Thanks to Ant for his account of this year’s Round Norfolk Relay:
The course of the Round Norfolk Relay mirrors the county boundary over a distance of 200 miles, divided into 17 unequal stages.
The race starts at Lynn Sport in Kings Lynn and then, from Hunstanton, follows the stunning coastline through 5 multi terrain stages taking the Norfolk Coastal path as far as Cromer. The 40 miles (4 stages) from Cromer through to Horsey Mill and on to Belton are on the road. By the time the teams reach Belton it is dark.
From Belton, the course turns south-west following main roads for 62 miles (4 stages), all run in darkness. It is during these mostly flat stages through Breckland that the time stagger unwinds and the race is invariably won or lost. From Feltwell (Stage 14) the four remaining stages covering the last 33 miles are run across the flat Fens through the early morning mist. Finally, following the Great Ouse River into historic King’s Lynn and back to Lynn Sport
The race presents not only a tough physical challenge, but also a test of the clubs organisational skills. Well I say the clubs, it is more like Lucy Mc and Kerrie’s skills, I wouldn’t know where to start. The event is much more than just a normal relay for it requires special preparation, planning and support
A staggered start, based on anticipated finishing times, ensures that teams of similar ability start together, with faster teams chasing. If the stagger works, all teams should finish the race by 9:15am to 10:00am on the Sunday. With the first teams starting at 5:30am on Saturday this allows for teams running an average of 8mins 40secs per mile throughout the course.
This year we began at 5.30 at Kings Lynn with David C starting the club off with the first leg to Hunstanton. He began in the dark with myself as support on the bike to keep him safe on the main road, and to also keep him company. But I’m not sure he was too happy with my singing!
At Hunstanton it was Kyle’s turn to take the baton to the next checkpoint at Burnham Overy Staithe. He ran out through Old Hunstanton and the dunes through some stunning Norfolk scenery with various supporters from the club cheering him on route. Both David and Kyle completed their stages much quicker than their predicted times.
The next hand over point was Burnham Overy Staithe where Head Coach Kevin took the baton. After a quick look at his watch – something he has always told us not to do!! – he worked his way through our training grounds to finish at the lifeboat house at Wells.
It was Will A-D’s turn now to head off towards Cley supported by David C for the road bits and a bit of chat along the way. Running all the way along the coast path he had good support from club members cheering him on at various locations.
Next up it was club secretary, Andy P. As he holds this position it is only right that he gets one of the special stages. 3.5 miles along the shingle beach to Weybourne, then up to the coastguard hut at Sheringham and, after recovering from that, it is time for Beeston Bump. With the hard work done Cromer was in sight to hand over to Evette.
Evette took over from Andy on Cromer cliffs, where she then followed the coast path along the promenade. It was a steady climb up to the lighthouse before re-joining the coast road from the back of the golf club. Sarah Ba was in position to join Evette from here to the end of her run. The next part was all undulating and this section of coast is particularly busy, so Sarah was invaluable. Evette had a fantastic run, coming into Mundesley looking incredibly strong.
Lorraine was the next runner taking on just over 9 miles from Mundesley to Lessingham in stage 7. This is a really pretty part of the route and with the weather sunny and warm, Lorraine would have had some good views out to sea. Rob J joined Lorraine on this section as her safety support bike and we were told about his singing which kept Lorraine entertained, keeping that trademark smile on her face all the way to Marie waiting in Lessingham.
Marie was our runner for stage 8 and she was joined by David C on his bike. This stage follows a relatively flat route that finishes at Horsey wind pump. Marie had worked out the logistics and had left ‘Sparkle’ at Horsey for her to bike back to Lessingham to collect her van.
Marie approached the stage with her normal positive attitude and had a really strong run. Marie and David made a great team on this section.
From Horsey it was a 16.6 mile trip to Belton. Stuart W was running this stage after last year showing us what a fantastic long distance runner he is. After a warm up with his wife Ellie and dogs Harry and Chester, Stuart set off just as the sun was starting to get low in the sky. This route goes through, West Somerton, Winterton-on-Sea, Hemsby and Caister before arriving at Great Yarmouth then towards Belton via the South Quay.
