This year the Birtley relays incorporated the NEMAA Cross County Relay championships so there were plenty of medals at stake.
The conditions were perfect for a morning of racing – blue skies, sunshine and little wind. The competitors each ran two laps of 1,500m around a playing field which incorporated some extremely steep up and downhill sections and some difficult sections of soft mud.
We had four male teams competing in Race 1 – the Masters race, won by Gateshead in 32.42. Our first team home finished in a very respectable 10th place in a cumulative time of 35.25. Adam Bell ran an impressive 11.10 and was the 6th fastest M35. Stepping down two age groups Chris Pearce ran the second leg in 12.57 with Andrew Ball running a brilliant 11.18 on the back of his Brass Monkey performance the week before.
Our second Elswick team finished 44th in a time of 41.58. The team consisted of Daniel Nettle, as reliable as ever, Ben Hall making a very welcome return to racing and Pete Dawson, who is getting stuck into racing in an Elswick vest. Stevie Curry, Peter Sloan and Peter Jobson finished in 61st place in 46.29 with Peter achieving 4th position in the M60 category.
Our team in the M65 category, were the fastest trio of M70 competitors with Mark McNally in 14.08, Graham Leslie in 15.46 and Harry Matthews in 16.36 – a fine example to us all. Mark picked up the fastest M65 prize and the team were second in the M65 team category behind Blaydon’s team which consisted of young 65 year olds!
The ladies also had four teams out, one senior and three masters. The highlight of the race was the performance of our senior ladies team. Only a fortnight after her win at Temple Park in the Davison Cup cross country championship, Amy Fuller came out on top again with the fastest leg of the day in 11.47. Having created a comfortable lead in first leg, the pressure was on Robyn Naylor to maintain a good position in the field. She had a stunning start showing true grit and determination to finish in 13.57, despite having had no time to warm up (more on this later). Cath Lowes also ran superbly (13.25), holding off a Wallsend runner who was hot on her heels in the last 200m. Cath’s sprint for the finish was timed to perfection and left the very vocal Wallsend supporters speechless.
Joanne Brown produced an impressive time of 13.45 for the F45 team. In support came Bella Arnott (15.17) and me (14.30) and to our total amazement we finished third F45 team. Mary Lisle demonstrated her stunning return to form by leading our next (senior) team in a leg time of 14.24. Emma Tuckwood in only her second ever race did us all proud by running the second leg. She should be delighted to complete her first cross country and first relay in one fell swoop – we hope she comes back for more. Hannah “motivator” Marshall completed the third leg with ease. Some more lovely surprises came out of the fourth team’s performance with Kerrie Old returning to racing in a great time of 15.04. New joiner Caroline Lienard in only her second race for Elswick after the Davison Shield ran the second leg followed by Melissa Bateson with only a second between their times.
Mary Lisle, Bella Arnott, Melissa Bateson, Amy Fuller, Cath Lowes, Robyn Naylor, Emma Tuckwood, Hannah Marshall
Daniel Nettle, Chris Pearce, Ben Hall
The atmosphere at the Birtley event was understandably subdued during the Men’s Masters race due to the sudden collapse of one of the competitors. Our very own Robyn Naylor and Hannah Marshall were present at the time of the incident and stayed with the patient until he was in the care of the paramedics before embarking upon their own races. At the time of writing, I understand that the gentleman is making a steady recovery at the Freeman Hospital where he was airlifted. At the presentation, Bill McGuirk very aptly reminded the audience of the value of the Air Ambulance service and how we should continue to support its wonderful work.
Andrea Banner