National Cross Country Relays – Berry Hill Park

After a year away because of the Covid Pandemic, the country's most prestigious Cross Country Relays returned to the calendar on the 6 November and members of GRC were there to participate. Taking place at Berry Hill Park in Mansfield, the weather conditions were generally good, if rather windy on exposed parts of the course.

GRC's ladies were represented by Caroline Davis, Sarah High and Michelle Parczuk. All three put in a great effort competing against a wide age range of ladies including some of the top female runners in the country. Caroline took the first leg getting the team off to a good start and completing her 3K lap the quickest in 14:39. Sarah ran the second lap in 14:54 and Michelle brought the team home with a strong run to finish in 15:21 enabling the team to complete the race in a total time of 44:56.

GRC's Men's Team Captain, Sam Jepson, ran the first 5K Lap for the men and put in a cracking effort to complete his lap in 19:32, the fastest lap for the team and 2 minutes faster than his time in 2019. Russell Whittaker, in his debut cross country race for the club, took the second lap putting in an impressive run to finish in 20:14. Lap 3 was run by Rob Howbrook who is returning to form, and who had a fine run clocking 22:10. The team was brought home by Andrew Pask who put in a strong performance to finish in 22:45, contributing to a very credible overall time, given the high quality of the competition, of 1:24:43.

In terms of final results, Aldershot ladies retained their Senior Women's title, completing the race in 30:21and Shaftsbury Barnet came from behind to snatch victory in the Senior Men's race in a time of 1:02:58.