This was the second year a team of IOWRR’s took on the 100 mile South Downs Way Relay. We had a team of six relay runners, a driver and navigator/timer. All contributing to the success of the team.
(L-R: Mike Douglas, Danny Faulkner, Dave Cass, Phil Mannall, Matt Fletcher, Pat Harris, Zoe Elliott & Darren Cole)
The race starts in waves from 5:30am until 9am from Beachy Head in Eastbourne, our team departed 6:30. The race is split into 18 legs, distances ranging from 3.8 miles to 8.6 miles. All the legs included some very serious hills, some so steep they had to be scaled scrambling up or down. Finishing in Chilcomb, Winchester.
The weather was cloudy with a few breaks in the day for sunshine, light wind and warm temperatures which made this tough race even harder.
This year a total of 62 teams started the race, there’s a cut off time at the end of leg 15 – IOWRR’s were 20 minutes inside of their cut-off.
Unfortunately due to injury Phil completed one leg and the other runners had to share out his other two legs, which meant they all completed between 18 – 20 miles of undulations.
IOWRR’s finished in a total time of 13:08:15 placing them 28th overall.
Very impressive – well done all!
