All the news from the ERRA Men’s 12-Stage and Women’s 6-Stage Road Relay Champions at Sutton Park on April 11.
It is a rare event for a club to retain the men’s 12-round title, but Bristol & West did just that at a windy Sutton Park, while women’s winners Belgrave Harriers were on the podium for the first time in 6 rounds.
Clubs use different tactics in road relays. While Salford Harriers gave their team a good result, a consistent Bristol outfit saved their two star turns until the end, as did second-placed Tonbridge.
Belgrave also had to come from behind to enter the women’s race but were always in the hunt.
With the dog leg to Streatley Gate again restricted, the turn was a short way west of Jamboree Stone, which meant that the length, recently measured at 5,432 meters and steps of equal length, now seemed to be widely accepted.
Men
Bristol have a history with this race and in 1980 were the first club to approach the magic four hour mark and have only won once since then, last year.
Their retention this year was the first time they have retained the title since Leeds in 2014, and they did so with an extremely consistent set of individual times, at least until the final two rounds.
Flynn Jennings put them in fifth place in the opener with a split of 16:00 and they then dropped out of contention until Peter Le Grice moved them up to third on lap 9 and Luke Burgess rallied on leg 10 as he took the lead and then said: “I was five seconds faster than in the tournament.”
Then it was almost all Bristol as both Jack Millar and Will Buttershill, who was fastest last year, both clocked up 16 minutes to secure victory by over a minute.
At the time, Battershill said he had sprained his ankle, but this year he said: “This was more stressful, but there was still mud by the lake.”
This was ahead of the 2018 and 2022 winners from Tonbridge, who threw everything in rounds 10 and 12 but had to settle for second.
They started well enough after Jack Higgins’ fourth place finish in the first round, but then fell out of contention until they played their ace card in the form of James Kingston. The 24-year-old could only make up four places to finish second, but his 15:19 was comfortably the fastest of the day.
Speaking about his career to date and his future, he said that he may go on to run longer distances in the future, but with a marathon debut many years away.
Tonbridge then made another run at the death with Ted Higgins returning 15:37 to finish third best overall, but it was too late and they had to settle for silver medals.
Cambridge and Coleridge repeated their third-place finish from 2025 and, apart from Jack Gray’s fourth, went largely unnoticed until they too played their high-scoring cards near the end.
They were to secure the bronze medals as first Calum Elson and then Jonathan Escalante-Phillips both clocked under 16 minutes to leave them more than a minute clear of Kent, Salford and Western Tempo.
However, Salford led two-thirds of the way through the early stages after Harry Johnson scored in 15:44 to win their first leg, but later admitted he had charged his side from the front. He said: “I took the lead and then held it, but that’s the first 12 laps I’ve done.”
That front loading was confirmed by their fourth round and second fastest runner, Harry Wakefield, who again finished first, as he said: “I chose the team”, but only in the penultimate period did they slide off the podium.
They admitted they knew they were going to slip back and stage six runner Jacob Wood-Doyle, who again put them in front at the halfway mark, said: “I thought they would catch me.”
Western Tempo had won a Midland race at this same track and brought in Jacob Kenny to bolster their case. He did so in the fourth round, finishing 12th in third place in the second-fastest effort of 15:21, but admitted: “We’re missing a few.”
Dom James’ 16:01 then gave them the lead on stage nine, but they stroked to cheat and couldn’t handle the pressure of their rivals, finishing sixth.
It was Bristol and runners-up Tonbridge who effectively unloaded their dozen runners, but one thing the race proved was that clubs need to have all their runners under 17 minutes on this course, or around 15:30 for 5km, if they want medals. First and second did it, and third placed Cambridge & Coleridge had just one runner outside the 5pm mark, but more clubs were left out in the cold.
Deep in the field on the second leg, 2022 World 1500m gold medalist and 2025 runner-up Jake Wightman came on for Edinburgh and was set in 16:03, 15 places behind and 36th.
He said: “It was nice to run across the field.”
Observers noted that Wightman appeared to run easily and not smoothly.
Asked what her plans are for the summer, the 1500m runner said she is preparing for both the European and Commonwealth titles.
