Monday, October 01, 2007
Clarendon Marathon Relay
On Sunday the team of Richard, Lin, Martin and Lesley, AKA "Three Hares and a Tortoise" represented MNRC at the 10th Clarendon Marathon Relay. The route was from Salisbury to Winchester via Broughton along the Clarendon Way. I had a really funny bit about the use of the word eponymous here, but Lin advised me to remove it, so instead here are some of the pictures we took along the way.
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5 comments:
Since I ran the last leg it's entirely in keeping with MNRC tradition that I write the first race report!
As my leg was only 6 miles I shall have to bulk out my report by first mentioning the car park rage incidents at the second transition point. This was also the starting point for the half marathon and the car park was up a single lane track which was also part of the race route. After we had seen Lesley on her way we were stuck in the car park - cars trying to come in, cars trying to get out and an unending queue of runners coming past the gateway. Excellent organisation, top marks to the race director for that one. Next problem - we got to Kings Sombourne on the way to the final transition and came to a halt in a queue of traffic with another unending flow of half marathon runners crossing the road. I went to ask the marshalls how we could get to the next transition point - they had no idea what I was talking about, didn't know there was a transition point never mind where it was or how to get there! Ask the police they advised me so I did. "Sorry luv it's not my area I don't know" My turn for a bit of rage, had a vision of Lesley pelting into the handover and not having anyone to hand over to!! Martin did some very nifty reversing up the wrong side of the road and turned the van on someone's lawn before treating us to a display of his rally driving skills, punctuated by terrified screams from Richard in the back . Fortunately my terror levels are much higher having been hardened over the years by constant exposure to Martin's driving. I've come to accept that he actually enjoys leaving too little time to get to places and then elevating his stress levels as high as possible in the attempt to be punctual. Anyway I digress. On this occasion it definitely wasn't his fault.
We finally arrived at Farley's Mount and then had quite a long wait - we had inadvertently allocated Lesley the longest and hardest leg, not to mention the fact that she spent nearly 3 minutes queueing at one stile with all the half marathon plodders.
At last she appeared hurtling down through the woods and I was off. We were lying in 5th place thanks to sterling efforts by everyone else, and although I had no hope of catching the previous team I set off like a bat out of hell, scattering unfortunate half marathoners in my wake.
My route was a pleasant one through woodland tracks, mostly level or downhill but with a couple of steady climbs. It was great fun blasting past all the 2 hour plus half marathon runners until I paid the price for the sprint start and lack of proper warm up - after 2 miles my calf suddenly went and I was treated to excrutiating pain which had me down to a hobble in about 3 strides. I stopped to stretch and massage it and then struggle on. In my mind I could see Richard on his knees at the end of his leg having giving it his all and Lesley who had worked so hard on leg 3 and I knew I couldn't pull out. Fortunately the pain abated a bit and I could keep up a shuffling gait which still saw me passing half marathoners, but I've never been so pleased to tick the mile markers off.
In the last half mile I became aware of a runner catching me up and I knew it must be a relay runner. I managed to hold him off right until the final stretch but he outsprinted me at the end and there was nothing I could do about it. It was a great effort by everyone and I'm just sorry that I let the team down.
However, I have to say that it may only have been 6 miles but I challenge anyone to write a longer race report!!!
Leg 2 started in a nice playing field with a view across to where the approaching runners would be arriving. I took over the baton ( actually a blue rubber band) from a collapsing Richard and was on my way. There had been a couple of relay runners in the minute before so I had a good chance of picking up a place or two. I picked off the first one after about a mile, and another a couple of miles later. However just as I was congratulating myself on putting us into second relay place, I was overhauled by a blue-banded runner who passed me so rapidly that I didn't even consider trying to hold him off.
My goal was to reach the hand-over point in Broughton before 12:00 noon when the half-marathon would be starting. This, I calculated would allow Lesley to get underway before the stampede began and allow her to avoid being held up by having to pass all the half-marathon field.
The course was gently undulating, and quite pleasant apart from one stretch where we ran in a loop twice crossing the path of a plume of disgusting black smoke from some people who had decide to burn the contents of their rubbish heap and who knows what else. There were three of them admiring their handiwork as I passed their garden and I gave them a 200 watt glare, narrowly resisting the urge to make my displeasure even more obvious with appropriate hand gestures.
