Race Date: Friday 13th June 2025
Held at SHUCAS, Woodbourn Road, the Steel City Mile is an evening of graded mile track races with the winners of each heat being crowned the King and Queen of the Mile until somebody in a subsequent heat runs a faster time. Led by Race Director Malcolm Baggaley and a team of hard working volunteers all seemed to go well although somebody did forget to bring the race numbers hence the homemade efforts to be seen in the photographs below. Malcolm had his work cut out as, alongside organising teams for the Dam Flask Relays the following week, he had to deal with a number of late withdrawals which led to a depleted programme reduced from five to four races. Last year the King and Queen received a Melon or Pineapple signifying the orb which forms part of the royal regalia but this time around, in an attempt to economise, this was replaced by a grapefruit each. Last across the line was awarded a banana. If we had to pick a man of the match it would be Lawrence Bate who stepped up to do the job that nobody wanted – announcer.
Judging from comments on social media, everybody seemed to have a thoroughly enjoyable time on a warm evening without the storms which marred last years event. Whilst a chance to involve those who might not normally go near an athletics track it is sobering to note that only 28 Steel City actually raced. With the cost of hiring the track for the evening covered by the club it’s going to take some work to persuade the committee that this is a good return on their investment.
Race 1
Kate Scott took the lead from the gun with Andrew Woffindin in hot pursuit until at 400m he stepped off the track. This left Peter Brown unopposed to coast home as the evening’s first King of the Mile with 07:08.9 and Kate extending her lead to become the first Queen of the Mile with 06:39.5
Pos | Name | Time |
1 | Kate Scott | 06.39.5 |
2 | Peter Brown | 07.08.9 |
3 | Fran Marshall | 07.44.5 |
4 | Eleanor Bull | 08.35.1 |
DNF | Andrew Woffindin |

Kate and Peter bearing their regalia of office.
Race 2
Bethan Varney led from the gun, just failing to get under six minutes with 06:01.1 whilst Michael Cragg played the waiting game pouncing with a lap to go and finishing well clear of his nearest rival for the King of the Mile with an impressive 05:52.3.
Pos | Name | Time |
1 | Michael Cragg | 05:52.3 |
2 | Bethan Varney | 06:01.1 |
3 | Hannah Holliday | 06:07.3 |
4 | Simon Naylor | 06:07.6 |
5 | Adam McAuley | 06:16.2 |
6 | Ellen Broad | 06:19.3 |
7 | Victoria Johnson | 06:29.0 |
8 | Jamie Manton | 06:43.4 |

Michael and Bethan who seems to have lost her orb. Note the home made bibs.
Race Three
Things were beginning to really hot up by race three with some experienced track athletes donning their racing spikes. Jed Turner ran a well timed race taking the lead in the final 200m whilst Yasmine Chaffer made sure that she would win the royal grapefruit with 05:45.01.
Pos | Name | Time |
1 | Jed Turner | 05:34.7 |
2 | Richard Heath | 05:37.0 |
3 | Yasmine Chaffer | 05:45.1 |
4 | Ben Elliott | 05:45.5 |
5 | Hannah Shillitoe | 05:49.4 |
6 | Paddy Treehowes | 05:57.4 |
7 | Lucy Broom | 05:58.2 |
8 | Ian Hunter | 05:58.6 |
9 | Colin Hardy | 05:58.9 |
10 | Kathy Liddiard | 06:00.4 |

Michael and Bethan pass on the crown to the winners of race three.
Race Four
This heat proved to give the spectators the most to cheer about. Seth Kirby took it up straight from the gun leading for the first quarter until Naeem Stevens went past using his experience to open a gap but with Steve Cahill in hot pursuit. With 600m to go Steve decided to “mix it up a bit” with an ambitious early run for home which was ultimately unsuccessful as Naeem swept past to win in 4:51.8 but he did run a pb of 4:56.8 although not eligible to be added to his Power of 10 profile.
Pos | Name | Time |
1 | Naeem Stevens | 04:51.8 |
2 | Steve Cahill | 04:56.8 |
3 | Seth Kirby | 05:01.1 |
4 | Louis Wood | 05:25.8 |
5 | Dennis Hamer | 05:30.1 |

Naeem and Yasmine, King and Queen of the Mile for the next twelve months.
4x400m Relay
The evening was rounded off with a “fun” 4x400m relay with team seedings based the mile results from earlier in the evening. Some of the coaches were in despair at the baton exchange technique in evidence. In simple terms, the incoming runner holds the baton in their right hand whilst the outgoing runner, looking over their left shoulder, takes the baton in their left hand. It is the responsibility of the outgoing runner to make sure that they take control of the baton as the incoming runner will be “under stress” to put it mildly.
Pos | Leg 1 | Leg 2 | Leg 3 | Leg 4 | Time |
1 | Jamie Manton | Paddy Treehowes | Simon Naylor | Naeem Stevens | 04:47 |
2 | Ellen Broad | Hannah Holliday | Richard Heath | Steve Cahill | 04:53 |
3 | Andrew Woffindin | Hannah Shillitoe | Ben Elliott | Louis Wood | 04:57 |
4 | Adam McAuley | Kathy Liddiard | Bethan Varney | Dennis Hamer | 05:08 |
5 | Eleanor Bull | Yasmine Chaffer | Jed Turner | Seth Kirby | 05:15 |
6 | Kate Scott | Colin Hardy | Ian Hunter | Lucy Broom | 05:17 |

The winning relay team with cheer squad