It’s mid-October, the nights are drawing in and Autumn is in full swing. The warmth of summer has given way to cool, crisp mornings and a fresh blanket of crunchy leaves to run on underfoot. For the Harriers this can only signal one thing: it’s time to pile into a mini-bus and head to Somerset for the Parrett Trail relay!
Organised by Crewkerne Running Club, the Parrett Trail Relay is a 6 stage event that takes teams of runners from the starting point, at the mouth of the River Parrett in Steart, Somerset, to its source at Winyards Gap, 53 meandering miles away in Dorset. Those 53 miles are divided into stages of varying lengths, with the longest measuring in at 9.5 miles and the shortest at 5.6 miles. Some stages are more technical than others, some are muddier than others, and some are hillier than others, which makes for an interesting mix that plays into the hands of different running styles... it also makes for some mind-boggling planning on the part of our team captains who must decide which runner to put on which leg to give the team the best chance of success.
This year, the weather was once again kind to us as the grey skies and few spots of rain that threatened in the morning soon lifted and gave way to clear, deep blue, sunny autumn skies. By the time the leg 2 runners got underway, the cool, sunny conditions were ideal for both running and supporting fellow team mates. Following a drier summer, the underfoot conditions were much more favourable this year. Who could forget the energy-sapping, knee deep mud and surface water that we had to plough through last year?! But enough of this talk of weather and setting the scene, what we rEELly want to know is how our Exmouth Harrier teams got on, right? And what do all these awful puns about eels have to do with anything! Read on to find out!
Usually this event is highly competitive and the 40 team spaces sell out weeks in advance. This year, for whatever reason, entry numbers were down with only 23 teams entered; three of those were occupied by Exmouth Harriers. This year we fielded a team in each of the three categories: men’s, women’s and mixed (must have at least 2 females in the team to count). Our men’s team had a lot to live up to, having won this event for the past 3 years in a row, so they were looking to defend their title. We were grateful to have Jamie Pearson back on board running for us; after his victory at last year’s Parrett Trail we haven’t seen him on the running scene since, but he has clearly been keeping himself fit by playing football and doing the odd late-night run home from a night out in Exeter! However, a late withdrawal by our leg 1 runner, Berihu, meant that men’s team captain, Adam Miller, had some last minute team re-jigging to do and some eleventh hour phone calls to make. Thankfully, Chris Dupain – despite already being entered for the Great West Run the next day – showed great team spirit in stepping in at the last minute and running leg 2 for the men’s team, freeing up Parrett Trail afficiondo, Hugh Marsden, to take on the longer first leg. Hugh, who is very familiar with this leg, got the men’s team off to a flying start by winning in a comfortable margin of 6 minutes. The team then went on to win another 4 legs in total and to come second in the only leg they did not win, giving them a comfortable victory in a total time of 5:25:36; 30 minutes ahead of their nearest rivals from the host club, Crewkerne.
Leading from the gun: Adam starts as he means to finish leg 4 - in pole position.
Leg 1: Hugh Marsden, 1st in 1:06:17
Leg 2: Chris Dupain, 2nd in 35:51
Leg 3: Marc Cox, 1st in 51:40
Leg 4: Adam Miller, 1st in 50:37
Leg 5: Dave Stone, 1st in 58:38
Leg 6: Jamie Pearson, 1st in 1:02:33
Total team time: 5:25:36
And so, for the fourth year in a row, the eel returns home to Exmouth. Ah, yes, the eel! The River Parrett is full of eels and this is the symbol on all the way-markers that you follow on the route and so, appropriately, the winning team trophy is a rather distinctive, hand-carved wooden eel.
The men take their turns to feel the eel... this is either some clandestine, ritualistic practice that they feel they must go through in order to seal the fate of continued victory or they just enjoy a good feel of the eel! ;-)
Our victorious men's team and their winnings (minus Chris Dupain, who had sloped off early to prepare for the Great West Run the next day!)
Lisa Hatchard got us ladies away on leg 1 and, although she ran very strongly and posted a superb time of 1:23:45, she was worried as she was beaten by 2 other women. However, another unknown factor with the Parrett Trail is whether that female competition is part of a female team or a mixed team. Basically, you have little idea of how your team is doing in relation to others and so you just have to run your leg as an individual time-trial, as best you can, and hope that it’s good enough to either gain your team some time or at least limit any time losses: it’s time that counts here, not finish positions. It turned out that Lisa beat all of our direct competition and only lost time to 2 ladies from mixed teams.
Carly certainly gained the team some valuable time on leg 2, finishing as the fastest female overall, and the other team members consolidated our strong start by posting two more leg victories and two 2nds. By the time I, Ellie Sutcliffe, took over on the final leg, I thought it was pretty tight between us and Yeovil and so I couldn’t afford to dilly-dally and admire the views; however, it turned out that Yeovil’s leg 5 runner had gone wrong and incurred a time penalty and so we actually had a 1 hour cushion! That’s another trick for ensuring success at the Parrett Trail: rekkie your leg well and don’t go wrong! It can cost you dearly! In the end our ladies team secured victory with a whopping margin of over an hour and added another trophy to the collection... no eel for the ladies though (we’ll refrain from making feminist, phallic references here...!).
