The Real Relay 6/7/12
The Endurancelife Real Relay is an exciting attempt to follow the entire route of the official Olympic Torch around the British Isles in one continuous non-stop journey, running every step of the way. ·Starting out from Land’s End·at midnight on Monday 28 May, ten days behind the official Olympic Torch, the Real Relay will involve hundreds of runners from across the British Isles running through the day and night on an 8000 mile mission to reach London in time for the Olympic Games opening ceremony.
The relay reached Leicestershire on Friday 6th July and 2 Harriers had managed to get stages.· Bev Parry signed up for Desborough to Foxton (via Dingley, Market Harborough and Lubenham), and Karen Selby signed up for Foxton to Wigston (avoiding the A6).· Runners were free to plot their own routes, and had to arrange handovers, timings etc with the runners either side of their own legs.·
The heavens opened during the early morning of 6th, and torrential downpours carried on for the best part of the day.· This resulted in the baton getting steadily more and more behind schedule, and messages were flying back and forth to adjust timings and to check the progress.· Bev was accompanied on her leg by Katherine Dean and Sue Gardner.· We were also joined by friend and Braunstone parkrun regular, Gaz Kendall, who cycled along side us.· We were dropped off at Desborough by Katherine's husband Matt, and waited inside The George on High Street where the handover was to take place.· Although only having spoken by text and email, we greeted the previous runner, Dave Tonks, like an old friend.· After the obligatory photo, we set off on our 10.5 mile route in what was now, the glorious evening sunshine and near perfect running conditions.· We were joined for the last 5 miles by our Chairman, Andy Wilford.
After a slight wobble at the end, where the planned path couldn't be found in the darkness, we ran into the car park at Foxton Locks where Karen was waiting with Jo Burnett and Marie Wilford, who were running with her.· Bev also ran this leg with them.· Harriers Mike and Judith McSharry came along to cheer us all on, and got more than they bargained for, but that's another story!
Photo call over, we started along the pitch black path, along side the now swollen canal, treading very carefully in the mud and keeping as far away from the edge as we could.· We only screamed collectively once, when we heard a large splash right next to us, but were relieved after a quick head count, that it wasn't one of us!· Nick Cox and Karen's husband Alan, kept popping up at various places to check we were all safe and to take pictures. The route was just under 11 miles, and we eventually ran into Wigston around 1am, where Graham and Roger Livermore were waiting to take the baton on the next stage to Mountsorrel.
We all felt so privileged to be part of this fantastic adventure, achieved entirely by the power of modern technology (Facebook and Twitter), and by the community spirit of ordinary runners all over the country.·
The relay is still going on so check the Facebook page for further details -http://www.facebook.com/Endurancelife