Northern 6 Stage Road Relays

The Northern 6 Stage is one of my favourite events of the year.  There’s something about the atmosphere at this event, and with it being 6 stages there are lots of teams in with a shout of medals. 

My own club Altrincham have a superb record at this event, finishing in the top 4 on every one of the previous eight years, medalling on seven of those eight occasions.  We’re only a small club, but we do try to target this event and have done pretty well at getting close to our strongest six out on the day. 

This year was going to be tough for us however with four of our strongest six out of the equation.  Andy was injured, Marius was at his brothers wedding, Gavin was also out of action and then just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, Matt Barnes pulled out on the morning of the race with sickness.

With the team that we put out, we did very well to finish 7^th.  Nick Leigh had a cracking run on the first leg coming in 13^th and only 40secs down on leg 1 winner James Smith.  I’d had an easier week after a pretty punishing week last week and was hoping for another improved run as I continued my return to full fitness.  I set off at a good pace without going silly, with Carl Hardman and Niall Brooks in a group up ahead and I was closing down a little on them.  I was quickly caught by Lewis Timmins which I knew would help me as we could feed off each other to try to close the gaps ahead. 

Jonny Mellor was cruising away at the front of the race heading for the fastest leg but there was plenty to go at behind.  Myself and Timmins were carving through the field and I felt like I was having a blinder – it certainly helps having somebody alongside you.  As we reached the final km, it was all starting to bunch up.  We were now within metres of 2^nd placed Salford (Hardman) and Leeds, while Tom Doe had come from behind and caught me and Lewis.  Tom powered through to 2^nd, Carl found a second wind and was followed in quick succession by Lewis and then myself. 

Given how fast I felt I was travelling, and how much ground I made up on class runners like Hardman, I was a tad disappointed with my time of 18:06 but definitely another step in the right direction to be only 45secs down on the likes of Mellor, Wilkinson and Walsh when I think what they were running for 5000m over the summer.