There is only one place to start this week and that is at Sutton Park where a group of athletes from Wolverhampton & Bilston AC did themselves, their coach Ross Jones, and their parents proud representing the club in the National Road Relays.
The under 13 boys came back with the team prize beating the cream of the country’s clubs and running away with the gold medal. Sam Thursfield was first out for the club completing his leg in 14.08 and handing over to Fred Jones who ran a blistering 12.47 lap with Bohdfinn Shields running a final leg in 14.29 to give the team a total time of 41.24, good enough for a convincing win. The U13 boys B team were 12th with Oscar Davis running 14.39, Sam Ball 14.00 and Jack Stockton 15.09. The U13 girls finished 13th with Ronni Read running 15.42, Grace Hendy 15.36 and Lucy Horton 16.39.
The under 15 girls were only a fraction away from adding to the club’s medal haul, just missing out on a bronze medal by a mere 18 seconds finishing in 4th place. Isobelle Jones got them off to a good start with a 13.55 leg, and the Kind sisters completed the team with Rosie running 14.09 and Ava 14.44 to give a total time of 42.48 for the distance. Their B team of Megan White 16.20, Madison Farley 15.41 and Zena Asbury 15.55 were 30th and a C team of S Willoughby 16.26, Millie Williams 16.30 and Bethany Bennett in 18.53 were 49th.
Elsewhere Roger Grand made his return to the club a successful one, pulling on the vest for the first time since his transfer from City of Stoke, by claiming 6th place and 1st V45 in the Werrington 10k finishing in a time of 39.00.
And there was plenty of action in Manchester over the half and full marathon distances with Sabrina Thomas recording a championship qualifying time and a new PB over 13.1 miles with 226th place in 1.27.53, Nick Beach ran 1.45.15 and Rosie Thornborough crossed the line in 2.01.24.
There were some excellent performances over the full distance in the Manchester Marathon with Dan Turner leading the club home in 2.53.46, Dave Joynson completed his 169th marathon and 14th in the last 15 weeks recording 3.07.31, he now has another four marathons in the next four weeks finishing in Barcelona. Dave Norman went out with the 3 hour pacer for 19 miles and faded to cross the line in 3.11.06, Jay Patel recorded a massive 45 minute PB with a time of 3.13.15, Ceri Card crossed the line in an excellent 3.27.37 on minimal training, Adam Cotterill finished in 3.57.31, Stuart Robinson finished in 4.17.37, Vicky Bryan made an excellent marathon debut with 4.45.36, Rob Fellows clocked 4.49.25, Gillian Mitchell 4.50.23, after doing Chester last week, and Lesley Stamps finished in 5.02.03.
