Lee Mill Relay 29th November - A Day to Remember...

...or a day to forget?

Anyone brave enough to draw back their curtains last Sunday morning was left with an impression of an unusually wild day. Anyone who was anywhere near the Top of Leach (elevation 1,555 ft and the highest point reached during the Lee Mill Relay - but see later) will bear witness to the true ferocity of the winds and rain on that day.

Horwich had entered three teams:- an MV50, an MV60 and a mixed V65. Our V50 team finished first in their category. Our V60 team, along with 3 other teams, failed to finish due to one team member collapsing with hypothermia. Our mixed V65 team, of which I was a member also failed to finish, the next few paragraphs give some details about our experiences.

Mary White ran our first leg and reported being blown off her feet several times, clocking a very respectable time of 1:28:33.

John Parker (EYJ) ran the second leg and clocked 1:46:41 - I can imagine John was more in danger of being blown into the next valley rather than merely blown over.

Next was Pete Scott, the second of our septuagenarians. Now, Pete is a long time Horwich Harrier, 33 years according to my membership records, but he would be the first to admit that fast times are now far in the past. However, he managed to clock 1:04:54, but as he explained to the finish marshall, at one point he lost sight of the course markers and just headed towards a group of runners he could see, not far in the distance. It appears that he must have missed most of the course.

Leg four was scheduled for a mass start at 2:00 p.m, so as I went out on the course at 1:10 to watch EYJ come in, I thought I would have plenty of time to nip back to registration to finish my preparation for 2:00. However, due to the severity of the conditions, the RO decided to bring forward the mass start to 1:30! Mary ran out to find me, but, as ever, I didn't have enough time and missed the start and was left behind by the sweeper. The first indication that I had a serious problem (apart from nearly being blown off the quarry top) was when the CP 1 marshalls descended towards me collecting the flags! I asked them how I should find the way and they gave me directions.

The next indicator was meeting the CP 2 marshall on the same task. He said that his checkpoint (Top of Leach) had been abandoned and the MRT should have re-directed me, and I shouldn't have even been where we met. I explained that I wanted to finish the course regardless, but he said that without the 3Ms (markers, marshalls or MRT) I would be putting my life at risk and he would rather I retraced my steps with him. It was his worried face, rather than the risk to my life that decided me and I reluctantly jogged back with him, helping to collect flags as we went.

So, sorry, Team, mea culpa, but still a day to remember - or to forget.

At least we finished three runners, the 'Judas Priest (etc!)' (?) team is recorded with DNS against both their leg 3 and leg 4 runners - Mat and Martin (more Ms).

There is an evening race over the same course during the summer, I may go back and give that a try.