Wells were well represented
again this year at the 17th running of the Cotswold Way Relay,
the 103 mile race from Chipping Camden to
The club fielded a Vet Mens,
a Women's and a Mixed Team and the Vet Mens team had the best overall
performance finishing 5th out of 11 teams - this category has always been
highly competitive in the past but the focus for competition seems to have
switched to the Mixed Open and Senior Men's categories. The early
birds this year were Jim Benson, John
Reynolds and Lucy Chard who set off from Shepton Mallet at 05.40 in order
to arrive in good time for the 07.00 race start.
The 'glory leg' (leg 10) was
completed in dramatic style by Laurie
and Aidan Phippard and Claire Thomas - Laurie narrowly pipped into 3rd
female position within yards of the finish. Clare Prosser was 2nd woman on Leg 4 and was pleased with her
performance that put her in front of partner, Dave Bonsow for the first time. Jenny Moore was the only prize winner
this year, again winning first female on Leg 8 with her
consistently strong performance. There were other personal achievements
such as by Tatiana Storie
who thankfully was not led astray again this year and ran 10
minutes faster on Leg 3 as a result. Steve Masters, a late replacement on Leg 5, was delighted to rejoin
the event after a gap of 3 years and was the highest placed Wells man on the
day, finishing 7th.
The next best placed was Ian Noad, who trains
with Somer AC, who finished 10th on Leg 8 which is one of the
most demanding legs in terms of length, climb and time of the
day. Thanks go particularly to Stuart
Palmer and Helen Kelsey for stepping in with less than a week's notice and
to Jim Benson for helping to taxi
runners back to their cars and organising the end of day meal at the Station
Inn, Hallatrow which has now become a traditional end of day celebration of the
team's efforts.
This was a year with no
injuries on the day, no-one getting lost, no-one veering off course to finish
another race by mistake. The only surprise challenge was
orchestrated by team captain, Sue Cook who
somehow managed to lock the keys to Jim's car in the boot 15 mins before
the start of Leg 2. (The Bog seat award is on its way!) Fortunately Sue had her running shoes on and
supporters at hand, namely Kaye Watts
and Helen Kelsey, who gallantly stepped into the breach to organise
the AA to enable Leg 1 runners to be rejoined with their kit and for
Tatiana to be rejoined with her car that Sue was driving to the end of Leg 3
(key also locked in Jim's boot!).
Congratulations go to all
who participated, enabling the club to have a great team day out. Sue
would like to send her best wishes to those injured runners who were unable to
participate this year - namely club chair, Paul
Chadwick, webmaster Bob Powell, Pat
Challis, Terry Kingham and Terry Exell - may you all recover soon from your
injuries and be fit enough to run in 2009!
The final 3 teams with their
leg finishing positions are as follows: Wells Vets 1. John Reynolds (21),
2.
Sue Cook