BRISTOL & West AC’s senior teams both finished inside the top ten at the English Road Relay Autumn Championships on Saturday.
The men finished a creditable eighth – and second Midlands club behind Notts AC – while the women just sneaked in with a hard-earned 10th and third Midlands club behind Charnwood and Birchfield.
“Team managers are always happy when the targets they set are met, and all credit to both our senior men`s and women`s teams for making the top ten in the championships,” said senior men’s team boss Mike Down.
“Perhaps of most significance is that when combined the overall result ranks us as the fourth best senior club in the country behind Aldershot, Leeds and Tonbridge, who did no more than confirm their current status as the three most consistently successful squads in the UK.”
Jack Millar gave the club a solid start on stage one finishing 11th improving upon his Midlands time two weeks earlier by 23 seconds.
He had handed over to Dan Studley, who continued his steady return from long-term injury by clocking 18:01, 24 seconds quicker than he recorded for the B team at the Midlands.
By halfway the club had soared to seventh as new Australian signing Timothy Lefroy clawed back eight places with a sizzling 17:17, the fastest of the day for the club and equal 20th fastest overall from a top class field of runners.
Max Davis dropped two places on stage four and Johnny Thewliss held that position to give team captain Taylor the chance to end the race on a high – which he duly did with a cracking 17:27 – 15 seconds quicker than his Midlands time – to get two places back.
There was a super set of consistent times for the women’s team with just 23 seconds separating the fastest to the slowest as they paced their effort supremely well.
Natalie Bretherton, who didn’t race the Midlands, competed strongly to place 18th on stage one and then junior Megan Horning, making her senior debut, improved two places for 16th at halfway.
Katrina Entwistle clawed back seven places on stage three and then Chelsea Baker, despite running the fastest time of the day for the club and four seconds quicker than the Midlands, lost one place to finish in 10th overall.
Also in the senior women’s race the B&W B team placed 45th and Team Bath AC finished 49th while in the men’s race North Somerset AC and Westbury Harriers came 41st and 60th respectively.
English Autumn Road relay Championships, Sutton Park, Birmingham
Men (6x6k): 1 Aldershot, Farnham & District AC 1:43.37; 2 Leeds City 1:43.42; 3 Cambridge & Coleridge 1:44.08.
8 Bristol & West AC 1:46.33 (Jack Millar (11) 17:29; Daniel Studley (15) 18:01; Timothy Lefroy(7) 17:17; Max Davis (10) 17:59; Jonathan Thewlis (10) 18:20 Kurt Taylor (8) 17:27).
23 Bristol & West AC ‘B’ 1:50:23
Owain Jones (28) 17:53
Josh Moody (29) 18:04
Adam Stokes (24) 18:28
Andrew Watt (28) 18:49
Benedict Westhen (26) 18:45
Jack Bancroft (23) 18:24
41 North Somerset AC 1:52:50
Matthew Howard (35) 18:04
Samuel Gentry (48) 18:42
Joe Gentry (36) 18:37
William Cheek (43) 19:38
Oliver Lock (38) 18:45
Benjamin Hamblin (41) 19:04
60 Westbury Harriers 1:59:29
Seamus Robinson (59) 18:45
Ben Rawlins (64) 19:28
Finn Goodhew (58) 19:11
Alex Hamblin (60) 20:13
Jack Derrick (61) 21:04
Chris Palmer (60) 20:48
63 Team Bath AC 1:59:43
Aidan Daniel (67) 19:15
Aaron Pritchard (73) 20:01
Peter Grist (68) 19:35
Elliott Avis (62) 19:30
James Donald (67) 21:54
Andrew Fooks (63) 19:28
Fastest: 1 Jack Rowe (AFD) 16:39. 20th= Timothy Lefroy (B&W) 17:17;
74 teams finished.
Senior women: 1 Tonbridge AC 58:26; 2 Salford Harriers 58:37;3 Aldershot, Farnham & District 59:09.
10 Bristol & West Ac. ‘A’ 1:00:51
Natalie Bretherton (18) 15:11
Megan Hornung (16) 15:15
Katrina Entwistle (9) 15:24
Chelsea Baker (10) 15:01
45 Bristol & West Ac. ‘B’ 1:08:42
Hannah Pollak (46) 16:24
Amy Nicholls (44) 17:04
Anna Ford (49) 17:46
Caz Buckeridge (45) 17:28
49 Team Bath AC 1:09:20
Amber Gascoigne (17) 15:11
Katherine Kabala (43) 18:12
Ella Treby (50) 17:53
Creina Oshea (49) 18:04
71 teams finished.
Fastest: 1 Amelia Quirke (Bracknell) 13:35. 38th Chelsea Baker (B&W) 15:01; 45th Amber Gascoigne (TB) 15:11.