National Road Relays - A Press Report by Scott Mitchell - The Scunthorpe and District Athletic Club, Road Relay Ladies Team

National Road Relay Championships, Sutton Park, Birmingham, Saturday 18th October 2008.

The Ladies endurance squad at Scunthorpe and District Athletic Club continued their exceptional start to the winter season, at the highest level of possible in domestic endurance running, on Saturday 18th of October! Competing against the strongest possible teams from the best athletics clubs in the UK the first team finished in outstanding 14th position at the end of 4 legs, each of just over 4 km.

Starting off with an ill Donna Daly on leg one the first team came in 51st out of the hundred teams on the start line, in a time of 16.18, disappointing for the athlete, but a great foundation for the team to build from as the race progressed. Team mate Jane Kemshall, still a junior at the age of 19, was just eight positions and 21 seconds further back in the field, outlining her massive improvement over the summer months and showing that over the next few seasons Scunthorpe will be competitive at 6 stage as well as 4 stage events and that a real strength in depth is starting to develop at the club.

Leg 2 saw Lindsey Skinner run a highly impressive 15.11 to lift the A team 25 places in the field up to 26th position, demonstrating what an effective runner Lindsey has become over recent years, winning many races on track, road and cross country all over the North of England and following immediately on from her individual 3rd position in leading Scunthorpe ladies to a crushing team victory at Otley the previous Sunday. For the B team Sarah Kemshall, twin sister of Jane, also made progress improving the team position by 6 places up to 53rd with a run of 17.18.

Leg 3 was the turn of Nicola Geddes, twin sister of Lindsey, to excel with a run of 14.50, good enough for the 5th fastest individual time on leg 3 and moving the team up another 13 places into 13th position. This continued from her excellent opening leg in the North of England Championships in Hartlepool 3 weeks previously where her opening leg was 5th fastest by any runner for any team on the day and ensured that the team earned North of England medals for the second successive year, showing sustained excellence from the Scunthorpe team. For the B team Jenny Clayton, a relative newcomer to competitive racing produced a solid performance of 19.29 to see the team in 60th at this stage.

On the final leg Scunthorpe had fell running international, Emma Clayton, proving she can be as effective at racing on tarmac as she has unarguably shown herself to be at running up and down big hills and keeping the team in 14th position, with a run of 16.02. This left the team a mere half a minute away from going top 10 in the country, a feet it’s difficult to imagine any other North Lincolnshire team at any other sport matching. This is made all the more impressive when it’s considered that 3 of the team hold down full time jobs, receive no funding or sponsorship for all the training they do for 12 months of the year, the other A team member being a full time student at Leeds Metropolitan University. Whilst many of the big city teams rely heavily on recruiting university students to boast the strength of their senior teams every member of Scunthorpe’s first  team has been with the club, or one of it’s predecessors, from childhood and has benefitted from the enthusiasm and expertise of the voluntary coaches and supporters, both past and present, who keep athletics thriving in North Lincolnshire. Veteran athlete, Marion Milnes, with a time of 20.25 allowed the B team to finish in 64th position.

The race itself was won by Aldershot Farnham and District, who showed their strength in depth to such an extent that they also had the 5th team to finish, runners up were Charnwood, with the top Northern team being Chester le Street in bronze medal position. The only other team from the North to beat Scunthorpe were Hallamshire Harriers (Sheffield) in 9th position. Even with strong representation Scunthorpe beat the strongest club teams from much bigger cities such as; Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Hull and Lincoln. The only non-English club to finish a team above Scunthorpe were Cardiff in 13th.