ROAD

John Cox (left) and Graeme Saker on leg one for the M40 and M50 winners, Kent and Tonbridge

PICTURES: MARK SHEARMAN

SEPTEMBER 25

SOUTH OF ENGLAND MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS, Bedford

CAMBRIDGE & Coleridge gained some consolation for failing to defend their seniors women’s title as their veteran squad took the W40 title ahead of runners-up Shaftesbury Barnet and Bedford Harriers, Martin Duff reports.

Just 17 seconds covered the medallists. They had W55 Mary Twitchett in their team, but it was Nicola McBride’s final leg that sealed their win.

There was controversy, though, as some clubs claimed to have been told by the South of England AA office that there was a separate classification for over-50 women and thus entered teams on that basis.

Most hard-done-by were Dulwich Runners who, having had confirmation expressed in writing by the South of England AA, arrived at the venue to discover there was no official W50 event and were then prevented from rearranging their squads.

As it was, they led the division for the first two laps as Clare Elms put them well clear with easily the best veteran women’s time of 16:45, but their all-W50 squad eventually finished fifth.

In the M40 race, Chris Greenwood anchored Kent AC to complete a hat-trick of victories after earlier running in the senior event.

Oxford’s all-conquering M60 squad: Stewart Thorp, Richard Grant, John Exley and Roy Treadwell

OXFORD CITY AC

North Herts’ M50 Andy Leach ran a second faster than Greenwood with 18:56 to take the fastest lap award.

A modest-standard M50 race saw Tonbridge run down Dulwich on the final leg.

Graeme Saker gave Tonbridge a big lead on the first lap with the fastest leg of 20:39.

Tony Tuohy missed Saker’s time by a second in bringing Dulwich into contention and then Derek Lee, running his first race for the club, gave Dulwich a minute lead but it wasn’t enough as Tonbridge came back on the final leg.

Oxford City’s M60 took victory, helped by their long-serving last-leg runner John Exley. Kent AC finished second six minutes in arrears.

Nicola McBride: anchored Cambridge to veterans’ gold

MARK SHEARMAN

M40 (4x6km): 1 Kent 80:43 (J Cox 20:45, S Beeney 21:03, P Sanders 19:58, C Greenwood 18:57); 2 Bed C 82:08 (S Herring 19:51, A Turnbull 20:19, P Lunn 20:40, S Till 21:24); 3 NHRR 82:25 (A Leach 18:56, B Matussa 21:27, S McKeown 22:03, M Vaughan 19:59); 4 VoA 85:39; 5 Norwich 88:19; 6 Abingdon 92:58; 7 Stragglers 93:07; 8 Bed C B 93:36; 9 Croydon 93:50; 10 L Buzz 95:23; 11 TVH 97:44; 12 Reading 97:47; 13 Woking 98:59

Fastest: A Leach (NHRR) 18:56; C Greenwood (Kent) 18:57; S Goodall (Norw) 19:25; S Herring (Bed C) 19:51; P Sanders (Kent) 19:58; M Vaughan (NHRR) 19:59

M50 (4x6km): 1 Tonbridge 89:43 (G Saker 20:39, P Coleman 22:42, M Pitcairn-Knowles 22:31; A Wood 23:46); 2 Dulw R 90:40 (S Smythe 23:00, T Tuohy 20:40, D Lee 21:14; G Laylee 25:46); 3 Nene V 93:24 (D Neal 22:05; C Mooney 22:07; B Warne 23:46, P Parkin 25:26); 4 Barnet 93:59 (A Cunningham 22:08, A Kelleher 25:05, Y Ben Aroya 23:17, P Ellis 23:29); 5 Kent 96:08 (L Reilly 21:47, N Gordon-Orr 24:09, L Armitage 22:34, B Hutchinson 27:38); 6 Norwich 97:03; 7 Bed C 1:46:46; 8 Biggleswade 1:48:59; 9 Hillingdon 1:49:19

Fastest: Saker 20:39; Tuohy 20:40; Lee 21:14; L Reilly (Kent) 21:47; Neal 22:05; Mooney 22:07

M60 (4x6km): 1 Oxf C 93:55 (S Thorp 23:07, R Treadwell 23:19, R Grant 23:04, J Exley 24:25); 2 Kent 1:40:05 (B Hutchinson 25:00, J Barron 24:56, P Boxshall 25:30, J Spencer-Wood 24:39); 3 Barnet 1:42:03 (J Clarke 29:20, M Davies 24:40, D Michael 24:11, D Wilcock 23:52); 4 C&C 2:25:45 Fastest: Grant (Oxf C) 23:04; S Thorp (Oxf C) 23:07; R Treadwell (Oxf C) 23:19; D Wilcock (Barn) 23:52; C Ritchie (C&C) 24:02; D Michael (Barn) 24:11

W40 (4x4.5km): 1 C&C 74:11 (M Twitchett (W55) 18:43, L Fraser 17:28, R Porter 19:13, N McBride 18:49); 2 Barnet 74:19 (J Kent 17:41, K Murphy 18:12, N Froud 18:56, S Boxer 19:20); 3 Bed H 74:28 (N Haggart 20:32, S Cartwright 18:25, K Sharman 17:52, A Folland 17:39; 4 Stragglers 75:30 (S Winter 17:28, P Whitter 19:39, D Smale 19:38, S Hall 18:55), 5 Dulw R(W50)76:32 (C Elms 16:45, A Norris 18:38, L Clapp 21:10, L Pickering 19:59); 6 Nene V 78:00 (L Grimer 18:58, L Blake 20:32, S Wilkinson-Hargate 19:37, N Morgan 18:53); 7 Winchester 78:14; 8 St Albans 78:25; 9 Tonbridge 80:12; 10 Read RR80:51; 11 Bed C 85:08; 12 Sandhurst 94:26

Fastest: C Elms (Dulw R, W50) 16:45; L Fraser (C&C)/S Winter (Strag) 17:28; E Garraway (Bed C)/S Unwin-Mann (Read RR) 17:38; A Folland (Bed H) 17:39

SOUTH OF ENGLAND YOUNG ATHLETES’ ROAD RELAYS, Bedford

ON a day of blustery winds, Poole AC’s under-13 girls won the first trophy as they pulled back the second-leg lead established by Herne Hill’s Maisie Collis, who was quickest with 9:50.

Sam Bodoano anchored Aldershot, Farnham & District’s under-13 boys’ team home to gold ahead of their B team, who were second but not able to take to the podium as awards are now limited to just one set per club. Back in the fourthplaced team, Herne Hill, Jaden Kennedy was fastest with 9:24 on the third leg.

Next away were the under-15 boys and, after Max Perry led for the Vale of Aylesbury on the first lap, Cambridge & Coleridge came through on the final circuit to win, with OJ Parmenter at the helm. This pulled back the lead that Aldershot’s Luke van Oudtshoorn had established on the penultimate lap with the fastest race time of 9:36.