Ely Runners Sweep The Board in Round Norfolk Relay
RUNNERS Round Norfolk Relay ELY Runners swept up the prizes in the First Team Open, the Fastest Non-Norfolk Team, the First ARC Team and the First Ladies Casual Team. One team was made up of Ely Runners, and one was a combined ladies team drawn from Ely R
RUNNERS
Round Norfolk Relay
ELY Runners swept up the prizes in the First Team Open, the Fastest Non-Norfolk Team, the First ARC Team and the First Ladies Casual Team.
One team was made up of Ely Runners, and one was a combined ladies team drawn from Ely Runners and Cambridge & Coleridge.
Both teams performed exceptionally well, with Ely winning first place overall in the tough Open class, and scooping the Visitor's Cup prize for the fastest team from outside Norfolk.
They also won an award for the first Association of Running Clubs (ARC) team, whilst the Ely/C & C team claimed the new Casual Ladies' class.
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This prestigious and competitive annual event consists of 17 unequal legs totalling 193 miles around the county of Norfolk, with individual legs ranging from five miles to just under 20 miles in distance.
Runners carry a baton around the roads and paths of the county, starting on Saturday and running throughout the night to finish on Sunday morning.
For the fifth consecutive year Ely Runners entered its own team as well as supplying individual runners to other teams if requested. However, for the first time Ely also entered a combined ladies' team with local club Cambridge & Coleridge, with 11 ladies competing.
The growth in membership over the past year meant that Ely could no longer compete in the 'Small Club' category, so this year they had to compete on equal terms against much bigger clubs like City of Norwich and Norwich Road Runners.
On paper Ely were only the fourth fastest team, but the mix of new blood and established club members proved that they were well up to the task.
They stormed through the field to finish a massive 52 minutes ahead of their estimated time in 20:38:30, which equates to 193 miles at 6:23 minutes per mile!
This was the second fastest time behind Club class winners City of Norwich and a slender four minutes ahead of second-placed Open club Norwich Road Runners.
By a quirk of fate, Ely Runners' secretary John Turner had been invited to present the team prizes, and he was clearly delighted to hand the large Silver Open Team Trophy to Ely Team Captain Alan Rutterford.
