SATURDAY 28th April saw a Bolton United Harriers Senior Men's Team travel to the Midlands to compete in the AAA of England Men's National 12 Stage Road Relay at Sutton Park.

This beautiful undulating backdrop was the setting for this prestigious event which brought together the best 69 Road Relay squads in England.

All had to pre-qualify from regional competitions and although Bolton's Team were never going to be a serious challenge for the top honours, they acquitted themselves extremely well given the overall quality of the opposition.

After a series of alternate six short stages and six long stages Bolton finished in 54th place. Their combined time for the event was 4 hrs 51minutes and 26 seconds, which was excellent running when compared to the Tipton Harriers (winners) time of 4.10.27.

Bolton's first (long) leg by Gary Counsell was completed in 28.39 and was followed by Jim Bentley's short leg time of 18.10. Consecutive long and short legs and times by the Bolton were Alan Higginson (29.29), Paul Turner (17.12), Steve Kenyon (31.36), Jon Allwood (17.10), Dave Shaw (30.51), Bart Simpson (17.45), Karl Ward (32.01), Eric Ranicar (21.37), Ian Shakeshaft (30.50) and Tony Finnigan (17.06).

Enjoyable

Despite the stiff competition all the competitors had an enjoyable time and can't wait to start the qualifying process all over again for next year's event. Bolton will be entering a strong team in the forthcoming Veterans 12 Stage Road Relay event and a report on our performance will follow.

HSATURDAY also saw some of our younger athletes competing in a Multi-Event Competition held by Stockport Harriers. Naomi Hall and Katie Fay competed in the Girls Under 13 and Under 11 categories.

Naomi's events included the Shot, Long Jump, 100 Metres and the 800 Metres and Katie competed in the Vortex Ball Throwing, Long Jump, 75 metres and 600 metres.

While neither of them did well enough to win one of the splendid top three trophies, they did themselves and the club proud, with Naomi winning the Shot Putt despite being one of the youngest in her group.

HON Wednesday 2nd May, three Bolton United Harriers athletes competed in the Chorley Harriers 4 Mile Series race. Ian Shakeshaft followed a great run in the National Road Relay at the weekend with a creditable finish in 28th place overall in a time of 22 mins. 05 secs.

This time also earned him a 5th place in the V40 category. Next Bolton man home was again one of our athletes who ran at the weekend, Karl Ward. His time of 22.49 was good enough for a top 40 finish.

The third Bolton athlete was M.Kay who ended with a time of 23.55. Well done to all Bolton athletes who took part.