Athletics: Jonny Mellor guides Harriers to silver Road Relays

Apr 10 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL HARRIERS’ men’s team collected silver medals at the Northern Road Relays held in variable conditions at Catterick Garrison on Sunday but there was no success for the highly fancied women’s team.

Liverpool were second after lap one, Jonny Mellor recording the fifth fastest long lap of the day.

James Meldrum maintained the place before Curtis Robb recorded the third fastest short lap of the day to move the Wavertree outfit into first place.

Winners Leeds City soon took over but Adam Peers, Craig Gunderson, Harry Harper and John McCole kept Liverpool in the hunt for silver medals.

Although overtaken by Sale Harriers Luke Reddy, Alan Ashton, Richard Burney and Rob Dewhirst kept in touch with the Manchester outfit giving Mark Keeley the opportunity to regain second when Sale’s Elton Davies blew up on the final lap allowing Trafford into the bronze medal position behind Liverpool.

Liverpool’s women’s team never recovered from Vicky Grifiths’s disappointing run in seventh place on lap one which Lauren Murphy maintained but youngster, Sophie Whiteside, standing in for Jenny Clague, was unable to hold.

The experience of Kath Upton, Liz Egan and Maria Barrett brought the team home in eighth place one position ahead of the Chester Le Street B team whose A team won the race by almost two minutes from Wakefield and Salford.

The only other Merseyside team to complete the ladies race were St Helens-Sutton for whom Gemma Connolly ran first leg in 17th position, Louise Hogg, Eleanor Reynolds, Christine Dempsey and Julia Eccleston holding 22nd position before an unwell Sue Clague battled her way to the finish in 30th place on the final circuit.

Saints were the only other Merseyside club to finish a team in the men’s race, the team of Marc Laithwaite, Ian Roberts, John Appleton, Ian Costello, Peter Johnson and Ian Pass holding fortyfirst place at the halfway point.

Barry Graney, Steve Mayers, Steve Tate and Ian Hayburn gained five places before Dave Forrester, who travelled from Loughborough where he had won the British Colleges Championship the previous day, collected five places for a final position which was held by coach Ray Vose.

The battle between Saints and Wirral would have been interesting as the Bebington outfit were holding 33rd position when they ran out of runners on leg ten, Xavier Desse being unable to attend following a road accident. Good running from Tom Madden, Jason Donnolly and Alan Woods had moved the Wirral outfit to thirtieth position at one time.

Liverpool Pembroke Sefton failed to field a team.

The club had entered to give Michael Rimmer the opportunity for a road competition but the Great Britain international developed a sore throat and the Ormskirk-based team were unable to take part. The main road race for local athletes is the Bolton 10k on Sunday while others have entered the London Marathon.