In spite of late changes to the original team due to illness, the City Senior Men’s Team traveled down to Mansfield to compete in the English National XC Relays and under the circumstances performed very well against some strong opposition. After the mass start over the 5k course, with the pace as usual being fast and furious, Dan Garbutt got the Team off to a good start on leg 1 finishing 53rd in a time of 16.55, Michael Grimes then took over on leg 2 and pulled back 12 places also running a good time of 17.04 to finish 41st. Rob Everson who was the runner drafted into the Team, pulled 1 place back on leg 3 returning 17.51 for 40th place, and on the final leg Robin Linten gained a further 3 places, which ensured the Durham team a top 40th place, finishing in a time of 17.35, for an excellent 37th Team position out of 178 teams who finished. A tremendous all round effort which pleased Geoff Watson , the Team Captain, who decided to have a run himself returning 26.02, having driven some of the runners down to Nottinghamshire. In fact, Durham were the 3rd North East Team to finish, with Gateshead Harriers 14th overall and Morpeth Harriers 27th, a pleasing result in the end. The only other Club member to run was student Alex Cook who ran the 1st leg of the Junior Men’s (u/20) Relay (3k) returning a time of 9.41 for 39th place.
[divider]Meanwhile, at the Leeds Abbey Dash 10k, Matt Hornsby finished 115th overall recording 32.43 (pb) and was 7th fastest (v/35) veteran, whilst Jonny Wilkinson was 216th in 34.23, Chris Wilkinson 503rd in 38.18, with Rachel Bentley recording 45.28, and veteran Stuart Reay (v/55) 50.48.