Dacorum & Tring young guns impress at Relay Championships in London

A group of 21 young athletes from Mike Dunphy’s Dacorum & Tring AC middle distance squad competed in the South East of England Cross Country Relay Championships at Wormwood Scrubs in London, with some fine individual results and good team placings.
Michael Armstrong and Jamie Bailey led off Leg 1 for Dacorum & Tring AC in the U13 boys' relay at the the South East of England Cross Country Relay ChampionshipsMichael Armstrong and Jamie Bailey led off Leg 1 for Dacorum & Tring AC in the U13 boys' relay at the the South East of England Cross Country Relay Championships
Michael Armstrong and Jamie Bailey led off Leg 1 for Dacorum & Tring AC in the U13 boys' relay at the the South East of England Cross Country Relay Championships

Each team was composed of three members, with each runner in the U13 and U15 age groups – taking on a 2km lap before passing off to their team-mate.

In the older age groups, the U17 girls ran a 2.5k lap and the U17 boys ran 3k each. All 21 runners were competing in the SEAA championships for the first time, with the club entering teams for the first time since 2011 – a sign of the growing strength of Dunphy’s young squad.

The U13 boys fielded two strong teams; the A team of Michael Armstrong, Adam Jolly and Freddie-Truman Williams – all in Year 8 – finished 11th out of 27 teams. The B team, made of Year 7 trio Jamie Bailey, Ethan Brimmer and Thomas Ashton, were 19th out of 27 teams. Michael had the fastest time for the club, completing his 2k lap in 7:35, for joint 10th overall.

The U15 boys also had a good race, with Jamie Ayres, Kristian Imroth and James Glyn – all in the younger of the two-year age group – finishing 16th out of 25 teams. Kristian posted the quickest time of the group, 6:59 - fast enough for 10th overall.

The U17 boys team of Rhys Rowlands, Matt Renphrey and Joshua van Heiningen battled injury and tough competition to finish 17th out of the 19 teams, with Rhys recording the 15th fastest time of 11:28 for the 3k lap.

The U13 girls team, made up of Jessica Hoar, Olivia Moore and Jessica Benveniste, ran well to finish 28th out of the 32 teams, while the U15 girls team of Indira Patel, Amy Perry and Maddie Perry were 21st out of 29 teams. Indira had a fine run, finishing 10th in her leg in a time of 7.53.

The U17 girls’ team – Grace Birdseye, Isabelle Amos and Olive Coles – finished 13th out of the 16 teams in the competition, with Olive posting a speedy 9:07 for the 2.5k lap.

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