Cleveland way “B” Team Report 2009
Another great day running the Cleveland Way but this year it very nearly didn’t take happen being the hardest year by far to organize, with seven hours until the start we still didn’t have a full team. So many thanks to Ian Duffield who altered his plans at the last minute to run leg 15 Sneck Yate to Hambleton Inn.
At 3.30am I picked up John, Freddie and our Stephen(an old school mate) who was a great help moving cars and taking photo, so many thanks John. We arrived in a very foggy Filey at 4;30 a. for the race start of 5am. There were nine teams entered this year. Our first runner was Jo Braithwaite who ran vey well in thick fog the 13K leg to Valley Bridge, at one point in Cayton Bay, I thought she had got lost, until she appeared out of nowhere to almost collide with me.
Jo handed over to Freddie, who ran really well to close down the York Acorn runner.
At Cloughton Freddie handed over to Jo Abbot Still in thick fog. The wet and Slippery ground made fast times impossible but Jo managed running in such conditions well and handed over to a very nervous Kim Brown. It was the first time Kim had run a leg and was worried about letting the team down. She of course didn’t let anyone down and ran an admirable leg with a good time despite the difficult conditions.
Kim handed over to another Jo, our fourth Lady runner of the day Jo Swales who also ran well and finished her leg in fine style at Whitby’s Wale Bones with a very good time.
Running the next leg to Runswick Bay was only our second Male runner of the day, Paul Smith, who enjoyed the run so much that he and his wife have now joined the club. Well done Paul
At the top of Runswick Bay Paul handed over to Alan Bottomley who ran well. His time was slightly down on his last years time but given the conditions he was happy with it.
Skinningrove saw Peter Briggs take over the running the long hard leg to Slapewath. Considering Peter had just returned to running from a bad injury and was far from being 100% fit, credit must go to him for running the leg at such short notice.
At Slapewath Peter handed over to Ian Brown who is such a good runner, I believe he could get a fast time on any of the 16 legs well done Ian.
Our next runner at Cribdale Gate was Richard Scofield, who came into the team very late but ran extremely well and was only seconds off the “B” team’s record for that leg. Well done Richard.
Next up was our 5th Lady of the day, Claire Davison who made it to the change over point in good time but due to the poor weather conditions had to wait almost three hours before her run. Claire battled her way over Battersby Moor in the most horrendous conditions, thunder, and lightening and torrential rain. Well done to Claire for keeping going especially with that massive hill right at the start.
Next the race re-grouped and came back together at Hasty Bank for the 2pm mass start, this is done to make sure some “B” team we had Mike Clarke who ran so well that not only did he get the B-team record but he even beat the A-Team runner for the leg, coming into Carlton Bank in an excellent third position. Well Done Mike and apologies for messing you about so much by moving you from one leg to another.
Mike handed over to Fizz Andrew Marshall who enjoyed the very hard run but felt he could have much better had the conditions under foot had been drier, but I think he did really well even holding off our A-Team runner Stephen for 2 miles.
At Osmotherly Fizz handed over to Darren who as usual ran a good solid leg, also in horrendous conditions, well done.
The next runner to take up the challenge was Ian Duffield. Ian was accompanied by Norman in the hope that one of them would get to the change over point at Hambleton Inn without getting injured. Well they both made it so thanks to both of the young lads.
Next up was Don Abbot who ran the last leg to Helmsley; Don was accompanied by our two new lady members Sue and Carol who were given a history lesson on the area en route from the knowledgeable Don. They both enjoyed the run that they would like to run it next year. I’ll hold them to that too!
They arrived at Helmsley at five past seven in sixth place, where we had been for most of the day.
Well done everyone who took part especially the seven ladies runners without whom we would have had a team at all.
Finally thanks to Andy for organizing the Fish and chips and once again a big thank you to all the runners and supporters on the day for your commitment and effort in the extreme weather conditions.
Trevor≠≠