Relay Race 4 – Ashford –

Tuesday evening saw 38 TRACies converge on Victoria Park from all directions, as multiple parking options were available.

It was a lovely evening with not much wind. After my supply of safety pins took a hammering we were all ready to go.

The pre-race briefing mentioned disqualification and penalties a number of times so everyone was paying attention. 7pm and the first wave were off.

Some of us remembered from last year runners going the wrong way on the tricky first small loop, then larger 2nd loop, so we were all concentrating, however having said this, a few were caught out and some penalty times were added to a the unlucky runners.

The start of the 1st small loop sees us going straight into an uphill section, with adrenaline in full force, at the top of this hill you looked at your watch and thought ‘Oh bugger, thats too fast!’.

There were lots of marshals this year at the small loop/large loop split and a particularly impressive lady marshal with a loud voice shouting out which way we all should go (there will be more signs apparently next year!).
Well done to Ashford Striders and all the marshalls. Great job!!

It was then a long straight to the hard left hand bend, which some runners said seemed to go on forever.
Turning right then curving left, you could see the cheering crowds and the handover point. This was probably a 100m stretch, which saw some epic sprint finishes.

Well done everyone. A great atmosphere here from the cheering crowds.

Job done! All that was left was to work out where we had parked our cars.

Regarding podium finishes, the girls are doing the club proud this season. Although lacking in depth, they make up for it in quality. Their Senior ladies team sit 2nd in the league and the V55 team sit 3rd. The boys put in a strong performance too creeping up the league in nearly all age categories.

Race results as below, next Relay is Dover on 30th June. See you there!