National Road Relays Report
Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham
Saturday 16th April
Zoe Smith Reports
On a blustery April day, the Belles succeeded in fielding a strong team at Sutton Park. Unfortunately, despite our talented pool of male runners, on this occasion calendar clashes and unexpected commitments ran amok, leaving the TMs watch the sand run through their hands.
Kudos must go to Sophie Carter who was called upon to swap from 4th leg to 1st due to some rather severe traffic and a delayed Sam Amend. Still sporting a bandaged knee and moving on from her pragmatic withdrawal from Manchester marathon last week, Sophie ran a great long leg, setting up Saron Haileselasie very nicely. Saron, moving up from 3rd to 2nd leg due to Zoe Doyle's encounters with traffic, set off smoothly and ran a neat, tactical leg, edging her way up the field. Zoe Doyle, fresh from her super Masters performances, was delighted to be running with the Belles again - as they were with her. Zoe ran a smooth, no-nonsense leg before handing over to Sam Amend for the 2nd of the longer legs. Sam, with her eyes on a 100 mile race later in the year and having ticked off the Manchester marathon last week, took on the longer leg with her admirable springy strength, bringing the Belles into 12th with two more short legs to go. Despite an inability to start a stop watch, Zoe Smith managed to edge her way up the field, running a pleasing time and clawing back 3 places to get the Belles into a top 10 position. Of course, with a runner of Jojo Rhodes' calibre, this presented an exciting prospect for the final leg. Jojo ran a swift measured race making one last overtake bringing us in in 8th position.
Thanks must go to: Will Cockerell for his unstinting efforts to pull together teams; Charlie Dickinson for his generosity of time and encouragement on race day itself; John Mather for making the journey and providing support around the course. Last but not least, thanks to our enthusiastic runners and the support of family and friends who make these types of days possible.
8 Belgrave Harriers 2:21:27
1 Sophie Carter (18) 32:05, 2 Saron Haileselase (12) 19:02, 3 Zoe Doyle (16) 20:25, 4 Samantha Amend (12) 31:59, 5 Zoe Smith (9) 18:26, 6 Josephine Rhodes (8) 19:30.