Blackheath & Bromley's Senior Men continued their promising form in National competition when they finished in 11th place out of 151 finishing teams in the National Cross Country Relays at Mansfield. This was achieved despite being without Scott Overall who is currently training in Ethiopia.

Andy Rayner got the quartet off to a fine start finishing in 20th place on the opening stage with a time of 15.35.25. He passed on to Mike Skinner who stormed through the field moving up 16 places to 4th. His time of 14.54 was the second quickest of the day.

Peter Tucker slipped to 11th on the next stage with 16.33 a position maintained on the anchor leg by James Poole who timed 16.95. The team would have been three places higher if they had been five seconds quicker.

The B team of Alex Gibbins, Dave McKinlay, Andrew Conway and Bill Foster was 48th The womens' team finished in 37th place overall moving up steadily throughout. Jane Bradshaw finished in 57th on the opening stage with 11.53 before Elaine Murty moved up to 43rd on the second stage with 11.29. Julie Reynolds moved up to 37th on the last leg with 12.11. The B team of Carolyna Jones Baldock, Elle Harker and Abi Brown finished in 51st. In U17 Mens race Stephen Cavey ran a slightly disappointing first leg, but still completed the 3000m course in 10.09. Jonathan Halls ran a steady 11.55 and Hector Kurtyanek picked up 20 places on the final leg to complete the course in 10.12. The team finished in 57th place. Amrullah Azizi ran a first leg in his first ever cross country race and completed the course in 12.14.

The incomplete U17 women's team gave both athletes valuable experience with both Chelsea Crouser(10.57) and Mel Kane(10.53) completing the 3000m course.

Most notable performances of the day for the youngsters came in the under 15 boys race with Sam Jackson timing 6.59 for leg 2 and Will Mercer 6.58 on a short 2000m course. Rob Yates had led the team off with a time of 7.14. Both Will and Sam passed many athletes and the team finished 28th, which was highest of any of the young athletes teams. Greg Proctor continues to show improving form running the first leg of an incomplete team and finishing in a time of 7.05.

In the U15 girls race Amber Reed ran an excellent first leg in 7.33, bringing the team home in 22nd place. Both Ella Self and Rachel Robinson ran the next legs in identical times of 8.30 to bring the team home in 43rd place.

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