Stage 12 - 2007 Round Norfolk Relay

Runner's Comments

Headed off just after 10.30 pm to collect Melvin my cycle partner for stage 12 and somehow managed to get lost in the process. With some relief I finally located him via flashing torch light. (Visions of Sue arriving at Scole with team baton having just run the best part of 20 miles and no one to hand over to , not a pleasant thought !. .) We load up the bikes and arrive at Scole around 11.15pm. 

Scole like I've never seen it before, imagine what would normally be a large empty field, add in a few flood lights, at least 40 cars, tents, runners, marshal's, spectators, team busses and all in the early hours of Sunday morning, the locals must have thought they'd been invaded.

Team captain Kerry appears 1st on her cycle, issues out a few instructions and about 15 minutes later Sue hands over the baton and away we go. Its just after 1am Sunday Morning. It was good to be finally running, a clear night but a little chilly and standing around for over an hour in not much more then shorts and t-shirt I was keen to get warm again. 

Having never ran at such a strange hour before and without my faithful Garmin I was finding it difficult to pace myself but after sending Melvin back to the team Bus was informed I was running at a steady 13 km per hour ( About 7 1/2 min miles ) so I then settled in to my run. I recall driving part of the course a few weeks earlier in the car and thinking this will be all right not so hilly as everyone keeps saying, how wrong I was! Saying that the miles quickly clocked by and I really enjoyed chasing down a number of teams 5 or 6 I think with just 2 making it past before we finally reached Thetford. Was good fun exchanging pleasantries with the other teams, most were in high spirits apart from one runner who preferred to have a good old moan about the lack of support from his own team, ( No cyclist with him either ??.) you should join Tri Anglia mate !

Finally made it to Thetford sometime around 3.20am handed over the Baton to Mark Philo who shot off down the road with Melvin following closely behind for his 2nd stint of cycle support. Team bus pulls over ( Driver Kerry / Time keeper Rob.) drops of bike and a much needed can of Red Bull and quickly head of to catch up with Mark + Melvin.

That just left the cycle ride back to Scole to collect the car and I made it home just after 5am !

A fantastic event and very much enjoyed being part of the Tri Anglia team. Well done indeed to
team captain Kerry for bringing the whole thing together. Thanks again to Melvin and Rob for their supporting roles.

Mark Clues

Driver's + Support Comments

Kerry Davis

Other Runner's Comments

I arrived at Kings Lynn on Saturday morning at 8am and didn't get home until 1pm on Sunday afternoon. With zero sleep, worrying about getting our runners round the course and running 18 miles myself I was shattered. 

It was the first time I had ever ran more than a half marathon, so I was pretty pleased with my time. I think it was my best run all year. If I actually knew beforehand how to run that far I feel I would have easily gone under 2 hours, as I still had plenty left at the end. In the dark I found it quite hard to judge how far I had ran and how fast I was running. The worse part about my leg was the route pretty much 17 miles on a long straight road, very boring! 

Overall we were very pleased with how the Gazelle team performed. We finished 5th fastest team but it would have been 3rd if we hadn't had to stop and wait 15 mins at Feltwell for our outgoing runner to arrive. Overall really enjoyed the weekend and the effort that went in to was well worth it.

Paul Higham, Norfolk Gazelles

Stage 11
Index
All Photos
Stage 13

Runner:

Mark Clues

Cycle Support:

Melvin Waters