Yellow turns gold! Central AC are British 12-Stage Road Relay champions

Sunday 16th April 2023

Gold medallists in yellow . . . Central AC celebrate at Sutton Park with 12-Stage team joined by coach Derek Easton (photo by Stephen Marshall)

Results (Men’s 12-Stage)

What a moment for Central AC as they landed the golds medals in the Men’s race at the ERRA 12-Stage Road Relays in England.

The Course Record fell to the Scottish 6-Stage champions and indeed the two other teams in the medals – Highgate and Kent – were also inside the previous course best at Sutton Coldfield in the Midlands.

Central clocked 4:09:54 with Highgate home in 4:10:38 and Kent in 4:10:58 as 64 seconds covered the top three after over four hours of running.

It is the first time a Scottish club has won the ERRA Road Relays.

In fact, podium places have been rare down the decades with the only occasions being Edinburgh Southern Harriers taking silvers twice (in 1974 and 1975) and Shettleston Harriers taking bronzes in 2010.

Double Olympian Andy Butchart wore the yellow vest once again in a team which featured a string of Scottish medallists in recent years in cross country and road running, including Alastair Hay.

Alastair Marshall brought it home for Central after being handed a 30-second lead at the end of Stage 11.

Butchart topped the times for the long leg with 24:57 and Hamish Hickey made it a Central double in that regard, too, by having the fastest short leg time at 15:07.

The running order (working off the club’s Tweets) was: Ben MacMillan, Dale Colley, Tom Graham-Marr, Matthew Sutherland, Cameron Milne, Luca Fanottoli, Alastair Hay, Calum Philip, Hamish Hickey, Andrew Butchart, Jamie Crowe, Alastair Marshall

Many congratulations to coach Derek Easton and all involved with Central AC on an excellent achievement and a huge boost for the Scottish road running scene.

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Well done to Corstorphine AAC in the Men’s race (finished 18th place) and Cambuslang Harriers with a first-ever team in the Women’s 6-Stage event (finished 17th).

Corstorphine were represented by the following 12 athletes: Ritchie Gardiner, Aaron Hoyle, Stephen Addison, David Addision, Donald Macaulay, Cameron Fordyce, Julian Barrable, Andrew Ferguson, Ewan Brown, Jack Fullerton, Calum McKenzie, Dermot Cummins.

Cambuslang Harriers were represented in the Women’s 6-Stage race by the following six athletes: Eve Mackinnon, Hannah Addison, Jacqueline Etherington, Lesley Blackwood, Catriona Bain, Rachel Wardrope.

Pretty good effort from the Addison family in there with three athletes across two teams!

*Well done to Steph Pennycook, with the Fife AC athlete featuring in the Leeds City team who won golds in the Women’s 6-Stage race.

First three under the course record at the 12-stage. Central, Highgate, Kent pic.twitter.com/6mqts6G8s2

— England Athletics (@EnglandAthletic) April 15, 2023

pic.twitter.com/iItteM8o8A

— CorstorphineAAC (@CorstorphineAAC) April 15, 2023

Good luck to our Women's Team at the English Road Relay Champs in Birmingham.

Representing the red and white and Scotland. ????????? pic.twitter.com/Hbvk7BtCsy

— Cambuslang Harriers (@CambuslangH) April 15, 2023

Tags: Cambuslang Harriers, Central AC, Corstorphine AAC, ERRA 12-Stage Road Relays