Round Norfolk Relay

THE BIRKETTS ROUND NORFOLK RELAY 20th/21st SEPTEMBER 2014

RNR 2014 PHOTOS

RNR 2014 Results

Open Class Report

Over the weekend of September 20th/21st Ely Runners took two teams to compete in the 28th edition of the Round Norfolk Relay. As ever the race was impeccably organised, but sadly the running of this year’s race was overshadowed by the passing of Darryl Davis, a runner representing City of Norwich AC (CONAC), who collapsed towards the end of Stage 4 near Cley. I'm sure the thoughts and sympathies of all Ely Runners go out to Darryl's family, friends and all at CONAC.

As way of explanation for all those new to the club, the relay consists of 17stages covering a total of 197 miles with teams starting out from King's Lynn on Saturday morning/afternoon and finishing back in King's Lynn on Sunday morning after running round the perimeter of Nelson's county. Compared to previous editions there were a few changes to the 2014 route. Whilst stage 9 still started in Horsey it was extended to finish in Fritton rather than Great Yarmouth. As a result, stage 10 started in Fritton and also had a new finish in Earsham (rather than Bungay) and stage 11 started in Earsham and as in previous years finished in Scole.

The Open Class support team (Richard Hill, Laura Hill, Steve Tovey & Emily Knight) Ely early on a rather drab and grey Saturday morning - although the Mixed class team would probably debate whether 8.30am counts as 'early'. This year's support vehicle was the ‘invincible’ – otherwise known as a Toyota Hi Lux generously provided by Marshalls Toyota of King's Lynn. The invincible was far more comfy than the usual mini-bus - and had more nooks and crannies for stashing Laura’s (much appreciated) home baking than even Toyota know about. As well as comfort, the Invincible was also an automatic....so you only had to worry about one foot going to sleep overnight.....but it did mean remembering to brake or risking squishing your runner!!

After the obligatory fry-up, this year at Dobbie's garden centre on the outskirts of King's Lynn, the support team progressed to LynnSport to register and rendezvous with traditional Stage 1 runner John Manlow. John departed King's Lynn at 11.30 in the company of a fellow runner from North Norfolk Beach Runners (NNBR) - little did we know at the time, but this proved to be a recurring theme for the next 20h. John was ably escorted for the early part of the stage by support cyclist Richard Hill. Whilst Richard and John were 'tearing up' the early part of the stage, Emily, Steve and Laura got on with the equally important task of 'pimping up' the Invincible....think Fairy Lights and Glow Sticks.....

John produced a solid performance in windy conditions, finishing 4th overall and covering the 16.81m of stage 1 in 1:51:01 (1st male vet). John arrived on the cliff tops in Hunstanton with a 30s lead over NNBR where he handed over to Alan Darby who set-off on the 14.06m stage 2 like a proverbial train. A wrong turning cost Alan in the early part of stage allowing NNBR to take advantage - however, a strong finish brought Alan home a minute ahead of NNBR and also gave him the overall stage victory in 1:24:01 - I'm sure Alan will be delighted to know that without the detour he would undoubtedly have been close to breaking Alex Tate's 2012 stage record (1:23:24). At Burnham Overy Alan handed over to Gordon Irvine for the short (5.76m) but tricky stage to Wells. Gordon had a fantastic run, finishing in 35:16 just over a minute outside the stage record and giving Ely another hard earned stage win and extending the lead over NNBR to over 3min. Grahame Mckenzie took over in Wells and produced a solid run covering the 11.14m of coastal paths to Cley in 1:18:33, however a strong stage for NNBR saw them establish a 4min lead by the changeover on Cley beach.  At the change-over Grahame passed the baton to Tom Bracegirdle - Tom stormed along the 10.81m of shingle beach, coastal paths and cliff tops to Cromer to record a stage victory (1:09:02) and as importantly snatching the initiative back from NNBR. Tom handed the baton to Ross Payne, the youngest member of the team taking part in his 1st RNR. Ross had a great run on the predominantly road stage from Cromer to Mundesley (7.9m) finishing joint 2nd in 48:54 (1st MJ) and staying just ahead of NNBR – Ross proving without doubt that he’s an emerging talent. Stage 6 also saw Emily depart the Invincible to start car moving duties....her last words being ‘bring on the Impreza’...... I’m sure Lee wasn’t worried, but then he hadn’t seen how much Red Bull Emily had been drinking..... As night arrived Ross passed the baton onto someone at the opposite end of the experience spectrum – club chairman Stephen Howard, competing in his 11th consecutive RNR. Stephen has been in great form throughout 2014 and provided further proof by covering the undulating 9.24m of stage 7 from Mundesley to Lessingham in 58:51 to finish in 7th place. As night fell in the Invincible it was time to break out the sherbet lemons.......whilst Emily managed a sneaky battered sausage and chips in Bacton.

Stephen handed over to Lee Thompson, another RNR newbie, who tackled the ‘very dark’ 7.52m of stage 8 from Lessingham, in the middle of nowhere, to Horsey, also in the middle of nowhere. Lee finished in 49:30 taking 8th place on the stage, this ‘despite’ the constant barrage of encouragement/abuse from Richard in the support vehicle!! The arrival of 'Lee's wheels' also raised a few eye-brows in Horsey - 'went unnoticed by nobody' were the words of Emily 'rev it' Knight.... At this point NNBR had managed to gain a lead of nearly 6minutes and both teams were probably aware they were competing for 2nd/3rd place as news had filtered through that the late-starting C&C were rapidly closing and hence had a comfortable ‘ virtual’ lead. The unbridled joy of running through Great Yarmouth at night fell to Alex Tate. Alex took hold of the baton in darkness at Horsey, passed through the bright lights of Great Yarmouth to finish, once again, in total darkness at Fritton. A combination of Alex’s speed and the length of the stage (17.86m) resulted in the deficit to NNBR becoming a lead of nearly 9min – it also saw C&C sneak past and disappear into the distance....bandits. Alex finished in 1:52:01, taking 5th place on the stage.

The next two stages represent a tough challenge as they involve running at a time when most people are heading to bed.....and also involve running along never-ending Norfolk trunk roads. Ben Cook completed the 14.67m of stage 10 from Fritton to Earsham in 1:41:39 to take 10th place on the stage. Ben wins the award of ‘unluckiest runner’ as the overcast but dry conditions gave way to a spell of rain that lasted for pretty much the entirety of Ben’s stage – however, being such a chipper bloke he managed to smile his way through the entire stage. Ben handed over to Zoe Shackleton, who had a superb run to finish as 1st lady on stage 11 (12.45m) in 1:24:32 establishing a new stage record – no fuss, no nonsense, just a great run. Apparently Zoe's arrival in Scole caused a certain amount of surprise as the outgoing NRR, in the throes of warming up, was heard to utter Where the hell did she come from?!? when the RUNNER COMING was announced as being from Ely......cue much cheering from Emily and Craig.....

What of NNBR?? A strong stage 10 and victory on stage 11 allowed NNBR to establish a 13min lead by the time Zoe relinquished the baton to Craig Holgate in Scole. As ever Craig produced a great performance on one of the hardest night stages, starting at 1.30am Craig covered the 19.67m from Scole to Thetford in 1:57:51 finishing 2nd on the stage and narrowing the gap to NNBR. By Stage 12 the skies had cleared and the stars were out....Craig even reported seeing a shooting star – it remains unclear whether this was real or a hallucination down to running at stupid o’clock..... Stage 12 also saw the Open class team pass the ER mixed class team – with Craig passing Emma with lots of support, honking and cheering from both sides. We have to comment on Craig's dedication to the cause as Sunday was also his birthday. Whilst Craig was running Emily decorated his car with birthday treats of a banner and present....there were supposed to be balloons, but these were ditched after two exploded whilst she was blowing them up – covering Craig's nice car in rubber shards and scaring the bejesus out of Emily at 3am......

Arguably the performance of the race came from Kieren Drane – taking over from Craig at 3.20am Kieren covered the 13.25m of stage 13 from Thetford to Feltwell in 1:18:44 (@5:56/mile) to take 1st place on the stage despite suffering with stomach cramps for most of the stage. Stage 13 takes a meandering and undulating route through the darkness of Thetford Forest – luckily Kieren seemed blissfully unaware of the momentary panic in the support vehicle when Steve & Laura thought they might’ve taken a wrong turn!! As well as winning the stage, Kieren also reduced the gap to NNBR to 20s.....which was soon closed down completely by Conan Fryer. Conan then ed the NNBR runner stride for stride on stage 14 to finish the 7.27m from Feltwell to Wissington in 6th place with a time of 47:02....provoking much excitement in the support vehicle – possibly too much excitement in Richard’s case. At Wissington we were greeted by our fellow ER on marshal duty all armed with their glowing light sabres....a sight for increasingly tired eyes!! Martin Hine had a spectacular run on stage 15 – running the 10.59m from Wissington to Downham Market in 1:05:54 to take 3rd place on the stage (1st Male Vet) – and more importantly establishing a 4min lead over NNBR. Martin also wins the award for ‘happiest man at a stage finish’..... Whilst Martin was running Emily was enjoying the experience of driving “Betsy” - Martin's camper van - at least she did once she’d remembered how to make 1960s drum brakes work (by actually standing on the pedal).

Fresh from winning the Brandon parkrun the day before Graham Chapman ran a solid stage 16 from Downham Market to Stowbridge finishing 6th in 35:30 and preserving the almost 4min lead over NNBR. Apologies are due to Graham and wife Maggie who had to put up with the incoherent ramblings of the support crew at Stowbridge – after 24h without sleep Laura was hallucinating and Steve was having trouble standing upright.....and Em was halfway down her latest red bull.......enough said. The ‘glory leg’ was run by new member David Chesterman -  after the race David confessed that the 11.73m from Stowbridge to King’s Lynn represented his longest run....ever......well, the strength of being a triathlete obviously helped as David finished 3rd in 1:14:35 and kept a 3min gap to NNBR allowing the team to take 2nd spot overall.

