Yesterday 3 teams from TWH competed in the South Downs Marathon Relay.
The race starts at Slindon College and follows the South Downs Way – up and down (and up and down…) and finishes in the Queen Elizabeth Country Park just south of Petersfield. Running conditions were almost perfect – not too warm, slight breeze, occasional rain shower. Each leg is between 5 and 7.5 miles – and each one carries its own challenges!
Part of the fun of this race is jumping into the car at the start of each leg, and hoping that you will reach the next check point before your runner – and for those of us who did this event last year, it was even better having more fellow harriers cheering each runner in – really creating a team spirit. We were even much more organised this year and were able to finish the day in the sunshine with picnic, pimms and prosecco!!
The three teams were:-
Geoff Turner, Steve Bright, Mark Taylor, Steve Austin
Simon Howden, Carol Tsang, Andy Page, Lesley Mercer
Sally Burton, Nicola Withers, Nicola Morris, Catherine Thorp
The Team Results:-
TWH Old Gits – position 8/112 – time 3:16:02 – First M50 team
Harriers Route 66 – position 23/112 time 3:29:33
Hen Harriers – position 27/112 time 3:34:32 – First F40 team
Special mention to Steve Austin who was the only runner to beat the car to the end of his leg – luckily it was the last leg so the somewhat dodgy navigation of his team mates didn’t hold up their team.
Second special mention to the other Harriers running under the disguise of Sarah’s Runners (I’m not sure which team number you were?) who also joined in the fun and camaraderie.
And extra Special Mention to Derek Harrison who once again completed the whole marathon in 4:26:54 – a brilliant run given how tough we all found each of the individual legs.
Everyone had a fantastic day out – and I’m sure that all of us who participated would highly recommend it and plan to be back again next year.
Nicola