History Making Performances at the Northern Road Relays

There were brilliant individual and team performances from Bury at the Northern Road Relay Championships held in torrential rain conditions at Leigh Sports Village on Saturday. The first race of the day was the under 13 boys 3 x 3.2 km race. Taking the first leg for Bury was Ethan Statham who was running against the best young runners in the North of England. He produced yet another breathtaking performance, handing over in second place in 9.53 just five seconds behind North Shields’s Noah Penfold, who is currently the best middle distance runner in the UK in the age group. Only Ethan and Penfold ran under 10 minutes on the day, underlining the superb form of the Bury Grammar pupil. Chester Theakstone took the second leg which he covered in 11.58 and handed over to Sam Walton in 9^th place. Sam ran the final leg in 12.45 bringing the team home in 22^nd place.

Sadly the under 15 girls were unable to field a full team. Lucy Dent took the first leg which she covered in 11.11, handing over in 14^th place. Coco-Lily Honor was on the second leg and she clocked 13.45 to finish in 26^th place.

The senior men fielded three teams in the 6 x 6.2km race with the A team hoping to better their best ever placing of 20^th. Matthew Lowe took the first leg and scorched round in 19.24 handing over in an excellent 16^th place. Seb Poma took the second leg which he covered in 20.20 to hand over to Bryn Lawrence in 19^th position. Bryn ran a strong leg of 19.59, clawing back 4 places to bring the team back in 15^th place. James Brown was on the fourth leg for which he clocked 20.14 to move the team up to 10th. Ben Coop, produced a great performance on the fifth leg moving the team up to 8^th with 19.56. Martin Clark was on the anchor leg and despite a superb 19.49 performance he was forced to concede one place. Team manager Byron Edwards was delighted with the overall performance, with 9^th being the best performance from a Bury team in living memory.

The Bury B team comprised of Jack Passey (21.41), Daniel Chapman (21.44), Callum Gaunt (22.01), Jack Griffiths (22.11), Luke Harreld (22.12) and Ryan Hallworth (22.31). Their excellent consistency gave them 64^th place overall, and they were the 5^th placed B team. The C team saw Paul Marshall (22.40), Patrick Babb (22.32), Conor Wilkinson (22.35), Alexander Hannay (23.08), Craig Sykes (24.05) and Curtis Simpson (25.49) take 70^th place overall, but they were the 5^th C team on the day. The senior men’s squad is the strongest it has ever been which bodes well for the upcoming Nationals.

The women’s 4 x 6.2km race started five minutes after the men and saw one Bury team competing. Sinead Taylor took the first leg which she completed in 22,27 to hand over in 13^th place. Alia Braithwaite, on the second leg, clocked 23.47 and retained 13^th place. Rachel Marshall ran a strong 24.03 on the third leg and moved the team up to 12^th.  Katie Geelan made a welcome return to racing on the final leg which she covered in 25.42 to secure 13^th place for the team, the highest team placing for many years.