VALE Royal Athletics Club’s results during Saturday’s English National Road Relays were their best yet, according to coach Shaun McGrath.

They returned with a medal too after an under 17s boys trio of Ben Lee, Harry Dexter and Arun Dight took silver in their age category at Sutton Park.

Five of the club’s other teams at the event classified inside the top 15.

McGrath said: “Lots of clubs bigger than ours would love to be able to boast of doing that.

“We’ve looked at the results, and reckon we’ve not had a day like that in previous years.”

Dight ran the second fastest leg overall, timing 11.45, to propel Vale Royal onto the podium after Dexter had risen to fifth.

Shaftesbury Barnet won gold.

The under 15s girls narrowly missed out on a medal, classifying fourth.

Holly Smith clocked the eighth quickest split before handing over to Francesca Harris, who led by the end of her stint.

Lucy Smith was only caught in the closing 200m.

Holly Weedall and Grace Roberts, part of Vale Royal’s under 13s girls’ team, impressed on their debut at national level.

Together with Faye Conboy, the Northern champions ranked fifth after Weedall ran the second best leg in the field.

Alfie Bould’s split was the best in the under 15s boys’ race before Ed Pettitt and William McKay continued his fine work to finish seventh.

Vale Royal’s senior women entered three teams, with the best of those taking 11th spot.

Katie Gerrard, Sarah Murphy, Kate Spilsbury and Amelia Pettitt made up their quartet.

The senior men, fielding a line-up with an average age of less than 20, were 41st.

Jacob Brown, Ryan Moore, Josh Betteley, Matthew Sheen, Oliver Williams and Cameron Weaver were on duty.

McGrath said: “That may look underwhelming written down, but consider that endurance runners reach their peak much later.

“To have such a young group rank inside the top 50 is something we’re really proud of.”

Results

English National Road Relays Championships

Saturday, October 8

Sutton Park

Senior men: 41. Vale Royal AC (Jacob Brown, Ryan Moore, Josh Betteley, Matthew Sheen, Oliver Williams, Cameron Weaver) 1:54.27

Senior women: 11. Vale Royal AC A (Katie Gerrard, Sarah Murphy, Kate Spilsbury, Amelia Pettitt) 1:01.54; 41. Vale Royal AC B (Carolyn Dooley, Chloe Broad, Helen Whitby, Kate Titlow) 1:09.41; 55. Vale Royal AC C (Chloe Dooley, Clara Pettitt, Lucy Burch, Carole Williams) 1:18.19

Under 17s boys: 2. Vale Royal AC (Ben Lee, Harry Dexter, Arun Dight) 36.05

Under 15s boys: 7. Vale Royal AC (Alfie Bould, Ed Pettitt, William McKay) 39.55

Under 15s girls: 4. Vale Royal AC (Holly Smith, Francesca Harris, Lucy Smith) 43.14

Under 13s boys: 15. Vale Royal AC (Will Ashfield, Wilf Dight, Patrick Griffith) 43.33

Under 13s girls: 5. Vale Royal AC (Grace Roberts, Faye Conboy, Holly Weedall) 45.08