind in 42^nd with the M35 B team, not too far back, holding 6^th M55 position was Stan Owen, with Gary Thomason bringing home the M55 B team a little further back. What an incredible job Dave had done to get A and B teams out in all three categories plus three teams in the previous race, expect to see B teams in the Ladies soon too, we’re going to need a bigger bus!

At the end of leg two Salford Harriers M35 team were leading the way, but not far behind, in 2^nd and 1^st M45, Jon James had a great run. Rob too had run a great leg, pulling the M45 team into 4^th position overall and 2^nd to Wells, but with an ominous Leicester lurking in 3^rd. Woodford Green were leading the M55 race, with Cambuslang in 2^nd and our Eric Williams having his own stormer in 3^rd. My run was far short of spectacular but served it’s purpose in getting me round intact, not one painful moment during the whole 3 miles, and, even though I couldn’t be as competitive as I like, I still managed to gain 2 places. A mere 7 places further back another of our recovering injured, Dave Hudson, was running well for the M35 B team, showing promise for later in the year, and a little bit further back, Ian Johnson was pulling the M55 B team up 7 places.

By the end of Leg 3 our M35 team were back in 2^nd place, as former Belgrave colleague Simon Marwood of Altrincham passed our Jon Dance, but the gap was only 6 seconds. Thames Hare and Hounds were now in 3^rd with, to my mind, one of the top runs of the day by Martin Rees (M60) bringing M35 Les Croupiers into 4^th. Paul Simons, yet another long term injury sufferer had earned his place in the Salford M45 B team through persistence against pain but how he wouldn’t have wished he was in the sort of shape he’s capable of. I’ve raced against Paul for many years and he’ll always give everything he’s got for the team, and he did, taking the lead in the M45 category, 8 seconds ahead of Leicester, with Thames Hare and Hounds M45 team in 3rd. This was the last leg for the M55 race which Woodford Green won, Phil Quibell brought home Salford in 2^nd place, ahead of Bristol and West. That was Salford’s first set of team medal sorted. Salford M45 B team was still winning the battle of the Bs as Paul Birkett gained a further 4 places. The M35 B team were just over a minute behind as Phil West also gained 2 places, and Tommy Temple showed B consistency as he moved up the M55 team by 4 places.

M55 silver; Phil and Stan, minus Eric

Halfway through the main race and Salford’s M55 teams had set our standard with 2^nd and 25^th, at the end of the next leg we’d know the fate of the M45 teams.

Altrincham showed their intent on this leg, Matt Barnes set the day’s fastest time as he opened up a minute and 21 second gap over Thames Hare and Hounds, who had come through into 2^nd with a fine run by Simon Wurr. John Lloyd had run well to keep Salford M35 in 3^rd but Les Croupiers were now only 4 seconds behind us. It made a nice change for Salford M45s to be heading Leicester at the start of the last leg, but with Gordon Lee on that leg for Leicester it was always going to be tough to maintain the position. Gerry O’Neill is new in the team but he showed what a fine prospect he is, running not much slower than established luminaries Dave Lockett and Rob Tudor, unfortunately it wasn’t enough as Gordon went on to set the fastest M45 time of the day. 2^nd again for Salford M45, but we’ll have our day. Ben Reynolds secured team bronze for Thames Hare and Hounds M45 team. Ian Jackson moved M45 B team up a further 5 places to 27^th overall and Sean Cordell kept the Salford M35 B team in touch moving them up 3 places. More medals secured as the M45s finished in 2^nd and 13^th respectively.

More medals as the M45 race finishes; Dave, Rob and Paul, minus Gerry

At the end of leg 5 Altrincham were still in the lead, 1 minute 23 ahead of Les Croupiers, who’s Robert Sage had pulled them from 4^th to 2^nd. Pumlani Bangani kept Salford in the hunt, in 3^rd, 9 seconds further back, with Thames Hare and Hounds dropping to 4^th.  Salford’s remaining B team moved up 14 places, thanks to Trevor Raynor.

Was there any doubt? with Dave Norman on last Leg, Altrincham clinched the 2014 title. Les Croupiers put up a good show as Graham Breen ran fastest on leg 6 to secure silver for them and Glyn Billington kept Salford steady in bronze position. Thames Hare and Hounds vanished as they failed to run a 6^th man and Albert Castile pulled Salford B up one final place, finishing in 23rd.

Completing the set; Matt, Billy, Glyn, Jon, John and Pumlani

The end of some successful Salford plundering, with two team silvers, one team bronze and individual medals for Stan, Hayley and Matt. A total of 16 medals as Salford once again showed their support for Masters athletics.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk
Photos, thanks to Sid Sacks, who also ran.

