Swineshead 10
Round Norfolk Relay 20/21 Sep
Julia Mackay has sent this very full report of the Club competing against 47 other teams, over a distance of 193 miles, with 17 stages of varying distance in a continuous relay, over two days...
Camp BAC, resembling a 1950s American summer camp, was 'home' for Team Biggleswade for the weekend, with a very prominent sign at its centre, significantly shorter than when originally constructed (thanks to Tim and Pauls for pointing out the health and safety risks to Gav).
Following a chilly first night the campers were awoken by a wonderful aroma. Venturing into the cool morning air we discovered Pat and Zoë slaving over hot camping stoves: Pat's Pantry was open for business. After a hearty breakfast (funnily enough Pat's baked beans weren't very popular) it was off to the start to see Fi Hunter on her way.
At around 8.30 am Fi began her very difficult 16.3 mile stage through sand dunes to finish at Hunstanton light house where she handed the baton to Lee Welham. Lee flew over his 14.1 mile route, so much so that his support cyclist had difficulty keeping up with him. The effort paid off as he was declared male winner of stage 2.
The baton then passed to Mark Stead who powered his way through a very tough sandy terrain finally reaching the end of his 5.4 mile stage and the start of stage 4, handing over the baton to the experienced Damo Pitts, a veteran of this event having been involved for the last 3 years.
Successful completion of stage 5 was the responsibility of Roger 'Jimmy' Wadeley and an 8.6 mile route along the coastal path, with a bit of an unplanned zig-zag finish. Thankfully there were no pubs en route or the situation could have been more serious.
With the next stage (Cromer to Mundesley) being notoriously hilly, Paula Dawson was the ideal choice and duly built up a good lead over local rivals St Neots Riverside Runners.
Next it was county athlete, Zoë Dawson's turn to show why she is the senior ladies team captain. Showing great tenacity she sped through her 9.2 mile stage before transferring the baton into the safe hands of Kirsty Heath. By now the sun was starting to set over Norfolk as Kirsty, with no time to admire the beautiful sunset, arrived at the end of her stage to pass on the baton to another great team player, Chris Watson.
Chris sped off and managed to catch and pass many other teams as he headed for the bright lights of Great Yarmouth. Here, ultra runner Rob Morgan, was waiting for him on the promenade. Rob grabbed the baton and headed for Geldeston, a mere 15.1 miles away.
At Geldeston, marathon man, Ian Skerratt, was the next to go as he powered his way to Scole, passing at least 6 other teams on the 19.6 mile route. Gav Elliott, with coach Ken Prior as support cyclist, had his best run for nearly two years as he coasted the longest stage (19.7 miles) to Thetford.
The next stage (13.3 miles) was then ran superbly well by Ray Dowse (it was now 3.30 am on Sunday morning). Reaching Feltwell (stage 14) Ray handed the baton to Nat Darlow who proceeded to win the stage with her time of 1:07:17.
Next the baton passed to Derek Litchfield who had the pleasure of enjoying the sunrise as he comfortably ran his 7.2 mile leg to Downham Market where Julie Dowse waited anxiously. Happy to finally take charge of the baton Julie smiled all the way round her 5.5 mile route before handing over to club chairman, Nigel Bush, for "the glory leg", bringing the team home in an excellent 5th place in the 'Club Class' section.
Biggleswade AC completed the 193 mile course in just under 25 hours, an excellent achievement.
Returning to Camp BAC the group, many of whom had only managed to catch a couple of hours sleep over the whole period, enjoyed a strong cup of coffee with a Red Bull chaser, before chairman, Nigel Bush, presented the runners with their memento and t-shirt. Special thanks were then bestowed upon team skipper, Tim Huxtable, whose meticulous planning and attention to detail (including the production - assisted by Gav - of those brilliant videos - check out the RNR page) meant the whole event ran seamlessly.
