Parker makes best of trip to see her mum
Last updated: 22/10/2009 11:54:00
Olympian Barbara Parker was on a double mission at the weekend when making the long haul home from the States.
She was here to celebrate her mum's 60th birthday and at the same time be part of the City of Norwich AC's senior ladies team in the National Road Relay Championship at Sutton Park, Birmingham.
The four-stage relay over the undulating pathways of Sutton Park was extremely testing, with each athlete have to complete a 4.3km leg.
With 80 teams toeing the starting line, Dani Nimmock took on the tough opening leg, battling to bring the team home in 17th position.
With Olivia Walwyn having to cry-off with a heavy cold, 800m specialist Rachel Stringer was drafted in to fill the second leg gap and did so with aplomb, moving the team up four places to hand over to Hollie Rowland.
She ran strongly to reel in seven more places, passing the baton to Barbara Parker in sixth position - giving her the opportunity to attack the medals positions.
Never one to resist a challenge, she produced one of the fastest runs of the day to claw back the opposition, overhauling Bristol & West AC in the home straight to snatch the bronze position by a mere two seconds.
In the senior men's six-stage relay the club's young team - Luke Allen, Carl Goose, Mitch Goose, Stuart Huntington, Ashley Harrell and Tommie Carroll - finished in a respectable 21st but that they should have finished in the top 20.
Mitch Goose (17min 20secs) and Harrell (17min 32secs) were the quickest over the 5.8km lap.
The club's juniors tested themselves over six, three stage relays, each leg being 3.8km.
The best result came in the U17 girls relay, in which Iona Lake, Esme Salmon and Juliet Broster teamed up to finish 10th.
The best individual performance came in the U13 girls relay from Alice Cheverton, who took the lead-off leg and handed over in third place. Megan Bird and Natalie Flintham worked their socks off to hang to a finishing spot of 15th.
The U15 girls team of Mabel Beckett, Rachel Rathjen and Emily Hoogkamer finished 20th out of 60 while the U15 boys team of Scott Greeves, Callum Russell and Sean Watson managed a mid-table 25th place finish. The U17 boys (Tom Francis, Ben Stratton and Callum McLaren) also managed a mid-table finish, 26th.
U13 boys Adam King, Tom Carr and Adam Davison found the going tough, finishing 34th.