Many thanks to all the organisers and marshals who make the RNR possible – and a special shout out to NNBR whose runners and support crew were competitive, sporting, friendly and fun in equal measures making for a great race from start to finish. Thanks also to team coordinators Richard Hill and Sarah Edwards and to every runner who took part. Thanks also to the support teams who stayed up all night (Laura, Richard, Steve and Emily for the Open Class Team; Sarah, Steve, Sarah's dad, Andrew and Ashley for the mixed class team) and to all of the ER who helped to marshal the stage 14/15 changeover at Wissington  (Lionel Smith, Stephen Howard, Emma Greaves, Matthew Mason). In particular the Open Class team would like to thank Marshalls Toyota of King's Lynn for supporting ERs involvement in the race by providing a loan Toyota Hi Lux for the weekend (ably arranged by Emily).

Open Class Team Achievements:

2nd overall of 51 teams (7th year running)
2nd in the open category
1st in the ARC Road Relay Championships (8th year running)

  • Alan Darby stage 2 winner (Dave Wootton Cup)
  • Gordon Irvine stage 3 winner
  • Tom Bracegirdle stage 5 winner (Fat Birds Don't Fly Cup)
  • Zoe Shackleton 1st lady stage 11 (stage record)
  • Kieren Drane stage 13 winner
  • Graham Chapman 1st AG% (stage 16 - Winning Ways Cup)
  • John Manlow 1st MM (stage 1)
  • Ross Payne 1st MJ (stage 7)
  • Martin Hine 1st MM (stage 15)

Ely A team 2nd/51 in 20.52.56 (-55:40 out on the predicted time)

Club Class Team Achievements:

Robin Webb 1st MS (stage 16)

Ely B team 48th/51 in 28.18.29 (-2:51 out on the predicted time)

For Results by stage and overall team results see www.roundnorfolkrelay.com

2014 INDIVIDUAL RESULTS FOR TEAMS 34 (ELYa - OPEN) & 35 (ELYb - MIXED)

  IN STAGE
Team Name Stg Age Cat Time Team T AG % AG Rank Pace Sex stage pos Cat Pos AG Pos Sex Pos
ELYa John Manlow 1 46 MM 1:51:01 1:51:01 75.10 69 06:36.3 M 4 1 2 4
ELYa Alan Darby 2 30 MS 1:24:01 3:15:02 76.57 41 05:58.5 M 1 1 3 1
ELYa Gordon Irvine 3 35 MS 0:35:16 3:50:18 70.63 163 06:07.4 M 1 1 3 1
ELYa Grahame Mckenzie 4 42 MM 1:18:33 5:08:51 66.55 329 07:03.1 M 12 6 18 12
ELYa Tom Bracegirdle 5 35 MS 1:09:02 6:17:53 70.35 175 06:23.2 M 1 1 2 1
ELYa Ross Payne 6 19 MJ 0:48:54 7:06:47 71.70 136 06:11.4 M 2 1 8 2
ELYa Stephen Howard 7 50 MM 0:58:51 8:05:38 77.40 33 06:22.1 M 7 4 8 7
ELYa Lee Thompson 8 25 MS 0:49:30 8:55:08 66.90 307 06:34.9 M 8 5 24 8
ELYa Alex Tate 9 38 MS 1:52:01 10:47:09 74.96 72 06:16.3 M 5 4 6 5
ELYa Ben Cook 10 33 MS 1:41:39 12:28:48 66.25 340 06:55.7 M 10 7 21 10
ELYa Zoe Shackleton 11 38 LM 1:24:32 13:53:20 75.13 68 06:47.4 F 9 1 3 1 (SR)
ELYa Craig Holgate 12 38 MS 1:57:51 15:51:11 79.10 19 05:59.5 M 2 2 2 2
ELYa Kieren Drane 13 32 MS 1:18:44 17:09:55 76.63 40 05:56.5 M 1 1 2 1
ELYa Conan Fryer 14 45 MM 0:47:02 17:56:57 72.42 111 06:28.2 M 6 3 5 6
ELYa Martin Hine 15 42 MM 1:05:54 19:02:51 75.19 65 06:13.4 M 3 1 6 3
ELYa Graham Chapman 16 58 MM 0:35:30 19:38:21 79.60 18 06:28.0 M 6 3 1 6
ELYa David Chesterman 17 24 MS 1:14:35 20:52:56 71.42 141 06:21.5 M 3 3 11 3
                             
ELYb Samantha Collins-Shirley 1 41 LM 2:35:41 2:35:41 57.39 684 09:15.7 F 47 5 44 6
ELYb Stephen Starr 2 47 MM 2:23:33 4:59:14 48.35 835 10:12.6 M 49 25 50 39
ELYb Anne Booth 3 38 LM 0:52:04 5:51:18 54.52 751 09:02.4 F 37 9 36 13
ELYb Charlotte Cook 4 31 LS 1:38:39 7:29:57 56.15 721 08:51.3 F 43 5 45 7
ELYb Naomi Course 5 35 LM 1:50:23 9:20:20 48.61 833 10:12.7 F 47 7 48 9
ELYb Ashley Blackmore 6 52 MM 1:00:10 10:20:30 65.27 377 07:37.0 M 19 12 17 18
ELYb Adam Etches 7 40 MM 1:18:26 11:38:56 53.89 761 08:29.3 M 40 19 45 26
ELYb Claire Geary 8 41 LM 1:06:51 12:45:47 57.45 679 08:53.4 F 41 19 41 20
ELYb Celine Aubry 9 26 LS 2:39:17 15:25:04 57.74 670 08:55.1 F 50 3 49 7
ELYb Lionel Smith 10 61 MM 2:01:30 17:26:34 67.33 283 08:16.9 M 34 19 15 31
ELYb Tanya Shenton 11 41 LM 1:38;15 19:04:49 66.23 344 07:53.5 F 28 3 16 5
ELYb Emma Greaves 12 42 LM 3:01:22 22:06:11 58.72 635 09:13.2 F 44 7 40 8
ELYb Louise Cadogan 13 30 LS 1:45:09 23:51:20 63.29 456 07:56.2 F 35 3 33 4
ELYb Martin Frohock 14 31 MS 0:51:02 24:42:22 62.39 478 07:01.2 M 12 6 26 12
ELYb Andrew Thompson 15 55 MM 1:22:04 26:04:26 66.84 310 07:45.0 M 31 14 24 27
ELYb Robin Webb 16 30 MS 0:34:33 26:38:59 68.53 235 06:17.6 M 4 1 12 4
ELYb Nick Dowdy 17 55 MM 1:39:30 28:18:29 61.40 527 08:29.0 M 46 28 40 41
THE BIRKETTS ROUND NORFOLK RELAY 14th/15th SEPTEMBER 2013

RNR 2013 PHOTOS

Open Class Team Achievements:

  • 2nd overall of 54 teams (6th year running)
  • 1st in the open category (4th year running)
  • 1st in the visitors cup (first club from outside Norfolk - 6th year running)
  • 1st in the ARC Road Relay Championships (7th year running)
  • Tom Bracegirdle 1st man & stage 12 winner
  • Stephen Pettit 1st MM (stage 13)
  • John Crisp 1st MS (stage 17)
  • John Manlow 1st AG (stage 1)

Ely A team

  • 2nd/54 in 20.34.38 (-46:17 out on the predicted time)

Club Class Team Achievements:

  • Miranda Reynolds 1st Lady (stage 10)

Ely B team

  • 30th/54 in 26.32.00 (-46:20 out on the predicted time)

For Results by stage and overall team results see www.roundnorfolkrelay.com

2013 INDIVIDUAL RESULTS FOR TEAMS 10 (ELYb - CLUB) & 43 (ELYa - OPEN)

  IN STAGE
Team Name Stg Age Cat Time Team T AG % AG Rank Pace Sex stage pos Cat Pos AG Pos Sex Pos
ELYb Samantha Collins-Shirley 1 40 LM 2:48:08 2:48:08 52.71 845 10:00.1 F 52 10 52 11
ELYb Conan Fryer 2 44 MM 1:51:39 4:39:47 60.78 621 07:56.5 M 28 15 35 25
ELYb Sarah Baumber 3 30 LS 0:49:47 5:29:34 55.50 791 08:38.6 F 28 2 35 11
ELYb Louise Cadogen 4 29 LS 1:32:54 7:02:28 59.68 670 08:20.4 F 33 3 39 4
ELYb Chris Bower 5 43 MM 1:17:26 8:19:54 65.87 382 07:09.8 M 9 4 15 9
ELYb Alison Blaney 6 33 LS 1:03:17 9:23:11 60.89 614 08:00.6 F 24 4 32 7
ELYb Lionel Smith 7 60 MM 1:12:08 10:35:19 68.85 264 07:48.4 M 26 13 21 23
ELYb Karl Bedingfield 8 50 MM 0:51:41 11:27:00 70.96 187 06:52.4 M 12 5 14 9
ELYb Nigel Reynolds 9 50 MM 1:35:44 13:02:44 58.88 703 08:28.3 M 40 18 45 31
ELYb Miranda Reynolds 10 40 LM 2:32:29 15:35:13 70.18 213 07:36.1 F 31 1 20 1
ELYb Nick Dowdy 11 54 MM 1:57:10 17:32:23 65.22 426 08:01.5 M 38 12 30 31
ELYb David Mould 12 47 MM 2:36:04 20:08:27 63.76 499 07:56.1 M 37 24 35 35
ELYb Ashley Blackmore 13 51 MM 1:44:37 21:53:04 64.24 471 07:53.7 M 33 21 35 27
ELYb Stuart Baumber 14 42 MM 1:09:59 23:03:03 47.62 900 09:37.6 M 52 15 53 24
ELYb Steve Presland 15 57 MM 1:19:58 24:23:01 69.82 226 07:33.1 M 25 12 14 23
ELYb Steve Starr 16 46 MM 0:44:03 25:07:04 58.10 727 08:01.4 M 36 15 48 27
ELYb Jose Perez 17 40 MM 1:24:56 26:32:00 64.06 480 07:14.4 M 26 15 38 23
                             
