18th National Open Masters Road Relay - 21st May 2005

Ray, John and Roger at the National Vets Relays in Sutton Park, Birmingham. The Vet/60 Harriers Team were 4th overall, with Roger taking the individual Silver.

Sutton Park lies six miles to the north of Birmingham City Centre and covers over 970 hectares (2,400 acres). Its landscape is a mix of open heathland , wetlands, marshes, seven lakes and woodlands, all with their own rich variety of plants and wildlife rarely seen in the region. Imagine Woodbury Common with a few more tarmac paths and you have a reasonable idea of what it looks like.

The 3 mile course car hardly be described as ‘easy’, but clubs flock to the venue because of the long (very) history of relays in the park.

The start is downhill for 250 yards, but this is more than compensated for by the stiffest climb of the course lasting around a third of a mile. Just past the brow of the hill we turn right with the running being very fast along the flattest part of the course. At one mile the course rises again... perhaps not at severe, but it is longer (about 700 yards) past the Jamboree Stone to the turn around 400 yards further on.

Then you turn for home, back past the Jamboree Stone and an half-a-mile downhill plunge to the Keepers Pool, the fastest running on the course. From there the course is undulating but mainly uphill with a final sharp right-hand turn with the finish just 150 yards away at the top. Not many notice, but the final few yards are actually downhill!

The first leg is always fast and furious with the whole field fighting for position for their team-mates. The hill sorts out the wheat from the chaff however, but even at the top the first 15 were very close indeed. Every bend saw elbows locked in a struggle for the fastest line before the turn. The downhill saw the field string out rather, but the final undulations and hill to changeover were tough.

Perhaps sufficient to say that the first 47 runners (Vet/50, lady Vets and Vet/60 & 70) were inside 18 minutes (6-minute-miles).

Roger finished in 21st place, 1st Vet/60 in 17:22 handing over to Ray. Now Ray is always really self-depreciating, but ran a real solid 2nd leg in 20:01 (6:40 pace). The sight of him steaming up the final hill (photo to follow) will stay with us for a long time. Ray handed over to John in 49th overall, but 5th Vet/60.

We all know how strong John can be when the chips are down. The Perratt set off around 30 seconds in arrears of Martin Duff (whose Aldershot and Farnham team were the holders), but we had every expectation of a storming leg from our anchor man. So it proved, John working to catch Martin over the tough first half, and pulling well away from him on the downhill section. Racing in to finish in 18:56 (6:19 pace), for 4th place overall, behind Clydesdale Harriers (Gold), Bingley Harriers (Silver) and Trentham RC (Bronze).

It’s always a bit of a disappointment to finish just out of the medals, but our (vain we thought) hope was to finish in the top 5; after all Ray is 67 and John 68. Fourth we consider a moral victory over the medallists who fielded entire teams of ‘young’ Vet/60 athletes.

The gilt-on-the-gingerbread was Roger’s individual Silver. After what seemed an interminable wait, it was announced that behind Robbie Young, Clydesdale’s anchor man, Roger and Jeff Norman from Altringham could not be separated and so were both awarded Silver medals. Nice to come away with something after so much effort from the team.

Roger was really more pleased with his victory (by 4 seconds) over Dave Waywell (Wesham RR) on the first leg. Dave beat him in the Great West Run earlier in the month, and Roger did not expect to turn the tables so soon after that reverse.