Inter County Match and Relay Race Report from The Knighton 20 Miles 19-3-2023

While we have sent relay teams to this event for several years, this was the first time that an Inter County (I.C.) match was included, which gave us the opportunity to give debuts to athletes preparing for the London and Manchester marathons in the following four/five weeks. As usual “the best-laid plans of men and mice” were affected by two late men’s withdrawals, (both medically prompted), including one at 7.00 a.m. on the morning of the race. However, although it rained from the minute I left home in Mold, to my arrival in Knighton, the weather brightened up as the start neared and it stayed dry for the rest of the day.

Men’s Race: Ryan Davis (Wrexham) was men’s captain again and he led the field for the first of the three laps, eventually finishing 51 seconds behind open race winner Oliver Harrandance (1:51:13) in a new NWRAC all-time men’s best of 1:52:04. As in the Rhyl 10 race, he was the winner of the Inter-County match. Joel Gomes (Wrexham) is more at home on the mountains and trails and made his debut in the Meerbrook 15km, a performance which showed his ability to adapt to the roads. He was a little disappointed with 6th overall and 5th in the I.C. match, but his time of 1:57:33 was hard-earned. Jonathan Kettle (NWRRC) had been injured for many months and his participation was in doubt for some time, but he now looks to be nearing full fitness and ran a sensible race for 16th and 12th I.C. in 2:04:02. Dafydd Gwyn (Eryri) was the last of our men’s team and is one of those runners preparing for a marathon. He is also busy coaching an U/13 girl’s team in Caernarfon, but he too ran a sensible race to finish 34th and 18th I.C. on his debut. So despite our men’s team only having four runners, we got silver! Team result: 1. Shropshire 20; 2. N. Wales 36; 3. Staffordshire 42; 4. Cheshire 47.

Women’s race: Tracy Rogers (Buckley) was the women’s team captain for the day, and like Ryan, ran a superb race. Third, in both the open race and the I.C. match, her time was also an NWRAC all-time best of 2:14:47.Jennifer Charlton (Eryri) was the first of our four ladies making their debut in the team, she looked calm and composed as she readies for London and finished in 16th and 12th I.C. in 2:25:36. Denbigh’s Eleanor Ashcroft was the second of our debutants. She ground out a hard-fought 2:26:02 for 18th and 14th I.C. Then came the third of our four, who looked happy as she smiled for the camera on the finish line, Catherine Tudor-Jones (Cybi) in 2:30:30 for 23rd and 16th I.C. Christine Cammillare (Deestriders) came into the team at very late notice and had only arrived home from a skiing holiday the day before, but she battled her way around – at one point nearly being knocked over by a spectator keen to take a photo of another runner – to finish in 34th and 21st I.C. Nia Gwyn (Eryri) was the fourth of our newcomers and had to dig deep to complete the three laps, but she persevered to finish 38th and 22nd I.C. in 2:38:49. Teams: 1. Shropshire 27; 2. Staffordshire 32; 3. Cheshire 34; 4. N. Wales 45.

Relay Race:

We have a good record in the relay race here, having won several times over the years, including taking both the men’s and women’s victories in 2022 and two of our 2022 women’s team, Jane and Rachel, were in action again this year. Both Shropshire and N. Wales included a runner in the full 20 miles event in their team of three, and it was disconcerting to see eventual open race winner Lauren Cooper (Shropshire) lead off on leg one. Unsurprisingly, they had a lead of over 90 seconds at the first change-over, but after Jane Doughton (Buckley) took over from Tracy Rogers, she absolutely flew and handed over to Rachel Shipley (Abergele) for the third and final lap almost a minute ahead. Rachel pushed on hard and we took the win in 2:13:04. Looking back, this time is the fastest-ever by our ladies and is more than 2 minutes faster than last year.

For more pictures from the day, go to our NWRAC Facebook page.

Paul Brooks