This Saturday sees the return of one of the highlights on the club racing calendar as the Midland 6 & 4 Stage Road Relays take place at Sutton Park, Birmingham.

The annual event attracts some of the best runners in the area as teams aim to qualify among the top-25 for the National event that will be held at the same event two weeks later.

Heanor RC previously competed in the North but had the option to switch due to Derbyshire’s unique geographical location.

After taking up that option for the 2012 season, an e-coli outbreak put paid to the club’s Midlands debut in the September of that year. The yellow and blue proved the switch to be justified and worthwhile in 2013, however, as twenty-nine runners turned-out and both “A” teams secured top-ten finishes.

Indeed, the women’s quartet’s sixth-place finish put the wheels in motion for what has since been a highly-successful twelve months, with numerous team, individual and category awards achieved throughout 2014.

For the men, it was a case of so nearly and yet so far as they finished just outside the medals in fourth having led at halfway – still a phenomenal and unprecedented achievement for the club. The “B” team also finished 25th to grab the last qualification spot and ensured Heanor RC had two teams competing in the final for the first time.

That impressive figure of twenty-nine runners is set to be trumped this weekend as four men’s and two women’s teams toe the line at the famous Sutton Park course.

Leading the men’s “A” team will be the recently-crowned Derbyshire 10k champion, Joe Rainsford. Joe has been setting personal bests all summer and, at the Wilne 10k last weekend, ran 31:45 to smash his PB and land the county title.

Heading the women’s “A” quartet will be British Masters 5k champion on both road and track, Lisa Palmer. Among those making their regional relay debuts on Saturday will be Phil Baynes and Stephen Jennings for the “B” team as well as Gary Mellors, Rob Page, Matt Chambers, Brett Beeson, Abbie Leivers and Laura Beth James-Hutchinson.

Six men and four women per team will run relay legs of 5.84k – please see above the course map. & please see below for a full timetable of events and directions to Sutton Park from Heanor:

Timetable

10-45am – U13 Boys
10-50am – U13 Girls
11-35am – U15 Boys
11-40am – U15 Girls
12-25pm – U17 Men
12-30pm – U17 Women
1-15pm – Senior Ladies
1-40pm – Senior Men & Masters

Directions to the event from Heanor HERE

Team managers, Rob Rainsford and Lisa Palmer, have requested runners arrive from 12:15pm for team declaration and number distribution – and to help spread the pre-race team love in one of the focal events in the club racing calendar!