Midland 12 Stage Relays
Race Report by Ross Cooper
Well done to the 12 Massey men who represented the club in the Midland 12 Stage Relays at Sutton Park on Saturday afternoon. It was a lovely, sunny day to be out running around the lush surroundings of Sutton Park, and mixing with fellow running clubs across the region. Despite being a bit depleted on Saturday, Massey still managed to finish 36th out 58 teams that finished, and 75 teams overall. We had debutants in this competition from Chris Moore and Jan Hall who both really enjoyed the occasion.
Chris only just joined Massey Ferguson, and commented afterwards how much he had enjoyed the event, and how he didn’t realise until he had joined a running club that he could participate in this type of competition, or that they even existed! I’ve said a few times over the last few years, and will repeat again, that this is an open competition for anyone in the club to take part in. Yes there are very quick runners at the front (much like any race you’ll enter at a weekend), but there are also runners of all standards throughout the field. Massey Ferguson finished ahead of local clubs, Northbrook, Stratford, Sphinx, but Northbrook had 3 teams competing! Our local rivals who struggled to get a team out for the last Birmingham League race at Coundon had 36 men of all abilities running in this event, surely Massey Ferguson with over 100 male members can muster more than 12 for a 5km race on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Sutton Coldfield. Thanks for those who did answer the call last week, 3 or 4 offered to run once we had a complete team, but let’s everyone really try and commit to club races wherever possible. Parkrun happens every weekend, but there are only a very limited number of these races you can enter as a member of a running club
If you want to find out more about the event, please have a chat with any of the guys who ran, or me of course. Next relays are in September, keep an eye out for the date!
Cheers – Ross
36 Massey Ferguson RC 4:59:27
Dean Clarke (44) 32:41 Long leg – 5.4m
Simon Brown (45) 33:06
Simon Neale (44) 33:21
Ross Cooper (43) 33:20
Gary Lawson (41) 19:34 Short leg – 3.1m
Jerry Trill (39) 20:00
Tony Hoy (39) 20:59
Steve Mumford (40) 22:23
Jan Hall (39) 21:19
Mick O’Shea (40) 21:36
Jamie Turner (38) 21:08
Chris Moore (38) 20:00