National Young Athletes’ Road Relays, Sutton Park, 4 October 2015; top 20 analysis

National Young Athletes’ Road Relays, Sutton Park, 4 October 2015; top 20 analysis

The Herne Hill Harriers Red and Black army returned to the spiritual home of UK road relay running, Sutton Park. The classic traffic free course, where all YA age groups run the 3.86km distance, provides a tough test over hilly terrain. Returning to the same course year on year also enables comparison with previous years, in terms of individual and team winning times.

As a rule, if you do well in the Southern Road Relay championships you should do well at the nationals, as many of the strongest clubs are from the South of England. In my report on the southerns, I noted that HHH team had the second most top ten placings of any club to Aldershot, Farnham and District.

To take account of the fact this is a national rather than regional event, I have undertaken a similar analysis but using top 20 rather than top 10 finishes.

The great news is that our youngsters outperformed all others using this parameter, with 9 top 20 finishes, compared to Aldershot on 8, Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers 6, Charnwood, Tonbridge and Windsor on 5, Bracknell, Blackheath and Bromley, Cambridge and Coleridge and Liverpool on 4.

By providing such a massive and successful presence at these prestigious events, our young athletes put our Club very firmly on the map. I was amazed at the number of people around the course who ‘expected’ the red and black vests to be to the fore across the age groups. Following their lead, our senior teams should be aspiring to similar heights. Let’s make it a great winter for all.

Keith Newton