Carly certainly gained the team some valuable time on leg 2, finishing as the fastest female overall, and the other team members consolidated our strong start by posting two more leg victories and two 2nds. By the time I, Ellie Sutcliffe, took over on the final leg, I thought it was pretty tight between us and Yeovil and so I couldn’t afford to dilly-dally and admire the views; however, it turned out that Yeovil’s leg 5 runner had gone wrong and incurred a time penalty and so we actually had a 1 hour cushion! That’s another trick for ensuring success at the Parrett Trail: rekkie your leg well and don’t go wrong! It can cost you dearly! In the end our ladies team secured victory with a whopping margin of over an hour and added another trophy to the collection... no eel for the ladies though (we’ll refrain from making feminist, phallic references here...!).
Face of determination: Dawn, looking like she means business, at the start of leg 4.
And the victorious women's team. Sadly, we had no eel to feel :-(
Leg 1: Lisa Hatchard, 3rd female, 1:23:45
Leg 2: Carly Miller, 1st female, 42:18
Leg 3: Jane Macdonald, 2nd female, 1:06:11
Leg 4: Dawn Teed, 2nd female, 1:08:02
Leg 5: Lorraine Croome, 1st female in 1:21:46
Leg 6: Ellie Sutcliffe, 1st female, 1:09:24
Total team time: 6:51:26
We have not seen success with a Harriers’ mixed team since 2009: could 2013 mark a turning tide and could we take a clean sweep of all three categories? Not quite, but we gave it our best shot and came a very very close second, with some fine individual performances from each of our 6 runners.
Kicking off the proceedings with a fine run was Scott-2 Trigs-Jordan; fortunately 2 Trigs didn’t live up to his unfortunate reputation and made no navigational errors, allowing him to finish in 4th place overall on the leg. Lorrain Gilson consolidated their position on leg 2, by posting the 2nd fastest female time on that leg (only being beaten by the Harriers’ women’s team, in the shape of Carly Miller). Susan Hill ran a strong leg on leg 3 to keep the team in the mix and Dave Backway, despite struggling a bit on leg 4 and having to stop to be sick, showed true grit and team spirit in pressing on to the finish to limit any time losses. Dave Wright had a stormer of a run on the tricky and complicated leg 5, successfully navigating himself around to the 4th fastest time on that leg. Terry Oldham finished it all off by showing true team spirit to step in and run a that would be by no means his first choice, and fought hard up the final hill to the cheering and support by fellow Harriers who were stood at the top to welcome him in. A great effort that resulted in the team just being edged out of the top mixed spot; the victory going to Chard AC, who, without a men’s team, were able to put their stronger male runners on the longer, harder legs and take the advantage.
Dave Backway, on leg 4 for the mixed team.
Focused on the finish line like a predator focuses on its prey: Terry with about 5 meters left to run to the pub after the hilly leg 6!
Leg 1: Scott-2 Trigs-Jordan, 4th in 1:13:30
Leg 2: Lorrain Gilson, 2nd female in 44:05
Leg 3: Susan Hill, 3rd female in 1:07:03
Leg 4: Dave Backway, 12th in 1:09:48
Leg 5: Dave Wright, 4th in 1:11:10
Leg 6: Terry Oldham, 17th in 1:30:14
Total team time: 6:55:50
This is always a cracking day out for the club; regardless of whether or not we manage to come away with a victory, everyone enjoys themselves and the opportunity to run as part of a team and represent the club. It was nice to have a good mixture of faithful stalwarts and some new blood to the event and we particularly welcomed our "Harribelles", Jane and Susan, who showed real team spirit in giving their legs their full effort, despite the fact that they are both tackling the Amsterdam Marathon the following weekend!
However, the day could not happen without the logistical organisation being spot on, both in terms of the preparation leading up to the event and on the day itself. To that end, we need to thank team captains, Adam Miller and Dawn Teed, for putting together 3 terrific teams, and Hugh Marsden for his time and effort in co-ordinating the whole day and making sure it runs smoothly. On the day itself, we were indebted to the services of our driver, Paul Champion, and navigator / chief supporter, Sue Wilkin, who ensured that all the runners got to the start of their leg on time and were collected again at the end of it.
However, the day could not happen without the logistical organisation being spot on, both in terms of the preparation leading up to the event and on the day itself. To that end, we need to thank team captains, Adam Miller and Dawn Teed, for putting together 3 terrific teams, and Hugh Marsden for his time and effort in co-ordinating the whole day and making sure it runs smoothly. On the day itself, we were indebted to the services of our driver, Paul Champion, and navigator / chief supporter, Sue Wilkin, who ensured that all the runners got to the start of their leg on time and were collected again at the end of it.
It’s a shame we have to wait another year for the next event, but that gives us plenty of time to consider our plan of attack so that next year we can return and claim victory in all three categories!!
53 miles later, at the pub at the end of the event at Winyards Gap, Dorset: a few well-deserved drinkies!
No comments:
Post a Comment