YORK Acorn Running Club produced their best-ever performance to qualify for the National 12 Stage Road Relay Championships at Sutton Park near Birmingham.
Nestl Rowntree are the only previous team to have qualified for the event from York in the mid-1990s.
It was a great team effort over a two-lap hilly parkland course in Stockport. In an event won by Morpeth Harriers, Acorn knew that only a top 25 placing would earn a them a place in the national finals.
They had a great start with the outstanding club performance of the day by Paul Goble who ran the 4.25 mile course in 22 minutes 23 seconds.
Mike Raynes (24-22), Dave Chaplin (24-13) and Andy Burt (23-35) put Acorn 27th after four legs.
Martin Kirby then ran a superb 24-07 warm-up for tomorrow's London Marathon and teenagers Sandy Cowan (24-19) and Paul Priestley (26-59) excelled to pull the club through to 25th.
Steve Simpson then recorded a fast 23-31 and Acorn stalwarts Martin Lawn (25-35) and Colin Hawksby (24-41) consolidated this to leave Acorn 24th.
The two oldest members of the team club captain Bob Duncan (23-49) and veterans' captain Jerry Barnes (25-12) kept their heads however to bring Acorn home in 22nd place as Acorn became only one of the six qualifying teams from Yorkshire.
In the seventh Meanwood Valley 8-Mile trail race Duncan led team-mates home finishing ninth in 43-53. Acorn's Jim Benson clocked 57-05 and clubmates Dougie Scott 58-45 and Paul Richardson 58-51.
York Acorn's Nick Ford finished 75th from a field of 250 competitors in the tough 31 mile Wuthering Hike challenge in 5 hours 58 minutes. The endurance race traversed the gritstone moors around Howarth, Todmorden and Hebden Bridge with almost 4,500 feet of climbs.
In the 14 mile multi-terrain Baildon Boundary Way, Acorn's Phil Paxman clocked 1-49-00 followed by Ian Wilcock 1-52-00 and Paul Richardson 1-53-00 and in the Doncaster Half Marathon Road Race Dave Elliott clocked 1-33-30 for the club with team-mate Julie Hills finishing in a personal best time of 1-52-14.
Updated: 11:27 Saturday, April 13, 2002
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