Valley Men Show Good Promise At National Road Relay
A trip to Sutton Park, Birmingham for the TVH men on Saturday could mean only one thing, it was time for the National Road Relay Championships.
The Valley men had 2 newcomers in their national 6 man senior team and they helped the team make the top 50 to finish in 49th place out of a total of 77 finishing teams.
It also put the absence from last year’s race behind them and showed good promise for the future.
Saturday’s 6 Stage National Road Relay saw the best 6 man road relay teams in the country competing over a 1 lap course just short of 6km around the scenic grounds of Sutton Park.
On their lap around the roads inside Sutton Park each runner was faced with a fast short downhill start followed by a challenging hill going up through the woods, then an undulating section of road before turning to go down a long hill back into the woods and back out again onto a short hill to the finish line.
Thankfully heavy rain earlier in the morning gave way to afternoon sunshine for the start of the men’s race, which along with a moderate wind helped to dry out the course.
On the start line for the men’s team was Mohamud Aadan, who made good use of the improved conditions and in a very competitive 1st leg he finished in 15th place, in a very quick time of 17m 47s, the fastest time of the day for the Valley men and just over half a minute off the race leaders.
800m runner Mohamed Jebari-el-Majdoub was making his debut in the national relay and his 2nd leg time of 18m 40s was a very good time, especially as he had only a few hours of sleep the night before and it saw MoJo come home in 20th place.
On leg 3 another Valley 800m man Myles Edwards didn’t make things easy for himself, combining a trip down from Scotland whilst carrying a minor injury he still managed another very good time of 18m 33s to move the team up into the top 20 in 19th place.
Having only come into the team with a few days notice Manuel Da Silva had a tough race on leg 4 and worked hard to maintain his rhythm to come home in 47th place in a time of 22m 09s.
Up for leg 5 was the youngest member of the Valley team, Toby Clyde, who at just 17 was racing in his first senior relay, and it proved to be a very impressive debut as Toby recorded an excellent time of 19m 15s to gain 5 places and move the team up into 42nd place.
For the 6th and final leg youth passed on to experience, as Valley veteran Steve Norris once again heeded the Valley call to complete the team with a very good run which earned him the time of 20m 52s and a final finishing place of 49th out of 77 finishing teams in the race.
As in the Southern Road Relay, there was some silverware on offer at Birmingham for the winner of the club’s National Road Relay Trophy, awarded for the fastest handicap leg on the day.
In the end there proved to be a clear winner, as U20 athlete Toby Clyde had an excellent run to win the trophy by nearly a minute in a handicap time of 16m 45s.
Congratulations and very well done Toby!
In a close fought battle for the remaining places Myles Edwards once again took 2nd in 17m 33s, with Steve Norris in 3rd place in a handicap time of 17m 37s.
Well done to all those on the team, there were some very good performances from the Valley men on the day and they showed that there is a lot more to come for the 12 Stage Road Relays in the spring next year.
Men’s National 6 Stage Road Relay Results, 04-10-14.
49 TVH – Senior Men 1:57:16
1 Mohamud Aadan 17:47 15 17:47
2 Mohamed Jebari-el-Majdoub 18:40 20 36:27
3 Myles Edwards 18:33 19 55:00
4 Manuel Da Silva 22:09 47 1:17:09
5 Toby Clyde 19:15 42 1:36:24
6 Steve Norris 20:52 49 1:57:16
77 Finishing Teams
Men’s National 6 Stage Road Relay Handicap Cup Results.
1 Toby Clyde 16m 45s
2 Myles Edwards 17m 33s
3 Steve Norris 17m 37s
4 Mo Jo 17m 40s
5 Mohamud Aadan 17m 47s
6 Manuel Da Silva 19m 09s