Vale Royal's women and Cambridge & Coleridge's men both retained their senior titles at the ERRA National Road Relays at Sutton Park, with times around a minute and a half quicker than last year on a new course distance.

ENGLISH ROAD RUNNING ASSOCIATION NATIONAL ROAD RELAYS, Sutton Park, West Midlands, October 3

In perfect autumnal weather there was a sense of déjà vu in the senior races as, firstly, Vale Royal won the women's race and then Cambridge & Coleridge the men's, with both retaining their titles.

Due to park restrictions, this year was only the second time the senior races were held over a new distance, and times were generally around a minute and a half quicker than in 2025.

Among the six young athletes' events, where the same lap was used as previously, six different clubs took gold, while Chelmsford were the only club to take more than one team medal, with three.

Men

Holders Cambridge & Coleridge were always in the hunt and were only a few seconds off the lead on the opening stage, through Thomas Keen's 15:36.

It had been Blackburn's Matt Ramsden who had "won" the opening 5.47km stage with a 15:30 clocking that wound up fifth fastest overall, as Joe Tuffin, for BRAT, and Tomer Tarragano, for Brighton, were close.

Ramsden said: "It was quite quick and hot and close, but I decided to speed it up on the way back."

Cambridge's Thomas Bridger diced with Brighton's Josh Hobbs on the second stage and he said: "I caught him with 200m to go and got round the last corner first."

He then handed over to their slowest runner, Julian Moynihan, who led from Brighton's James Turner at the half-way point.

Moynihan said of his effort: "I pushed too hard at the start," but all was well, as he handed over to Jonathan Escalante-Phillips, who popped in a 15:50 clocking to retain the lead.

There was a bit of a train behind as Tonbridge's James Kingston, who was second fastest last year, ran 15:19 and led, before Western Tempo's Jacob Cann moved up into the podium positions. Salford's Harry Wakefield joined in the fun with a 15:24 split.

Cann said: "I pulled him [Kingston] back, but then he pulled away again, but I was hanging on in there."

Their three times were to wind up second, third and fourth fastest respectively but, up ahead, Cambridge & Coleridge were now almost certain to retain their title.

They finished off with Jack Gray, who said: "It was a bit lonely for me out in front," and Nathan Mapperley, who noted: "I probably lost a little bit," but were both inside 16 minutes, and their club won by 45 seconds.

Behind, it was Tonbridge who snatched silver near the finish as Ted Higgins got the drop on Western Tempo's Dom James.

Deeper in the field, Will Barnicoat, the 2024 under-23 European cross country champion, who has been on the track of late, was having a storming last leg for Aldershot. A 15:10 clocking saw his club up to tenth and was the fastest overall time of the day.

Barnicoat returned to action late this past summer with a useful 13:29.49 for 5000m in Sweden among other track outings.

Cambridge & Coleridge also had the fastest B team, who were in eighth place and had their first-stage runner, Alex Melloy, faster than all but one of his club's A team. The club explained this by saying they had promised most of their runners in their South of England championship team a run out in the Nationals.