Salford Harriers Raising Their Game

I like a bit of history, it was my favourite subject at school and I’m enjoying watching the programmes looking back on the First World War, in this the 100^th year since the start. During my 25 years as a runner I’ve belonged to clubs with great histories and I feel like I’ve made an actual contribution, albeit a small one in comparison to others, to that history. It was one of the reasons I joined Salford Harriers, nearly two years ago. They go back to 1884 and have won a number of major titles since then.

Unfortunately, for me, I’ve spent most of my time with Salford suffering with one injury or another, my current problem, pulled hamstring, is reminiscent of the injury I had when I first joined. Fortunately for Salford my incapacitation has not stopped them from winning as the club is filled with talented runners, in fact so many that our B teams feature prominently in competitions as well as our A teams.

Since I joined, and it’s purely coincidental, the Senior team has been building in strength. Sure Andi Jones leaving was a big loss but fresh blood has come into the team and our Senior squad can boast a team full of International runners with improving pbs. The Masters, always a threat and always supportive of Masters competitions (usually bringing more than one team in each age group, who else could boast that claim) have won or been challenging for the win in just about every competition. Since I joined, when we were already a class Masters squad, we’ve been bolstered by the addition of more quality runners. Unfortunately, for us, this last year the rules have changed to reduce the number of athletes to run in Masters teams in the relay competitions, whilst this should make competition fiercer, allowing more teams a bite at the cherry, it will mean a number of our athletes will miss out on their own little nibble. Perhaps it’s time to allow B teams to feature in the medals, I’m sure we could sneak a few that way and I’ve never seen why strong teams should be penalised, look at Aldershot’s ladies team, they regularly finish 1^st and 2^nd in major competitions but the fact that some always miss out on medals may encourage them to leave a team they don’t want to.

Next weekend is the Masters Road Relays at Sutton Park. It promises to be a fantastic day out. It always has been and I’ve been lucky enough to be involved for a number of years. I’ve yet to make my debut for Salford in this event, last year I was almost ready to start running again after messing up my Achilles in the winter, this year it still looks like I may have to miss out again. For Salford it’s not just a chance to fight for medals against the best clubs in the country, it’s a day out. Having seen our A team line ups I’m quite excited to see how they do.

It’s been a bit of a break since I wrote my last blog, work has kept me busy, so busy I’ve been working seven days a week for a while, thankfully I enjoy my work and there is reward in doing it. My last blog saw me express my thoughts on giving in to the injuries, whilst at the same time I was making a determined bid to try to make our four man team for next week’s championship. Writing down my thoughts made me more determined, the following weekend I was up in Scotland for a family do, so I decided to run the Edinburgh Parkrun. For the first time in many a race I actually lined up at the start thinking I could have a good race, I’d even put on my racing flats, something I’ve never done before for a parkrun. It was a windy day but as I set off the wind was behind me, I went through the first k faster than any I’ve done in a long time and an even quicker 2^nd k, but turning the corner half way round I was suddenly hit by this incredibly strong wind, the likes of which I’ve never experienced before. It stopped me dead, I pushed through, by 3k I was hitting lactic but still fighting through this stiff wind. It was incredibly painful and I just wanted it to stop but it wasn’t going to so I just had to keep fighting it all the way to the finish. I’d been on for a sub 17:30 finish early on but the wind saw me falter to 18:02 a chance wasted.

The confidence gained, despite the slow time, meant I lined up, four days later, for a 5 mile race with a real feeling that I could do well. And I was doing well, through 3 miles in a time that would have seen me run about 17:20 for 5k, I was coming strong in that 4^th mile, passing people and setting my sights on a group ahead. With 1 mile to go I felt a slight twinge in my hamstring, I eased back a touch but thought I’d be ok to maintain pace. I decided not to push any harder and let the group ahead go, but I was still on for a reasonable finish, then 300m to go to the finish I felt a big pull. This time I had to slow right down and jog/limp into the finish. I lost a lot of time in that 300m but only 1 position. More importantly that was it for me, I could hardly walk and it’s only now that I’m able to make a start running again. Such is the life of a runner.

All my plans for this year have been thrown into disarray, the races I was targeting are all bunched around May and June and there is no way I’ll be fit enough to compete at the level I wanted to by then. I’ll have to build up slowly and focus on next year, when I hit the new age group. So clearly I’m not giving into it just yet.

Incidentally, I’ve just realised that I’ve written this blog from the perspective of the mens team, but actually the ladies are also showing form and will be aiming to feature next week too.

Come on Salford.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk