Race Date: Tuesday 17th June 2025
It is surely without doubt that the Dam Flask Relays, doubling as the South Yorkshire Relay Championships, have become the focal point of club athletics in the county. With 582 competitors from 167 teams with virtually every South Yorkshire club represented this compares to the 253 men and women that toed the line in the cross country championship race back in December last year. Hosted by Sheffield Running Club with support from other local clubs the approximately 5.7km course starts and finishes in Low Bradfield circumnavigating Dam Flask Reservoir. Most of the early part of the course along the southern side of the reservoir will be familiar to anyone who has run the Percy Pud but the route holds a demanding test with a steep climb, including a false summit to catch the unwary, between about 3.5km to 4.0 km. This is followed by a terrifying, doms inducing, descent with an unwelcome 700m run to the line as the coup de gras. A true test which attracts everyone from the stars, wanting to see who is top dog, to those seeking a more social but still testing run out with beer for everyone at the cricket club afterwards.
Warm up with Hannah, Naeem, Yasmine, Tim and Sarah-Jane all either having forgotten about or blissfully unaware of the hill at two miles. (Photo: Carol Wolstenholme)
Senior Men, M40 and M50
The men set off at 19:00 with Hallamshire dominating affairs finishing first (1:13:42), second and fourth with Euan Brown running the fastest leg of 17:23. In the trenches Seth Kirby was fastest for Steel City with 19:09. whilst the M40’s finished in third position.
| Pos | Cat | Leg1 | Time | Leg2 | Time | Leg3 | Time | Leg4 | Time | Total Time |
| 6 | SM | Naeem Stevens | 19:17 | Seth Kirby | 19:09 | Liam Brennan | 19:41 | Jack Chapman | 20:47 | 01:18:57 |
| 11 (3) | M40 | Steven Cahill | 19:56 | Michael Cockings | 20:30 | Jonathan Smith | 21:38 | John Kilcoyne | 20:49 | 01:22:57 |
| 19 | SM | Brendon Wain | 20:16 | Dan Deighton | 21:13 | Alexander Briggs | 22:28 | Pierre McCarthy | 21:35 | 01:25:36 |
| 25 | M40 | James Fulcher | 22:50 | Darrel Porter | 22:04 | Denis Hamer | 21:56 | Louis Wood | 21:29 | 01:28:25 |
| 31 | M40 | Michael Pearson | 22:27 | Ben Mooney | 22:46 | Sergei Shkul | 23:10 | Paul Hargreaves | 22:05 | 01:30:37 |
| 38 | SM | Tim Erskine | 23:33 | Luke Clay | 22:54 | Tom Hughes | 23:18 | Ed Shattock | 21:45 | 01:31:34 |
| 46 | M50 | Al Cook | 24:16 | Paddy Treehowes | 23:36 | Chris Lawson | 23:25 | Martin Greenough | 25:02 | 01:36:26 |
| 47 | SM | Ian Black | 24:27 | Elis Evans | 24:10 | Alex Leonard | 24:11 | Jim Rangeley | 23:53 | 01:36:46 |
| 62 | M50 | Ian Stinson | 24:19 | Neil Schofield | 23:35 | Brian Jenkins | 28:49 | Robin Nelson | 26:17 | 01:43:06 |
| 73 | SM | Sam Ainscough | 24:24 | Chris Barrott | 30:02 | Nick Ibbotson | 27:43 | Kevin Wong | 30:10 | 01:52:25 |
Al Cook (52A) pipped Ian Stinson (53A) by three seconds with Sam Ainscough just visible in the background five seconds further back. (Photo Carol Wolstenholme).
Senior Senior Women, F35, F45, and F55
The women set off five minutes later. On the first leg, Caroline Brock ran 21:27 some 44 seconds behind Hallamshire. On leg two Leah Epton, running 23:44, chased down her opponent reversing the deficit to come in 46 seconds ahead. This left final leg runner Abbie Pearse to cruise round in 20:49 and bring Steel City home first some 2 mins 42 secs ahead of Hallamshire with strength in depth with the B team finishing as the third senior women’s team. There was also glory for the F45 trio of Natalie Neville, Fiona Jeffries and Sarah Allcard who led from gun to tape. Perhaps this will give Sarah a taste for the event as she is rarely seen at the relays. The F55’s also fared well finishing second of the three complete F55 teams with the F35’s coming home third in their age category.
| Pos | Cat | Leg1 | Leg2 | Leg3 | Total Time | |||
| 1 | SF | Caroline Brock | 21:27 | Leah Epton | 23:44 | Abbie Pearse | 20:49 | 01:06:03 |
| 5 (3) | SF | Yasmine Chaffer | 23:21 | Hannah Basu | 23:19 | Sarah-Jane Brown | 23:34 | 01:10:18 |
| 7 (3) | F35 | Kathy Liddiard | 24:05 | Hannah Holliday | 24:24 | Jacqui Herring | 24:50 | 01:13:24 |
| 9 (1) | F45 | Natalie Neville | 23:31 | Fiona Jeffries | 26:06 | Sarah Allcard | 24:34 | 01:14:15 |
| 11 | SF | Emily Green | 23:45 | Ellen Broad | 24:42 | Victoria Johnson | 27:22 | 01:15:53 |
| 29 | SF | Laura Rangeley | 27:18 | Colleen Moore | 30:48 | Charlotte Allen | 27:06 | 01:25:19 |
| 40 (2) | F55 | Caroline Greenough | 26:57 | Karen Clark | 28:50 | Dawn Jackson | 34:13 | 01:30:05 |
M60
There was drama in the M60 race which set off with the women at 19:05. As Jed Turner was trundling round leading all the other older men he felt a painful pull in his calf reducing him to a hobble. If this were any other road race, he would have simply stepped off the course and hitched a lift back to the finish but this was a relay and it was his duty to bring the baton round for his team so that they could continue with his second leg man wondering where on earth had he got to. If Jed had run anywhere near his time from last year the M60’s might have won but one wag, who reckoned that this was the first time that he had beat Jed this century, pronounced that the results never say that you had an injury or was coming off a 100 mile week or any other reason taken form The Runner’s Bok of Excuses.
Jed Turner hobbling round making sure that the baton got home. The sight of people going past in droves must surely have been as painful as the calf injury itself. (Photo: Carol Wolstenholme)
| Pos | Cat | Leg1 | Leg2 | Leg3 | Total Time | |||
| 3 (3) | M60 | Jed Turner | 28:50 | Phil Mason | 23:20 | Mark Baines | 25:32 | 01:17:44 |
| 4 | M60 | Peter Brown | 27:55 | Peter Diamantis | 27:04 | Andrew Rowland | 29:04 | 01:24:09 |
| 7 | M60 | Anthony Bell | 28:43 | Andrew Woffindin | 35:41 | John Nicholson | 27:58 | 01:32:29 |
Link to Provisional Results Dam Flask Relays 2025
A brilliant seventy Steel City over twenty teams turned out in total well marshalled by the club captains including “Malcolm In The Middle”, Malcolm Baggaley who had the unenviable job of trying to sort out teams as the late withdrawals rolled in in the week preceding the race.
At the finish, we witnessed some brave lad arguing with Race Referee Keith Binney about wearing earphone during races. In simple terms, since April last year, all in ear and over ear headphones are banned from running events although if the route is fully closed to everyone except those competing the organisers may allow any type of headphones but at their discretion. (Photo Carol Wolstenholme).