Basingstoke and Mid Hants Athletic Club (BMHAC) kick-started their winter road relay and cross country programme with an impressive turn out in the SEAA Road Relays held at the Rushmoor Arena in Aldershot on Saturday, September 23, in glorious autumnal conditions.

The club fielded teams ranging from the U13 boys right up to the senior ladies’ teams.

First up on the 3k course were the boys U13 A team of Eliott Trepass, Harvey Guynan and Casper Morris, finishing 42nd out of 63 teams in a time of 37.13 and with only one entrant in the B team a great run by Oliver Packer saw him finish in a time of 13.24.

In the U13 girls unfortunately the club had only one entrant with Celeste Vickers running a superb time of 12.04 finishing in 27th place for her leg.

The U15 boys team of Caleb Proctor, Matthew Davey & Henry Davis finished 46th out of 69 teams in a time of 34.01.

Next out onto the course were the U15 girls where the club had an impressive three teams taking part in the event.

U15 girls A team of Uma Doublet, Daisy Allford and Olivia Arnold ran a superb race finishing in a time of 33.53 coming in 11th out of 63 teams and narrowly missing out on a top 10 finish and qualification to the National Road Relay in Birmingham.

The U15 girls B team of Abigail Spencer, Mia Spiers and Anna Edwards came in 37th in 37.42, and the C team of Ava Spiers, Georgi Barrett and Izabel Brown came in 46th in a time of 39.40.

The U17s moved up a distance to 4.6k adding an extra loop to the course. The U17 men’s A team of Nicholas Thomas, Tom Dewy and Orrin Wheeler came in 17th out of 68 in a time of 46.15, and the B team consisting of Noah O’Neill, Kian Mayoh and Finley Baulch coming in 50th in 52.15 and the  solitary runner in the C team William Edwards completing his lap in 20.33.

The U17 women also came home in 17th out of 47 teams with Immi Edwards, Charlotte Vickers and Emily Marshall completing the course in 56.04.

The senior women’s course of 6k features teams of four runners with the senior ladies team of Alison Edwards, Harriet Duncombe, Freya Garside and Cat Coveney bringing the team home in 49th out of 61 teams in a time of 1.48.54.

The senior men’s course features six runners each completing the 6k course, the team of Rob Wood, Stefan O’Loughnane, Harry Ware, Alex Bigg, Oliver Smith and Oskar Harvey-Nash came in 52nd place out of a field of 106 teams.

The next relay races are at Wormwood Scrubs Park, Shepherds Bush, London, on October 21 and the cross country season will be under way in a few weeks’ time at Wellesley Woods in Aldershot.

On September 30 the Basingstoke Speed Decathlon will take place at Down Grange. This exciting event is back after a brief absence due to Covid.