Top Performances at the Northern Road Relays

The Bury AC squad made the long journey up to Bitts Park in Carlisle for the North of England Road Relay Championships. The event saw the men’s 12 stage race and the women’s 6 stage race together with some junior 5k races.  It was Bury’s women’s team that was the strongest on the day, securing a superb 6^th place in the tough competition against the very best clubs in the North of England. Sinead Taylor covered the first long leg in 25.35 handing over in an excellent 8^th place. Rose Johnson was on the second leg, shorter in distance which she completed in 19.50 retaining 8^th place. Sophie Hill was on the third leg, also a short stage, which she completed in  20.40 having to surrender one place. Alia Braithwaite scorched around the next long leg in 26.04 clawing back two places to move up to 7^th.  Sarah Flett  produced one of her best runs in a Bury vest to cover the fifth short stage in 19.56 moving up the 6^th. Sinead Burns covered the last leg in 20.05 and retained 6^th place for the team. This underlines the strength in depth of the Bury women’s team with this being the fourth time in four years that they have secured a top ten finish in the event.

               Sarah Flett on the fifth leg

The mens race commenced with a long stage with Martin Clark leading Bury off with a 21.04 to bring the team home in 10^th place and handing over to Jack Passey who covered the next short stage in 16.28, being forced to concede 4 places. Ben Coop took the next long stage, covering it in 21.59 and moving up to 9^th place, the teams highest placing of the day. Ryan Hallworth was on the next short stage which he completed in 17.08 dropping five paces in the high quality field. James Brown took the next long leg which he covered in 22.25 conceding one further place. Peruvian student Seb Poma was on stage six and he whistled around the course in 16.24, not only the fastest by a Bury athlete on the day, but good enough to move the team back up to 10^th place. Jack Griffiths took over and covered the seventh long stage in 23.22 handing over to Paul Johnston in 14^th. Paul’s 17.48 short stage retained the team in 14^th and he handed over to new member Ben Sunley who ran a very respectable 17.58 for the ninth stage handing over in 15^th. Luke Harreld, in his first race for several months, ran an excellent tenth stage of 17.25 and maintained 15^th. Curtis Simpson covered the penultimate leg in 18.28, keeping hold of 15^th and handing over to Rob Butterworth who covered the last leg in 19.27 conceding just one place to bring the Bury team across the line in 16^th. Much to the delight of team manager Byron Edwards, both the men’s and women’s teams have qualified for the National Championships that will take place in Birmingham on 11^th April.

Bury had just one junior athlete competing on the day, with Ellie Strafffon-Finch racing in the under 15 girls championships. She covered the 5k course in a strong 22.07 to secure 22^nd place.