After emerging victorious in the Midland Road Relays, Birchfield Harriers will look to take two titles home from Sutton on Saturday as with their men’s six stage and women’s four stage teams head to the National Road Relay Championships in strong form.
Jordan international runner Tamara Armoush (below) features for the women’s team as they aim to dethrone a much changed Aldershot Farnham & District.
However, they will have to contend with a highly experienced set up in Leeds City, with last season’s runners up featuring a strong team of cross country and mountain running internationals including Claire Duck and Emma Clayton.
Live coverage of the event from 1100 BST on Saturday can be found here, with viewers in North America able to watch on runnerspace.com. All entries for the event can be found here
A late drop out from Southern champions Guernsey has also further opened up the fight for medals in the women’s competition, with Highgate Harriers’ strong team dynamic seeing them enter as the top Southern side.
Meanwhile, a pulsating men’s six-stage showdown sees Kadar Abdullahi, a member of the first ever world championship refugee side, head one of Birchfield Harriers’ strongest ever men’s teams.
Gunning for them will be Aldershot Farnham & District’s youthful set-up, with British Under 23 international Ellis Cross and a much improved Richard Allen set to throw the gauntlet down to all potential winners.
However, Aldershot could be once again set for a close contest with Lincoln Wellington, with the same team, bar Joe Wilkinson, returning to Sutton as they try and kick on from the bronze medal they picked up last year.
Before all this however the young athlete relays will kick off the day’s action from 10.30am as Aldershot prepare to defend their under 17 men’s title against the likes of Lincoln Wellington and Charnwood.
Meanwhile, the under 17 women’s race sees last year’s winners Liverpool Harriers replaced by Vale Royal as top dogs of the North, headed by inter counties cross country runner up Holly Smith. However, the likes of Shaftesbury Barnet and Stroud & District will certainly not make life easy for them.
The rejuvenated Morpeth and Taunton under 15 boys’ sides now find themselves as strong favourites to battle for Under 15 boys gold, while Aldershot have not one but two top class teams this year hoping to take them on.
And once again Aldershot have a large presence in the under 15 girls’ contest, looking set for another showdown with Southern relay winners Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow. However, Midland and Northern sides Westbury and Vale Royal will look to strike from the abyss to disrupt the impending Southern battle.
An impressive performance from Wolverhampton and Bilston in the Midland relays leaves them as big contenders for the under 13 girls title, taking on Tonbridge and Liverpool Harriers. Meanwhile, Birchfield Harriers also hope to take a junior gold back with them on top of their potential senior accolades, aiming to keep Sutton a happy hunting ground for them when they take on Sheffield and Dearne, as well as usual suspects Aldershot.
