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British Sprint Championships
Great results for the club at the British Sprint Champs weekend, including 2 individual wins and a win in the relays ...
A small but perfectly formed squad of Interløpers made the trip south to Skelmersdale, West Lancashire last weekend.
Saturday was the mixed relay, and we had three teams entered. Due to a bad accident on the M6, starts were delayed, and then a car dug its way into the mud of the event car park field, but eventually the day’s excitement could commence. First off was our elite team, featuring a legal guest appearance by Helen Bridle who came back in third position. She handed over to James, who to great excitement was clearly in the lead at the spectator control, and kept up his personal tradition of leading at the end of his leg. Colin was next out, and had a solid run, handing over to Fiona who also ran well. Sadly, the Team had mispunched, missing out a control, something in common with around half the teams. The other races all overlapped, with our ad-hoc team of Graeme, Tricia and Lorna, and our super-vet team of Phil, Jane and Paul starting at around the same time. We had high hopes for our super super-vets: recent multi-million pound signing Phil was first off in the winning team two years ago, and was happy to lead out again for us, coming back around twenty seconds down on the leader. Phil handed over to Jane, who despite recent injuries had a fantastic run, coming through the spectator control in the lead, and handing over around two minutes clear. A visibly nervous Paul headed off, not knowing how much the lead was, and not only held his nerve, but even extended the lead slightly. Sadly, new to this winning lark, he didn’t know how to celebrate properly on the run-in.
Sunday was the two-part Individual race, on a different part of Skem. The qualifying races were significantly trickier than the previous day’s relay had been. Most qualified for the ‘A’ final, though sadly there were a couple of very unlucky ‘first non-qualifiers’. There was a long gap between the qualifiers and final, but fortunately the weather was kind, and lots of “catching up after not seeing anyone for a long time” ensued. Each final sees competitors start in reverse order of qualification, so the fastest start last, maintaining excitement. Again, there was success for Interløpers, with top ten finishes for Fiona, James, Phil and Paul, and championship winning runs for both Mairi in W20 and, fantastically, Rachel in W50. Mairi started last in both her qualifier and final, and overtook the entire field to finish first both times. Rachel meanwhile took some notable scalps, including past British squad members.
Next year’s races are in Leeds in mid June.
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