Forge Valley School again provided the venue for the ever popular Sheffield Relays Festival.  The school cycle circuit – frustratingly 30m or so short of the advertised 1km distance – provides a great location for racing and spectating.

More than 40 Striders took part, with some focusing on just one race, and others taking on all 3 competitions.

The first event was the Women’s 4 x 1km race, with Striders showing their tremendous strength in depth, finishing 3 teams in the top seven places.  Abbie Pearse, Ellen Broad, Sarah Thorne and Annie Chambers were comfortable winners, with Abbie and Annie running the two quickest times on the night.  Emily Green, Kathy Liddiard, Bethan Varney and Fran Robbs de la Hoya were less than a minute behind, claiming 3rd place.  The F40 team finished 7th, and second in the F40 category, with Kate Scott working overtime by running the first and last legs. Our fourth team finished 15th, with a fast finishing Cara Hanson very nearly catching North Derbyshire on the line.

The men weren’t able to match the women’s level of performance, but did finish teams in 7th, 11th, 20th, 22nd and 24th positions.  Steve Cahill ran a speedy 2.51 for our top team on a very competitive first leg, followed by Harry Browne, Jonathan Smith and Adam Brooks to claim seventh position.  Jonathan Bickley tried relay racing for the very first time, joining an experienced M60 team to claim top spot in that age category, finishing just one second behind the first M50 team. We also finished 3rd, 4th and 6th in the M40 age category.

The second race was the “Descent of Doom”, with runners completing legs of 2km, 1500m, 1km and 500 metres. I’m not sure what made the event particularly hazardous, other than trying to work out exactly where on the circuit your handover point was.  The Striders women were again our strongest performers, with Sarah Thorne handing over in the lead after her 2km leg and Ellen Broad, Aoife Smith and Naomi Tuckett bringing the team home strongly strongly to finish 3rd overall.  The men finished teams in 6th and 16th place.

The final race of the evening was the mixed 4 x 500m event – two men and two women, run in any order – and it provided plenty of drama.  Rob Byers took over in 3rd place on the final leg, trailing Rotherham Running club and our own Malcolm Baggaley. A storming performance, with Rob clocking just 73 seconds for 500 metres, saw him overhaul Rotherham with 100 metres to go, and then clawing his way past Malcolm on the run-in for a two second victory.  Malcolm’s team finished a comfortable second, and we also finished teams in 6th and 10th places.

Many thanks to Andy Davies and his team for putting on such an excellent and enjoyable evening of racing.

Striders Results:

4 x 1km Female