ELYa John Manlow 1 45 MM 1:49:27 1:49:27 75.61 68 06:30.7 M 3 2 1 3
ELYa Martin Ineson 2 38 MS 1:32:43 3:22:10 70.12 216 06:35.7 M 5 4 9 5
ELYa Adam King 3 28 MS 0:37:05 3:59:15 67.26 330 06:26.3 M 4 2 10 4
ELYa Gary Wilberforce 4 27 MS 1:07:19 5:06:34 74.70 85 06:02.6 M 3 3 3 3
ELYa Alex Tate 5 37 MS 1:14:48 6:21:22 65.35 416 06:55.2 M 5 3 16 5
ELYa Richard Hill 6 36 MS 0:50:32 7:11:54 69.00 255 06:23.8 M 5 2 13 4
ELYa Ciaren Murray 7 41 MM 1:00:29 8:12:23 70.38 207 06:32.7 M 11 5 19 10
ELYa Stephen Howard 8 49 MM 0:47:37 9:00:00 76.42 57 06:19.9 M 5 2 5 4
ELYa Kieren Drane 9 31 MS 1:06:14 10:06:14 76.88 49 05:51.7 M 3 3 7 3
ELYa Craig Holgate 10 36 MS 2:00:43 12:06:57 78.39 38 06:01.1 M 2 2 5 2
ELYa Robin Webb 11 29 MS 1:34:46 13:41:43 70.76 193 06:29.5 M 5 3 13 4
ELYa Tom Bracegirdle 12 34 MS 1:51:45 15:33:28 82.86 11 05:40.9 M 1 1 2 1
ELYa Stephen Pettit 13 48 MM 1:22:56 16:56:24 79.14 33 06:15.5 M 5 1 4 5
ELYa Jason Mann 14 47 MM 0:47:24 17:43:48 72.96 130 06:31.2 M 5 3 6 5
ELYa Daniel Waite 15 24 MS 1:03:35 18:47:23 75.11 79 06:00.2 M 2 2 4 2
ELYa Jonathan Stone 16 26 MS 0:34:06 19:21:29 69.63 233 06:12.7 M 4 2 15 4
ELYa John Crisp 17 42 MM 1:13:09 20:34:38 75.45 73 06:14.2 M 6 1 7 5
THE BIRKETTS ROUND NORFOLK RELAY 15th/16th SEPTEMBER 2012

RNR 2012 CLUB CLASS PHOTOS RNR 2012 OPEN CLASS PHOTOS

Open Class Report by Steve Tovey:

As befits tradition, or at least so IӶe been told, it falls upon the RNR support team rookie to write the weekend report. I have to say, when we Ely early on Saturday morning (although not as early as the club class team....snigger) I wasnӴ quite sure what to expect ֠all IӤ been told was to bring my bike and be prepared to get either very little or no sleep whatsoever. Whilst the latter may not sound like much fun I have to say it was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend from the 1st cooked breakfast at Tesco in Kingӳ Lynn to the....ahem....2nd cooked breakfast at Lynnsport the following morning. Huge credit has to go to Alan, Ellie and Emily who have the whole weekend organised with military precision ֠itӳ hard not to be impressed with the support they give to the whole team.

Anyway, we set off from Lynnsport at 12:30 in glorious sunshine ֠fantastic for cycling but not so great for running ֠so I felt for John as he set off on his 16.8m leg to Hunstanton. The finish revealed the worst aspect of the weekend ֠greeting exhausted runners as they complete their stage.....only to say a quick hello/good bye before leaving them, mainly collapsed on the floor, to support the next runner. The next stage provided a great example of Alanӳ support ֠manically cycling along the coast road to keep ahead of Alex as he ran the mainly off road route - the aim being to be available to point Alex in the right direction/offer him water at regular intervals.....although not sure the high-speed cycling was ideal preparation for my own leg later in the evening!! The remaining daylight hours were uneventful for the support crew ֠although not the runners, with both Alex and Tom having run-ins with muddy ditches....or ditches and brambles if youӲe Tom.....must be a Muddy Munkey thing......

My own leg was tough going, mainly due to my lack of form ֠although in addition Iӭ not entirely convinced I really like running in the dark, or in the middle of nowhere for that matter....or with very little idea of whether the route is uphill, downhill or flat......and very little idea of how far youӶe gone. Still, I now know that Lessingham only has one street light.....and that formed the basis for the changeover ֠I was far happier to see Ian at the end of my stage than Dan at the start!! After a brief stop for fish and chips in Great Yarmouth, Emily and I spent the rest of the night moving cars in our own version of ңome drive with meҠ֠cars scored on the basis of performance (time for 0-60mph), cleanliness and glove box content.....scores available upon request ֠but safe to say we came pretty close to forgetting to return Craigӳ keys......

The next morning it was good to see the cheery faces of Emma, Lionel, John and Darren at the Wissington changeover ֠it also saw me get back on my bike to support Maurice, Ciaran and Ashley over the final 3 stages. Initially I thought ҧreat ֠Wissington to Downham Market is a nice cycleҮ....not realising the route had been changed to incorporate a 6m section of the A10 ֠lovely, cheers Alan!! The final leg saw Alan and me trying to keep up with an alarmingly fast and wind-assisted Ashley...... not easy on a bike along bumpy river banks ֠Ash was flying.....and we were well, not flying!! A long and tiring 24h concluded with the presentation ceremony and collecting an almost embarrassing amount of bling......all done whilst desperately trying not to fall asleep.....

The team performed admirably once again finishing 2nd overall for the 5th year in succession ֠and for the 5th year in succession we were only beaten by one of the Ңig twoҠNorwich clubs....on this occasion City of Norwich AC (CONAC).

The team also won the visitors cup for the 5th year, the ARC road relay championships for the 6th year and the open class category for the 3rd year. The latter came as big surprise at the presentation ceremony as the support crew thought the team had finished behind both CONAC and NRR ֠however, the latter were beset by misfortune in the early hours of the morning, picking up a default time on stage 12 after one of their runners was taken ill and failed to finish.

There were also some fine individual performances. John Manlow finished 2nd on Stage 1, Alex Tate won stage 2 in a new stage record, Tom Bracegirdle was narrowly beaten into 2nd place on stage 4 and Craig Holgate finished 2nd on stage 12. Stephen Pettit (Stage 11), Craig Holgate (Stage 12), Stephen Howard (Stage 14) and Ashley Pettit (Stage 17) also recorded category stage victories, with the two Stephens and Ashley also setting category stage records. With any luck IӬl be in the support crew next year.......surely that must be worth a stage in the daylight????

Club Class Report:

The Ely B team setting off from Lynn Sport leisure centre in Kings Lynn at 6am on Saturday. The runners were faithfully followed throughout the 197 mile race by their support team, travelling by both minibus and bike. Many of the B team put in impressive times which far surpassed their predicted times. The B team completed the mammoth distance in 27hours 37minutes and 37seconds, beating their predicted time by 37minutes and 25 seconds. Special thanks must go to the support team of Samantha, Mark and Fletcher Collins-Shirley, Stuart Baumber and Sarah Edwards, they all supported the team throughout the 27 hours with great enthusiasm and unwavering attention to detail.

Open Class Team Achievements:

  • 2nd overall of 57 teams (5th year running)
  • 1st in the open category (3rd year running)
  • 1st in the visitors cup (first club from outside Norfolk - 5th year running)
  • 1st in the ARC Road Relay Championships (6th year running)
  • Alex Tate 1st Male stage 2 winner & Stage 2 record - Dave Wotton Memorial Trophy (1.23.24 for 14.06 miles, 77.13% age grade and 5.55 m/m)
  • Stephen Pettit 1st MM (stage 11 & MM Stage Record
  • Craig Holgate 1st MS (stage 12)
  • Stephen Howard 1st MM (stage 14 & MM Stage Record)
  • Ashley Pettit 1st MJ (stage 17 & MJ Stage Record) &

Ely A team 2nd/58 in 21.14.25 (+23:40 out on the predicted time)

Club Class Team Achievements:

  • John Uff 1st MS (stage 14 & MS Stage Record)

Ely B team

  • 46th/58 in 27.00.05 (-37:25 out on the predicted time)

