Hilly 100 Relay

Sunday 21st May 2006

Above: Scott Smith heading towards Moreton on leg 7 with Phil Carbutt in pursuit.

Last year this 100+ mile relay around the Cotswolds was held on a tremendously hot day in June with the result that several runners collapsed with heat exhaustion. B&R's Phil Scarr had to be picked up by air ambulance and was seriously ill for many weeks but has thankfully recovered. This year the race returned to its traditional May setting and the weather could not have been more different with heavy rain only relenting for the runners on the last two of the ten legs. B&R had two squads running on the day with a team in the B-race starting at 6 a.m. from the American Fountain in the Market Square in Stratford-upon-Avon and the A team setting off an hour later. Unfortunately the third team, originally entered as a womens team and which had evolved into a mixed team, pulled out on the Friday due to injuries, late unavailbility and the transfer of runners to the other teams.

Left: Barry Cooke with the essential brolly. Right: Steve James on leg 6.

The legs are all about 10 miles but vary in their hilliness. The runners have to navigate their legs without race marshals but have been provided with route maps beforehand and the Hilly 100 stickers adorn lamp posts and road signs throughout the route. As far as we know, no B&R runner went off course this year (there have been several lengthy diversions in previous years but the guilty persons have suffered enough so we won't name any names DC, TW, SJ). The press release from Stratford singled out Kenilworth Runners A for going wrong again this year - apparently it happened early on and really dented their challenge and Wayne Vickers for being the 'ultimate professional' and turning up 25.5. hours before his leg (the race had used to be run on a Saturday).

Leamington won the race in a terrific time of 10 hours 8 minutes and 53 seconds, 4 minutes ahead of last year's winners Northbrook. For comparison in 2003 Leamington won in 10-30-30 and Northbrook won in 2004 with 10-21-33. The winning time in 2005 was way out at 11-24-34 due to the atrocious heat. The Bromsgrove & Redditch A team finished third for the third year in a row with a time of 10-34-35 (2 minutes faster than 2004 when the A team of Redditch runners had pipped the B team of Bromsgrove runners by 14 minutes). B&R's fastest legs were run by Phil Carbutt and Richard Malin - Kenilworth's ninth runner had said that he needn't have tried so hard to get ahead of our A team if he had known that we had Richard waiting to fly round the last leg in any case. The B team race was won by Kenilworth in 11-29-59 and Bromsgrove & Redditch B team ran a creditable 12-15-07 for fifth place (position to be confirmed). The ladies race was won by Spa Striders.

Left: Clive Brown & Steve Clews in sunny Bourton-on-the-Water. Right: Roger Beacham on leg 5 for the B team.

Thanks to all the club members who braved the terrible rain to provide support for the runners - particularly the members of the mixed team despite their disappointment at not running, Len Quartly for following so many legs and Clive Brown for all his admin work to get the teams together and the other clubs who gave encouragement to their rivals. Simon Radcliffe (ex-B&R club captain) was spotted in a B&R sweatshirt on the course and was allegedly running for Stratford Rowing Club but this may have been a comment on the weather.

The times for B&R runners are shown below. The press release (pdf format) from Stratford AC can be seen HERE and results from other years are on their very good website (click here).

	A TEAM (7am start)
1	ROSS MATTHEWS	59-40
2	PAUL ATKINS	68-00
3	MARK GRAHAM	62-16
4	HUGH JENKINS	66-44
5	BARRY COOKE	73-00
6	IAN KEYTE	64-20
7	PHIL CARBUTT	57-06
8	STEVE CALDWELL	62-03
9	PHIL ANDERSON	66-24
10	RICHARD MALIN	55-03
		10-34-35
	B TEAM (6am start)
1	CLIVE BROWN	72-02
2	GORDON MARSHALL	78-17
3	STEVE CLEWS	66-03
4	ALAN ELSMERE	74-23
5	ROGER BEECHAM	80-02
6	STEVE JAMES	79-55
7	SCOTT SMITH	70-24
8	DAVE WHIPP	71-44
9	PETE HAWCROFT	69-32
10	JOHN MANLEY	72-45
		12-15-07

The approximate distances for the legs are given as 10.1, 10.2, 10.0, 10.1, 10.5, 10.3, 10.0, 9.8, 10.0 and 10.1 miles.

(PA)