Men (12×5.424 m). 1 Bristol & W 3:16:49 (F Jennings 16:00, W Parkin 16:52, D Rigby 16:43, D Minors 16:51, F McGrath 16:16, T Lefroy 16:32, M Campion 16:39, JL116, J Morrow. Burgess 16:13, J Millar 15:59, W Battershill. 15:46); 2 Tonbridge 3:17:26 (J Higgins 15:58, L Mills 16:41, C Chambers 17:24, J MacDonald 17:16, H Fraser 16:44, T Bawtree 16:44, A Howard 16:09, JJC Kingston 15:19, K Reilly 16:30, T Higgins 15:37); 3 Cambridge & Coleridge 3:18:14 (C Benyan 16:38, E Spencer 16:27, J Moynihan 16:57, J Gray 15:58, M Morgan 16:38, J Teagle 16:15, W Newcombe 17:30: L.Mc28, M Bartram 17:31: Jones 16:24, C Elson 15:54, J Escalante-Phillips 15:59)
4 Kent 3:19:17 (R Sesemann 16:37, J Collier 16:06, B Clarke 17:18, J Gilbert 16:32, O Buck 17:05, K Wilkinson 16:48, I Parker 17:03, N Braden 16:43, O Hind 16:03, J English 15:53); 5 Salford 3:19:33 (J Johnson 15:54, J Birmingham 15:21, J Moores 16:57, H Wakefield 15:50, D Barratt 16:22, J Wood-Doyle 16:48, K Davidson 16:34: K Mannings 521, KD Rowlinson 17:04, G Priestley 17:13, T Cornthwaite 16:35); 6 W Pace 3:19:40 (C Jones 16:20, L Carroll 16:47, L Davis 16:58, J Cann 15:21, M Kelly 16:43, G Jones 16:48, B Robinson 16:33, A Lygo 17:00. Camp2, D1 Wright 17:19, D Owen 16:31; 7 Herne Hill 3:19:48 (H Bell 16:22, A Ludewick 15:45, D Shaw 16:33, L Laylee 16:52, F Whitelock 17:07, S Bramwell 15:4 Brown 15:2 16:56, T Austin 16:55, M Roberts 16:39, A Russell 16:49, T O’Mahoney 17:08): S Gharfari 16:40, R Wilson 17:14, R Pullman 16:39, T Burns 17:20, L Fawden 17:48, D Lewis 17:06, S Jinks 16:49: 9 Leeds 3:22:14 (W Heidelbu 14:17). 14:00): 16:49, O Meslek 17:17, D Franks 16:58, W Tighe 16:37, M Abshir 17:11, J Firth 16:20, S Atkinson 18:16, J Beattie 16:17, S Flanagan 16:55 .G Chal 3:23:12 (C Rogers 16:34). 17:10, M Verran 17:06, A Robinson 18:16, J Hopkins 16:55, E Lawrence 17:24, M James 17:21: Robins 17:21 D Jones, D Griffiths 16:10, 11 Central 3:23:58, Bedford 3:24:33;
Fastest: J Kingston (Ton) 15:19; J Kann (V pace) 15:21; Ted Higgins (Ton) 15:37; S Barnwell (Herne H) 15:42; H Johnson (Salph) 15:44; A Ludewick/WBattersill (B&W) 15:46; M Clisham (Cov G) 15:48; H Wakefield (Salph) 15:50; J English (Kent) 15:53
Women
Last year the women ran six legs, previously their short round, and stat fans were reasonably pleased with some consistency. This year, however, things changed for the women, who ran their six stages an equal 5,432 meters longer than the men.
Winner Belgrave was on the podium for the first time and was always in the top three after Alexandra Barbour got off to a good start in third place. That was behind stage one ‘winner’ Bethany Reid, who brought the incomplete Trafford line home fourth fastest overall in 18:24 ahead of Salford’s Sinead Bent.
Reed said: “It was so windy and we were together, and then I went ahead at the bottom of the hill.”
Belgrave then saw between second and first as Juliet Hodder brought them home in the sixth fastest time of 18:30.
This added to their South of England crown two weeks ago and theirs was a race of consistency as the faster times were elsewhere.
