Gordon Smith Relays, 10th May 2023
I think that one of the great things about our sport is that runners of all abilities can take part in, and enjoy, the same event. Inter-club relay races are particularly good for this and it is not unusual to see complete beginners lining up with international athletes. Last night was no exception as Claremont’s two relay debutants, Anneliza Andreadi and Holly Porter, who had both come through our Couch to 5K course earlier this year, were joined on the starting line by a former Olympian and a Commonwealth Games finalist! Both ladies did very well and can be proud of their first outing in a sky blue vest.
Lois Blaylock is another who came through the C25K last year when she also made her debut in this event. Lois has missed a lot of training through injury, but has just completed her 2nd relay for us in 8 days. She summarised her experience with this report:
“Thundery downpours were forecast the night before the Gordon Smith relays and when we arrived the sky was very grey indeed.
We had a great turnout and it was good to gather around our flag and chat.
Our club Captain , Laurie , had painstakingly constructed the teams .
The women’s teams were first and the green colours were assigned to the first leg runners. Our ladies flew around gathering pbs and cheers . The atmosphere was good natured and I was thankful when it was my turn to run for the marshals and words of kind support .
Len , Howard and Laurie kindly took photos and Gill , Tom and Cath generously brought cake ( which was also enjoyed by a neighbouring team!).
It was great to be joined by our new members Holly and Annalise who both did extremely well .
We have some wonderful runners in Sarah Kerr, Mark, Izzy, Nikki, Tom, Laurie to mention a few .
Well done and thank you to all who were part of the Claremont ‘massive’ and cheers to the weather gods for holding off the rain.”
It is very kind of Lois to include me in her list of “wonderful” runners – there were indeed some wonderful Claremont performances, but mine wasn’t one of them! In my defence, I was in some pain for much of the race, and definitely think I need a break now – hopefully not for too long.
| Ladies | ||
|---|---|---|
| Position | Runners | Times |
| 17 | Sarah Kerr Nikoletta Szlovak Nicki O’Brien Team Time | 11:54 12:34 15:31 39:59 |
| 52 | Lucy Keating Holly Porter Cate Walker Team Time | 15:08 16:13 15:50 47:11 |
| 56 | Julie Cross Anneliza Andreadi Gill Milne Team Time | 15:24 15:31 17:32 48:27 |
| 59 | Kimberley Metson Rose Hawkswood Cath Robson Team Time | 13:36 17:39 17:34 48:49 |
| 71 | Isabel Neatrour Lois Blaylock Liz Denyer Team Time | 13:25 23:25 16:04 52:54 |
| Men | ||
|---|---|---|
| Position | Runners | Times |
| 34 | Mark Anderson Laurie Johnson Sonam Wangdi Team Time | 11:21 12:31 11:54 35:46 |
| 77 | Dave Roberts Jose Gallego Howard MacLennan Team Time | 12:48 14:34 15:43 43:05 |
| 86 | Jamie Harding Tom Tinsley Kenny McCormick Team Time | 14:29 13:19 19:39 47:27 |
We had numerous photographers on the night (as well as myself), so thanks to Gill, Nikoletta, Lena (a non-runner, there to support), Lucy and Howard. Thanks also to Paul James and Stuart Whitman for making their photographs available for us to use.
