A glorious family double took place in the recent Sports Tours Club la Santa City of Salford 10 kilometre road race.
16-year-old Stockport Harrier Ruth Sinclair not only took the event by the scruff of the neck and won the ladies’ title in 39 minutes and 8 seconds with a lifetime best in the process, but also her mother Lesley kept the silverware in the family by taking the over 50’s title for the 10k course from the Lowry Theatre Piazza and back.
Ruth’s joint coaches Mike and Peter Nixon are justifiably proud of her achievements and Mike’s son Jack also kept the family results flowing in and recorded an 8th position and was the first under-23 to finish in a strong field of over 3500 runners with overall race winner (30-58) Mohammed Abu-Rezeq of Altrincham AC taking the event title after finishing 2nd in 2013.
And so to the big event of the weekend being the Northwest Road Relays through Woodbank and Vernon parks. Sweet success came the way of the under-17’s girls team with the combined forces of Juliet Downs, Katy Whiteoak and Lucy Donaghy anchoring the trio to an excellent gold medal position.
Further success came the Club’s way with the under-15’s girls winning the Greater Manchester title from 2nd placed Manchester Harriers and 3rd placed Sale coupled with a bronze position in the under-13’s girls relays.
The senior women showed who was boss in their relay event having a battle Royal with the similar named club (Vale Royal). Mollie Williams took the first leg followed by Lyndsay Clarke and it fell to Louise Rudd to close the gap and overtake Jackie Spencer of Vale Royal which she duly did and with 7 seconds to spare, with Salford AC further behind in bronze medal position.
The real icing on the cake came in the very last event of the afternoon. The chips were down and the cards were dealt to produce a prial of jacks in the form of the senior men’s gold medal finishing position.
The quartet started with Jack Morris who handed the baton through to Jack Martin who took a good lead through to the third stage takeover by Jack Nixon and anchor man Patrick Martin finished the job off in fine style with a 30 second lead over 2nd placed Liverpool who overtook Salford Harriers’ man on the last leg who finished third.
So a treble championship result was achieved and this will stand the Harriers road relay teams in good stead and there’s all to play for in the forthcoming Northern road relays at Birchwood which will be followed on with the National finals at Sutton Park, Birmingham in early October.