LBH Bridges
Relays Wednesday 29.06.11
The London Business Houses Bridges
Relays attracted an entry of ninety-eight teams in total, eighty-two of them open
teams consisting of four runners and sixteen women's teams consisting of three
runners each. We fielded four men's and two women's teams. As usual the race
starter was "Big Ben" with the race starting on the first stroke of 7
O'clock. The back wall of
The legs were 2.3 miles per runner
with the race starting at
Men's Race 4 x 2.3 Miles
Chris Smith (COI) led the field on
the opening leg for the Civil Service Men's "A" Team clocking the
fastest leg of the night with 11:24. Nic Gould (Houses of Parliament) backed
Chris up excellently with 12:06 recording the 5th quickest leg of the night to
hand over to Crispin Allen (Minerva) with the Civil Service still in 1st place.
At this stage they were 35 seconds clear of 2nd placed Highgate Harriers who
were registered for the night as "Golden Oldies". Crispin despite
running very well with a split of 13:31 was chased down by the Highgate captain
Henry Dodwell who went on to establish a lead of 45 seconds over the Civil
Service.
Mike Cummings (HMRC) set off on
the anchor leg in hot pursuit for the Civil Service but despite running the 4th
fastest time of the night of 12:00 minutes and reducing the Highgate Harriers
advantage to 31 seconds he could not catch Harrier Peter Downie. Mike brought
the Civil Service home in 49:01 with winners Highgate Harriers Golden Oldies)
closing in 48:30.
This was
a great team performance with the Civil Service Men's "A" Team,
recording the fastest Civil Service time to date in this competition and were only
beaten by a very good Highgate team. Out of the forty-one LBH teams the Civil
Service men won team gold with Barcap "A" 2nd LBH team in 50:48 and
Fidelity 3rd LBH team in 52:44.
In addition the Civil Service
"A" Team filled the first three LBH individual placing to make a
clean sweep of the individual medals too! Chris Smith - Gold medallist plus £20
gift voucher, Mike Cummings - Silver medallist plus a £10 gift voucher as the
4th fastest man overall, Nic Gould - Bronze medallist.
The men's "B" Team of
Andrew Davis (Home Office) 13:54, Andrew Masters (Minerva) 13:25, Jerry Carnell
(Minerva) 13:35 and John O'Shea (Minerva) 13:56 were solid placing 8th overall
(6th LBH team) recording a time of 54:50. The next Civil Service team home, the
"E" Team consisting of Jeremy West (Minerva)15:25, Ross Parker
(Minerva) 16:10, Joe Garrood (Minerva) 16:03 and Sam Smyth-Murray (Minerva)
14:59, were 33rd overall (20th LBH team) in 62:37. The "C" Team of
travelled all the way up from South Wales to take part in the Bridges Relays
and consisted of Colin Whitbread (Minerva) 15:39, Thomas Britland (Minerva)
22:15, Mark Boylin (Minerva) 20:46 and Sean Gilday (Minerva) 17:29. The
"C" Team finished in 77th place overall (39th LBH team) with a time
of 76:09. There was
no "D" Team due to
withdrawals.
Women's Race 3x 2.3 Miles
The women's race was dominated by
Highgate Harriers filling the first 3 team places with their "A" Team
and putting in an awesome team performance of 40:12. Katie Meredith (Ministry
of Justice), who had run for the Civil Service for the two previous years
winning LBH individual silver last year when leading the Civil Service women to
team gold, was not in our line up this time as she took on the responsibility
as Highgate Harriers’ women's road relay team manager. We were sorry that Katie
was not available to run for the Civil Service in this event but given her
position it was understandable that she ran for Highgate instead of the Civil
Service on this occasion and what a good job she did pulling together four
women's teams and running a very good leg herself of 14:06. Well done Katie.
The Civil Service Women's
"A" Team of Caroline Tuck (Defra) 15:32, Maureen Noel (Defra /
Minerva) and Ellie Cox (Minerva) were placed 7th overall but 3rd LBH team with
a time of 47.45, winning team bronze plus £10 each in gift vouchers. British
Airways (BA Ladies) won LBH team gold in 46:20 and the Metropolitan Police
(Girls in Blue) team silver in 47:04.
Our women's "B" Team
were a woman short but Jenny Thomas (Minerva) ensured that the "B"
team were at least able to close and record a time by running the 1st leg
(16:50) and 3rd leg (17:13) with Civil Service guest Ilona Bagi on the 2nd leg
recording the quickest CS leg of the night with a time of 15:31 just a second
quicker than Caroline's 15:32. The "B" Team closed in 49:34 in 8th
place overall (4th LBH team).
It was good to see Claire Day at
the Bridges to cheer on the Civil Service despite being on crutches.
Unfortunately, last month while competing at
Civil Service Men's "A" Team
Chris Smith 11:24
Nic Gould 12:06
Crispin Allen 13:31
Mike Cummings 12:00
49:01 2nd Overall 1st LBH
Civil Service Men's "B" Team
Andrew Davis 13:54
Andrew Masters 13:25
Jerry Carnell 13:35
John O'Shea 13:56
54:50 8th Overall 6th LBH
Civil Service Men's "E" Team
Jeremy West 15:25
Ross Parker 16:10
Joe Garrood 16:03
Sam Smyth-Murray 14:59
62:37 33rd
Overall 20th LBH
Civil Service Men's "C" Team
Colin Whitbread 15:39
Thomas Britland 22:15
Mark Boylin 20:46
Sean Gilday 17:29
76:09 77th Overall 39th LBH
Total Open Field eighty-two teams Total LBH Field forty-two teams
Civil Service Women's "A" Team
Caroline Tuck 15:32
Maureen Noel 16:15
Ellie Cox 15:58
47:45 7th
Overall 3rd LBH
Civil Service Women's "B" Team
Jenny Thomas 16:50
Ilona Bagi (Guest) 15:31
Jenny Thomas (2) 17:13
49:34
8th Overall 4th LBH
Total Open Field sixteen teams Total
LBH Field five teams
Acting
Team Manager