Southampton Running Club and Team Solent are celebrating safe passages through to the National Six-Stage Road Relay Championships at Sutton Coldfield on October 23.

Solent's men, making their first foray into the South of England relays for some years, did well to finish 13th from over 80 teams at Aldershot's Rushmoor Arena and, in Angus Maclean, boasted the fourth fastest man of the day.

Olly Jones got the Team Solent attack under way over the 6x6K course, recording 19 minutes and ten seconds for 21st place. Then came Nigel Wright (37th, 21.05), John Beattie (27th, 19.53), Chrisitan Folliott (22nd, 20.11), Tommy Davies (18th, 19.00) and Maclean (13th, 18.00).

The Running Club, meanwhile, achieved a satisfying first with both their men's and women's teams qualifying for the national finals.

The men's senior A team finished 22nd on the day, while the women chased home winners Bedford AC in 23rd place - an improvement on their 2003 result.

SRC team manager Malcolm Price said: "While we qualified at the lower end in both relays, it is still a credit which few clubs have achieved."

SRC's men's B team came 55th in an event won by Belgrave Harriers, while their veterans closed in ninth and 26th in the vet-40 age-group and ninth, 15th and 20th in the vet-50 race.

Southampton Running Club times:

Senior men's A team: Matt West 20.40; Dave Branfoot 19.10; Pete Davis 20.24 ;Mike Twomey 20.28; Mark Campbell 19.57; Russ Coleman 20.51

Senior men's B team: Steve Axon 20.56; Steve Heggarty 22.03; Joan Matos 21.01;Graham Bungay 21.18; Mike Read 23.21 ; Paul Fotherby 23.02Vet-40 A team: Peter Costley 20.52 ; Rob Thompson 21.30; Adam Bridge 21.34;Jon Grainger 20.49Vet-40 B team: Martin Rosell 24.03 ; Paul Carter 21.46 ; Malcolm Riddle22.07; Steve Torrance 22.58Vet-50 A team: Dave Carter 23.02; Martyn West 22.32; Ian Richardson 22.35; Neil Hotson 23.01Vet-50 B team: Mike Smith 23.11; Richard Walley 22.44; John Keenan 23.27; Richie Pearson 27.23Vet-50 C team: Peter Kidwell 24.50; Ian Burgess 27.55; Ken Williams 28.13; Malcolm Knight 26.37 Women: Kaye Harwood 14.17; Nala McRobert 14.57; Sam Piddington 16.19; Siobhan Mitchell 16.45