Sheffield to Poynton Relay    11th March 2000

We had a fine dry day for this annual enjoyable (if unusual) relay run. It is a five leg race over thirty six miles, with individual legs ranging from six to eight miles.

Vaughan ran the first leg from Sheffield Town Hall to Redmires Reservoir. Uphill all the way on the road for approximately seven and half miles. He had a good run against a noticeable headwind arriving to the changeover point in fourth position, out of the twelve starters.

John Pollard took the next leg, an undulating eight miler that climbs up to Stanage Edge then makes for Hope village via Yorkshire Bridge and Win Hill. He arrived well on target but lamented upon being overtaken by two teams on Win Hill.

Simon ran the third leg, which is more or less six miles uphill all the way over Lose Hill, Hollins Cross and Rushup Edge. The only descent is from Lord’s Seat to the hand over point at the lay-by. He arrived in fifth position after claiming back a place along the way, showing all the signs of having had an eyeballer

Andy Wilkins had done the eight mile fourth leg before and so was confident of the route when he took the changeover. Some of the other teams were destined to go walkabouts. He set off with confidence down Royce Clough, safely navigated around the base of South Head before heading for Peep o’ Day, Cracken Edge and then down into Furness Vale to arrive in fourth position, well clear of any chasing teams.

Frank was on the final six (ish) mile leg and unsure of the best route over the patchwork of farmland up to and beyond the Moorside Hotel, then on through Lyme Park. But with no other runners in sight neither ahead nor behind, the pressure was off. Several stops to check directions on the map were a luxury not often enjoyed in a relay event and it felt more like a recce than a race at this stage, on the way to a safe touchdown at the Boar’s Head pub in Poynton.

The Pennine ‘A’ team won the event (choke, choke) with solid performances from Rob Taylor, Carl Moriarty, Mark Williams, Alan Brentnall and Steve Wyatt. Trafford were second and had a flying squad of potential record breakers. Their navigating let them down but still managed to set a new record for the final leg, (are you reading this Dale?) to finish only twenty five seconds behind Pennine.  Not bad for a team who went to Cracken Edge via New Mills !!!   Macclesfield were a comfortable third with Glossopdale being an equally comfortable fourth ahead of Totley and the rest.

All in all, a good showing and a bit of fun.   Well done to all who took part.

Glossopdale are always invited to this event, so if anyone fancies having a go next time, let me know.

Frank Fielding  March 2000

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