ROAD RELAY SUCCESS FOR RUGBY & NORTHAMPTON’S UNDER-17 MEN
Athletics club’s teenage stars led an impressive performance at the Midlands Road Relays
Rugby & Northampton entered 10 teams across three age groups in the Midlands Road Relays on Saturday 24th September at Sutton Park, Birmingham.
The Athletics Club were victorious in the Under-17 Men’s competition with the A team taking pole position. Joshua Lay completed the race in 12:13 to win Stage 1 and register the fastest U17 time of the day.
It was much of the same in the other two stages with strong runs from both Joe Musgrove (13:03) and Adam Searle (12:48) maintaining the club’s first-place position.
Finishing eighth in the U17 Men’s event was the club’s C team. Mussab Hassan (12:53) ran well to clinch ninth in Stage 1, Matthew Chronicle (13:13) crossed the Stage 2 line in sixth and, completing the team, Thomas Hughes (13:25) finished Stage 3 in seventh.
R&N’s U17 B team included races from Rhys James (19th, 13:35), Finn Hutton (17th, 13:41) and William McMurtrie (16th, 15:05) to finish 16th overall.
Adam Caulfield was the second fastest on the course in the U15 Men’s competition as the R&N team finished fourth. Caulfield (12:55) was the first to race and was supported by Cian Hutton (14:35) and Myles Martin (13:56).
The U13 Men’s team continued R&N’s strong form with a fifth-place finish. Noah Bennett started the team off in a strong position, completing the race in the fifth fastest time of 14:16. Following Bennett were Oliver Birch (15:48) and Henry Woodward (14:52).
A top-five finish was the reward for a great performance by the A team in the U15 Women’s event. Lucy Stevens (15:17) got the team under way and was followed by Molly Williams (15:43), before Amelia McMurtrie (16:18) produced a strong run to lift the team by three places and into fourth.
The U15 C and B teams finished 13th and 24th respectively. Emma Barker (17:42), Georgina Woodward (16:44) and Abigail Pearce (15:49) represented the C team while the B team comprised Neve Satchwell (16:51), Amelia Dickens (17:52) and Rebecca Edwards (17:02)
Claudia Searle completed the first stage in 15:26 for the Under 13’s women, the ninth fastest time in the age group, and Elspeth Unitt (16:04) built on the good start. A final leg from Olivia Williams (16:34) secured eighth place for the team.
Meanwhile, Hollie Moore (16:05) was first on the course in the U17 Women’s race, followed by Charis Hayes (17:59) and Olivia Sheehan (16:23) for an overall place of 17th.