For Results by stage and overall team results see www.roundnorfolkrelay.comb>

2012 INDIVIDUAL RESULTS FOR TEAMS 21 (ELY2 - CLUB) & TEAM 49 (ELY1 - OPEN)

1
  IN STAGE
Team Name Stg Age Cat Time Team T AG % AG Rank Pace Sex Stage Pos Cat Pos AG Pos Sex Pos Notes
ELY2 Nick Dowdy 1 53 MM 02:25:33 02:25:33 60.54 657 08:39.5 M 48 25 48 37  
ELY2 Sarah Edwards 2 29 LS 01:59:24 04:24:57 59.44 694 08:29.5 F 41 2 40 9  
ELY2 Stuart Baumber 3 41 MM 00:49:30 05:14:27 52.4 903 08:35.6 M 36 15 48 23  
ELY2 Louise Cadogan 4 28 LS 01:34:32 06:48:59 58.69 722 08:29.2 F 33 2 30 6  
ELY2 Chris Bower 5 42 MM 01:30:31 08:19:30 55.94 826 08:22.4 M 26 13 31 24  
ELY2 Karl Bedingfield 6 49 MM 01:00:34 09:20:04 63.29 544 07:40.0 M 22 7 30 16  
ELY2 Linden Smith 7 36 LM 01:16:44 10:36:48 59.61 686 08:18.3 F 39 5 40 9  
ELY2 Martin Frohock 8 29 MS 00:57:12 11:34:00 57.73 756 07:36.4 M 25 7 44 21  
ELY2 David Mould 9 46 MM 01:22:51 12:56:51 65.97 387 07:19.9 M 25 14 30 24  
ELY2 Miranda Paul 10 39 LM 02:46:11 15:43:02 63.88 510 08:17.1 F 45 4 36 6  
ELY2 Lionel Smith 11 59 MM 02:00:35 17:43:37 66.23 367 08:15.5 M 48 26 23 41  
ELY2 Emma Greaves 12 40 LM 03:00:18 20:43:55 58.11 741 09:10.0 F 53 5 50 7  
ELY2 Steve Starr 13 45 MM 01:57:07 22:41:02 54.78 854 08:50.3 M 54 30 56 43  
ELY2 John Uff 14 31 MS 00:42:24 23:23:26 75.1 91 05:49.9 M 3 1 5 3 Stage Record
ELY2 Adam Etches 15 38 MS 01:17:49 24:41:15 61.89 607 07:20.9 M 28 9 39 24  
ELY2 Mick Butler 16 46 MM 00:57:22 25:38:37 44.61 975 10:27.0 M 55 17 57 27  
ELY2 Matt Holmes 17 34 MS 01:21:28 27:00:05 65.04 434 06:56.7 M 23 12 42 22  
                               
ELY1 John Manlow 1 44 MM 01:48:20 01:48:20 75.83 73 06:26.7 M 2 2 2 2  
ELY1 Alex Tate 2 36 MS 01:23:24 03:11:44 77.13 55 05:55.9 M 1 1 2 Stage Record
ELY1 Graham Chapman 3 56 MM 00:39:47 03:51:31 73.36 121 06:54.4 M 8 4 3 8  
ELY1 Tom Bracegirdle 4 33 MS 01:09:07 05:00:38 72.56 142 06:12.3 M 2 2 5 2  
ELY1 Robin Webb 5 28 MS 01:17:59 06:18:37 62.39 579 07:12.8 M 6 5 14 6  
ELY1 Dan Regan 6 38 MS 00:53:23 07:12:00 66.22 368 06:45.4 M 10 4 18 8  
ELY1 Steve Tovey 7 39 MS 01:00:43 08:12:43 69.12 254 06:34.3 M 6 4 14 6  
ELY1 Ian Day 8 43 MM 00:46:09 08:58:52 75.35 82 06:08.2 M 7 4 12 7  
ELY1 Glyn Loveday 9 42 MM 01:12:15 10:11:07 73.45 119 06:23.6 M 9 4 12 8  
ELY1 Gary Wilberforce 10 26 MS 02:28:13 12:39:20 64.09 493 07:23.3 M 21 8 35 20  
ELY1 Stephen Pettit 11 47 MM 01:30:48 14:10:08 79.57 28 06:13.2 M 4 1 2 4 Stage Record
ELY1 Craig Holgate 12 35 MS 01:57:45 16:07:53 78.64 38 05:59.2 M 2 1 4 2  
ELY1 John Crisp 13 41 MM 01:23:59 17:31:52 74.2 102 06:20.3 M 5 4 6 5  
ELY1 Stephen Howard 14 49 MM 00:46:38 18:18:30 75.32 84 06:24.9 M 5 1 4 5 Stage Record
ELY1 Maurice Reed 15 49 MM 01:14:09 19:32:39 70.43 216 07:00.1 M 18 8 20 14  
ELY1 Ciaran Murray 16 40 MM 00:34:36 20:07:15 70.78 201 06:18.1 M 6 2 15 6  
ELY1 Ashley Pettit 17 17 MJ 01:07:10 21:14:25 80.86 20 05:43.6 M 4 1 4 4 Stage Record

THE BIRKETTS ROUND NORFOLK RELAY 17th/18th SEPTEMBER 2011

RNR 2011 PHOTOGRAPHS

On the weekend of 17th & 18th September Ely Runners took 2 teams to the 25th anniversary of the Round Norfolk Relay. This event is a 195 mile, 17 stage relay, starting and finishing at Lynnsport Kings Lynn. The object of the relay is for each team to finish at 9.30 am on the Sunday morning, and depending how quick your team can complete the course determines what time you start. Ely Runners A Team led by Alan Rutterford became favourites on estimated time starting last at midday on Saturday, with Ely Runners B Team led by Simon Jackson starting 6 hours earlier at 6am.

There were 57 teams with the first teams starting at 5.30am. The event starts at Kings Lynn and travels to Hunstanton, Burnham Overy,Wells, Cley, Cromer, Mundesley, Lessingham, Horsey and Great Yarmouth before heading inland to Bungay, Scole, Thetford, Feltwell, Wissington, Downham Market, Stowbridge and back to Kings Lynn. The stages are mainly multi terrain during the day and road at night. During the day the runners are escorted by cycle where possible and at night by a minibus with flashing lights.

Alan Rutterford had led the A team to 3rd 3 times and 2nd the last 3 years and was hoping this would be the year for victory, but they were piped to the post by less than 4 minutes into second again, with the B team finishing 46th/57 teams also the same as last year. The A team were an impressive 30 minutes ahead of last yearӳ time in 20.45.18 and the B team were also 8 minutes ahead of last yearӳ time in 27.06.08.

The A team came home with an incredible haul of silverware including 2nd overall, the Open Category winners, ARC Relay Championships winners, 1st out of Norfolk Club and stage wins for Gary Wilberforce (stage 2), Craig Holgate (stage 10), Alex Tate (stage 11) and Clare Durrant (stage 17). There were also stage records for Ian Day, Craig Holgate, Alex Tate and Clare Durrant. Clare also got the best age graded score for a Senior Lady.

There was also a tremendous effort by all involved in the B team leading to them finishing in the fastest ever time for the second string. Norwich Road Runners A were the winners in 20.41.29 but were 2 hours and 18 minutes outside their predicted time which angered most teams as they should have started last with Ely A. Alan said it was a right battle as we led from stage 1-6, then were 2nd from stages 7-10, then regained the lead from 11-12, then 2nd from 12-13, regained the lead from stages 13-16 and finally lost out on the last stage.

Alan and Simon had to work out how long it would take each runner in their team to run the distance in their stage, which is quite tough. However Alan was pleased with some of his predictions, especially stage 12 being 19.67 miles where he was only 1 second out. He also had predictions of 7 seconds over 5, 7 and 11 miles which was amazing.

Alan would like to thank Simon Jackson, Hannah Shiell, Julie Foreman and Mary Gates for being the Support Crew for the B team, and Emily Knight and Ellie Foster for helping with the A team. Special thanks also go to Ely members who marshalled at the Wissington changeover from 5am on a cold Sunday morning including John Glover, Darren Murfitt, Peter Harris and several others who had also run stages the day before.

Open Class Team Achievements:

  • 2nd overall of 57 teams (4th year running)
  • 1st in the open category
  • 1st in the visitors cup (first club from outside Norfolk)
  • 1st in the ARC Road Relay Championships (5th year running)
  • Gary Wilberforce 1st Male stage 2 winner - Dave Wotton Memorial Trophy (1.26.12 for 14.06 miles, 74.98% age grade and 6.07 m/m)
  • Craig Holgate 1st Male stage 10 winner; stage secord (1.57.31 for 20.06 miles, 80.52% age grade and 5.51 m/m)
  • Alex Tate 1st Male stage 11 winner - Peter Andrews Cup; stage record (1.24.34 for 14.60 miles, 79.22% age grade and 5.47 m/m)
  • Claire Durrant 1st Female stage 17 winner; senior lady stage record (1:15.56 for 11.73 miles, 77.04% age grade and 6.28 m/m)
  • Claire Durrant 1st senior lady age graded 77.04%
  • Ian Day 1st MM (stage 3 & MM Stage Record);
  • Peter Gipp 1st MM (stage 6) &
  • Stephen Pettit 1st MM (stage 9)

Ely A team 2nd/57 in 20.45.18 (-34:48 out on the predicted time)

Club Class Team Achievements:

Ely B team 46th/57 in 27.06.08 (-31:57 out on the predicted time)

For Results by stage and overall team results see www.roundnorfolkrelay.com

2011 INDIVIDUAL RESULTS FOR TEAMS 25 (ELYB - CLUB) & TEAM 52 (ELYA - OPEN)

  IN STAGE
Team Name Stg Age Cat Time Team T AG % AG Rank Pace Sex Stage Pos Cat Pos AG Pos Sex Pos Notes
ELY2 Simon Jackson 1 40 MM 2:04:20 2:04:20 64.19 481 07:23.8 M 24 15 29 23  
ELY2 Charlie Barker 2 60 MM 1:56:59 4:01:19 66.18 389 08:19.2 M 41 25 22 39  
ELY2 Martin Courtney 3 43 MM 0:54:23 4:55:42 48.39 949 09:26.5 M 41 15 53 26  
ELY2 Chris Bower 4 41 MM 1:23:46 6:19:28 61.96 594 07:31.2 M 18 6 35 16  
ELY2 Nick Dowdy 5 52 MM 1:40:29 7:59:57 54.41 870 09:17.7 M 44 21 45 37  
ELY2 Hannah Shiell 6 27 LS 1:14:56 9:14:53 51.55 912 09:29.1 F 55 8 54 17  
ELY2 Samantha Collins-Shirley 7 38 LM 1:17:06 10:31:59 60.27 662 08:20.6 F 42 10 43 13  
ELY2 Peter Harris 8 61 MM 0:56:15 11:28:14 71.78 174 07:28.8 M 30 14 16 26  
ELY2 David Mould 9 45 MM 1:21:56 12:50:10 66.20 386 07:15.0 M 23 13 26 22  
ELY2 Claire Van Leersum 10 50 LM 3:30:50 16:21:00 55.29 849 10:30.6 F 57 7 53 9  
ELY2 Daniel Regan 11 37 MS 1:46:27 18:07:27 63.14 550 07:17.5 M 28 15 41 28  
ELY2 Emma Greaves 12 39 LM 2:58:14 21:05:41 58.32 746 09:03.7 F 54 5 50 6  
ELY2 Miranda Paul 13 38 LM 1:47:17 22:52:58 63.21 545 08:05.8 F 40 3 36 5  
ELY2 Lionel Smith 14 58 MM 1:04:10 23:57:08 72.21 156 07:17.5 M 30 17 16 24  
ELY2 Kevin Fox 15 43 MM 0:53:52 24:51:00 61.69 607 07:28.9 M 26 11 33 23  
ELY2 Heidi Uff 16 33 LS 0:39:38 25:30:38 66.28 383 07:13.2 F 17 4 20 6  
ELY2 John Turner 17 66 MM 1:35:30 27:06:08 71.11 193 08:08.5 M 38 18 18 30  
                               
