Our men's and women's road relay teams battled all Saturday afternoon to make the British top 10 in the National 12- and 6-Stage Road Relays at the traditional venue of Sutton Park, near Birmingham. In the end the women's team squeezed into 8th while the men were left just outside, in 11th. For the women, Jessica Sparke and Jodie Swallow notched the fastest stage times, while Ronnie Sparke and Martyn Cryer were the men's most impressive performers.

Once the women's team was finalised, an average stage time of 17.30 for each 2.995m leg looked realistic for a total team time of roughly 1hr 45 mins, which looked as though it could possibly leave the team in position 3-5 based on the 2008 result. But this was a year in which the course record was broken by the first two teams and the overall standard was higher.

 

Women's results

Men's results

Photos

Woodford young athletes gain three firsts and a second at the Chelmsford Open Meeting.

Returning to competition, Lee Mathurin showed he is still a force to be reckoned with as he won the Under 20 discus with a throw of 46.06m.. Yousef Zatat emulated Lee in winning the under 17 discus with 39.89m while Sam Turner took the under 20 javelin with 52.16m..

For the girls, Katherine Birch took 2nd. spot in the under 17 discus with 24.89m..