The Male Relay Team
Released On 24th May 2020
Men’s virtual relay – Saturday 23rd May 2020
So Steve posted last week: "So chaps it looks like the ladies have set the bar very very high and given us an invitation to do the same. Whose up for it? Relay segments of 20 mins (do as many as you want) next Saturday. If there is enough interest I'll co-ordinate it. Let me know."
17 runners took up the challenge and Steve made a plan:
"Men's virtual relay Saturday 23rd May . We are good to go regardless of the weather! I've tried to fit in every ones needs of start times, duration etc (more challenging than running it!). Hope this works (I'm not changing it now!). Timings below. Run a route of your choice in club colours (colors for you in the U.S Mike!) starting and finishing at the times shown.If you pm or whatsapp me a photo, video with a baton of your choosing with a virtual handover or strava image etc after you've done it then I'll try and put a little video together.
But most of all - HAVE FUN AND ENJOY!
Name Start Finish Duration (Hrs/Mins)
1 James 06:00 07:00 01:00
2 Steve 07:00 08:20 01:20
3 Casper 08:20 08:40 00:20
4 Dave 08:40 10:00 01:20
5 Dan 10:00 11:00 01:00
6 Bungy 11:00 12:20 01:20
7 Paul 12:20 13:20 01:00
8 Alan 13:20 14:40 01:20
9 Matt 14:40 15:40 01:00
10 Gav 15:40 16:20 00:40
11 Jeff 16:20 17:00 00:40
12 Richard 17:00 17:20 00:20
13 John 17:20 18:40 01:20
14 Jon 18:40 19:40 01:00
15 Adam 19:40 20:00 00:20
16 Graham 20:00 21:20 01:20
17 Mike 21:20 22:40 01:20 In the U.S TOTAL 16:40 16:40
As the day approached and the running was done, now Steve had the hard work to throw it all together and make the Film.
From Steve: Inspired by the brilliant virtual relay idea and efforts of the ladies the previous week, the men decided to follow their example and run a virtual relay too. I’m pleased to report that assembling a team was much more successful than my usual efforts to get runners to join me on a Tuesday night club run! A team of 17 was quickly assembled and with some fine tuning and last-minute changes (with the aid of a spreadsheet – can’t beat a good spreadsheet!) desired start times and duration's were matched with the runner’s availability and we had a plan. The bar had been raised very high by the ladies so online chat revolved around what to use as the baton and how to do the virtual hand overs (some of us mastered it better than others – I’m saying nothing Bungy!). The pressure was on!
James Hutt started things off – he decided that his original start time of 6am was not nearly early enough for him so he started at 05:40 and ran for an extra 20 mins (on a Saturday too!) - nutter, but he has a young son so is accustomed to that hour!
Steve Lye followed, taking the opportunity to increase his miles for the Lands End To John O’Groats (LEJOG) virtual run that he’d signed up too. Due to the early start he’d even forgone his usual Friday night bottle of Malbec so as to be fit and ready – unprecedented (made up for it on Saturday though)!
Casper Harvey squeezed in the next leg before heading off to work helping to protect us all – thank you.
Dave Tilsley is another LEJOG runner. He’s be running lots of miles but his legs were fresh and he put in a really good relay stint – top run.
Daniel McFarlane, was next and another one doing LEJOG. He had a good run around Tintinhull and Martock. Somehow the baton had now acquired a label tag to it at this point (note 1 to continuity editor!)
Bungy Williams was next. He no doubt didn’t forego his Friday night bottle of red, or cider, or Rum, or Baileys for that matter! He’s running lots of weekly miles in his pursuit of quickly completing his LEJOG challenge. The baton label tag had now disappeared but there was a brief fumble in the handover (alcohol related?!).
Paul Card – ever consist ran the next rapid leg using the miles as training for his next super speedy marathon and he had a faultless hand over.
Alan Chadbone stepped up next – great job, and somehow the hat baton had turned a shade of red at this point, whilst he was also wearing a red hat too (note 2 to continuity editor!). He ran backwards for his virtual handover though! (good video editing if I may say so!).