ELY1 John Manlow 1 43 MM 1:44:29 1:44:29 78.05 37 06:12.9 M 4 2 3 4  
ELY1 Gary Wilberforce 2 25 MS 1:26:12 3:10:41 74.98 85 06:07.9 M 1 1 2 1  
ELY1 Ian Day 3 42 MM 0:36:37 3:47:18 71.35 190 06:21.4 M 3 1 4 3 Stage Record
ELY1 Stephen Howard 4 47 MM 1:17:42 5:05:00 69.82 231 06:58.5 M 11 3 9 10  
ELY1 John Crisp 5 40 MM 1:13:44 6:18:44 67.70 312 06:49.3 M 7 2 8 7  
ELY1 Peter Gipp 6 49 MM 0:50:18 7:09:02 76.21 59 06:22.0 M 2 1 2 2  
ELY1 Adam Etches 7 37 MS 1:04:53 8:13:55 63.79 511 07:01.3 M 16 6 35 14  
ELY1 Ashley Pettit 8 16 MJ 0:45:42 8:59:37 74.53 95 06:04.6 M 5 2 8 5  
ELY1 Stephen Pettit 9 46 MM 1:08:39 10:08:16 79.61 26 06:04.5 M 3 1 5 3  
ELY1 Craig Holgate 10 34 MS 1:57:31 12:05:47 80.52 20 05:51.5 M 1 1 4 1 Stage Record
ELY1 Alex Tate 11 35 MS 1:24:34 13:30:21 79.22 29 05:47.5 M 1 1 1 1 Stage Record
ELY1 Kieren Drane 12 29 MS 2:11:09 15:41:30 70.67 202 06:40.1 M 7 3 18 6  
ELY1 Graham Chapman 13 55 MM 1:30:06 17:11:36 77.10 50 06:48.0 M 10 6 2 9  
ELY1 Maurice Reed 14 48 MM 0:54:41 18:06:17 77.93 39 06:12.8 M 5 4 3 5  
ELY1 Steve Tovey 15 38 MS 0:47:31 18:53:48 67.48 322 06:36.0 M 6 4 13 6  
ELY1 Ciaran Murray 16 39 MS 0:35:34 19:29:22 68.38 282 06:28.7 M 5 2 14 5  
ELY1 Clare Durrant 17 34 LS 1:15:56 20:45:18 77.04 51 06:28.4 F 10 1 5 1 Stage Record

THE BIRKETTS ROUND NORFOLK RELAY 18th/19th SEPTEMBER 2010

RNR 2010 PHOTOGRAPHS

Once again Ely Runners fielded two teams in this year’s RNR. Alan Rutterford was team leader of the Open Team and Simon Jackson was team leader of the Club Class Team. Here are their reports:

This weekend the Ely Runners Open Team once again achieved an incredible medal haul as they have done in the last couple of years. Team Leader Alan Rutterford was so pleased to be involved and proud of what the team achieved. However, the one win that he wanted the most proved elusive again, just missing the overall first place – that makes 2nd overall for the 3rd year in a row. Alan also expressed his thanks to his team for his team’s efforts in getting to the start of their leg in good time (no one was late!) On behalf of the team Alan also thanked the support crew for their considerable contribution - Emily Knight as timekeeper and Ellie Foster who did a lot of the driving. For Alan the time was also special as his original estimate was 21:16:00 and the team finished in 21:14:07. Alan also observed that the team can be proud of the fact that they started 30 min behind all the other teams and no one overtook them!

Open Class Team Achievements:

  • 2nd overall of 54 teams (3rd year running)
  • 1st in the open category
  • 1st in the visitors cup (first club from outside Norfolk)
  • 1st in the ARC Road Relay Championships (4th year running)
  • Alex Tate 1st Male stage 4 winner; stage record (1.04.44 for 11.06 miles, 77.47% age grade and 5.48 m/m)
  • Daisy Glover 1st Female stage 15 winner (47.07 for 7.20 miles, 74.79% age grade and 6.32 m/m)
  • Daisy Glover 1st Junior age graded 74.79%
  • John Manlow 1st MM (stage 1);
  • Peter Gipp 1st MM (stage 3 & MM stage record);
  • Graham Chapman 1st MM (stage 8) &
  • Maurice Reed 1st MM (Stage 16)

Ely A team 2nd/54 in 21.14.57 (-22.59 out on the predicted time)

Club Team Captain Simon Jackson was also full of praise for both teams. Speaking on the Open Team result he said: “For a club our size to constantly come back from the RNR laden with so many trophies when faced with such stiff opposition from many bigger clubs speak volumes for the commitment, dedication and talent that we have at the club”. Simon battled with last minute changes to ensure a full complement of runners for the Club Class team. He was grateful to his two late replacements, David Mould for stepping in at the eleventh hour on stage 11, and Sarah Edwards for agreeing to run stage 2 (saving Simon from having to run it himself). Sarah was then so fascinated by the event that she followed the team all the way to Horsey!

Club Class Team Achievements:

Heidi Uff 1st senior lady on stage 3; senior lady stage record

Ely B team 46th/54 in 27.14.07 (-29.53 out on the predicted time)

Stephen Howard, Andy Nixon, Lionel Smith, Nick Dowdy, David Mould, Stuart Baumber, Emma Greaves and John Foster all beat their predicted

times (some by quite considerable margins). Hannah Shiell managed to run the difficult stage 5 from Cley to Cromer and still stayed awake all weekend for timekeeping duties. The club class team beat the open team home by 50 seconds (even though they did have a six hour head start)! The club class team supporters and helpers were great – offering drinks, encouragement and applause to all club team runners as they passed by. Simon’s support team consisted of Hannah Shiell and Julie Foreman – with a special guest appearance by Mary Gates who, according to Simon ‘kept us all "entertained” with her family history, until we got bored with her and sent her home!’ Simon’s resilience was perhaps tested most by Claire Law who arrived in the nick of time, only to be in the loo when Lionel arrived to hand over. Despite that rare logistic hiccup the commitment of the team was clear to see. Every single runner gave their all when running their stages and they all deserve a mention: In addition to those above, Charlie Barker, Nicola Bramley, Martin Courtney, Claire Irons and Ashley Blackmore ran stages. (Ashley was only four seconds outside his predicted time). Also worthy of mention were the family members who came out to support their loved ones, and last but not least - those members who gave up their comfortable beds so early on a Sunday morning to perform marshalling duties at Wissington. Simon’s final words “It really was another great year and I'm already looking forward to next year’s event.”. Thanks Simon and Alan – as always your efforts are much appreciated!

For Results by stage and overall team results see www.roundnorfolkrelay.com

2010 INDIVIDUAL RESULTS FOR TEAMS 29(B) & TEAM 54 (A)

  IN STAGE
Team Name Stg Age Cat Time Team T AG % AG Rank Pace Sex Stage Pos Cat Pos AG Pos Sex Pos
ELY(B) Charlie Barker 1 59 MM 2:09:40 2:09:40 69.38 231 07:56.7 M 35 21 14 35
ELY(B) Sarah Edwards 2 27 LS 2:07:36 4:17:16 55.73 775 09:04.5 F 48 3 46 9
ELY(B) Heidi Uff 3 32 LS 0:42:42 4:59:58 64.70 431 07:24.8 F 11 1 14 2
ELY(B) Stephen Howard 4 46 MM 1:27:03 6:27:01 61.85 549 07:48.9 M 25 10 26 23
ELY(B) Hannah Shiell 5 26 LS 1:45:05 8:12:06 51.23 852 09:43.3 F 41 7 41 12
ELY(B) Lionel Smith 6 57 MM 1:03:38 9:15:44 64.41 444 08:03.3 M 32 15 23 24
ELY(B) Claire Law 7 36 LM 1:26:58 10:42:42 52.60 828 09:24.7 F 52 13 53 20
ELY(B) Andrew Nixon 8 45 MM 0:57:55 11:40:37 60.93 590 07:42.1 M 30 18 39 21
ELY(B) Nicola Bramley 9 50 LM 1:32:54 13:13:31 68.42 276 08:13.3 F 43 3 18 8
ELY(B) Nick Dowdy 10 51 MM 3:02:47 16:16:18 57.39 734 09:06.7 M 50 30 48 44
ELY(B) David Mould 11 44 MM 1:50:29 18:06:47 63.94 467 07:34.0 M 28 12 31 26
ELY(B) Stuart Baumber 12 39 MS 2:45:36 20:52:23 56.68 755 08:25.1 M 42 18 48 36
ELY(B) Martin Courtney 13 42 MM 1:51:53 22:44:16 56.10 768 08:26.6 M 41 21 49 34
ELY(B) Emma Greaves 14 38 LM 1:12:27 23:56:43 60.97 589 08:14.0 F 37 5 33 7
ELY(B) Claire Irons 15 26 LS 1:02:35 24:59:18 56.01 769 08:41.5 F 40 5 43 16
ELY(B) John Foster 16 43 MM 0:44:49 25:44:07 55.84 772 08:09.8 M 29 10 43 19
ELY(B) Ashley Blackmore 17 48 MM 1:30:00 27:14:07 64.14 457 07:40.4 M 36 19 37 32
 
