The Senior Men: Northern Road Champs & National Bronze (England Silver)

In 2017, Lincoln Wellington Athletic Club had multiple standout performances at the English Road Running Association (ERRA) National and Northern Road Relay championships. Their most notable achievements across the year include:

National 12-Stage Road Relays (April 2017): The senior men’s team finished in a strong 5th place overall at Sutton Park, clocking a combined time of 4:23:07. The team consistently moved up through the field after starting the opening leg in 31st position.

Northern 6-Stage Relays (September 2017): The senior men’s team won the Northern title, dominating the regional event. Lincoln Wellington won the Northern Championship title in Blackpool with an overall time of 1:58:32. After an initial 6th-place opening leg, the team dominated from leg 2 onward to take a comfortable victory. Joe Wilkinson anchored the squad, running the 2nd fastest leg of that specific stage to seal the win. The victory was featured by Athletics Weekly in their regional roundup article, Top Road and Track Results, and detailed in the Northern Athletics Men’s 6-Stage Championship Report.

• • Leg	Athlete	Leg Time	Team Position
    1	Lucian Allison	19:48	6th
    2	Aaron Scott	19:50	1st
    3	Shane Robinson	19:38	1st
    4	James Straw	19:57	1st
    5	Tom Straw	19:39	1st
    6	Joe Wilkinson	19:40	1st

ERRA National 6-Stage Road Relays (October 2017): The senior men’s ‘A’ team earned a spot on the national podium, securing 3rd place with a time of 1:46:34. Returning to Sutton Park, the squad delivered a podium performance to secure 3rd place nationally. Joe Wilkinson again delivered an exceptional individual leg, clocking 17:24, which ranked as the 7th fastest individual time of the entire national event.

Race Report:

Senior Men

On a high quality first leg it was Blackheath & Bromley’s Phil Seseman (Andrew Henderson) was first in ahead of Mahamed Mahamed (Peter Haynes) of Southampton. Their respective times of 17:14 and 17:21 were second and sixth fastest of the day. Bideford AAC’s Shaun Antell coming in with 17:28 meant that three of the top 10 times were run on this leg as Lewis Moses (Alex Haines) of Gateshead came home next on a closely contested leg.

Graham Rush swept Cheltenham into a clear lead on leg 2 with an impressive 17:16 clocking. Now in second, thanks to Jack Morris (Dave Turnbull) were Stockport, as Highgate went third with Peter Chambers (Ben Pochee) and Tom Merson (Gordon Seward) putting Bristol & West fourth.

Swansea Harriers were in the lead for first time at halfway as John Hopkins took command at the sharp end, and with strong runners to was clear the Welsh club were going to be hard to beat. Auden Nordtveit put in another good leg for Highgate to move them to second and Daniel Owen (Andrew Beadle) held Cheltenham in a medal position in third. Brighton Phoenix had moved to fourth thanks to Ross Skelton (Jon Bigg).

Jack Gooch (Kevin Tobin) of Swansea maintained the club’s stranglehold on the lead as the competition behind was starting to hot up. Dan Studley (David Harmer) moved Bristol & West up again as he now had them running second. Also pulling through the field were Northern champions Lincoln Wellington. Aaron Scott (Nick Anderson) now had them in a medal position. Tonbridge and Aldershot, Farnham & District were also on the move at the critical time of the race. George Duggan (Mark Hookway) put Tonbridge fourth and Ellis Cross (Mick Woods) brought Aldershot, Farnham & District in fifth.

When Joshua Griffiths (self) ran a 17:26 to open out Swansea’s lead on the fifth leg the result was beginning to look very secure for his club. Behind him the battle for the other medals was continuing to rage. Matthew Bowser (Mark Baddeley) now Lincoln Wellington, running second ahead of Ryan Driscoll (Mark Hookway) of Tonbridge. Next in, but not far from the medal positions was Joe Morwood (Mick Woods) of Aldershot, Farnham & District as Bristol & West were next in Maciej Bialogonski.

There were to be no surprises about the win on the final leg as Dewi Griffiths (Kevin Evans) charged up the final hill and swept them to the win with the fastest time of the day – a 16:40. But behind the medal hunt was well and truly on. It was Christopher Olley (Mark Hookway) who came out on top as he ran the fourth fastest time of the day, 17:17, to take Tonbridge into second and English gold as Lincoln Wellington came in third, and English silver, with Joe Wilkinson (Mark Baddeley) also getting one of the fastest legs of the day, a seventh ranked 17:24. Behind him Jonny Hay (Mick Woods) was on an anchor leg charge for Aldershot, Farnham & District. His blast brought them to within a whisker of the top three, and despite easing right off in the final 50m when it became clear the medals were decided he not only secured the English bronze medals, but also ran a 17:20 for fifth fastest of the day.