PARETT TRAIL
RELAY 2007 – EVENT REPORT
Saturday 13th
October was the date of the 5th Parrett Trail Relay Race, which
follows the river from Steart Point upstream to its
source at Wynyards Gap in Dorset. A distance of 53 miles run
in six legs.
Despite the
demands of the X-country season and the Mendip Muddle taking away many key
runners Wells City Harriers entered two teams in this years
event.
21 teams gathered
in the early morning mist at Steart Point for the
10.5 miles of Leg 1. Jude Baynes, making
her debut at this distance, finished comfortably within the cut-off time whilst
Allan Jamieson, running his first relay in Harrier colours, finished strongly
in a time of 1:41:27.
Martyn Cox braved a foot injury, which he
sustained in the previous week’s Bath half-marathon, to run Leg 2 from
Bridgwater to Burrow Mump. Despite a gallant effort he was to finish
behind fellow team mate Martin Berkeley who came home in a time of 1:01:32
Leg 3, from
Burrow Mump to Oath Lock, one of the muddiest of the day, was run by Lucy Chard and Tatiana Storie who sportingly finished together in a time of
1:21:28.
Aidan and
Laurie Phippard on Leg 4 gambled that the route
alongside the river wasn’t flooded, and opted for the shorter summer
route. Their tactics paid off as they
finished 8thfor their leg with a time of 1:06:35.
Jane
Whittaker overcame an earlier knee injury to regain her place in the team and
finished Leg 5 strongly with Bob Powell covering the 8.6 miles in 1:21:31
The honour of
running the final ‘glory leg’ fell to Julia Wiles and Terry Kingham. Always a tricky route to navigate, with a
demanding hill before the final sprint to the finish, it proved challenging
even for these two seasoned runners.
After a gruelling run they were cheered home by their fellow team mates
to finish in a time of 1:55:01.
A special
note of thanks to all those involved, runners, supporters
drivers and the like. The date for next
year’s event is Saturday 11th October - let’s see if we can get
three teams in! A video of the day and
photos can be found on the Harriers website, www,wellscityharriers.org.uk