ELY(A) John Manlow 1 42 MM 1:45:59 1:45:59 74.00 93 06:29.6 M 4 1 5 4
ELY(A) John Crisp 2 39 MS 1:46:15 3:32:14 61.61 557 07:33.4 M 28 11 39 25
ELY(A) Peter Gipp 3 48 MM 0:39:19 4:11:33 69.50 226 06:49.5 M 6 1 5 6
ELY(A) Alex Tate 4 34 MS 1:04:44 5:16:17 77.47 38 05:48.7 M 1 1 1 1
ELY(A) Adam Etches 5 36 MS 1:26:09 6:42:26 56.39 764 07:58.2 M 15 5 27 15
ELY(A) Steve Tovey 6 37 MS 0:51:01 7:33:27 68.82 261 06:27.5 M 4 3 16 4
ELY(A) Tony  Kirby-Cook 7 45 MM 1:01:34 8:35:01 71.19 173 06:39.8 M 9 6 12 9
ELY(A) Graham Chapman 8 54 MM 0:48:17 9:23:18 78.50 33 06:25.2 M 5 1 5 4
ELY(A) John  Uff 9 29 MS 1:10:16 10:33:34 72.53 131 06:13.1 M 4 4 8 4
ELY(A) Craig Holgate 10 33 MS 2:00:41 12:34:15 78.41 34 06:01.0 M 2 2 4 2
ELY(A) Kieren Drane 11 28 MS 1:34:32 14:08:47 71.00 179 06:28.5 M 6 4 13 6
ELY(A) Stephen Pettit 12 45 MM 2:02:52 16:11:39 79.77 20 06:14.8 M 2 2 2 2
ELY(A) Jason Mann 13 44 MM 1:31:22 17:43:01 69.70 220 06:53.7 M 6 2 11 6
ELY(A) Chris Bower 14 40 MM 0:59:32 18:42:33 67.46 312 06:45.9 M 11 10 19 11
ELY(A) Daisy Glover 15 19 LJ 0:47:07 19:29:40 74.79 79 06:32.6 F 4 1 2 1
ELY(A) Maurice  Reed 16 47 MM 0:33:40 20:03:20 76.60 51 06:07.9 M 2 1 2 2
ELY(A) Ian Day 17 41 MM 1:11:37 21:14:57 76.52 54 06:06.3 M 3 2 7 3

ROUND NORFOLK RELAY 19th/20th SEPTEMBER 2009

Ely Runners were out in force over the weekend at the Round Norfolk Relay.

This prestigious and competitive annual event consists of 17 unequal legs totalling 193 miles around the county of Norfolk. With individual legs from 5 to just under 20 miles in length, runners carry a baton around the roads and paths of Norfolk, starting on Saturday and running throughout the night to finish on Sunday morning.

For the first time Ely Runners entered two teams, one in the tough Open Category and one in the stricter Club Category. With Ely Runner Rachel Roberts also organizing a ladies C&C Team with helpers also drawn from Ely Runners it really was all hands on deck!

The Ely Open Team suffered this year with late pullouts due to injury, and lacked the element of surprise. Norwich Road Runners were no doubt keen to turn the tables on the team who had inflicted a narrow defeat on them one year ago. And so it turned out. Norwich Road Runners simply established a huge lead early on and were never caught. They finished over 30 minutes clear of the field.

But at least Ely Open managed to beat everyone else ֠including the other huge Norwich Club and last yearӳ winners, City of Norwich. So second place overall, but this time to a team in the same category, and hence Ely were runners up in the Open Category.

Furthermore Ely Open retained the Visitorӳ Cup prize for the fastest team from outside Norfolk. They also won the prize for the first Association of Running Clubs (ARC) team for the third year in a row.

For the first time Ely entered a Team in the Club class. For many this was their first experience of the RNR, and a chance to run without being weighed down by the expectation of having to compete with the very fastest.

Team Results & Category:
2nd Open Ely Runners 21:01:33 (2nd Overall, 1st Non-Norfolk Team, 1st ARC Team)
12th Club Ely Runners 27:07:03 (44th Overall)


55 Teams finished.

Full individual results for both teams can be found under Races / RNR.

There were a number of great individual performances across the two Ely Teams. Particular highlights were:

Brennan Morganӳ stage 5 win following on from Ian Dayӳ win on the same leg last year.

Hannah Shiell who finished as first SF on leg 10. She had earlier offered support and encouragement as accompanying cyclist to John Turner as he struggled with the Ҩardest half marathonҠhe can remember.

Craig Holgate second fastest on the long overnight leg of nearly 20 miles.

Stephen Pettit second fastest on the other long overnight leg of nearly 20 miles.

Thanks to all the RNR organisation for another flawless event. Especially Ely Runners Ian Vaughan-Arbuckle (Race Director), Adam Etches (Safety Officer), Natalle Etches (Treasurer & Registration Desk), Richard Handoll (Course Marking) and Rod Baron (results). Rod even managed to find the time to run leg six for us!

Congratulations to Team Captains Alan Rutterford (Ely Open) and first time team captain Simon Jackson (Ely Club) and heartfelt thanks to them for their organisation and planning beforehand and their superb support for the runners throughout the whole event day and night.

Finally special thanks to Ellie and Emily Knight for the Ely Open Team plus Julie Foreman and Hannah Shiell for the Ely Club Team. Runners from both teams are simply thankful and grateful for the chance to run in such a wonderful and inspiring event.

For Results by stage and overall team results see www.roundnorfolkrelay.com

IN STAGE
Team   Name Stg Age Cat Time Team T. AG %   AG Rank     Stg Pos Cat Pos AG Pos Sex Pos
ELY(B)   Mark Turner 1 36 MS 2:06:58 2:06:58 59.51   622     35 16 45 31
ELY(B)   Chris Bower 2 39 MS 1:46:03 3:53:01 61.73   535     23 7 31 20
ELY(B)   Martin Courtney 3 41 MM 0:44:09 4:37:10 54.80   793     23 9 39 16
ELY(B)   John Turner 4 64 MM 2:02:18 6:39:28 59.83   616     52 26 36 38
ELY(B)   Steve Collett 5 35 MS 1:18:29 7:57:57 48.55   897     37 16 50 32
ELY(B)   Rob Comley 6 34 MS 1:03:53 9:01:50 54.15   813     26 5 44 20
ELY(B)   Birgitta Bramley 7 54 LM 1:11:42 10:13:32 74.55   70     32 3 8 5
ELY(B)   Claire Irons 8 24 LS 1:02:26 11:15:58 58.87   649     36 8 45 17
ELY(B)   Adrian Stokes 9 49 MM 1:25:36 12:41:34 65.34   370     30 18 23 26
ELY(B)   Hannah Shiell 10 25 LS 2:09:55 14:51:29 59.09   636     46 1 44 5
ELY(B)   Charlie Barker 11 58 MM 2:46:47 17:38:16 65.09   379     43 21 27 37
ELY(B)   Claire Law 12 35 LM 3:06:08 20:44:24 54.63   796     52 4 51 8
ELY(B)   Hayley Tooke 13 37 LM 1:58:59 22:43:23 56.54   734     50 7 49 9
ELY(B)   Kevin Fox 14 41 MM 1:03:35 23:46:58 63.62   446     14 7 27 12
ELY(B)   Nick Dowdy 15 49 MM 1:04:31 24:51:29 53.89   821     42 16 45 25
ELY(B)   Lisa Redman 16 36 LM 0:45:27 25:36:56 58.47   659     34 7 36 12
ELY(B)   Ian Rutherford 17 48 MM 1:30:07 27:07:03 64.05   424     29 18 29 27
                               
ELY(A)   John Manlow 1 41 MM 1:46:56 1:46:56 72.81   105     4 2 8 4
ELY(A)   Graham Chapman 2 53 MM 1:43:59 3:30:55 70.01   195     18 10 8 15
ELY(A)   Darren Murfitt 3 44 MM 0:40:32 4:11:27 61.01   565     12 4 23 10
ELY(A)   Robert Campbell 4 43 MM 1:24:38 5:36:05 72.31   123     4 2 5 4
ELY(A)   Brennan Morgan 5 41 MM 0:56:09 6:32:14 70.41   185     1 1 3 1
ELY(A)   Rod Baron 6 53 MM 0:57:26 7:29:40 68.58   246     15 8 13 11
ELY(A)   Alex Tate 7 33 MS 0:57:34 8:27:14 71.32   155     5 3 11 5
ELY(A)   Stephen Howard 8 45 MM 0:46:35 9:13:49 75.76   57     3 2 5 3
ELY(A)   John Crisp 9 38 MS 1:10:39 10:24:28 73.01   96     4 3 6 4
ELY(A)   Ian Day 10 40 MM 1:35:47 12:00:15 74.16   78     6 3 5 6
ELY(A)   Stephen Pettit 11 44 MM 2:01:11 14:01:26 79.97   17     2 1 2 2
ELY(A)   Craig Holgate 12 32 MS 1:58:11 15:59:37 78.35   24     2 2 3 2
ELY(A)   Adam Etches 13 35 MS 1:25:31 17:25:08 70.55   178     5 1 13 4
ELY(A)   Maurice Reed 14 46 MM 0:58:11 18:23:19 72.12   128     5 3 8 5
ELY(A)   Ture Nielsen 15 37 MS 0:50:15 19:13:34 63.37   454     7 2 19 7
ELY(A)   Glyn Loveday 16 39 MS 0:33:18 19:46:52 73.03   94     4 4 10 4
ELY(A)   Peter Gipp 17 47 MM 1:14:41 21:01:33 76.70   39     4 2 3 4S

 


Team B support - Simon Jackson, Hannah Shiell & Julie Foreman

This was the first year that the club entered two teams drawn entirely from the ranks of Ely Runners in the Round Norfolk Relay ֠a 17-stage relay covering 193 miles around the perimeter of Norfolk.  The Open Class team (managed once again by seasoned campaigner, Alan Rutterford) finished 2nd overall (out of 55 teams) and also picked up the trophies for 1st Non-Norfolk Team and 1st ARC Team.  Brennan Morgan was fastest runner on stage 5, whilst Stephen Pettit and Craig Holgate were both second on their stages. 

