LBH Bridges Relays Wednesday 29.06.11

 

London Civil Service Women win Team Bronze

 

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 St. Thomas's Hospital was as usual lined with team mates and supporters who generated a great atmosphere cheering on the runners.

 

The legs were 2.3 miles per runner with the race starting at Westminster Bridge on the South side of the Thames and headed pass Lambeth Bridge towards Vauxhall Bridge before crossing to the north side of the river. The route then continued along the north of the river to Lambeth Bridge, over the bridge to the south side of the Thames and then back to Westminster for the handover to the next runner.

 

                                    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 Swansea in the British Women's League for Thames Valley Harriers Claire slipped at the water jump during the steeplechase and broke her ankle. However, she still got up an ran for 500m before retiring from the race! Last year Claire was the LBH individual bronze medallist and along with Katie Meredith and Caroline Tuck helped the Civil Service win LBH team gold. We look forward to seeing Claire back in action soon.

 

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

 

Results

 

John O'Shea

 

Acting Team Manager

London Civil Service Athletics Team

 

 

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