Whilst most people are still asleep at 5.30am on a Saturday morning, this was not the case for the Great Yarmouth & District Athletic Club. Taking part in the annual 23rd Round Norfolk Relay required a start time of 5.30am at Lynnsport, Kings Lynn. This relay race covers 193 miles starting and finishing at Lynnsport and follows a route around the borders of the county.
Kevin Blackwell was the 1st of our team and ran 16.3 miles in a superb time of 2:13:17, beating his last year’s time and only .06 secs off a PB.
On finishing at Hunstanton, he handed over to Liz Fernandes for the 14.06 miles to Burnham Overy, this was her 4th running of this leg and completed with a PB time of 1:59:05.
From Burnham to Wells – 5.39 miles - is a route which is completely off-road along the sand dunes and was ran for the 1st time by Diane Clark, with a finishing time of 58:10.
A veteran of the 4th leg – Wells to Salthouse 12.76 miles - is Dave Drewitt, the time is now 10.30am and the sun is beginning to feel warm – however, David completed his leg with enthusiasm in a time of 1:56:53.
One of the toughest legs is from Salthouse to Cromer - 8.61 miles – up the Sheringham hill – Sue Fraser decided to take on this challenge in the midday sun and completed it well in 1:34:35.
Cromer to Mundesley 7.86 miles - is also an undulating route especially the first hill from the promenade to the Lighthouse but was tackled by Stef Herod, running her 1st RNR for GYDAC. She beat her predicted time and finished in 1:26:35.
Elaine Haggarty took over the baton and ran to Lessingham a route of 9.24 miles accompanied by Pat on the bike in a time of 1:44:08.
Dawn Clegg then took on the run of 7.52 miles to Horsey with her daughter Karly on the bike for support, by this time we were then surrounded by other competing teams. Dawn clocked a time of 1:15:43, one of the best team times for this leg.
Next team runner was Sue Ryles, who along with Diane on the bike – having already run a leg earlier in the day – followed the road for 11.30 miles through to the bowling greens at Great Yarmouth. Sue beat her time from last year by 3 mins to finish in 2:00:05. It is now dark and the time is 8.30pm and at a very busy changeover,
David Brammer, a guest runner from March A.C. takes on Stage 10 - 15.08 miles to Geldeston. A superb effort was achieved inside the estimated 2hr mark and David finish in 1:59:11.
Another guest runner followed – Phil Davies from The Stragglers, based in London (unfortunately this club missed the race entry by 7 minutes back in February) and once again he had some bad luck with race routing – however he completed the 19.60 miles to Scole in 3:09:36 – having run a total of 24 miles on the night!!
Not to be disheartened Chris Gay took the baton and ran Stage 12 – 19.67 miles to Thetford “in the thick” of the race. Both Stages 11 & 12 are exceptionally tough both mentally and physically and Chris recorded a time of 2:50:45.
Stage 13 goes through to Feltwell – 13.25 miles - and this was taken on by John England, who again broke 2hr to finish in 1:59:57 !!
Daylight is now breaking and we had to call on one of our reserves - Derek Ribbands to run to Wissington – 8.80 miles – in damp early morning conditions – having accompanied Diane on Stage 3, he was pleased with his time of 1:17:36.
Reserve no.2 then stepped up to the mark – Maureen England to take the baton through to Downham Market a run of 7.20 miles. Accompanied by Julia on the bike an unprepared Maureen excelled with a time of 1:15:17.
Our next runner had been a support member throughout the night having joined the team at 9pm and assisting to escort the runners – Denise Goodwin now had to find the energy to run 5.49 miles to Stowbridge and did so in a time of 1:00:13.
The last stage of 11.73 miles back to King’s Lynn was taken on by Adele Postle along with Penny on the bike. A beautiful route alongside the riverbank through to the historic town with the finish on the track at Lynnsport. The weather was now very warm, but Adele did extremely well and finished in a club leg PB time of 1:43:26.
Our total team time was 30:24:32 and we still didn’t win the Wooden Spoon that was given to Felixstowe A who finished over an hour behind us.
As they say, it’s not the winning, it’s the taking part. We had great team camaraderie. This team event could not take place without the support crew – for the first time John Brightman decided to drive from King’s Lynn to Great Yarmouth – a total of 15 hours, just trying to stop Pat getting stressed!! Thanks must be given to our night drivers of Ryan Clegg and Dave Drewitt and Dave & Denise Goodwin who without their support this team could not compete. The runners were accompanied by several cyclists including Karen and the runners are also dependant on their partners transporting them to the start and collecting them at the finish, so thanks must be given to Steve, Lynn, Dick, Shawn, Peter & Andy. GYDAC were responsible for providing the refreshments at Great Yarmouth for the event and thanks must be given to Margaret, Fred, Peter & all the GYDAC ladies. The team manager/boss for the event was Pat Brightman who co-ordinated all aspects of the organisation.