Welsh Road Relay Championships

The 2017 Welsh Road Relay Championships took place on September 17th, 2017 in Pembrey Country Park in Carmarthenshire and the green army was one of the biggest teams at the event with a total of 42 across 13 teams.

Pre-Race Preparation

Rachel Lewis, along with Damian Williams and Lee Aherne, had been working tirelessly in the days and weeks leading up to the event selecting teams, juggling members around and liaising with Welsh Athletics. This hard work continued right up to the start of the race ensuring that all runners could concentrate on getting race ready and limbering up like Gareth Williams below.

For some, ensuring that you smell your best was the only preparation needed!

The Big Race

The format involved each team member running a 5K route featuring three separate out-and-back sections and one hill. After the first runner has completed their leg and cross the finish line, the next runner would start theirs. Senior teams consisted of 4 team members whilst the age categories consisted of 3 team members.

As the race progressed, runners would make their way into the holding pen and wait to start their legs. Spirits were high with plenty of smiles hiding the inevitable pre-race nerves.

EVERY single member of EVERY team gave it everything they had which was reflected in the many 5K personal bests that were secured.

Gavin Patterson – 17:38
Josh Cashell – 18:42
James Thomas – 19:56
Neil Beynon: 20:38
Gareth Williams – 21:13
Sarah Jeremiah: 22:32
Stephen Dallow: 22:34
Beth Jones: 23:00
Claire Sullivan – 23:44
Bobbie Swift: 23:54
Alison Holton: 24:56
Suzie Tew – 24:58
Liz Beynon: 25:13
Laura Hire: 25:14
Darren Swift – 26:08

The course itself wasn’t the most inspirational having headwinds to deal with, three u-turns and a curved hill which offered no clues as to how long it was. It was a fast course though which was reflected in everyone’s times.

When You’ve Given It Everything!

A photo like this make us all proud to be a member of the Green Army. You’ve spent a couple of hours travelling to a race, donned your green vest, ran like you’ve stolen something, are completely knackered at the end but you’d do it all again. And for many, we did the very next day at various races.

Photos

There were many photos taken on the day including some great starting/finishing photos of many of our runners. You can view them here.

Honours

The club performed excellently taking 4 medals – Gold, 2 x Silver and a Bronze. According to Damian Williams, out of the 7 age groups entered we won 19% of the medals on offer and if you make a calculation based on all 8 age groups we took 17%. Not bad considering the size of our club (Swansea Harriers has in excess of 600 members!)