Simon Jackson, experiencing the triumphs and tribulations of RNR-management for the first time, ably led the second team to 12th place in the Club Class (44th overall).  He has provided the following account of his experiences:

For the last three years, I had been fortunate enough to have been included in the Ely RunnersҠteam for the Round Norfolk Relay. However, since plenty of Ely Runners were denied the chance to run in this great event because the team was made up of the fastest 17 runners available on the day, I formulated the idea of a Club Class team, open to all, and selected on enthusiasm for the event, rather than ability. 

After discussing this with club members and getting the go-ahead at the AGM, I thought very little of it until July when Alan started seeking volunteers to run for the clubӳ two teams and then it hit home that this was going to take quite some organisation.

Team selection proved a difficult process. After getting 17 willing and able runners, things started to go downhill. Darren and Ture were hijacked by Alan to compensate for dropouts in the Open team. Several runners were unable to run on the stage I had originally allocated them to and requested changing stages. Natalle pulled out through pregnancy, Emma couldn't run due to lack of childcare, and Blatch pulled out due to injury the week before. On more than one occasion I did wonder whether it was all going to be worth it.

Needless to say, it was!  On the day almost everything went to plan.

Mark Turner started us off at 7:00am on stage 1 and we didn't look back the whole way round. Julie followed Mark on the bike for the first part of the stage and Mark kept her entertained counting roadkill!

A chance for a quick cup of tea and bacon sandwich at the Hunstanton changeover before Mark handed over to Chris Bower, who steadily got muddier as the stage went on.

style="margin-:14.15pt"The stage 3 changeover got a bit edgy as Martin Courtney only arrived with a couple of minutes to spare before Chris arrived to hand over, leaving a rather relieved team manager to get to Wells.

By the time Martin handed over to JT at Wells, the weather was getting distinctly warmer.  John suffered a bit as he, in his own words, Ԩuffed and puffedԠhis way round and was grateful for Hannah's cycle support.

At the Salthouse changeover, there was, according to Rachel and Julie, a rather good fish and chip shop where we had planned to get some lunch. But we arrived in Salthouse 4 hours before it opened, so had to wait until later.

JT handed over to Steve Collett at Salthouse, and Hannah and I went to Sheringham to catch up with him, whilst Julie moved his car to the changeover at Cromer. By the time Steve got to Sheringham, he was not in a particularly good mood as he had not anticipated running over shingle beaches and up cliffs, but he made it to Cromer in one piece and handed over to Rob Comley.

Rob spent most of his leg trying to catch another runner, but with no joy as every time he got close the other chap pulled away.

At Mundesley, Rob handed over to Birgitta, with Julie following on the bike. Birgitta had saved the team when I didn't have enough ladies to make up a Club Class team.  She ran her leg well handed over to Claire Irons at Lessingham. By this time, however, we were about 50 minutes behind schedule and thoughts of the wooden spoon for the worst time estimate were starting to appear in my mind.  But Claire had a storming run and was the first member of the team to run under her time estimate, handing over to Adrian Stokes and his fan club at Horsey.

Adrian ran very well too, keeping a steady pace throughout and it was just getting dark as we arrived in Great Yarmouth, to be greeted by a firework display as we came along the seafront.

This changeover was a little tricky as Adrian was due to hand over to Hannah, who was timekeeping for us, so Julie took on that duty whilst Hannah ran and I followed on the cycle until we got out of Yarmouth.

This was a bit surreal, as unsurprisingly Yarmouth was packed at 8pm on a Saturday evening in mid-September. Hannah ran the down the prom, with me on the bike dodging in and out of the revellers. We got a couple of double-takes and one or two remarks which I suppose was not unexpected! On leaving Yarmouth, I packed the bike away, and Julie and I followed Hannah in the car until Hannah handed over to Charlie at Geldeston.

Another precarious changeover. Julie dashed over to Charlie to find out where his car was, Hannah handed over to Charlie, and then I had to wait for Hannah to get in the car before we set off following Charlie.

Charlie started off well, but after 10 miles or so seemed to be struggling a bit, and had to stop on a couple of occasions as he thought he might be sick. Fortunately a false alarm though, and after running 19 miles with only a couple of roundabouts to break the monotony, Charlie handed over to Claire Law at Scole in one piece!

Claire was brilliant. She had only rejoined the club the week before, and to then be asked to run 19.67 miles in a straight line in the middle of the night, in the rain, whilst every other team seemed to be overtaking you, and still keeping a smile on your face is some achievement. And she knocked 20 minutes off her time estimate too.

At Thetford, Claire handed over to Hayley, by which time my right foot was getting a little sore from controlling the car in 1st gear at 8mph.  Needless to say, I was getting a little tired too, as was Hannah. We had hoped get to Feltwell before being overtaken by the Open team, but Adam overtook Hayley at Grimes Graves so that wasn't to be.  Hayley ran steadily all the way to Feltwell, where she handed over to Kevin Fox, who shot off like a gazelle and I managed to get the car into 2nd gear for the first time in about 7 hours.

Kevin being Kevin, he was in competitive mood and managed to have a little race with a lady from another team, in which he eventually prevailed, and as the sun came up in Wissington, he handed over to Nick Dowdy and I was able to get out of the car at last and onto the bike to stretch my legs.

Nick raced off, and it took me ages to catch him up on the bike, and it didn't seem long before we arrived in Downham Market to hand over to Lisa Redman.

Hannah followed Lisa on the bike, whilst Julie and I moved cars to Stowbridge, and said Lisa ran very well to make the final handover to Ian Rutherford for the home run into King's Lynn.

I am immensely grateful to Ian for running this stage for me. When Blatch pulled out the Sunday before, I had no choice but to put myself down for it, even though I would really be in no fit state to run. Fortunately, though, Ian responded to my last desperate plea for help, (with a little coaxing from Hayley, I understand).

I actually had trouble keeping up with Ian on the bike, probably due to Ian running better than expected and my own tiredness, but I was glad to get off the riverbank and on to the streets of King's Lynn, where Ian just had time to fit in a race with a couple of local youngsters.

Finally, 27 hours 7 minutes and 3 seconds after setting off, we arrived at the finish line, 25 minutes 19 seconds behind schedule, but I didn't really care about that. I was just delighted that we had seen the team all the way round, everyone had turned up, everyone had finished and the only real mishap was that I forgot to give my car keys to Julie and Hannah at Stowbridge and they had to come chasing after me. I was tired, and exhausted but would I do it again? You bet I would!

I'd like to take this opportunity to say a few thank yous:
To all the runners in the team - you did the club proud.
To Charlie, for agreeing to swap onto one of the two longest stages and to Margaret for sacrificing a day out in Norfolk.
To Claire Law, who as said before had to rejoin the club to run the relay, and ran through the middle of the night in the rain.
To Ian Rutherford for saving me from running the last stage.
To Hannah, for timekeeping, support cycling, recovery driving, keeping me awake through night, whilst having to listen to my ramblings and still finding time to be the fastest Senior Lady on stage 10.
To Julie, for support cycling, recovery driving and taking over timekeeping duties whilst Hannah was running.
And finally to Alan, for his advice and support.

ROUND NORFOLK RELAY 20th/21st SEPTEMBER 2008

Ely Runners sweep up the prizes at the Round Norfolk Relay ֠First Open Team, Fastest Non-Norfolk Team, First ARC Team, First Ladies Casual Team.

Individual Prizes for Ian Day and Daisy Glover.

One team made up of Ely Runners and one combined ladies team drawn from Ely Runners and Cambridge & Coleridge competed in the 22nd Round Norfolk Relay this year.

Both teams performed exceptionally well, with Ely winning first place overall in the tough Open class, and scooping the Visitorӳ Cup prize for the fastest team from outside Norfolk. They also won the prize for the first Association of Running Clubs (ARC) team. The Ely/C&C team won the award in the new Casual Ladies class.

This prestigious and competitive annual event consists of 17 unequal legs totalling 193 miles around the county of Norfolk. With individual legs from 5 to just under 20 miles in length, runners carry a baton around the roads and paths of Norfolk, starting on Saturday and running throughout the night to finish on Sunday morning.

For the fifth consecutive year Ely Runners entered its own team as well as supplying individual runners to other teams if requested. However for the first time Ely also entered a combined ladies team with local club Cambridge & Coleridge, with 11 Ely ladies competing.

The growth in membership over the last year meant that Ely could no longer compete in the ғmall ClubҠrace category ֠this year for the first time they had to compete on equal terms against much bigger clubs like City of Norwich and Norwich Road Runners.

On paper, Ely were only the 4th fastest team. However the mix of new blood and established club members were up to the task. They stormed through the field to finish a massive 52 minutes ahead of their estimated time in 20:38:30 ( 193 miles at 6:23 min/mile pace!), the second fastest time behind Club class winners City of Norwich and a slender 4 minutes ahead of second placed Open club Norwich Road Runners (over 193 miles thatӳ a difference of just 1.4 seconds per mile).

