READING AC’s veteran ladies team narrowly missed out on a national championship medal as they finished in an excellent fourth place in the British Masters Road Relay at Sutton Park, Birmingham, on Saturday.

Sue Francis, Sarah Urwin-Mann and Belinda Tull were up against 27 other teams in the W45-54 age category, and the race also included many other ladies from the W35-44, W55-64 and W65+ categories.

The three-stage relay was run over a testing three-mile course which was very undulating but picturesque.

On stage one, Francis had a very close race with three other W45 ladies, being the sixth runner to hand over after a lap time of 19m 48secs, with Trafford AC just one second ahead and Trentham AC and Barnsley AC just one and three seconds behind respectively.

Urwin-Mann took over for stage two and shrugged off the pain of an Achilles tendon injury as she ran hard to pass Telford, Holmfirth, Dulwich and Trafford, gaining four places to clock 19:41 and handing over to Tull as second W45 team.

Bristol & West AC were now clear leaders, but Dulwich Runners, Trentham and Telford were all within striking distance of Reading, and Tull had the unenviable task of trying to hold them off as the black skies opened and rain started to fall on the competitors.

Dulwich Runners’ star and international veteran athlete Claire Elms passed her and began to reel in the Bristol & West runner, meanwhile, Tull, who has also only recently overcome injury problems, ran really well to hold off the other challengers until the last half mile of her stage, when a fast-finishing Telford athlete came past.

Tull’s time of 20:44 ensured the team finished in fourth place in a total time of 1:00:13, behind Bristol & West, Dulwich Runners and Telford.