THE BAC RNR ROLL OF HONOUR:
Head honcho/timekeeper/
he-who-must-be-obeyed:
| Tim Huxtable
|
| Sidekick/right-hand-man:
| Pete Howell
|
| Mr Motivator/Duracell-battery-man:
| Gav Elliott
|
| The Runners:
| Fi Hunter, Lee Welham, Mark Stead, Damo Pitts, Roger 'Jimmy' Wadeley, Paula Dawson, Zoë Dawson, Kirsty Heath, Chris Watson, Rob Morgan, Gav Elliot, Ray Dowse, Nat Darlow, Derek Litchfield, Julie 'Little Legs' Dowse and Nigel Bush
|
| The Riders:
| Robin Wynde, Lee Welham, Pat Luscombe, Mark Stead, Pete Howell, Zoë Dawson, Ken Prior, Rob Morgan and Ray Dowse
|
| The Night(car) Riders:
| Nigel Bush, Pat Luscombe, Ken Prior, Paula Dawson, Kirsty Heath, Damo Pitts and Gav Elliot
|
| Saturday morning breakfast:
| Pat Luscombe & Zoë Dawson
|
| The supporters:
| Rich Bevan, Julia Mackay, Elaine Stead, Bentley, the Litchfield family, Debs Bryan, Lindsay Morgan, Millie and all those who weren't running/cycling/driving
|
THE STATS
| Fi Hunter
| 16.3 miles
| 2:09:04
| 1st senior women in her category
|
| Lee Welham
| 14.1 miles
| 1:30:40
| fastest male Stage 2
|
| Mark Stead
| 5.4 miles
| 00:52:59
|
|
| Damo Pitts
| 12.8 miles
| 1:41:14
|
|
| Roger Wadeley
| 8.6 miles
| 1:15:29
|
|
| Paula Dawson
| 7.9 miles
| 1:08:47
|
|
| Zoë Dawson
| 9.2 miles
| 1:12:17
|
|
| Kirsty Heath
| 7.5 miles
| 1:03:46
|
|
| Chris Watson
| 11.3 miles
| 1:18:30
|
|
| Rob Morgan
| 15.1 miles
| 1:46:37
|
|
| Ian Skerratt
| 19.6 miles
| 2:22:36
|
|
| Gav Elliot
| 19.7 miles
| 2:25:24
|
|
| Ray Dowse
| 13.3 miles
| 1:36:58
|
|
| Nat Darlow
| 8.8 miles
| 1:07:17
| fastest female Stage 14
|
| Derek Litchfield
| 7.2 miles
| 00:52:35
|
|
| Julie Dowse
| 5.5 miles
| 00:56:30
|
|
| Nigel Bush
| 11.7 miles
| 1:30:19
|
|
Swineshead 10 miles and Club Championship 7 Sep
Eighteen club members contested the club's 10 mile championship at Swineshead on 7th September, but no one was prepared for the extra 0.3 mile distance imposed when the course had to be re-routed round a flooded section of road. The overall times were therefore slightly longer than usual, but this did not detract from two super runs by Vince Plosky and Fiona Hunter who were 2nd man and 2nd lady overall to finish.
Because the race distance was not an exact 10 miles, we have not calculated the age graded performances, but it is clear from the times and ages of the finishers that Vince and Fiona are our 10 mile club champions for 2008. Congratulations!
| Vincent Plosky
| 2nd
| 61m 37s
| 2nd Man overall
| MENS CLUB CHAMPION
|
| Richard Bevan
| 17th
| 67m 52s
|
|
|
| Christopher Watson
| 18th
| 69m 29s
|
|
|
| Robert Morgan
| 25th
| 72m 34s
|
|
|
| Craig Brown
| 42nd
| 74m 19s
|
|
|
| Neil Gregory
| 48th
| 75m 51s
|
|
|
| Damien Pitts
| 49th
| 76m 00s
|
|
|
| Gavin Elliott
| 50th
| 76m 10s
|
|
|
| Fiona Hunter
| 51st
| 76m 20s
| 2nd Lady overall
| LADIES CLUB CHAMPION
|
| Derek Litchfield
| 59th
| 78m 55s
|
|
|
| Nigel Bush
| 61st
| 79m 13s
|
|
|
| Valerie Kemp
| 65th
| 80m 12s
|
|
|
| Jonathan Bevan
| 69th
| 81m 05s
|
|
|
| Natalie Darlow
| 89th
| 83m 40s
|
|
|
| Steve Rochell
| 120th
| 89m 43s
|
|
|
| Peter Howell
| 136th
| 93m 31s
|
|
|
| David Lyons
| 139th
| 94m 15s
|
|
|
| Julia Mackay
| 148th
| 96m 46s
|
|
|
