25th March 2006 MIDLAND 12 STAGE ROAD RELAY - SUTTON PARK Shock, horror - Stoke AC finally managed to get 12 senior men to turn up at the same place on the same day! After a 3 year absence it was great to get back into the thick of a regional competition again. Not withstanding an error by the marshals that gifted us a higher position than we were actually in for a while (and a few extra grey hairs for team manager Steve Shubotham), this was still an excellent comeback for a team combining youth and experience. On the 1st leg Ray Plant showed that his form is on the up again with a strong run in the blustery conditions to bring the team in 5th. Gavin Walters was the first of the youngsters on the difficult 2nd leg and he didn't flinch at all with a super sub 16 minute clocking. Carl Shubotham also performed well on the 3rd leg to keep us in the top 5. On the 4th long leg, road race specialist Mike Proudlove amazingly brought us up to 2nd overall, albeit with a little assistance from a marshal at the start. Pete Benyon has been improving all winter and his strength showed with an excellent 15.31 clocking to keep us in the top 3. This was a pb by some 40 seconds. Despite suffering from a cold Danny Barker was another of Steve Shubotham's blossoming squad who proved that the training is working with a good time. Taking off in 4th place Tom Gayle ran an excellent long leg coming back in the same position a second faster than Mike. Unfortunately, my vast experience of this course was not enough to keep us in the top 5, as 2 teams went past all too quickly on the first hill, but I was well pleased with my efforts to try and minimise the damage. Ian Milner also showed that he is improving again with a fine time in the worsening conditions. Andy Allen probably got the worst of these on the last long stage as the wind picked up, but he still ran strongly in almost total isolation to keep our place.  Super vet John Sinclair valiantly answered a relatively late call with a great run to average sub 7 minute miles on this tough course, and make sure that we had a secure handover to Paul Hodgkinson, who everyone was delighted to see back in the team after the injury problems that have wrecked his training this winter. Special thanks also to Dave Hindley our 13th man who was disappointed to miss a run out when everyone else turned up!  Also on the last leg former Stoke star Rob Whalley produced a typically blistering effort to bring his Bristol and West team home in 1st place with the fastest short stage of the day. So 8th place overall (and automatic qualification for the National 12 stage) was a great result for a team that has not been able to field more than 9 athletes at any event all winter, and hopefully we will try to keep this momentum going with the other guys who we have yet to come in.  John Danahay Full results at www.midlandathletics.org.uk  Team 8th place overall Ray Plant Gavin Walters Carl Shubotham Mike Proudlove Pete Benyon Danny Barker Tom Gayle John Danahay Ian Milner Andy Allen John Sinclair Paul Hodgkinson 27.34 (LS) 15.42 16.49 28.00 (LS) 15.31 16.36 27.59 (LS) 16.29 17.28 29.20 (LS) 20.53 18.40