The national BMAF road relays event was held for the second time at Mallory Park, this time being in May meant much more favourable conditions compared to last November. Bright skies and a blustery wind welcomed five teams from AFD to the challenging 3-mile race circuit.
The W35 team returned as defending champions, this year comprised of Lisa Faunch, Ruth Wallace, Lucy Wright and Hannah Pullen. Strong runs from all saw each member of the team in the top 10 fastest runs of the day; Lisa 10th, Ruth 6th, Lucy 5th and Hannah 2nd. With that strength in depth the team romped home to victory with a winning margin of over two and a half minutes, thus successfully retaining their title.
Making their debut in the championships the W45 team of Amy Kerr (6th fastest), Louise Apsey (7th fastest) and Hazel O’Connel (10th fastest) brought home a well-deserved silver medal helping make AFD the most successful women’s team of the day.
In the men’s events there was more medal success in the M55’s event with Koji Miyazaki, Darren Atkins and Mark Symes brining home the silver medal. A great achievement with Koji being 60+ and Darren making his debut for team AFD. Mark brought the team home with the fastest run of the day adding individual gold to the team silver.
The M35 team of James Quinlan, Hamish Maclean, Dan Quinlan, Dan Acheson, Mike Boucher and Richard Lovejoy and the M45 team of Graham Micallef, Darren Bradley, Richard Smith and Simon Cooper put in solid performances to both finish 6th.
The Masters squad will be looking to replicate this success in the SEAA relays in September as well as going for the hat trick of wins in the W35 event next year at Mallory Park.