Ridgeway Relay 2022
Captain’s Write Up
by Robin Barrett
For those of you who don’t know, the Ridgeway Relay is an annual ten-legged relay race which covers almost the entire length of the Ridgeway National Trail path (around 89 miles) starting at Ivinghoe Beacon and finishing in the town of Marlborough. The Vale have been taking part in this event for many years, normally entering an A and a B team, where our A team usually finish in the top of 3 out of around 40 teams, but have successfully won the event on four previous occasions. This year we entered just the one team which was a mix of A and B team runners, so the aim was to enjoy ourselves, stay competitive and hopefully finish in the top 10.
The race started bright and early at 7.30am on the top of Ivinghoe Beacon and Mark Baines got us off to a flying start finishing the first leg (11 miles) in 1 hour 11 minutes in 2nd place. Next up was Jodie Digby who ran an excellent second leg (6 miles) with a couple of tough hill climbs in 47 minutes and still keeping us in 2nd place. Team Captain Robin Barrett was on leg 3 (9.4 miles) conquering Lodge Hill but dropping the team back a little as some faster runners started to come through, finishing in 1 hour 11 minutes and handing over to Vicky Sheldon for leg 4 in 7th. Vicky only found out she was running leg 4 (5.4 miles) a few days before the event after another team member tested positive for COVID, so hats off to Vicky for stepping up at the last minute and running a solid leg in 48 minutes and keeping the team in 7th overall. Ridgeway Relay debutant Scott Ramsell was up next for leg 5 (10.1 miles) and successfully managed to run his leg faster than he cycled it earlier in the week in a time 1 hour 8 minutes whilst gaining us one place up to 6th.
James Davis made a rapid start to leg 6 (10.4 miles) picking up not one, but two places early on in his leg and battled the heat and the hills to finish in 1 hour 12 minutes leaving us in 4th. Charlie May only just made it in time for the start of leg 7 (9.1 miles) arriving at the changeover with James fast approaching, he had about 20 seconds to get his race number on and get running. Once Charlie did get under way, he ran a superb seventh leg in a time of 58 minutes taking the Vale up to the dizzy heights of 3rd place! The top three finishing teams overall receive a bottle of wine at the end for each team member, so with that winning bottle of Chardonnay on his mind Adam Johnson set off on leg 8 (7.8 miles) and finished strongly in a time of 59 minutes keeping the Vale in 3rd. Alan Roberts set off on leg 9 (10.7 miles) arguably the toughest leg of the race with a couple of big hills including an exposed final couple of miles on a windy day (which it was!). Alan raced hard and conquered those hills finishing his leg in 1 hour 32 minutes handing over to Will Ralston for the final leg of the race with the Vale in 6th. Leg 10 (9.4 miles) requires a little more navigation than the other legs as the race route comes off the Ridgeway path towards the end to finish in Marlborough, but Will had done his homework and ran a fantastic final leg without getting lost and gaining two places in the process, finishing his leg in a time of 57 minutes and casually bringing the Vale home in 4th position overall.
So, no free bottle of wine this year (sorry Adam!) but I think it’s fair to say the team exceeded their own expectations finishing easily inside the top 10 and instead earning a top 5 finish and having a great time along the way. Thanks to all the runners for taking part and performing so brilliantly and also to those who supported the team and helped with lifts, logistics, and generally cheered us on! We’d really like to try and enter two teams again for the Ridgeway Relay next year, so if you’ll be 17 years old or older by June 2023 and fancy taking part in this fantastic race, watch out for e-mails and notices about the Ridgeway Relay in early Spring 2023.