In the second round, Sharon Halezelise took second place behind Heather Townsend from Leeds, who said: “I passed four or five.”
Nancy Bowley’s 18:18, the second fastest of the day, then put Belgrave ahead at the halfway point of the race and she said:
At the end of the fourth leg, again Leeds challenged and took the lead thanks to Katrina Ballantyne who said: “The wind didn’t feel too bad,” and five via Eilidh Bell, who said:
In the end, Hodder’s 18:30 sealed Belgrave’s victory by 36 seconds on the leg of glory. He said: “It’s better to start second and I tried to go out quite calmly and then I pressed it in the second half.”
For Leeds, it was the third consecutive year they won silver medals, having won four times between 2017 and 2023.
In 2024, it was Thames Valley Harriers who went fastest over the long leg with Yvie Lock, and it was Lock who gained eight places to finish third in the second round, fifth fastest in 18:27.
A drop to the fourth mid-race followed and then steady spins followed before Roxana Lopez Ramirez put them back on the podium.
It came at the expense of the owners and eight-time winners Aldershot, who moved up to third on stage four thanks to Philippa Bowden’s third-fastest of the day in 18:20, but they were unable to maintain their lead and slipped back over the final two laps.
Largely overlooked, fifth-placed Bristol & West, like their men, saved their best for late in the race as first Chelsea Baker, who was sixth fastest in 18:30, and then Charlotte Taylor, who took them first from 11th to sixth and then the top five.
It provided the fastest lap for Taylor at 17:53, despite running in a vacuum for most of the lap.
Deep in the women’s field, two of the country’s best masters performed well. Multiple W55 road time holder Karima Harris clocked 20:24 for Highgate in the second round, while multiple W60 record holder and road reigning best Claire Elms was faster, splitting 20:16 in the first round.
Women (6×5,424 km). 1 Belgrave 1:52:55 (A Barbour 18:35, S Haileselaisse 19:00, N Bowley 18:18, M Cordon-Lloyd 19:32, E Fennelly 18:58, J Hodder 18:30); 2 Leeds 1:53:31 (S Pennycook 18:40, H Townsend 18:41, G Malir 18:34, K Ballantyne 19:09, E Bell 19:11, Z Hunter 19:13); 3 TVH 1:55:21 (C Buckley 19:15, Y Lock 18:27, A Mundell 20:04, L Sterritt 20:38, T Barlow 19:22, R Lopez-Ramierez 18:34). 4 AFD 1:51:231 ME Stevens 20:01, P Bowden 18:20, L Gent 19:49, A Griffiths 19:26); 5 Bristol & West 1:56:32 (S Duval 19:27, M Jones 20:25, B Shepherd 19:57, A Nicholls 20;17, C Baker 18:30, C Taylor 17:53); 6 Cambridge & C 1:58:36 (J Leggate 18:49, I Mansley 20:04, K Lowery 19:24, J Colley 20:42, J Edmunds 20:32, E Ruane 19:02); 7 Herne H 1:59:38 (M Coogan 19:19, M Smith 18:35, S Lockwood 21:04, O Stillman 20;11, G Layland 19:53, K Balme 20:33); 8 Belgrave B 2:00:08 (A Gandee 19:35, S Riceman 20:38, G Rowley 19: 05, P Oliver 21:08, A Alloula 19:54, L Mangan 19:45); 9 Edinburgh 2:00:16 (L Naga 20:28, A McAuley-Orr 20:45, A Thompson 21:49, H Cox 19:39, I Cubitt 19:01, K Walker 18:31); 10 Swansea 2:01:00 (M Gold 19:18, D Bass 19:36, B Stratton-Thomas 21:19, N McDonald 20:02, H Williams 20:34, B Rusby 20:08); 11 T Baghnik 2:01:14; 12 VP&TH 2:01:41; 13 Highgate 2:02:12; 15 District 2:05:40
Fastest: C Taylor (B&W) 17:53; N Bouley (Belgium) 18:18; P Bowden (AFD) 18:20; B Reid (Traff) 18:24; Y Lock (TVH) 18:27; C Baker (B&W)/J Hodder (Belgium) 6.30pm
