Thirty-five Heanor RC runners tackled the Midland 12 and 6 Stage Road Relays at Sutton Park on Saturday with high hopes – and the day certainly didn’t disappoint.

In the absence of Paul Winfield, pitching a tent proved a four-man job – although prime spot was still secured well before half past nine.

The senior men’s race consisted of four long stages of 5.6 miles and eight stages of 3.1 miles, whilst each stage for the senior women’s race comprised the same 3.1 mile distance.

Senior men

Kicking things off for the men’s ‘A’ team was Stuart King. The British Indoor 1500m finalist ran an excellent race to come back 3rd, especially impressive considering the quality of opposition on the opening leg.

The returning James Mee ran 16:22 on leg two to hold the medal position as Dale Annable brought the team home fourth on the second long leg at the quarter point. Daniel Heathcote (18:07) handed over to Joe Rainsford in 5th position and Joe held this position whilst closing the gap on Tipton and Wolves and Bilston in third and fourth respectively.

Tim Holling clocked the exact same time as Heathcote on leg six before Matt Bickerstaff took over to complete the final long leg for the Heanor ‘A’ team. Matt ran strongly to come home 7th.

Impressive performances from Tom Roethenbaugh, Shane Rice and relay debutant Cory Parker saw Heanor lying in 6th with two legs remaining. Another HRC debutante, Gordon Smith, and stalwart Steve Ashmore finished the job off excellently to pull away from Birchfield Harriers and brought the men’s ‘A’ team home 6th.

Veteran Tony Weatherson, who is in his best shape for a number of years, got the ball rolling for the HRC ‘B’ team and ran a well-judged 34:40 on first leg. Chris Dale (18:22) returned to action after a lengthy spell out on leg two before Gary Mellors ran 35:03 to bring the team into 45th position with three legs down.

Fresh from his 1:29 at the Wilmslow Half Marathon the week before, Rob Page gained another position before handing over to Carl Hughes and Ian Mellors. Both ran strong legs to set up debutante Matt Govan, who, fresh to competitive racing, ran 38:02 over the 5.6 mile course.

Scott Wigman and Paul Mercer brought the team back into a top-50 position before debutante Eamon O’Hanlon, Steve Wardle and Jeff Everitt took to the line for the mass start to round off a superb day for HRC.

Senior women

Eleven ladies turned out for the senior women’s event, with the ‘A’ team securing another top-ten spot in the competition and the incomplete ‘B’ sat in 50th after the fifth leg.

Midland Masters 5k champion Lisa Palmer kicks things off for the ‘A’ sextet. Despite a seriously disrupted last six weeks of training through illness and injury, Lisa went sub-19 minutes to finish 13th and said on Facebook after: “Tough race after having nearly 6 weeks out on/off. Pleased I did it though as a great team effort in a tough field of women!”

Louise Insley (19:45) and HRC relay debutante Claire Smith (20:04) consolidated the team’s finish in 11th before Wendy Mullineux brought the team home 8th and what would be their highest position of the race.

Jill Burke (21:43) and Wendy Roethenbaugh (20:58) rounded off the team’s efforts and all eyes are now fixed on Nationals at the same venue on April 11th.

Sisters, Rose and Abbie Leivers, placed the women’s ‘B’ team inside the top-50 from the off. Rita Fisher, Kirsty Hessey and Heather Wesson completed the side’s efforts.

Full results HERE

Photo from Facebook