Vets day out at the Gloucester Road Relays

B & R entered two teams at the annual Gloucester Road Relays at Hardwicke on 12th March. The new venue, the Pilot Inn, was a big improvement on the old place, although any chance of food after the event was a no-no as it stopped serving at 2 p.m. (or did they expect us to devour the three course lunch before the 2 p.m. start?). Still, their loss! Back to the race!

We entered a Vets team of 4 and an Old Scroats - sorry, over 50's team. On a cold but bright day, first off for the Vets was the dependable and back-to-form Steve Clews running the 5 km course in an impressive 18 min 06 secs. Leading off for the O/50's was Chris Taylor, who with the brilliant time of 17m09s was the fastest of the day for that age group. Next off for the Vets was Dave Cleverley who, trying to exorcise the demons from the Gloucester League XC at Cinderford, finished in 19m32s. Alan Elsmere ran second leg for the O/50's in 19m28s. Third leg for the Vets was Clive Brown who, although full of cough and cold, ran a creditable time of 19m34s. Third and last leg for the O/50's was Vince Rollason bringing the team home in 1st place with a time of 19m54s. Fourth and last leg for the Vets was new boy Dave Whipp finishing in a very creditable 8th place with 20m24s.

Fastest man on the day was Olympian Dan Robinson in an outstanding 14m49s.

The race was tough, the beer was rough and Clive did his best to pass around his virus in the warm and humid conditions of Clewsie's car on the way home. Vince's father-in-law rattled pound after pound into the fruit machine and a good day out was had by one an all! (But come on, Pilot Inn, how about feeding us after the race!)