Giving Nationals a miss
GUERNSEY’S women’s relay squad may have won a spectacular gold at the ‘Southerns’, but the upcoming National Autumn Road Relays will be strictly a men’s endeavour.
The quartet of Laura McCarthy, Jenny James, Sarah Mercier and Louise Perrio won’t appear at the Nationals, having split their commitments between the lower-stakes Jersey Marathon relay and the following week’s Manchester Half Marathon.
But a record-placing men’s squad spearheaded by England international Ryan Burling will be there for the first time ever.
Recent Bath University recruit Alex Rowe’s stand-in for James Priest will be the only change in what is otherwise a repeat of Guernsey’s ‘Southerns’ men’s squad, who qualified after making the top 25 ‘A’ teams last week.
Rowe joins fellow Bath undergraduates Richard Bartram, Dan Galpin and Chris Way in the provisional roster and St Mary’s student Ed Mason completes the remarkably young sextet.
Burling looks forward to racing alongside his tried-and-true teammates in an event that features no shortage of international names.
‘Myself and the boys are really excited for the event, it’s not often we get to compete as a squad,’ he said.
‘I think it’s a fantastic achievement for us as a squad [to qualify] and I believe it’s the first time Guernsey are sending a men’s squad to the national road relays, which shows the strength of running on the island currently.
‘I’m actually the oldest in the team at 24, so I can only hope that we all take this as a massive learning experience to progress us onto bigger and better things, especially with the Island Games coming around in 2019.’
That said, Guernsey will be competing for minor places among the elite ranks at the ‘Nationals’ on 6 October.
In more familiar territory is tomorrow week’s Jersey Marathon and the five-leg road relays have once again proven a particular staple.
A squad starring McCarthy, James and Perrio are almost assured of women’s victory, while Warwick Helps’ men are top candidates for an overall podium spot.
Over the full distance, marathon specialist Ulrike Maisch will be in action and hopes to repeat last year’s women’s title with another sub-3hr time.
‘I’m feeling good and training went well,’ she said.
‘After the Guernsey Marathon I had three good training weeks.
‘Of course I’d like to win again but I don’t know who else is running – like last year I’ll run my own race, as steady as possible, and then hope it’s fast enough for first place.’
