Nopesport

SYO - JK Victors Last Year

The first of this year’s UK Relay League is the JK, being held at Hopwas Woods. The terrain is fast and undulating, but there are some tricky areas where accurate navigation is required. Following this is the British Championships, down in deepest Cornwall at the fantastic Penhale Sands. Here mistakes will be costly as relocation in the sand dunes is a rather tricky business, but the open terrain could lead to some very exciting head-to-head races. The standings here will largely depend upon who is making the long trip to the South West. There is then a month break until we return to the furthest north relay – the Scottish Champs. Another sand-dune orientated event sees this year’s competition being staged at Tentsmuir, but unlike Penhale these are forested sand dunes so technical expertise will be the dish of the day. Again, the final results will largely depend upon who is making the trip north. This year’s Harvester is just one week after the Scottish Champs, but with slightly closer proximity to the middle of the country should see a good turnout. After some land access problems, HALO have stepped in to take on the event which will now be held at Pillar Woods. This is likely to be a furious head-to-head race with an open forest leading to very fast times – those teams who emerge in daylight with a sizeable lead should stay there as it will be very hard to catch time up on this area. So who’s in with a shout for this year’s honours?

Men’s Preview

Last year saw OD take the men’s title for a second year running, winning both the Harvester and the Scottish. But club changes over the winter saw Dan Halliday move to EUOC, and Andy Preston and Richard Guillaume both moving to SYO. This year’s team, however, is still very strong – Graham Gristwood is in impressive form, winning the first 2 UK Cup races this year, along with Nicholas Morgan, Julian Simpson and Norwegian Jan-Egil Wagnild – and should not be far away from the front of this year’s races.

Last year’s runners-up in the UK Relay League were SYO, but they too have suffered losses over the winter. 2 members of their JK winning team last year have moved clubs – Oli Johnson moving back to SHUOC and Dave Peel rejoining WCH. However, they have also had new members joining their ranks this year. Rob Baker has moved from WAROC, Al Buckley has joined from INT and Andy Preston and Richard Guillaume both moving from OD. Their A-team’s performance will be affected by whether Jamie Stevenson is running for the team, and with his appearance at this year’s JK they will be hoping to hang on to the trophy for a second year running. Other team members include Tim Tett, Mike Sprot and Phil Winskill, proving a great strength-in-depth, they will be a tough team to beat at this year’s Harvester if they get a full strength team out.

Another team to have a boost over the winter months is EPOC, whose only outing in last year’s relays was a 19th place at the JK. However, Ed Nash has joined their ranks, as has Clive Parry and Niall Bourke, and along with Dickie Wren and Andy Etherden they will be looking for podium places this year.

Last year’s British Champs Relay winners were FVO, and they will be looking to repeat that feat this year with a similar team of Nick Barrable, Steve Nicholson and Martin Dean (last year’s winning team) along with Marcus Pinker, Will Hensman, Jason Inman and Kyle Heron (depending on whether Kyle runs for EUOC or not!). Another team to watch out for at the Harvester.

Sheffield University have benefited from the return to university of GB Squad member Oli Johnson, along with the improvements made by Matt Crane over the winter months. SHUOC will be another team featuring highly at all relays this year, as they have a vast pool of runners to pick from, including 5 of the top 12 from last weeks mass start UK Cup race – Rob Little, Chris Sellens, Andy Middleditch, David Sprot and Neil Northrop. Also available are James Hargreaves, Pete Hodges, Mark Bown, and juniors Rhys Findlay-Robinson (currently top of the M20 FCC rankings), David Bolton, Colin Olivant, Will Spain and Matt Dickinson.

The rumours are also flying about Walton Chaser’s Dream Team, comprising of a number of athletes who have all been past members of the Midlands club. Stephen Palmer, Dave Peel and Andy Kitchin, all of whom have run for Great Britain at the World Championships, will be running for WCH this year. As for their 4th runner at this year’s JK, it has neither been confirmed or denied that one of the Duncan brothers will be making an appearance for their childhood club, but one thing that is for certain is that this team is likely to be a very strong contender for titles this year.

