The Green Belt Relay 2008

by Peter Kennedy, Stragglers Mixed

The Green Belt Relay; a race, adventure, road trip, cultural experience and pub crawl all rolled into one, and my favourite race of the year.

The Mixed team this year consisted of a great mix of people, ranging from Green Belt old-timers to more recent enthusiasts to complete beginners; Simon Lane, one of the newest Stragglers, had never run more than 9 miles in his life before taking on Stage 10. This was really the first time I’ve followed the whole course round, and I have a whole new perspective on the whole undertaking; the glories of the Essex countryside with its vast vistas and forests was a new highlight for me.

As usual, the race threw up all sorts of unexpected challenges; a herd of bulls nonchalantly boxing in our car on stage 3; some course markers taken off by (presumably) annoyed locals; a few tense rally-drives around the roads to get to starts on time (although Sat Nav makes it simpler). Maybe the trickiest was at 7:30 Sunday morning when I spent a tense hour fixing Peter Wedderburn’s glasses in the Dartford Travelodge, a tiny displaced screw threatening to put our whole day’s travel and racing plans into complete disarray.

As usual, the race weaved its magic in allowing us all to meet lots of people from other clubs, as well as building up a sense of teamwork between us; the overnighters had a splendid team dinner in the Bull at the knackered end of Day 1 before retiring to the decadent opulence of the Dartford Travelodge. And the sense of shared achievement and togetherness at the finish line on Sunday evening is always something I treasure.

As for the runners, it seems to me that everyone out-performed themselves (except me); Paul Graham kept up his recent blistering form with great opening runs on days 1 and 2. Hilary Hillhouse saw plenty of bits of the Thames on runs 2 and 21 and finished well up the field on both. Jim Emmines (supported by his family) settled some old grudges with legs 3 and 19 and is in storming form. Steve Collins took on one of the tough-guy mountain stages on day 1 yet somehow dredged up a blistering run back to the Hawker Centre on Sunday night. Jon Parry took on a couple of very tough legs (6 and 17) with deceptive ease. Cecilia Hedberg did well in two competitive legs on 8 and 15. Paul Hutchings (“The Younger”) ran well through the rain to High Beach on the first day as a preparation for a good run from Lullingstone to Tatsfield, probably the toughest stage. And Green Belt newbies Peter Wedderburn and Simon Lane approached the whole thing with cheerful determination throughout, putting in some very useful performances. Evan Bond had a tough race on another of the “mountain” stages on day 1, affected with injuries, then was actually winning his stage on day 2 before taking a tumble; that he somehow finished well in both just shows what a classy runner he can be. As for myself, well, I’ve run just twice since the London Marathon and it showed. The team as a whole matched last year’s performance by finishing a highly creditable 10^th overall.

And a word to our backup team; Claire Peacock was our spare runner and one of our main drivers - not bad for someone in their third trimester of pregnancy – and special mention to Cecilia, Paul, Peter W and Simon for providing excellent marshalling at some critical points. Cecilia was also a huge help in getting our logistics sorted out and in generally making my job much easier.

So thanks to the organisers for once again pulling off this extraordinary feat, and thanks to all the Stragglers who ran and supported. As Graham wrote in his report last year, it really is something to be immensely proud of as a Straggler.

Looking forward to the next one already.