Men are 10th in road relay

Sunday 17 October 2010

Cardiff's men's team finished an excellent 10th out of 79 teams that contested the prestigious 6 stage national road relay championship at Sutton Park, Birmingham, yesterday, 16th October.

The men had been hoping to capture a medal but still showed a substantial improvement on last year's 17th place.

The ladies could not manage to emulate their fine run of last year, finishing 23rd of 69 finishing teams, although Ava Hutchinson (pictured) recorded the overall fifth fastest leg of all the runners.

The team was led off by Adam Bitchell who handed over to Ieuan Thomas in 15th place. Ieuan brought the team up to 12th before Alex Hains, running the fastest Cardiff leg, improved to 5th, within striking distance of the leaders. Carwyn Jones and Kevin Seaward slipped to 9th and James Thie, running last but still feeling the effects of his 1500m final placing in the Commonwealth Games, crossed the finish line in 10th.

All in all a creditable performance.

Cardiff was the first Welsh team home, with Swansea in 16th place.

The ladies' race is run over four stages and Ava Hutchinson ran the first leg and handed over to Emily Brown in the overall race lead. Emily handed over to Michelle Allen who was followed by sister Natalie to bring the team home in 23rd.

The detailed performances are as follows:

Men:
1. Adam Bitchell    (15)   17:41
2. Ieuan Thomas    (12)   17:56
3. Alex Hains          (5)    17:37
4. Carwyn Jones    (8)    18:07
5. Kevin Seaward (9)    18:14
6. James Thie        (10)   18:35

Team time: 1:48.10

Cardiff also fielded a B team (James Mills, Nat Lane, M Kershaw, Gareth Wiltshire, James Raven and Chris Prothero) which finished 44th.

Women:
1. Ava Hutchinson     (1)    14:29
2. Emily Brown        (14)    16:50
3. Michelle Allen      (21) 16:55
4. Natalie Allen        (23)   17:22

Team time: 1:05.16