Bristol and West Athletic Club for Running and Athletics -> News

U17 men 4 Bristol & West AC 'A' 37:41 Matthew Deacon (12) 13:16 Matthew Peters (5) 12:27 10th fastest time of day Nathan Young (4) 11:58 3rd fastest time of day Bristol & West AC 'B' 27:37 Jack Thompson (10) 13:11 Danny Joseph (17) 14:26 U15 boys Gold! 1 Bristol & West AC 'A' 39:45 Sam Bedwell (6) 13:00 8th fastest time of day George Hurford (2) 13:46 Adam Speake (1) 12:59 6th fastest time of day 18 Bristol & West AC 'B' 44:34 Adam James (25) 15:12 Zak Tobias* (18) 13:59 Zac Marsh (18) 15:23 23 Bristol & West AC 'C' 47:10 James Griffin (24) 15:09 A Campbell (28) 16:55 Daniel Bagnall (23) 15:06 U13 boys Bristol & West U13 Boys 35:06 Finian Bedwell (29) 16:30 Magnus Gordon (31) 18:36 U15 Girls 15 Bristol & West Ac 'A' 49:10 Robyn Brailey (22) 16:14 Chloe Hayward (19) 16:53 Megan Fowler (15) 16:03 16 Bristol & West Ac 'B' 49:24 Lily Owsley (3) 14:50 8th fastest time of day Olivia Sadler (6) 16:06 A W.-Trafford (16) 18:28

The Bristol and West men's team turned back the clock almost 30 years to score only the club's second ever victory in the Midland 6-stage road relay championship at Sutton Park in Birmingham. So commanding was their triumph on the day, leading virtually all the way to beat the holders Notts AC by the best part of two minutes, that it is hard to credit that they had not won it since their lone success at Melton Mowbray back in 1979. But one thing is for sure they will have given their rivals for next month's National title race a warning shot that they are going to be a force to reckon with.

From the moment Cornish farmer Kevin Heywood hit the front at the top end of the 6K lap, they never looked back. Heywood gave Craig Peters a 25m start over the 104 other teams, and though briefly surrendering the lead the Welsh and Midland junior champion soon reasserted his authority to give Jon Wills a near half minute advantage at the second changeover.

The race was virtually over by halfway as Wills extended the lead another ten seconds before new recruit GB U23 international Tom Russell put the issue beyond all doubt with the third fastest time of the day. This left National Duathlon champion Phil Wylie, who was using the race as a warm-up for next weekend's World championship in Italy, and team captain Rob Whalley with an armchair ride to the finish. Russell's time apart, only 11 seconds covered the other five runners' times that were all among the top 20 fastest of the day. and confirms the strength of their challenge for the National.

Almost as encouragingly their separate U20 junior team , headed by Harry Webb and Richard Peters, achieved another first for the event, exceeding all expectations by finishing in the top ten in 8th place. Of the other Avon clubs in the race Clevedon, led inspiringly by Julian Emery, did particularly well to finish in their best ever position of 11th and easily qualify for the National final, but none of the others apart from the Bristol and West Vets and B teams could make the required top 25 places.

To complete what was arguably their best ever performance in the regional championships, the Bristol and West women's team, despite being without all of their star senior runners, still repeated last year's silver medal effort behind defending champions Charnwood, and, Helen Fines apart, they did it with a very young team. Their top junior Katie Knowles gave them a fine start in 4th place before Kate Goodhead took them into an unexpected lead with one of her best ever relay performances - the sixth fastest of the event. Although Fines was passed by the Charnwood and Telford runners, she held on well enough for Steph Barnes to make sure of the silver medals on the anchor leg. Like the men the second team made the top ten in 8th place, while the third quartet too did well to finish 15thin just ahead of neighbours Westbury, with Bitton and GWR also in the first 25 of the 70 starters.

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