Men's SEAA 6 stage road relay, Bedford Autodrome, 25 Sept 2016

New course, brutal conditions, tidy effort

 There was lots to admire and enjoy on this low-key outing for our men who had an astonishingly long list of unavailables.  To be sure this is one of the busiest weekends of the year for competing interests, and our lads were flung all over, from Berlin to Windsor to Lithuania to Bristol to Dublin to the New Forest.  So we took a deep breath and did what we could.Paskar was magnificent, with a time that became stunning as the day wore on.  Exhausted after a 1hr45 longey the day before and a work shift till past midnight, he came in 3^rd and ended up just four seconds off the second best run of the day.  Well done PO, his legend only grows.Ed Auden was straight into the frying pan and no mistake.  He battled gamely in conditions that were terribly severe.  The course was beautiful to run on, but consisted of 2k into a gale force headwind, 2k of lovely assistance, and 2 more K of hellfire.  So a few places lost perhaps, but another time that kept on getting better as the day progressed and the leader still just about in sight.Matt Welsh also had a zinger, fresh from becoming the London duathlon champion, the boy is in the form of his life – long may it continue.  Still in the top dozen or so, and another man whose running improves every time out is Nick Smallwood.  A mere 3 positions leaked and a really solid, no nonsense run.  Goodness though – not really a day you want to be 6 foot 3 on with that wind!Over to me, who started poorly, tailed off a little in the middle, and the less said about the end the better. Ah well, this race has given me so much over the years, so it was a run tinged with nostalgia.  As I ran isolated a little voice in my head said, 'leg 5 again… just like 2003.'  But that day… in the lead… the heat of the battle… the Aldershot boys screaming at their men Chris Thompson on course record pace... that I was dying, that I could be caught…  Mildly terrifying stuff, and caught I was, but only with half a mile to go.  We ran lock step for a bit, and the hand-over was a 5 second deficit, which Marty Dent proceeded to stretch nicely, ahead of numerous Olympic and Commonwealth runs.  Memories!We now needed someone to cheer us up, and didn’t he just.  The ever game Rob Norville grabbed his chance to enter the fray when Tommy Ashby got sick.  Looking as smooth as I’ve ever seen him, Rob kept the flying Thames man Gordon Pearce at bay for a good while, then had the gall to hitch a ride, and brilliantly held off our dearest rivals Herne Hill by a mere 10 ticks.  You little beaut.A good day out then at an intriguing new venue and no reason for panic.  After all – we were 23^rd in 2014, and then silver the next year.  You have to earn the right to medal in these races.1 Aldershot F&D 1:46:12; 2 Tonbridge 1:48:11; 3 Newham 1:50:06… 24 Belgrave H 1:58:39.  71 teams started, 57 finished.P Owor 17:26 (3); E Auden 18:48 (9); M Welsh 19:04 (13); N Smallwood 20:07 (16); W Cockerell 21:14 (20); R Norville 22:00 (24).Fastest:  A Vernon (AFD) 16:48; J Grace (AFD) 17:22; J Davies (Reading) 17:22