Cleveland Way Relay - 18 June
Report by Anita Oldham
On June 18th, a small band of brothers from RR took on a mission – to complete the Cleveland Way in a day as a relay race. Some were seasoned warriors form last year, some fresh- faced and a little unsure what they had agreed to. Pitting themselves against a variety of other clubs, they faced 110 miles of hills, coast, hills, moorland and a few more hills. Plans were made, recces and preparations undertaken until the day dawned and runner no.1 managed to get into position at Filey Brigg for a 5am start. Quite an achievement in itself, as runner no. 1 travelled from Pately to get there!
The day dawned – after all the glorious sunshine in June, there was a distinct sea fret hanging over the coastline in the early hours. However, our gallant band remained undeterred and off they went!
Carol – flew from Filey to Scarborough despite the ungodly hour she must have woken up to get there (Carol – you get first choice of leg next year).
Wendy – accompanied by Andrea, had some navigational issues I believe, from Scarborough to Cloughton Wyke but carried on through the mist.
Laura – stepping in a week beforehand and probably with no idea what she had let herself in for on the leg from Cloughton Wyke to Ravenscar.
Nicola – taking a more leisurely approach and doing an overnight to enable her to run on fresh legs from Ravenscar to Robin Hood’s Bay (looking out for adders).
Andy – accompanied by Simon to complete the first section from Robin Hood’s Bay to the Whalebones in Whitby.
Meanwhile, the mist was lifting, the sun began to shine and the second section had set off –
Karen – looking slightly terrified by the opposition but boldly trotting on from Whitby to a hideous uphill finish at Runswick – I cried just looking at it from the top.
Hazel – steamed away from Runswick, through Staithes, up Boulby cliff, down Heartbreak staircase and into Skinningrove.
Lou – Skinningrove, a few photos of the bandstand in Saltburn, through Saltburn woods and onwards to Slapewath. A quick wave across the road to… Sally – Slapewath, Guisborough woods with a compulsory trip to the top of Roseberry, before handing over at Gribdale Sarah – up to Captain Cook’s monument then out and over the moors to find Stan – happily taking on Battersby Moor before dropping down to Clay Bank to complete section 2.
The second mini – mass start had taken place (to enable everyone to get to the chip shop in Helmsley before it closes).The final section lead by:
Hugh – having clearly used his recent Hardmoors 110 plus the bed race as a warm up, flew over the three sisters like a true son of Hermes. Then ran back for fun.
Graham – feeling some pressure from Hugh putting us into such a good position, Lordstones over Scarth Nick and dropping into Osmotherly to Phil – legs still whizzing after his Portugese cycling adventure, running out of Osmotherly, up Square Corner and down to Sneck Yate to Sue – (give me a flat bit) who shot out of Sneck Yate, down to the White Horse and back up to Helmsley Road for the final handover to John – accompanied (spurred on?) by Alexandra through villages, woodland and the Rivaulx estate to a glorious finish at the memorial in Helmsley market square.
There was much celebrating, plenty of chips, a few beers quaffed and a general feeling of being fabulous!
Thanks go to Phil and Hazel for a lot of driving around on the day to various handover points.
But huge thanks to the fantastic team who stepped up, put themselves out of their comfort zone and did it! My heartfelt gratitude to you all, for making it happen. You are all simply brilliant.
As I looked through the photos later on, it dawned on me that in every photograph, everyone is smiling.
Same again next year?