Men (6x5.47km): 1 Cambridge & Coleridge 95:21 (T Keen 15:36, T Bridger 15:52, J Moynihan 16:10, J Escalante-Phillips 15:50, J Gray 15:59, N Mapperley 15:52); 2 Tonbridge 96:06 (J MacDonald 15:59, J Higgins 16:11, L Mills 16:28, J Kingston 15:19, W Beeston 16:15, T Higgins 15:50); 3 Western Tempo 96:08 (L Davis 16:16, T Crockett 16:19, B Robinson 16:12, J Cann 15:26, D Gillett 15:52, D James 16:01); 4 Salford 97:00 (E Wheelwright 16:06, J Marwood 16:06, J Birmingham 16:29, H Wakefield 15:24, B Lawrence 16:15, E Garamszegi 16:36); 5 Morpeth 97:28 (F Brodie 15:56, L McCourt 15:47, S Hancox 16:47, C Coulson 15:52, C Avery 16:14, E Hetherington 16:49); 6 Brighton & Hove 98:04 (T Tarragano 15:34, J Hobbs 15:55, J Turner 16:20, R Monti 17:14, H Yelling 17:03, I Crowe-Wright 15:56); 7 Leeds 98:06 (J Firth 16:13, J Hall 16:35, N Marsh 16:21, R Allen 15:54, H Butler 16:50, J Beattie 16:11); 8 C&C B 98:15 (A Melloy 15:41, D Jones 16:05, M Morgan 16:35, S McDonald 16:57, O Newman 16:26, C Benyan 16:28); 9 BRAT 98:32 (J Tuffin 15:33, J Williamson 17:10, J McGraw 16:42, W McKerney 16:42, J Stolberg 16:15, M Pearce 16:08); 10 Aldershot F&D 98:31 (O Sumba 16:36, M Pickering 16:11, D Paston 17:24, T Chandler 16:04, O Russell 17:13, W Barnicoat 15:10); 11 Highgate 99:20; 12 Swindon 99:28; 13 Portsmouth 99:28; 14 HUUB 1:40:25; 15 Bedford & C 1:40:37; 16 Shaftesbury 1:40:39; 17 Southampton 1:41:33; 18 Tonbridge B 1:41:54; 19 W Tempo B 1:42:03; 20 Blackheath & B 1:43:08

61 teams finished

Fastest: W Barnicoat (AFD) 15:10; J Kingston (Ton) 15:19; H Wakefield (Salf) 15:24; J Cann (W Tempo) 15:26; M Ramsden (B'burn) 15:30; M Clark (Norw) 15:32; J Tuffin (BRAT) 15:33; T Tarragano (B&H) 15:34; T Keen (C&C) 15:36; A Melloy (C&C B) 15:41

Women

Vale Royal comfortably retained their senior women's title and did so by nearly a minute from Leeds who, despite their successes elsewhere, have never won this title.

They started off with Sarah Dufour-Jackson, who was second fastest last year, but they were 30 seconds off the first-leg lead set by Liverpool's Faye O'Hare and Norwich's Megan Gadsby.

Their times of 17:50 and 17:56 were to stand up as second and third best of the afternoon.

Gadsby led at the Jamboree Stone from O'Hare and Dufour-Jackson, but it was 22-year-old O'Hare who finished the strongest and said: "It was hot and warm and the last time I was here I was second in the under-15 race on the first stage."

Leg two had seen City of Leeds ahead mid-stage and it was their Eleanor Curran who held on to lead at the mid-race point from Salford's Freya Murdoch, as the eventual winners were back in third.

Curran said: "I took the lead going up the hill and that was my job."

Leeds held on to the lead on the penultimate stage, despite Holly Weedall eating into the advantage for Vale Royal, who were now just nine seconds adrift. It was Georgia Malir on duty for Leeds and she said: "I was hanging on in there."

Bristol & West closed right up on this stage thanks to Charlotte Taylor's equal third-fastest 17:56, and this was enough to ensure that her club were in the hunt for bronze medals.

With the fastest women's lap of the day, at 17:42, Katie Ward completed the job for Vale Royal, a time that exactly matched the 2025 fastest time set by Abbie Donnelly on this new lap.

Ward was still behind half-way round, but then said: "I caught her just before the turn." This was out on the dog-leg before the run back down past Keepers Pool, then up to the finish.

Sarah Potter took second for Leeds, as Bryony Shepherd held on to third ahead of Belgrave's fast-finishing Nancie Bowley.