By a quirk of fate, Ely Runners Secretary John Turner had been invited to present the team prizes. He was clearly delighted to hand the large Silver Open Team Trophy to Ely Team Captain Alan Rutterford.

RNR 2008 Report - Cambridge & Ely Ladies Team

It all began with what I thought was a low-key conversation with Rod during RNR 2007.  He mentioned that the race never attracted many ladiesҠteams.  I idly inquired whether it was possible to enter a ladiesҠteam drawing runners from two or more clubs, vaguely imagining a combined team from my two clubs ֠Cambridge & Coleridge and Ely Runners.  Apparently, it was possible, but the team would have to run in the Casual Class, where theyӤ be competing directly with menӳ and mixed teams for the prizes.  I thought no more of it. 

I thought no more, that is, until I received an email from Rod sometime last December, saying that RNR 2008 would include a new separate prize category for ladiesҠteams in the Casual Class.  How instrumental that conversation was in bringing about this new category, I donӴ know, but I felt a certain obligation to support it if I could.  Also, it seemed important to take this opportunity to enable the (Ely) women to have a team of their own in this unique event: previously, the only real option for most of us had been to fill a gap in a casual class team, often where we knew none of the other runners, which in some ways defeated the purpose of running as part of a team. 

So, I set about investigating whether the two clubs would actually agree to this joint venture.   The answer apparently was ԹesԮ

Theoretically, we were aiming for equal numbers of runners from C&C and ER, though I thought there would probably be more from C&C, since itӳ the bigger club.  In the end, though, the team consisted of 10 runners from ER, 6 from C&C and one whose loyalties are firmly divided between the two clubs!  This was partly because so many Cambridge ladies were ruled out by injury, but also because the response from the Ely ladies was so positive: about one-third of the Ely ladies were involved, with more keen to run but side-lined either by injury or by prior commitments. 

The RNR encapsulates all the good things about running: the challenge of pitting yourself against the terrain, the elements and often against yourself, when you find youӲe running alone, with no one close behind or just ahead to push or pull you along; inspiring scenery; team spirit; competition and camaraderie.   Each runner experiences some or all of these elements on their stage.  For the support crew, there are also the additional challenges posed by the logistics, the need to adapt quickly to changing circumstances and, of course, a long haul without sleep (and also food, at times!). 

There was a point in the early hours of Sunday morning when Fiona and I turned to each other and said, emphatically, ԎEVER AGAIN!Ԧnbsp; What we hadnӴ anticipated was how quickly weӤ forget the pain (though not the lessons weӤ learnt) and how soon all weӤ be able to recall was the incredible buzz we got from being involved with such an enthusiastic, willing and inspiring team of runners and helpers.  

Itӳ an unenviable task to have to pick out highlights from the 28 hours we were out on the course, as everyone made a huge contribution to our success.  So I wonӴ.  Instead, I want to say a little about each personӳ contribution:

Stage 1 ֠Kingӳ Lynn to Hunstanton (16.32m)
Claire L was the model of calm before the start of her leg, whilst I was running around like a headless chicken.  She maintained that serenity throughout a tough run (16 miles over challenging terrain) and finished looking just as strong as she had early on in her run.

Stage 2 ֠Hunstanton to Burnham Overy (14.06m)
Not only was this stage largely off-road, but the temperature was rising steadily throughout, so by about half-way in, conditions were pretty uncomfortable.  Hayley was obviously finding it very tough towards the end, but kept battling really impressively right to the finish. 

Stage 3 ֠Burnham Overy to Well (5.39m)
Mary G had been very nervous beforehand and didnӴ have the luxury of having a support cyclist or driver with her to help out with the navigation.  So it was great to see her steaming in at the end of her stage and, deservedly, feeling really pleased with how it had gone. 

Stage 4 ֠Wells to Salthouse (12.76m)
There were no surprises from Natalle.  As usual, she put in an excellent performance and made it all look effortless, even the testing off-road section at the start of the stage. 

Stage 5 ֠Salthouse to Cromer (8.61m)
Claire I ran a storming leg.  IӶe seen grown men on their knees at the end of this one, but she ended with a mighty sprint finish and had made easy work of both the shingle and the Եndulationsԡ   

Stage 6 ֠Cromer to Mundesley (7.86m)
Having successfully negotiated what amounts to a cliff heading up to the golf course at Cromer, Samantha then ran a well-paced stage, putting up with a support cyclist who was preoccupied most of the time, worrying about a) would we ever find Rebecca, whoӤ started the stage on the bike but then been diverted off the course by an over-zealous marshal on Cromer prom and b) how to time the stage when both stopwatches and her phone were currently in Ericӳ van, somewhere else between Cromer and Mundesley. 

Stage 7 ֠Mundesley to Lessingham (9.24m)
It was lovely to see Joӳ return to racing following the birth of Amalia.  Sheӳ another runner who made it look so easy, as she finished several minutes ahead of her predicted time. 

Stage 8 ֠Lessingham to Horsey (7.52m)
Mary J had a stiff sea-breeze to contend with on this leg.  Not the easiest conditions, but she ran with great determination to the end. 

Stage 9 ֠Horsey to Great Yarmouth (11.30m)
Eleven-plus miles is a long way to run on your own, but Mandy settled into a comfortable rhythm and maintained an even pace throughout her stage, and still looked strong and fresh at the end ֠I must learn the secret! 

Stage 10 ֠Great Yarmouth to Geldeston (15.08m)
Fiona only knew she was doing this stage the night before.  SheӤ only covered 12 miles in training beforehand, but bravely agreed to step up to 15 miles following Bexӳ injury.  It turned out to be a very impressive run, at a good pace and with no hint of fading as she went beyond the mileage sheӤ covered in training.   

Stage 11 ֠Geldeston to Scole (19.60m)
Kimӳ excellent running over this 19-mile leg deservedly earned her the female stage-winnerӳ prize ֠despite having extra time added on to her running time because of her support vehicle being caught in a bit of a traffic jam at the Geldeston changeover!

Stage 12 ֠Scole to Thetford (19.67m)
Following a 6-week lay-off because of a stress-fracture in her foot, it was amazing that Emma could even think about going through with her plan to run this 19.6 mile stage.  This was a typically brave run from Emma, in which she had to battle the cold, the hills and cramp, and she still managed to clock an impressive time. 

Stage 13 ֠Thetford to Feltwell (13.25m)
Lisa approached her run with characteristic cheerfulness, even though it was gone three oӣlock in the morning by the time she set off and the temperature had dipped to only a few degrees above freezing.  Seeing her finish so strongly gave me a big boost as I set off on Stage 14.

Stage 14 ֠Feltwell to Wissington (8.80m)
Huge thanks are due here to Fiona, who kept me going when first stitch and then cramp in both calves meant forward progress wasnӴ always an option!  I also have to mention the Ryston Runners support crew for their words of encouragement ֠for me, they summed up the spirit of the RNR perfectly. 

Stage 15 ֠Wissington to Downham Market (7.20m)
Hannah had a great run here, even-paced and flowing, and deserves to feel proud of the fact that she finished inside her original target time, despite having run her first half-marathon the weekend before and having been unable to run since then because of blisters.   

Stage 17 ֠Stowbridge to Kingӳ Lynn (11.73m)
alanie was a late substitute on this stage, having come into the team because of Bexӳ injury.  SheӤ actually been out injured herself for quite some time previously, so hadnӴ had the ideal preparation for this tough stage but, nevertheless, ran with great determination and produced a strong finish to bring the team home comfortably inside the 10.30 cut-off on the Sunday morning. 

Our final placing (44th out of 48 teams) actually belies the success of the team.  We were one of only two all-female teams in the event this year - a significant achievement in its own right - and were awarded the trophy for 1st Casual Class Ladies Team.  And, as I mentioned before, Kim won the stage winnerӳ prize for stage 11.  

But there were other successes itӳ not possible to measure, such as the growth in confidence that comes from tackling a challenging run head-on or the strength of our team spirit, even though the runners were drawn from two different clubs. 

Oh, and of course we won the Wooden Spoon for the most wayward time estimate! 

Finally, a few words of thanks:

To Fiona (C&C), for all her help before, during and after the event ֠it wouldnӴ have happened without her! 

To Eric (ER), for being an absolute trooper.  His cheerfulness and willingness to help were invaluable ֠nothing was ever too much trouble. 

To Andy (C&C), for, amongst other things, being willing to share the boysҠtoys with us, for helping me make sense of all the logistics and providing last-minute IT support, and to Andy and Carmel for helping out with our recovery driving before their team had even got on the road. 

To Alan (ER), for his advice and especially for his help with planning cycle support for stages 1-5. 

To Emma (ER), for keeping me buoyed up when I was beginning to doubt it would ever come off, and also for the first aid kit and the loan of her bike. 

To Mel (ER), for helping out with the recovery driving.

To Rebecca M (ER), for helping out with the support cycling. 

To Adam (C&C), for helping with our support cycling before going on to run a 19-mile leg for the menӳ team.  

To Jalanie (C&C), for stepping into the breach at the last minute.

To Mike (C&C), for the loan of his bike carrier. 

To all the C&Cers who came to the finish on the Sunday morning to see both teams come in.

And last, but not least, to Rod, for his encouragement to enter the team in the first place and also for his support during the race (but NOT for his early-morning photography antics!).   

RR
9 October, 2008 

Thanks to all the RNR organisation for another flawless event. Especially Ely Runners Ian Vaughan-Arbuckle (Race Director) Rob Baron (results) and Richard Handoll (course).

Congratulations to Team Captains Alan Rutterford (ER) and Rachel Roberts (C & Ely) and heartfelt thanks to them and their many helpers for their organisation and planning beforehand and their superb support for the runners throughout the whole event day and night.

Finally special thanks to Karen Roe, Julie Foreman and Emily Knight for the Ely Team and Eric Drury & Mel Fisher for the C & Ely Team. Without you this triumph would not have been possible.