Midland 6/4 Stage Relays: Race Report

The report starts with our ladies, who started off quickly and strongly, with Cath Holden running a speedy 20:47 to get the ball rolling. This was then succeeded by Tipton's fastest leg, with Beth Tabor coming in with a 20:37 and picking up seven huge places to push the team into seventh. Sally-Ann Walker then ran a 23:15, only nine seconds slower than the 23:06 she produced in March. This was followed by Nia Nokes' 23:38 anchor leg, in which she unfortunately picked up a stitch that hampered her progress. The team came through in a respectable 15th, with all four ladies running fast times to help the team finish as high as possible.

The B team also finished in a prominent 40th position, with Lisa Kendrick, Cheryl Graham, Grace Slater and Mya Woodward all running very quick times to help the team finish strongly.

Their race was preceded by the men's A, B and Masters teams at 2:00. Kane Salmon-Hodges kicked off the men's race, coming through in 16th with a time of 17:04, only eight seconds slower than the time he managed in March. Ryan Quiney kept the momentum going with an impressive 17:56. James Neilson, despite struggling with a stitch, pushed through to deliver a crucial third leg in 18:09 while also gaining four positions. But by far the highlight of the men's race was Ryan Deakin's 17:25 fourth leg, pushing the team to 13th on a pretty much deserted leg. Strong runs by Dylan Illidge on leg five and Ad Barnes on leg six helped the team come home in 19th.

The B team came home in 70th, with Thomas Hynes-Oughton's 19:58 stealing the show.

The Masters came a very impressive fourth, only missing out on a podium by four seconds on the anchor leg, with all of the men running particularly strongly over the 5.4km. Five of the six men ran sub-19 minutes, which proved crucial to the final result.

Very well done to all Tipton athletes who played a part in these finishes!