Stage 10 was being ran by Kevin H with bike support from Laura W. These two were raring to go and the nervous excitement was starting to show. We knew Kevin was going to have an amazing run. As it was now dark Kevin and Laura were joined by Bob L in his car. This route had been slightly altered from last year, finishing in Ditchingham instead of Earsham. This is one of the more quiet stages in regards to runners and not so many cars.
The changeover on this stage was quite complex in relation to support vehicles but luckily Rob J, Mat E and Kirsty L who were taking over on the next stage had worked it all out with the help from Hayley E and Kerrie. Kevin had a great run knocking several minutes of his predicted time.
Stage 11 was ran by Rob J. He finished off things for us last year but we needed some more runners to take on the longer distances and he was more than happy to help.
This stage runs from the new start point this year of Ditchingham and I would say it is one of the most difficult. With long, straight stretches of road, the surface is good to run on but in the dark I can imagine it to be bit of a head battle. Rob didn’t disappoint and came into the finish at Scole looking strong. His support was Mat on his bike who had a speaker to provide some music and Kirsty L in her car supported by David.
Rob passed the baton to Gordana, our birthday girl, who was perfect to be running the longest stage of the race, from Scole to Thetford. Consistently speedy and fantastic over long distances we knew she would relish the challenge.
Stage 12 is again made up of long, straight sections of road but there are several good hill pulls. David C who ran this stage last year said that the whole thing feels up hill. Gordana said she did go out too quickly through nerves and adrenaline but she soon settled and picked off several runners. Andy who was on bike support said, you could just see her change gear and she was gone. David R was also on support in his truck and carrying the all important birthday cake for the finish.
Lucy and Kerrie had a bit of a break now as Gordana was going to take a little while to arrive in Thetford. They tried to make use of the time and have a sleep.
Paula S was our runner on stage 13 running 15 miles. Mat was back on duty as bike support and Vicki A was supporting in her car with Francesca. Paula ran a fantastic stage passing through the villages of Weeting and Hockwold before arriving at Feltwell base. We were now very ahead of our initial predicted times as most of our runners had smashed the times they had given us. We were hoping that we wouldn’t be held on the final stages.
We had chosen Sean to run the 7.2 mile stage that finishes in Wissington. Sean had trained really hard for this. His job usually makes running in the summer months more difficult but he had committed to continue to train especially for this event. Sean had Marie as his bike support and Kat Ca was now doing the first of her 2 stage support in her car. Last year this stage was cancelled due to a ram raid in Feltwell so this was a new one to time and do the changeover at. I’m pleased to say it all went well.
At Wissington Sean came in at a good pace to hand over to Anna L ready for her run to Downham Market. She set off confidently with Paul W on his bike and Kat still doing a great job as car support. As the sun started to rise Anna was seen coming into Downham looking really strong and smiling ready to hand the baton to Suzanne
Suzanne was prepared just in time for Stage 16 to Kings Lynn with Maddie taking over cycling duties. The sun was well and truly up now on a beautiful still morning and a great temperature to run in. No longer needing car support, Maddie on her bike was great company on the stage
Time for me (Ant) to head over to Stowbridge to prepare myself for my LONG run to Lynn Sport to finish off the Relay. The support as I came into the stadium was amazing. I could hear the cheering as I came the round the track to the finish line. It helped me get those last few metres and I have to say we were the most vocal club at the finish (in a good way)
We came in 37th out of 60 teams with a total time of 27.19.09 knocking 1 hour 16 mins off our predicted time and I think that is a great achievement for the club.
So now this year is over with it is time to look forward to next year and the planning has already started so watch this space and Facebook/emails for details. It is not just runners we need but also cyclists, car support, help with getting runners to and from their start points and caterers to help keep everyone fed and watered. If you would like to run we would need you to be able to run at an average pace of 8:40 minutes per mile (5:23 per kilometre).