Runners race in virtual relay
Coach Paul King has paid tribute to the Team Bath AC runners who dipped a toe back into competitive racing to help the club finish inside the top ten of a virtual national event.
King encouraged, challenged and maybe even cajoled as many of the club’s endurance athletes as possible to submit a time for the England Athletics Virtual Road Relay Competition, an event organised by Martin Rush – well known locally as well for his coaching work at the club – to provide some focus while normal competitions remain locked down. King’s enthusiasm certainly paid off as Team Bath’s squad finished tenth overall in the country – plus top club in the West Country – on the basis of their best eight runners comprising four men and four women.
“The distance was five miles and basically runners did their own thing and then submitted their times, either via Garmin or Strava, to England Athletics,” said King.
“The rules were that the five miles couldn’t be run on an A to B course because that could allow people to ‘cheat’ by going downhill and using a following wind.
“So, the main stipulation was that the start and finish had to be in the same place so essentially a loop course. Some of our runners used the Bath to Bristol cycle path on and out and back basis while others used the Odd Down Cycle Path which is a good tarmac path.
“You then recorded your times on a smart watch and submitted it to England Athletics on either the Garmin or Strava platform. They then took the best four men’s and women’s times to produce the final result.”
King was delighted that Team Bath submitted considerably more than the minimum eight times but interestingly it was the club’s young runners who really embraced the challenge and produced some pretty impressive times.
Alex Parsons, who is coached by Kevin Brunt, ran the fastest men’s time for the club with a swift 24mins 36secs followed by Alex Carter, getting back to form after injury and Otto Copping on 25:26 – they ran together – and John Howorth on 25:42.
Freya Spruit was the fastest women clocking 29:37 followed by former Olympic modern pentathlete Heather Fell then teenager Jocelyn Cotterill and Sophie Tabor.
“The club’s young runners did us proud,” added King.
“We did have a lot of older members take part in the event but when they saw the times being run by the youngsters they didn’t even bother to submit their times.
“But for the endurance section it proved to be a great way to foster some team spirit and interaction on social media. It got everyone enthusiastic in a time when there have been no competitions so I must thank Martin Rush and his colleagues at England Athletics for organising it.
“And to finish in the top ten and ahead of all our west rivals, including Cheltenham and Bristol & West, was a nice bonus as well.”
■ The athletics coverage in the Bath Chronicle is sponsored by Running Bath