Forge Valley School was again the venue for this year’s Relays Festival. The cycle track loop – a little short of the advertised 1km – provided the opportunity for relay laps over a variety of distances from around 500 metres to 2km.
It also provided the opportunity for very many excellent close-up photos, all illustrating Striders putting every last effort in for their team-mates. We all know the importance of keeping relaxed when running – think Carl Lewis floating along in the 100 metres or the casual but effective stride of Jakob Ingerbrigtsen – and there were some fine examples of this on Wednesday night.
Some athletes showing poise and relaxation
The evening started with the 4 x 1km event, with Striders fielding 8 teams in total, finishing 2nd, 4th and 5th in the Senior Women’s event, 1st in the M60 category, 2nd in the M40’s and 3rd in the Senior Men.
4 x 1km results:
| Women | ||||||
| Position | Leg 1 | Leg 2 | Leg 3 | Leg 4 | Total Time | Age Cat position |
| 3 | Yasmine Chaffer 3.16 | Kathryn Liddiard 3.22 | Sarah-Jane Brown 3.13 | Leah Epton 3.15 | 13.06 | 2nd SW |
| 5 | Emily Green 3.18 | Hannah Basu 3.16 | Phillipa Dew 3.21 | Ellen Broad 3.33 | 13.28 | 4th SW |
| 6 | Sarah Thorne 3.12 | Victoria Johnson 3.39 | Kate Scott 3.37 | Alice Taylor- Bennett 3.33 | 14.01 | 5th SW |
| 25 | Karen Clark 4.13 | Colleen Moore 4.09 | Eleanor Bull 4.56 | Hannah Wright 5.18 | 18.36 | 15th SW |
| Men | ||||||
| Position | Leg 1 | Leg 2 | Leg 3 | Leg 4 | Total Time | Age Cat position |
| 4 | Richard Carter-Pearson 2.45 | Naeem Stevens 2.52 | Jack Chapman 2.45 | Seth Kirby 2.47 | 11.09 | 3rd SM |
| 10 | Steven Cahill 2.56 | Paul Hargreaves 3.02 | Ian Hunter 3.18 | Jonathan Smith 3.05 | 12.21 | 2nd M40 |
| 13 | Pierre McCarthy 2.57 | Adam Brooks 2.58 | Malcolm Baggaley 3.19 | Ed Shattock 3.26 | 12.40 | 9th SM |
| 26 | Jed Turner 3.07 | Mark Baines 3.34 | Andrew Woffindin 4.20 | Chris Ireland 3.20 | 14.21 | 1st M 60 |
The 4 x 1km winning female team was Hillsborough and Rivelin in 12.36, and the winning men were Hallamshire in 10.34. An amazingly consistent performance from North Derbyshire in 9th place where all four runners clocked exactly the same time of 2.57.
Showing how it should be done
Next up, the “Descent of Doom” – an odd name really as each leg gets progressively shorter, so really it should be the Descent of Delight. Anyway, 4 legs – 2km, 1500m, 1k and then a 500m blast. There was good success for Striders in this event, finishing 2nd in the Senior Women’s event, 4th in the Senior Men’s. 2nd in the M40’s and 1st in the M60’s.
| Women | ||||||
| Position | 2000m | 1500m | 1000m | 500m | Total Time | Age Cat position |
| 3 | Leah Epton 7.09 | Emily Green 5.32 | Hannah Basu 3.21 | Phillipa Dew 1.28 | 17.3 | 2nd SW |
| Men | ||||||
| Position | 2000m | 1500m | 1000m | 500m | Total Time | Age Cat position |
| 4 | Richard Carter- Pearson 5.58 | Jack Chapman 4.31 | Pierre McCarthy 2.54 | Ed Shattock 1.30 | 14.53 | 4th SM |
| 9 | Jonathan Smith 6.44 | Steven Cahill 4.55 | Paul Hargreaves 3.09 | Ian Hunter 1.27 | 16.15 | 2nd M40 |
| 20 | Chris Ireland 7.21 | Jed Turner 5.30 | Mark Baines 3.41 | Andrew Woffindin 1.42 | 18.14 | 1st M60 |
First male team in the Descent of Doom were Hallamshire Harriers in 13.50. First female team was Hillsborough and Rivelin in 17.13.
The final event was the mixed 4 x 500m relay, and it was great to see Sarah Jane Brown leading the the 35 teams out on the first leg. Striders fielded 5 teams, finishing in 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th, 13th and 30th positions.
| Position | Leg 1 | Leg 2 | Leg 3 | Leg 4 | Total Time |
| 3 | Sarah-Jane Brown 1.29 | Jack Chapman – 1.09 | Yasmine Chaffer – 1.35 | Naeem Stevens – 1.16 | 5.29 |
| 6 | Kathryn Liddiard 1.39 | Pierre McCarthy 1.11 | Emily Green 1.37 | Steven Cahill 1.21 | 5.48 |
| 9 | Phillipa Dew 1.34 | Paul Hargreaves 1.20 | Hannah Basu 1.34 | Ed Shattock 1.33 | 6.01 |
| 12 | Kate Scott 1.45 | Seth Kirby 1.15 | Alice Taylor- Bennett 1.39 | Mark Baines 1.28 | 6.07 |
| 13 | Ellen Broad 1.44 | Chris Ireland 1.32 | Sarah Thorne 1.32 | Jed Turner 1.20 | 6.08 |
| 30 | Colleen Moore 2.02 | Malcolm Baggaley 1.29 | Eleanor Bull 2.25 | Andrew Woffindin 1.56 | 7.52 |
Hillsborough and Rivelin won the event in 5.15.
Full results on the Sheffield Relays Festival FB page: here
Many thanks to the team captains for all their efforts to put the teams together.