Women (4x5.47km): 1 Vale R 73:09 (S Dufour-Jackson 18:20, D Murphy 19:02, H Weedall 18:03, K Ward 17:42); 2 Leeds 74:01 (H Townsend 18:30, E Curran 18:09, G Malir 18:37, S Potter 18:43); 3 Bristol & W 74:54 (S Duval 19:25, C Baker 18:09, C Taylor 17:56, B Shepherd 19:23); 4 Belgrave 75:07 (K Shepherd-Cross 19:00, A Barbour 19:05, J Hodder 18:31, N Bowley 18:30); 5 AFD 75:20 (Millie Jordan-Lee 18:18, S Coppola-Johansen 19:31, H Preedy 19:09, Maddie Jordan-Lee 18:21); 6 Salford 76:31 (S Bent 18:37, F Murdoch 18:35, E Russell 19:42, D Slattery 19:36); 7 Blackburn 76:47 (I Holt 18:57, L Powell-Smith 20:43, K Maher 18:02, L Huxley 19:03); 8 Herne H 77:00 (R Carter 18:52, H Keenan 19:35, G Leyland 19:30, S Tooley 19:01); 9 Leeds B 77:11 (C Van Zeist 19:23, R Jones 19:16, E Bell 19:37, J Walsh 18:54); 10 W Tempo 77:14 (A Milnes 19:20, G Burridge 19:30, M Marchant 18:32, T Ozoux 19:50); 11 Trafford 77:31; 12 Belgrave B 78:08; 13 C&C 78:16; 14 Lincoln W 78:43; 15 Liverpool 78:44; 16 C&C B 79:59; 17 Highgate 80:16; 18 Rotherham 80:41; 19 Belgrave C 80:49; 20 St Theresa's 80:47

59 teams finished

Fastest: K Ward (Vale R) 17:42; F O'Hare (Liv) 17:50; M Gadsby (Norw)/C Taylor (B&W) 17:56; K Maher (B'burn) 18:02; H Weedall (Vale R) 18:03

Young athletes' races

The first away on the day were the under-14 boys, quickly followed by the under-14 girls.

The boys' race saw South London win from a Cornwall trio, after Isaac Taylor-Unitt had led for Salford Harriers on the 3.88km opening stage.

Fred Pochee then brought Cornwall into the lead mid-race before Cartyr Jenkin saw South London home to a 15-second win.

Mid-race, Sebastian Buxton's 11:54, for City of Stoke, ran out the fastest stage time.

For the girls, who mixed it with the boys a few minutes back, it was a bit of a procession as Brentwood Beagles won by a street.

They began with Lianne Esterhuysen's 13:27, but she was headed by Gosforth's Ada Penfold's 13:21, and these two were second and third best of the girls' age group.

Brentwood went ahead mid-race through Jessica Davidson before Sophie Davies' 13:18 posted the quickest lap, to see her club home by 96 seconds from Aldershot.

The under-16 boys followed and there was a rare national title for Solihull & Small Heath as they overcame a mid-race deficit to win by 29 seconds from Hercules Wimbledon.

It had been Wakefield's Thomas Hastings who had led the first stage with an 11:57 clocking that was to end up second quickest, after taking the lead after 2km. His club then dropped back as Gosforth's Mason Gaylor and Noah Penfold gave their club a slight lead over Chelmsford, with just one lap left to run.

Finally, it was race-fastest Zak Rush who closed the five-second gap to the lead before going right away with the race's quickest time of 11:54.

The Warriors Pentathlon club comfortably won the under-16 girls' race after pulling back an opening-lap lead set by Aldershot's Koko O'Neill's 13:28.

This was thanks to Ronnie Kohring taking over from one of the Beddow twins, Isobel, before Daisy McVicar completed the job with a 13:34 return that ensured all of Warriors' times were within nine seconds of each other.

Deep in the field mid-race and largely unnoticed, Birchfield's Taylor Riches posted the fastest under-16 time of 13:22.

The smallest age-group field was in the under-18 women's race, but the men's held up well, and there Herne Hill won the men's race and City of Stoke the women's, to ensure six different clubs took gold medals.

