| Race report. Greensands Ridge Relay
sat 20th June With only ten days or so to find five other runners and get a plan formulated this was going to be a tough one, I was also at Royal Ascot the day before so had to make sure I was back home in good time. I'd heard of this event but never taken part but was very interested. It's six legs of a 34 mile section of the Greensands Ridge (which runs from Leighton Buzzard to Gamlingay) The legs vary from 3.9 miles to 9.1 miles. Using the power of Facebook I had a team of willing volunteers within an hour and we began planning. During the week leading up to the run I was grateful to have some running pals host a recce, some others also got the time to practice run their legs too. Race day came round quickly and Larissa Clarke was soon on the start line at Leighton Buzzard, dibber at the ready. It was the first time we had seen a dibber, I gather these are common on navigation events to record the time. Larissa set off and we dashed to the second changeover point at Stockgrove with Tina Delaney at the ready. Larissa made good time and passed the dibber to Tina to complete leg two which was Stockgrove to Woburn, Larissa also ran Tina's leg with her (nuts!) whilst Tina's husband and I travelled on to leg three where I would run. In the meantime I was taking pictures and updating our team with progress. Tina came hurtling down a hill towards me and all too soon I was off. Relying on memory I was a little worried about getting lost but as I ran i remembered landmarks and followed the ridgeway signs. Leg three was 9.1 miles from Woburn to Millbrook, it was a stunning run, lots to see and very easy to get off course - I had to stop a couple of times to make sure I was taking the right route but it all went smoothly and I was soon running the steep descent into Millbrook and handing over to Steve Ball who was running the Millbrook to Deadmans Hill leg. The rain was heavy when Steve took off so we took shelter in a nearby pub (needs must and all that) Richard Watson was our next runner and his leg began in a field Deadmans Hill. We waited for the changeover with Steve and then after a few vehicle logistics we arrived at the final changeover point, Deadmans Cross, where Kelvin would run the final 4.7 miles into Northill where we would end the race at the Crown pub with a nice beer and BBQ. We waited and clapped other runners on (you can also run this as a solo) we waited some more. We worked out after a while that Kelvin had almost certainly gone wrong. We waited some more, we called but reception was an issue, so we waited some more...and then some more. Finally, Kelvin appeared in the distance and we were all so relieved he was ok, it soo transpired that he had indeed gone wrong to the tune of over three miles! Steve also lost a mile on his leg so overall we didn't do very well time wise but we all had a brilliant run and a fab day out. Big thanks to Mr Delaney for transport help, to Larissa for transport help, and to all of the team who came and ran with such short notice. Next year we would like another try and there's plenty of time to do practice runs. I would heartily recommend this race to anyone wanting to try a team event, it's a great atmosphere and there's beer and burgers at the end! Happy team running Sarah
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