Once past this bit of entertainment the course led out into open countryside, and a very nice section of forest trail before a steep descent onto Broughton, where Lesley was waiting to receive the blue band at 11:59.
Mission accomplished I thought, then had second thoughts as I realised that Lesley would have to run a mile to the merging point which was only a half a mile from the start of the short race. Actually I would have had to get thete about 4 minutes earlier to give her enough time. Blast!
My mood wasn't helped by the fiasco that followed trying to get out of the car park, and to the next transition. That was bad enough, but the race organisers really excelled themselves with the cockup at the end of the race, where everybody arriving to meet finishers was forced to wait for at least 5 minutes to reach the point at which a long-suffering marshal patiently explained that the car park was "a bit full" and we would have to turn around and drive down to the overflow car-park.
All in all, the relay was an interesting format, but I preferred the marathon that we did there the previous year. We won't be back though, unless the organisers decide to drop their gimmick of starting the half marathon 90 minutes after the start of the full, so that they can challenge the first marathon runner to finish before the winner of the half marathon. The result of this feature is to ensure that all but the fastest and slowest marathon and relay runners are forced to overtake hundreds of slower half marathon runners on narrow, slippery tracks. Also, the people supporting the relay and marathon in cars tend to get caught up in a lot more congestion, resulting in major snafus at several places.
A pity, because if it was not for this, the Clarendon marathon would be an event that we would probably do regularly, the course is a really nice one, similar to the South Downs marathon in that it passes through some lovely countryside.
Richard said:
In short nothing went exactly to plan on the Clarendon Relay but overall I think the team produced a very good result and learnt a lot from the experience. We had set targets, which in retrospect were not always achievable partly because of the layout of the course. We arrived at registration in plenty of time thanks to Martins excellent navigation and driving. The unisex line of 20 toilet cubicles in the changing block was a novel experience with huge amounts of wind given off by the marathon and relay runners. Outside it was cold and raining hard. Most people were huddled in bin liners or sheltering in buildings or under verandahs. There were just a few of us sprinting up and down in warm up mode. Approaching 10:30 we gathered in the rain at the start with me ambitiously on the second row. I just happened to be looking at the right official as he raised 4 fingers then 3,2,1 and a hooter sounded. This low-key start seemed to take many by surprise and I had to elbow aside a big bloke who was slow off the mark in front of me. A few hundred metres in and I was in 3rd place. This alien concept, however temporary, was a shock and it felt really strange. A quick wave to the team as I turned a corner and I was off into the gloom. I clocked the 1st mile at 6:10, which is fast for me, but there were full marathoners flying past even at this stage. I really tried to run faster than I would normally because it was a team and we had hoped to get the first two past the point where the half-marathoners join. It felt really good when I went past a relay man who had started walking one of the hills. I remembered to have the coloured band ready to pass on to Martin as I approached the transition and sinking to my knees was probably not as bad as puking – maybe I didn’t try hard enough. The rest of the day was a bit of a blur as we drove from point to point. Martin successfully handed over to Lesley and she “hared” off onto what was initially a clear road. After a bit of car-park-rage, road hold-ups and lack of info we eventually arrived safely at transition point 3 where Lin was to take over from Lesley. Unfortunately we hadn’t realised just how long, hilly and congested Lesley’s section was and in retrospect Lin should have kept warmer while waiting. It appears Lesley had to wait nearly three minutes to cross a stile. I suppose Lesley, being extremely polite and patient was the best person for this as the rest of us would have had stile-rage! Drove on to the finish where the car park was full – Martin was really enjoying himself by now! We cheered Lin on over the last 400m, but at the finish she was distraught with frustration as her calf had gone after two miles and the fifth placed team just took her by four seconds. Now the dust has settled I’m sure we’re all happy with 6th place.
There were painful memories as Martin seemed to find every pot-hole in Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset. Even Lin had to take emergency action – see photographic evidence as she climbs a farm gate and got back in the Bongo. Martin doesn’t need to run to raise his heart rate, just give him a motor and a car park and people in official clothing.
And now for the shortest report. I was there, ran the longest leg, waited at the stile, ran up all the hills, and got the medal.
Two things that occured to me as I read Richard's report, one was that if Lesley "hared" off on her leg, which one of us "tortoised" off on ours?
The other was that if I had been waiting at the stile I wouldn't have been as polite and patient as Lesley!!
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