BMAF Road Relays
BMAF Road Relays
Sutton Park, Birmingham
Saturday 18th May 2013
Well after what seems now along time in the planning the BMAF relays finally arrived and we
had 2 teams (M65 and M35) travelling south to Sutton Park, near Birmingham.
The course was 3.01 miles and can be described as very demanding with many undulations
throughout and from the off having to negotiate a long 1.2 mile climb and even 2 cheeky hills
in the last ½ mile !
M65
The Vets M65 started at 11.00am and required a team of 3, so this comprised of Tony, Mick
and Pete who collectively battled through to finish 5th team overall out of 16 – Oxford City AC
took the team gold with a collective team time of 57m 52.
The following individual times were posted.
Tony Hesketh 20 mins 09 secs
Mick Crook 20 mins 50 secs
Pete Bland 21 mins 45m secs
Full Results: http://joelee.co.uk/2013/vets13race1.pdf
M35
The veteran “youngsters” competed at 1.00pm with 81 teams toeing the line in the highly
competitive M35-44 age group category, requiring now 8 individuals.
Overall, we finished 28th team and the following times were posted in leg order
Martyn Bell 15.18m
David Jackson 17.00m
Paul Muller 17.13m
William Martin 18.08m
Glynne Lever 17.27m
Nick Isherwood 18.27m
Peter Ramsdale 21.17m
Stu Edmondson – n/a
Full Results : http://joelee.co.uk/2013/vets13race2.pdf
Post race thoughts / observations
As team captain, my vision 3-4 months ago was to deliver a medal as Horwich RMI
possesses the necessary depth and talent of vet age runners as evidenced in late 2012,
where we medalled at the UKA British Fell Relays. But over the last few months the large
pool of vets available slowly started to dwindle down – so whilst we didn’t fulfil out team
potential at a national level the team on the day did fantastically well and all worked hard.
It was a great honour to be team captain and this is a race I felt very motivated to perform well
and whilst I had a solid race I was inspired to see some standout “personality traits” !
On leg 2, Dave Jackson gave his all and wanted to perform well at this event (got his eye on a
England masters selection) but just at this stage is still in a build phase on his fitness due to
having injuries late 2012 / early 2013 – we will see no doubt in the months to come massive
improvements in his race performances – it certainly didn’t help him having to do 7 hours of
“hod carrying” the day before !!
Paul Muller started leg 3 and he laughs when I say he is a big inspiration to me – this is a well
tuned running machine that’s seen it all and turns out week after week solid performances,
albeit is hampered with knee problems. We can all learn a trick or two from Paul – just look at
his longevity in the sport – whilst not churning out the speeds he used to do he is still ranking
with the UKs best for his age group.
I hadn’t met Nick Isherwood and Glynne Lever prior to this race but was great to see both in
person and in action and both were happy with their performances on the day. Watch this
space to see these guys progressing even more.
Pete Ramsdale started leg 7 and I know he was a little disappointed with his time on the day
but again was a solid run – the team would like to thank Pete who generously drove both
ways making life much easier for us.
And finally a very special mention goes to Stu Edmondson who demonstrated some
personality traits that kind of capture what I as a team captain look for in an individual –
despite being hampered with hamstring problems, he still made the commitment to travel and
compete as he had given his word and desperately didn’t want to let the team down.
We didn’t know just how bad his injury was but collectively we decided that it would be in
Stuarts interests if he didn’t compete and to think of the bigger picture. However, his
enthusiasm and commitment to the good of the team was a delight to witness and has
enormous credibility from my perspective.
So, another great day out and hopefully next year we can have another crack at this fantastic
race and hopefully have a larger pool of vets to tap into.
MB