St. Helens Sutton A.C. King of the Hills
Saturday saw a troupe of St. Helens Sutton A.C. men head on over to the Welsh Mountains to take on the challenging trails and mountains of the TrailFest Half Marathon. First home for the team was Andrew Wilson with a fantastic third place finish in a time of 1:31.11. Next back in 9th place and first over 50 was Ian Hayburn in 1:36.22, followed by Greg Carns in 58th in a time of 2:00.39, and Coach Ray Vose rounded out the team in 2:09.38. Overall the team took home the bronze medal with a third-place finish upsetting several Welsh teams.
Sunday saw another team event this time a little closer to home as the Northern Road Relays took place at Sport City Manchester. Sadly due to several injuries the Sutton men were unable to field a complete six man team, but never the less had a great run with Jake Healy on first leg running 24:55, Tom Griffiths took his suburb form onto second leg take nearly 50 places with a time of 24:42. Steven Anders took the third leg running 23:26 while Barry Graney ran the last leg in 25:55.
While the women of St. Helens Sutton were able to field a full team filled with great performances finishing 37th out of 97 teams. Gemma Connolly ran the first dropping from her favoured distance of the marathon to take on this 6k course, finishing in 19th in 22:11. Next up was Jade Smith in 25:30. Shannon Partington then took the third leg in 25:41, with Heather Drillingcourt completing the team in 28:15.
And even closer to home Andrew O’Connor took first place in the Run Rainhill 5k.
