EXCITING FINISH IN MENS NORTHERN 6/ 4 RELAYS

  I must admit to being somewhat surprised when Sale H., ably led by Dave Rodgers and  team, had the responsibility of hosting the autumn North of England 6/4 relays having already hosted the spring 12/6 relays at the Manchester Wythenshawe Park venue. You may recall I ran leg 4 on the "C" team for Sale only to find that the other 8 in the team had failed to turn up.   I would have liked to have run this time in a full team but apparently Dave R. was told 3 teams was all Sale  could afford;  so no outing for the slow and old like me. So I opted for the role of photographer.
  In the mens event 96 teams toed the lined from 62 clubs  so 34 clubs turned out "B" "C" and some presumably wealthy clubs like Salford even managed a "D" team".   Leeds City were under strength ,eventually finishing 5th.  Club coach, Phil Townsend, said it "no bad thing that an other team wins the event for a change!".   Yes, Phil.  A very sincere comment.   As Sunderland slid from 1st to 8th, Altrincham rose through the field from 13th to joint 1st with less than a mile to go.  Richard Weir of Derby
flashed through shoulder to shoulder (see pic.) with Andy Norman of Altrincham  before pulling away to win by 15 secs.

Leading after leg 3 of the 6,  Liverpool H. slipped to 5th but rallied on the last leg to finish 3rd.
  It was good to see local clubs supporting this regional championship on a weekend which brought up a clash with the Ian Hodgson fell relay in the Lake District the following day.  Bingley were 22nd,  Keighley A 40th, a combined clubs(?) team, Airedale Athletics 48th, Valley Striders 56th, Otley A 63rd, Keighley's B 74th and Otley's B, including Julian Mawson making a welcome comeback, in 87th place.   
Some shots of Keighley, Otley and Sale H. ladies and men......