Christmas Trail Run - Sunday 27th December 2009

South Downs Relay 6th June 2009

This is a 100-mile relay along the South Downs Way from Beachy Head to Winchester. To be run by teams of 6, each runner to run 3 legs. It places quite unusual demands on the runner as it is effectively three short fast races in one day, making pace judgment difficult. There are also no marshals other than at changeover points, so there is some scope for taking wrong turnings and ruining the team’s chances of success.

 As usual, Chichester Runners entered 3 teams for this: Mens A and  B teams and a Ladies team. After several withdrawals by key runners, prospects of finishing among the medals were not good. In these circumstances the teams acquitted themselves well. The A team finished in 6^th place, while the Ladies team, although they recorded a time that would have won them the race last year, had to settle for 4^th. Special mention must go to the B team, who lost their best runners to the A team and had to draft in undertrained replacements. They soon found themselves trailing at the very back of the field, and at one stage were at risk of disqualification for failing to make the cut-off time at 83 miles. But they showed great team spirit in sticking to their task and by a tremendous effort avoided disqualification and finished in fine style.

 Full story of the "B" Team's adventure can be downloaded by clicking on this link.

Pictures from the day can be viewed in Photo Gallery