ERRA Road Relay championship – Report by Ken Smith
Sutton Park Birmingham Saturday 7th October 2023.
Sutton Park was bathed in warm sunshine with little or no wind, ideal conditions for both spectators and athletes.
The Northern Clubs started the day off with Liverpool Harriers finishing 5th in the under 13 boys event, with Peter Herring on first leg recording the teams fastest time of 13.51.
The Under 13 Girls saw Northern Champions Warriors Pentathlon finish in 2nd position behind Chelmsford, but they recorded the 2nd and 3rd fastest times of the day.. Liverpool Harriers were 4th.
Under 15 boys. Salford’s Evan Grimes had the 4th fastest time of the day on the first leg, but it was left to Northern Champions Trafford to finish highest Northern Club, as Pio Aron moved from them from 24th position to 3rd on leg 2, a position they retained to win the bronze medal.
The Under 15 girls event had the Northern Champions, Liverpool Harriers, finishing in 5th place with Rotherham 6th, but It was Lincoln Wellington in the Gold medal position with Ellarose Whitworth producing the 3rd fastest time of the day,
In the under 17 there were no Northern Clubs on the podium in either event. For the women Northern Champions Rotherham Harriers were just knocked of 3rd spot in the last leg, as they finished 4th,just above Warrington A,C.
In the men’s event Derby finished highest in 5th place thanks to the 2nd fastest time of the day from Ewan Busfield 11.34.
Senior Men
Northern Champions Leeds City were beaten in the 2022 ERRA Championship by Aldershot by 5 seconds, and they were out to regain this most prestigious of Championship as they strengthen their team that won the Northern at Birkenhead Park.. They were 4th on the first leg, then 2nd on legs 2 & 3 before Phil Sesesmann produced the 7th fastest time of the day to take Leeds into the top spot, A position they never looked like loosing until that last leg. Aldershot started badly in 24th position after leg 1, but were 4th going into the last leg. It was not Jack Rowe this time on last leg for Aldershot. However Will Barnicoat still managed to produce the 2nd fastest time of the day 16.36 but finished just 10 seconds behind that Blue and Yellow vest of Leeds City.
Another producing a fast time was Rory Lenard. He flew round on leg 3 producing the 3rd fastest time of the day 16.38, and moving Morpeth up 18 places to 1st. They finished in 5th place
Senior Women. Leeds finished down in 5th place in last years championship, something they had come to correct this year, after winning the Northern Championship at Birkenhead Park last month. The 4 stage started on a fast note with Lillian Partridge’s fastest time of the day on leg 1, 13.55.At some stages of the race it looked like a inter club Aldershot event with their A and B team both in the top 3 and swapping places throughout the course.. On the last leg the excitement was reserved for the race up the hill to the finish, with both the Aldershot teams and Leeds competing for the title. Aldershot A won by 12 seconds but both Leeds City and Aldershot B given the same time but Leeds won the silver medal.
Vale Royal were the next Northern Club in 8th place, followed by Leeds City B and Salford in 10th.
Phots thanks to Eileen Ingham.
