ECCA Saucony English National Relay Championships

Chris, Paul, Dan and Gav

A team of four runners from Grantham Running Club made the trip to Berry Hill Park in Mansfield on Saturday to take part in the English Cross Country Relays. The annual event has teams participating from running clubs across the country & offers competitions for both genders across a variety of age groups. It also attracts the very best cross country runners in England meaning a very strong field & a chance for local club runners to rub shoulders with the 'elites'.
GRC's team was taking part in the Senior Men's Competition which consisted of four individual efforts on an undulating & 'slightly short' 5km course (2 laps). Whilst the weather was dry & sunny with very little wind, the rain prior to the event meant the conditions under foot were pretty heavy going. This was compounded by the Senior Men's Competition being last on the schedule meaning that the course had been significantly 'torn up' by the runners beforehand.
Chris Limmer opened proceedings for GRC on leg A & probably had the toughest task of the four runners. This was due to the mass start & things being very crowded for the first kilometre or so until the field had spread out. Chris managed to fight his way through the crowd & finished in a very respectable 19:32 - the fastest time for GRC on the day.
Chris handed over to Paul Davis for leg B. Paul has been struggling with a knee injury of late & said afterwards that he felt he was lacking fitness. Nevertheless he still managed to produce a very solid 22:42. He also managed to look as effortless as ever with his typically 'bouncy' running style despite the tough terrain & his recent injury problems.
Next up on leg C was Dan Towey - a recent addition to GRC. After showing much promise in his first few training sessions with the club, Dan didn't disappoint, finishing in an impressive 20:53. There may be more to come as he commented afterwards 'I didn't pace this very well. At the finish line I felt that I still had plenty left in the tank.'
Finishing things off on leg D was Gav Meadows who just failed to break 21 minutes finishing in 21:06. He said 'Beforehand I was expecting to be around the 20 minute mark. However, this proved to be very optimistic! The undulating terrain & tough conditions underfoot made this the hardest 5km I've ever raced!'
Team GRC finished in a very respectable total time of 1:24:14 placing 133rd in a field of 178 teams. When you consider that the winning team from Tonbridge Athletics Club finished in 1:03:11 it just shows the quality of the field that they were up against. A total of 40 teams finished in under 1:10:00. Tonbridge's average individual time was comfortably under 16 minutes. For a comparison, at the weekly Belton House Parkrun near Grantham (run over the same distance on a much flatter & easier course) the fastest times each week are normally between 17 and 19 minutes.
When you take all this into account, it's clear that GRC's overall performance was one to be very proud of. Perhaps it could be a realistic goal to make the top 100 in the next few years!