Thomas Clerkin led off for Herne Hill's men, with the race's third-fastest split of 11:34, and was chased home by Bracknell's Elliott Langley-Aybar's 11:37 as the pattern of the race was quickly established.

James Clements-Nash, with the under-18 second-fastest 11:28, and Caspian Holmes then finished things off for Herne Hill, as they took the win by 27 seconds.

Moving up to third on the last leg was Finn MacLennan, whose race-quickest 11:24 secured Cambridge & Coleridge the bronze medals.

For the under-18 women, Stoke's Holly Turner gave them a good start with a first-stage 13:21, but that was behind Derby's Olivia Lee's second-fastest overall 13:03. Lee said: "I led most of the time but was going away up the first hill."

They then lost the lead mid-race to Chelmsford and Windsor before Zara Bratt's 13:01 race-quickest brought them home for the win.

U18 Men (3x3.88km): 1 Herne Hill 34:59 (T Clerkin 11:34, J Clements-Nash 11:28, C Holmes 11:56); 2 Bracknell 35:26 (E Langley-Aybar 11:37, B Lucas 11:51, E Cuniffe 11:56); 3 Cambridge & C 35:30 (H Cantell 12:04, A De Koning 12:01, F MacLennan 11:24); 4 Wycombe Phoenix 35:51 (D Leigh 11:51, L Bray 11:49, F Hayward 12:10); 5 Bedford & C 35:59 (O Henderson 12:13, F Williams 12:10, O Weddell 11:35); 6 Mansfield 35:59 (F McAllister 11:40, O McClemens 12:27, L Marston 11:52); 7 Hercules W 36:00; 8 Tonbridge 36:02; 9 Burton 36:07; 10 St Mary's 36:08; 11 Southport W 36:09; 12 Charnwood 36:25

69 teams finished

Fastest: F MacLennan (C&C) 11:24; J Clements-Nash (Herne H) 11:28; T Clerkin (Herne H) 11:34; O Weddell (Bed C) 11:35; E Langley-Aybar (Brack) 11:37; E Keifer (R&Z) 11:38

U16 Boys (3x3.88km): 1 S&SH 36:47 (J Larkin 12:28, T Heather-Green 12:24, Z Rush 11:54); 2 Hercules W 37:16 (A Briki 12:26, I Derian 12:33, T Hennigan 12:16); 3 Gosforth 37:23 (M Gaylor 12:10, N Penfold 12:37, E Watson 12:36); 4 Brighton & Hove 37:31 (C Walker 12:36, S Gill 12:54, G Urben 12:01); 5 WSEH 37:38 (T Bainbridge 12:12, F Fraser 12:42, B Welch 12:43); 6 Wirral 37:44 (F Reece 12:13, N Mills 12:58, L Sawyer 12:33); 7 Chelmsford 37:46; 8 Wakefield 38:10; 9 Tonbridge 38:17; 10 Herts P 38:24; 11 Derby 38:24; 12 Portsmouth 38:40

80 teams finished

Fastest: Z Rush (S&SH) 11:54; T Hastings (Wake) 11:57; E Roe (Roth) 11:58; J Tildesley (Ports) 12:00; G Urben (B&H) 12:01; O Segal (Der) 12:02

U14 Boys (3x3.88km): 1 S London 40:08 (L Lew 13:08, A Malcolm 13:29, C Jenkin 13:30); 2 Cornwall 40:23 (J Dixon 13:16, F Pochee 13:09, A Jenkins 13:57); 3 Chelmsford 40:34 (F Blacketer 13:00, A Cooke 14:12, D Law 13:20); 4 C&C 40:42 (A Cornes Oliff 12:57, Z Xiang 13:55, O Calver 13:49); 5 Salford 40:44 (I Taylor-Unitt 12:52, Z Magdzinski 13:37, N Hartley 14:15); 6 Stoke 40:57 (H Nixon 15:43, S Buxton 11:54, I Clarke 13:19); 7 Herne H 41:01; 8 RSC 41:23; 9 Charnwood 41:27; 10 Shrewsbury 41:38; 11 B&B 42:22; 12 Derby 42:26