Interlopers will be hoping to get back to winning ways again this year. A strong squad of runners, anchored by World Champs runner Dan Marston, includes Dave and Chris Godfree, Graeme Ackland, Neil Marston, Rob Lee, Ray Ward and Ant Squire. The Scottish club will certainly be hoping for silverware at the Scottish Champs, but they will be facing some strong opposition from the other Edinburgh club – EUOC. This year saw another influx of some of Britain’s top juniors, including Mark Nixon, Daniel Halliday, James Tullie, Kyle Heron and James Bennett. Combined with last year’s team of Murray Strain, Scott Fraser, Oleg Chepelin and Mark Saunders, they also have Swedish athlete Stefan Andersson who is getting used to the British terrain now and will be pushing for a spot in their A team. A full strength team at the Harvester could see the trophy winging it’s way up to Scotland.

Other teams who could figure highly include the combination team of MAROC and GRAMP, BOK, OUOC, WAROC and CLYDE.

Women’s Preview

Last year’s winners SYO will be hoping to hold onto their title this year after win’s at the JK and British Champs and a 3rd at the Scottish in last year's competition. Their team comprises GB Squad members Helen Winskill, Jenny Whitehead, Jo Stevenson, and are backed up by Jenny Peel (nee James), Clare Leventon and Hilary Bloor. A definite front-runner for titles this year.

Hot on there heels last year were INT, although no team has been entered for the JK this year. But with the likes of Gillian Godfree and Claire Ward in their club, it is unlikely that they won’t be fielding a strong team in this year’s Relay League.

3rd placed team last year were FVO who claimed full points at the Scottish Champs despite finishing 2nd due to Edinburgh Uni being non-competitive for the UK Relay League. A squad consisting of Hazel Dean, Kirsty Bryan-Jones and Rona Molloy (last year’s team at the Scottish Champs) as well as Beccy Osborn and new recruit Janine Hensman (who moved from INT) will certainly be aiming to reverse the placings at this year’s Scottish, as well as high finishes at the the other 3 races.

But as usual, EUOC will be threatening to stop them achieving this. Last year’s Junior World Champs bronze medallist Alison O’Neil spearheads a youthful squad of runners including Heather Gardner, Lucy Jepson, Rose Burden and Kirsten Strain, however the loss of Mhairi Mackenzie through injury could prevent them holding onto their Scottish Championships title.

CLOK have been another club who have benefited from winter club changes, with both Aislinn Austin, Hannah Wootton and Pippa Whitehouse all joining up for the North-East club. Unfortunately Pippa is injured and so will be unlikely to feature in the early races, but the club are lucky enough to have Karen Heppenstall to step into the team.

Another club who has had a big boost over the winter is SLOW, who see the return of Heather Monro to her childhood club. Along with Rachael Holmes and Amy Sarkies (nee Willis) the London club could figure highly in this year’s races.

Another university team fighting for top spot will be Oxford. Club coach Becky Carlyle has got a good group of girls together, and along with JWOC team member Cerys Manning and Swedish runner Emma Dahlstedt could see OUOC back at the top of the major relays after many years.

But they will also be challenged by BUSA runners-up SHUOC. Winners of the Harvester 2 years ago, they didn’t have a great performance last year, but with a pool of runners including Rachael Elder, Laura Daniel, Suzy Robertson, Hazel Tant, Kathy Van Hee and Eleanor West.

Sheffield unfortunately lose out to the mighty Southampton OC who keep hold of Lizzie Adams, who will be running with Christine Currie and Jane Morgan and will be trying to improve on last year’s 4th place at the JK relays.

Other teams to watch out for are BOK, BAOC and OD.

JK Results
British Results
Scottish
Harvester