Saturday saw the end of the Autumn relay season with the traditional National x-country relays at Mansfield. Good weather and dry underfoot conditions saw fast times and exciting races on this challenging, spectator friendly course.

First event was a combined U18 and U20 Women's relay.  Sarah Smith (10.07) led the U18 team, moving through the field after the hectic start in the 3x2.5km relay to finish 42nd out of the 57 teams. Ava Evans (11.04) and Sofia Ward (11.01) then moved the team up to finishing 39th.

Betsy Widdop (8.37) in the U14 girls 2km course finished 53rd out of 71 starting teams.

Next race was a new 4x1600m senior mixed relay event.  Teams could choose what order to run the 2 men and 2 women in the team and the format was welcomed as an exciting new race. Trafford ran Jordi Evans-Rodriguez (4.46) on first leg coming in 8th place of the 51 teams that started the relay. Kate Meeson and Izzy Rippon then ran nearly identical legs (6.04) to keep the team in 17th and with a great finish Laurence Skidmore (5.12) claimed 13th place on a dip finish. Removing university teams meant Trafford were 11th team and 2nd Northern team.

Excitement then built for the joint U18 and U20 Men’s 3x3km relay.  143 teams lined up making for a fast sprint off the line. It was Pio Aron (9.11) who led the Trafford runners at the start of the first leg for the U20 'B' team followed close behind by Tio Austin (9.00) U20 mens 'A' team. Tio moved through in the last 800m to hand over in 18th place. In the U18 race Adrian White (9.36) was 31st and for the Trafford B team Ben Dutson (10.09) produced another good run in 61st. Leg 2 saw Jay Hutchinson (9.08) move the U20 A team up to 15th. Archie Greenwood (9.17) continued his good start to the winter moving the 'B' team up to 21st overall even with a fall. Another in form athlete, Ben Gardner (9.14), moved the U18 'A' team up to 20th and there was an excellent run by Charlie Congdon (10.46) in the U18 'B' team with his first ever run at this level. Leg 3 saw Fin Dobson Emmas (9.01) once again picking places up as he moved the U20 'A' team up to 11th overall, 7th club team and 2nd Northern team. Showing great depth Thomas Amaral (9.27) held off Blackburn to finish as the top 'B' team and 22nd overall. Closing the Trafford U20 'B' team down on last leg was Arlo Mander-Tullius (9.05) moving the U18 'A' team up to 12th and 3rd Northern U18 team. Sam Ingleby-Castleton (10.44) moved Trafford’s U18 'B' team up to finish 59th and 9th overall 'B' team.

Next race saw the U16 Boys 2km relay. Teddy O’Brien (6.52) set the 'A' team up in 39th place and showing how packed the race was Stan Barber (6.59) was 13 places behind and yet only 7 seconds back for the 'B' team. With the 15th fastest run on leg 2 Rohan Woodbridge moved the 'A' team up to 24th and showing great speed and experience Tom Daly (6.48) moved the team up to finish 19th and only 6 seconds behind 13th place. Thomas Fotheringham (7.19) and Joe Bowden (8.27) then brought the 'B' team home in 67th out of the 98 teams that started.

In the senior relays, late withdrawals saw just Ava Clough run in the Senior Women's 3km relay. Ava had a strong run the whole way around the course finishing 10th in 9.52. The Men’s 4x5km relay again had Jordi Evans-Rodriguez leading the team off, finishing 72nd in 16.21 out of the 185 teams that started. Luke Carrington (17.49), Daniel Partington (18.08) and Laurence Skidmore (17.50) brought the team home in 77th place. Jeff Prest (18.54) and George Wright (18.51) competed in the B team.

Click here for Full Results.