Matt Driver, yet another LEJOG entrant, has been ramping up his miles of late which probably accounted for the need for his afternoon nap! – but he was primed and ready for the off by sleeping in his kit – top effort! The hat was now black! (note 3 to continuity editor!) -due to lack of i.t skills a work-around was needed to get the video hence the blur!!!. (note to video editor and Matt!– must do better!).
Gav Cheetham followed on, taking a professional and well executed hand over and pass on of the baton to the next runner – top marks!
Jeff Watson continued the impressive form setting off at speed with a fast leg around the streets of Yeovil – earnt your beer tonight!
Richard Clayton squeezed in the next leg, motivated to get around quickly so that he’d be back in time for a virtual quiz – hope that you won Richard!
John Hayden followed with a long run – well done. At this point the hat baton had somehow metamorphized into a blue form roller thingy – nice touch! (Note 4 to continuity editor!)
Jon Foxon signed up late to do the LEJOG but he is rapidly increasing his miles. The baton had now transformed back to the club hat (as per the brief – well done!!! J). A good run by Jon who even before offloading the baton to the next runner had managed to acquire a can of beer – good work fella!
Adam Tanner followed on with a good strong run around the streets of Crewkerne – got to run fast around those parts! The hat was suddenly blue at this point (Note 5 to continuity editor!) – well done Adam.
Graham Still is also doing LEJOG. Clearly a man on a mission he decided to not even bother with catching the baton (which was a black hat again – Note 6 continuity editor!) at all in his hast to start and just blasted it! Strangely however, at the handover the baton (a black hat) had reappeared in his hands! (Note 6 to continuity editor!). He then had to find the strength to launch the baton all the way across the Atlantic to the USA for Mike to catch and run the final leg in the east coast of the USA some 5 hours behind.
Mike Kendrick ran the final leg in a hot and humid USA along road and trails narrowly avoiding thunderstorms. The final transformation of the hat baton saw it turn white and with go faster strips (Note 7 to continuity editor!). Mike holds the baton there until he can next safely visit these shores – cheers Mike, look forward to catching up in the future.
The 17-man team ran for a total of 17 hours and the virtual baton (in its various forms!) covered a total distance of 128.41 miles.
Well done chaps –great effort, great fun and something different. The reward for our efforts was a virtual medal in the form of a delicious green and white cake that Kevin Doherty had made – Top Man!!!
Well done also to the ladies for last week and for conceiving this idea. What a truly brilliant club we have. Perhaps next year we can have actual relays and not virtual ones – here’s hoping. Stay safe, stay well. (Big thanks to Ben Lye too for giving me some I.T lessons a few weeks ago and on call telephone help desk support so that I could make the video!).
Yay YTRRCC!
The Video
Another Virtual Run or Two
From Kev: Who fancies another Virtual Challenge?
We've done 2 x 10Ks, Some done a Yeovil HM for the Medal. Its 5k PB time !! ( I owe Casper Harvey a bottle of something as he smashed a 10k PB ).
So we are missing out on Yeovilton 5k series and well done to all those who did it last week in the " Virtual sense" .
The plan is Wednesday 10th June - Sunday 14th June ... we going to have our own private " Yeovilton 5k " pick your own route , in Yeovil Colours , get Photo if possible .. bottle of drink for best performance/PB ( not time) but treat it as a hard session or race effort ( or just run your own thing too .. no pressure .. fun ..) .. I asked Stephen Warren Lindsay Saunders and Sam Jakeman if we could honour Peter Jakeman in some small way , so going to sort some sort of Yeovilton 5k momento with Pete's photo .. and Sam/Lindsay can suggest a Charity ... £5 each if you so wish ( please this is totally voluntary and not a pre-requisite) .. Who knows ... might be able to run with a friend by then .... except for Steve Lye of course 😘🤣
From Fran: This may go down like a lead balloon BUT given the recent virtual relay challenges which sadly I missed out on I was thinking how about doing a dawn to dusk virtual relay on Sunday 21st June as longest day of the year? mixed event? Any takers?? (about 40 already)
#RUNLEJOG2020
The YTRRC runners are all doing well and it has put all our mileage up each week as we virtually head to Scotland. Well done to Mark Pike who managed over 100 miles this week and this took the Distance lead in our Club Strava. It's about time someone knock that Bungy bloke of the lead.
