Northern Six Stage Relays Leigh

This time last year both Penny Lane team punched well above their weight to earn respectable places at Warrington. Confident we could improve on this I was really looking forward to the Northern six stage which along with the twelve stage is as big as gets on the road for Penny Lane. We're never going to be strong enough to get to the nationals but we felt a top 40 finish was possible this year.

A few lads had already committed to other races then another one of the lads dropped out injured so the final six for the A team was Nige, Riley, Deano , Me, Martin and James - the B team was Dave, Eamon, Andy, Russell, Ceridic and Simon.

I drove there with James and we arrived with plenty of time to spare and went for a reccy of the course. The junior races had already been run and I noticed plenty of kids with mud on their shoes - this is a concern for a road relay! A tour of the route and you could see it had the potential to be chaotic, pelnty of twists and turn, including a 180 degree turn, the majority on tight turns were on park paths. I'm defo a rythym runner, I don't fair well on courses tight turns, especially if the surfaces are different! Still, it's the same for everyone.

Pretty disapointing for such a big event but here were plenty of stewards dotted about and the weather was glorious, if it was ran on with the same weather we had on Monday, I'd have worn trail shoes!

We nearly got off to a disastrous - we (well me and James!) got the men's start time mixed up and convinced poor Nige he had plenty of time to spare. A cursory glance at the track seen all the men lined up, realising what was going on Nige made a mad dash for the line which althouigh hilarous can't have helped his chances in anyway!

The B team suffere an even worse indignity, Dave Owen was also late, ran to the line but then came back. I asked him why he'd come back at the gun went - he said 'they said it was A runners only, I told them I'm in the B team'. I had to quickly explain he was the A runner on the B team! He dashed back and started about three mins after everyone else!

I darted about the course trying to cheer Nige and Dave on, as well as Jane Eardley (the girls started 10 mins after the men). At the business end of the relays it looked tight, on the first lap of the two lap course Salford were out in front. The first leg is usually packed with the really quick lads and because you all go off together there must be a temptation to go with the flow. Nige seemed about halfway down the field but you couldn't tell, he finished in 22:19 and handed over to Paul Riley who ran a brillaint 2nd leg of 22 dead and handed over to Dean.

Now Dean ahd been crocked and hadn't ran for weeks, he ran at the relays last weekend and ran again today off no training. Hats off to him for stepping up and I know if he was fit he'd have ran a bit quicker but he still got stuck in with a great effort of 23:47.

I was on the fourth leg and was determined to start off steady then wind it up on the second lap. I was passing people early on and by the time I hit the second lap I figured out I'd passed six runners. I nearly slipped a few times on the tight turns and nearly turned down the wrong path on the second loop! I could see I was close to getting under 21 mins and really pushed on the track but crossed the line in 21:07 which I was pleased with as I handed over to Martin.

Martin and James ran great times, James just pipping him by a few seconds. They both reckoned they'd passed around 10 runners each so we thought we may have just got into the top 50. It wasn't to be, we finished 54th but it was a great effort. Unfortnately for the B team, Simon running the last leg was sent the wrong way and effectiley disqualified. I'd been out and about on the course and he wasn't alone in getting the wrong directions. The ladies team finished a respectible 47th. It must be a knightmare to steward these events, especially in such a tichet venue but all in all the organisers done a great job.

The mens race was as exciting as 2011 with Liverpool, Altrincham and Salford all swapping the lead until Alty pulled clear with Liverpool pipping Salford for 2nd.