54 teams finished

Fastest: S Buxton (Stoke) 11:54; I Taylor-Unitt (Salf) 12:52; A Cornes Oliff (C&C) 12:57; F Blacketer (Chelm) 13:00; I Lillywhite (Shrews) 13:02; H Don (Charn) 13:07

U18 Women (3x3.88km): 1 Stoke 40:30 (H Turner 13:21, L Dundas 14:01, Z Bratt 13:01); 2 Chelmsford 40:53 (E Harrald 13:43, A Shipton 13:37, J March 13:31); 3 WSEH 41:01 (Z Allan 13:27, T Ferguson 13:52, R Street 13:41); 4 AFD 41:28 (M Robertson 14:17, O Garcia-Davis 13:45, P Guest 13:22); 5 Rotherham 41:35 (H Bacon 13:48, M Holmes 14:00, A Andrews 13:47); 6 Sale 42:10 (M Boyer 14:03, B Soper 14:05, R Heywood 14:01); 7 Portsmouth 42:33; 8 Rossendale 43:16; 9 Derby 43:18; 10 Chelmsford B 43:28; 11 WSEH B 43:43; 12 Kettering 44:16

40 teams finished

Fastest: Z Bratt (Stoke) 13:01; O Lee (Der) 13:03; A Klidjian (Ports) 13:16; H Turner (Stoke) 13:21; P Guest (AFD) 13:22; Z Allan (WSEH) 13:27

U16 Girls (3x3.88km): 1 Warriors Pentathlon 40:58 (I Beddow 13:40, R Kohring 13:43, D McVicar 13:34); 2 Lincoln Wellington 41:51 (M Porter 13:52, A Ronnie 14:15, H Norris 13:33); 3 Hallamshire 41:45 (J Thake 13:31, C Bailey 14:25, M Buckley 13:48); 4 Herne Hill 42:34 (S O'Brien 13:33, I McLennan 15:07, M Scriven 13:52); 5 Portsmouth 42:37 (I Shaw 13:58, T Gopodschild 14:56, F Klepacz 13:52); 6 Chelmsford 43:13 (I Kehoe 13:57, J Hobson 14:51, B Cooke 14:24); 7 St Edmunds P 43:33; 8 AFD 43:35; 9 Brentwood Beagles 43:39

63 teams finished

Fastest: T Riches (Bir) 13:22; K O'Neill (AFD) 13:28; J Thake (Hallam) 13:31; H Norris (Linc W)/S O'Brien (Herne H) 13:33; D McVicar (Warriors) 13:34

U14 Girls (3x3.88km): 1 Brentwood Beagles 41:30 (L Esterhuysen 13:27, J Davidson 14:45, S Davies 13:18); 2 AFD 43:06 (L Scallan 14:02, Z Milton 14:34, E Jones 14:28); 3 Chelmsford 43:28 (B Kehoe 14:51, S Davis 14:31, L Robinson 14:05); 4 Bed C 44:20 (I Murphy 14:13, L Cottier-Whitehead 15:04, L Nevzat 15:02); 5 W&B 44:30 (A Evans 15:03, A-R Jones 13:39, C Cashmore-Jones 15:47); 6 Gosforth 44:42 (A Penfold 13:21, S Skeen 15:31, R Collins 15:49); 7 WSEH 44:50; 8 Soton 45:01; 9 AFD B 45:22; 10 RSC 45:39; 11 Swindon 45:51; 12 Liverpool 45:51

53 teams finished

Fastest: S Davies (B'wood) 13:18; A Penfold (Gosf) 13:21; L Esterhuysen (B'wood) 13:27; A-R Jones (W&B) 13:39; L Scallan (AFD) 14:02; L Robinson (Chelm) 14:05