13th and 14th of May saw one of the highlights of our Clapham Runners event calendar – the annual Greenbelt Relay organised by the Stragglers Running Club. For the uninitiated this is a 22 leg event held over 2 days, covering 220 miles in teams of 11. It is always a logistical challenge, with cars needing to be moved around the commuter belt – and not always by their original driver. Unfortunately ChatGPT AI isn’t yet able to come up with an automatic plan for it!
Legs cover a range of distances from 10K to half-marathon and a range of difficulties from 1 to 10 with 10 being “bloody hard”. Being a smaller club we always field a single team and often have more than 11 runners across both days, which is a great chance for more of our members (and their friends) to participate. We are proud to punch above our weight and compete with bigger clubs, who are able to field 2 or 3 teams. We were thrilled that first timer Shak secured our highest ever place with two fifth place finishes on both of his legs. Everyone in the team ran brilliantly, putting in fantastic performances throughout the weekend.
Relay is something of a misnomer for this event, with no baton exchanging hands and each leg starting and finishing as a distinct, separate event. This is good as it means every runner in every stage starts together and people are not left behind. It would of course be chaos if the event were run as an actual relay – although it might be interesting to watch unfold.
The Greenbelt Relay is made more of a challenge for runners through the need to self-navigate each leg. There are some marshal stations on each leg and some sawdust scattered on the route to aid direction – but on stretches of each leg – and more so for longer ones – most of the time you are on your own. This is when you really see a benefit from being in the middle of the pack and not trying to win – as you are often able to run with competitors from other clubs, which creates a wonderful opportunity to navigate together and enjoy the day with others who share a passion to yourself. If the starting challenge seems intimidating then this can really lighten the load. Being in the middle of the pack can also come in handy for what you might call “piggyback” navigation where you bypass the challenge of navigating the course by simply following those in front of you (although this isn’t a fool proof tactic!).
As well as participating we also support the organisers by marshalling a number of the legs. This is a lot of fun, and arguably as much or more fun as actually running a leg. Cheering on the runners, handing out water, sharing directions and making sure runners cross roads safely. It is a great chance to have fun and socialise both with other members of the club but also with runners from other clubs.
Eventually we came in in 35th place – a solid and respectable mid table finish. We were 9 hours behind the overall winners Ranelagh Rapids – but as club captain Ken said – “did they have as much fun as we did – we had almost 9 hours more fun”.
Our other main competition is the mini river relay event, involving 26 miles along the river Thames, the first Sunday in September in teams of five. We are greatly looking forward to this and hope to field 3 teams.
If this blog has intrigued you please do come along and try out one of our sessions. We run a Battersea Park millennium arena on a Tuesday at 8 and Clapham Common on a Thursday 7pm. It is a great chance to socialise, meet new friends and improve your running in a small and supportive environment.
Clapham Runners 