Ekiden 2025 Review & Annabelle Reed Trophy
6 July 2025 - By Jodee Mayer
Well – what can we say about today’s weather?! We had sunshine and blazing hot heat, we had gusts of wind, and we had torrential rain that was so hard it felt like hail. If we’d had a bit of snow that would have just about rounded it off!
Despite this, we had another fabulous Ekiden.
We had our WRC gazebos set up in fine style as always, with massive thanks to Andrew Read and Angela Read for gazebo transport and set up, and Karen Flowers, Jen Layley and Nat Lilley for joining us for the extra early start so that we could get a good spot on the field and have a 6 person crew to get the gazebos up – that and to ensure Andrew got prime parking spot for his van!
Despite our pleas, Mick Conroy decided to up the ante this year, arriving with 4 Tesco carrier bags (though I was assured one was for “personal use”) and his and everyone’s kind contributions meant that we still had 2 tables of food and the committee are grateful for the snacks for our next 32 committee meetings….. A shout out has to go to Andy White’s cherry “frangipane type thing” (his words not mine) which everyone was raving about… and also to Owen Dare for bringing another table – we wouldn’t have had enough space without it!
Despite the Orwell Bridge roadworks, we had far less traffic chaos than last year and just a couple of late drop outs meant I have just a few additional thanks before we get onto the actual event:
- to Simon Handley for agreeing to run a second leg
- to Clive Smith for swapping to a later leg
- to Andrew Read for agreeing to run a second leg
Included below are a couple of comments from first time Ekiden runners – we do appreciate that joining in a team event for the first time can be a little daunting but hopefully the words below will ease any fears and we look forward to seeing many more of you joining the black and gold at next year’s event – with a slightly different format for the teams (watch this space!)
The atmosphere at today’s Ekiden was nothing short of amazing — welcoming, supportive, and full of energy. It was especially special to see other clubs cheering you on just as loudly as your own teammates. That kind of community spirit is what makes events like these so fun and memorable.
We had everything today — blazing sun, pouring rain, gusty wind… the full experience! It was my first Ekiden, and I genuinely loved every moment — even the long wait before my leg, knowing I’d be finishing it off. Despite a recent setback with my running, I felt strong out there, and that was 100% down to the incredible atmosphere and all the cheering on the course. The adrenaline really does carry you.
Already looking forward to doing it all again next year. I just love these events with the club — huge thanks to everyone involved in organising it for us!
Simon Handley – So today was my first ever Ekiden. I had no idea what to expect. Turned up to an amazing looking event and lots of happy smiles from the WRC team. The atmosphere was electric and felt like a festival. The support from the WRC team was so loud. Hands down the event of 2025 for me
Race
By about 10.30, we had all but one of our runners on the grounds of Ipswich High School – which did wonders for my stress levels!
The start was again slightly delayed (I don’t know why, if anyone does let me know!) but our Leg A runners took off at about 10.35am to start the race.
As always, the black and gold lined the course outside the gazebo to cheer the runners on – until the rain came and most took cover!
Despite our runners only passing us once each lap, a few lap counting errors meant a few people tried to take the baton a lap early – but we had no missed baton handovers this year so we will take that for a win!
Again, the runners didn’t disappoint their supporters, with smiles and waves as they ran past, even in the rain, the highlights this year being Claudia side stepping and hyping up the supporters in the middle of her 10km and Irina throwing in some leaps as she ran past. Owen was so quick that we missed him the first time round!
It was great to see a few members taking on their first team event, to see Martyn back in the black and gold and Graham and Fiona donning the black and gold for the first time since their injuries – welcome back!
Our teams finished one by one, until we had Celine and Seyed as our last runners on the course, being encouraged around by Terry on every corner and being cheered in by the hardy few who had stayed in the rain to cheer the runners round and help take the gazebos down – Owen probably regretting his decision as he poked the gazebo roof with an umbrella and absolutely drenched himself in the process! I won’t list everyone as I will forget someone, but a massive thanks to all of you that stayed till the very end – your help and support is very much appreciated.
Team results
| TEAM | TIME | POS. | LEG | LENGTH | RUNNER |
| Men’s Open | 2:57:24 | 30 | 1 | 7.2km | Josh Malaery |
| 2 | 5km | Simon Handley | |||
| 3 | 10km | Dan Griffiths | |||
| 4 | 5km | Clive Smith | |||
| 5 | 10km | Ian Cuthbert | |||
| 6 | 5km | Paul English | |||
| Men’s Vets | 3:05:10 | 44 | 1 | 7.2km | Sam Hajder |
| 2 | 5km | Glen Waller | |||
| 3 | 10km | Paul Cole | |||
| 4 | 5km | James Attenborough | |||
| 5 | 10km | Simon Handley | |||
| 6 | 5km | Louis Kitchener | |||
| Men’s Supervets | 3:42:55 | 138 | 1 | 7.2km | James Montgomery |
| 2 | 5km | James Cooch | |||
| 3 | 10km | Alex Stuckey | |||
| 4 | 5km | Mick Conroy | |||
| 5 | 10km | Andy White | |||
| 6 | 5km | Andrew Read | |||
| Over 60’s 1 | 3:11:38 | 58 | 1 | 7.2km | Mark Austin |
| 2 | 5km | Geoff Reddin | |||
| 3 | 10km | Terry Alabaster | |||
| 4 | 5km | Martyn Byford | |||
| 5 | 10km | Owen Dare | |||
| 6 | 5km | Ian Lucas | |||
| Over 60’s 2 | 4:13:11 | 197 | 1 | 7.2km | Andrew Read |
| 2 | 5km | Craig Vernon | |||
| 3 | 10km | Dave Andrews | |||
| 4 | 5km | Graham Eyre | |||
| 5 | 10km | Colin Short | |||
| 6 | 5km | Seyed Ghazi-Nouri | |||
| Women’s Open | 3:37:36 | 118 | 1 | 7.2km | Annalise Etherington |
| 2 | 5km | Fiona Collins | |||
| 3 | 10km | Liz Atkinson | |||
| 4 | 5km | Sian Tate | |||
| 5 | 10km | Claudia Baba | |||
| 6 | 5km | Irina Ashdown | |||
| Women’s Supervets | 4:09:49 | 194 | 1 | 7.2km | Jenny Layley |
| 2 | 5km | Nat Lilley | |||
| 3 | 10km | Lisa Leader | |||
| 4 | 5km | Karen Flowers | |||
| 5 | 10km | Rachel Sharp | |||
| 6 | 5km | Celine Elson |
Individual results
Are by distance and are here.
The Annabelle Reed trophy
For those that weren’t part of the club at this point, Annabelle Reed is a familiar cheery face seen from the rotating album featured on our website. She was a really supportive WRC member, who sadly passed away too young.
Ekiden was one of her favourite events of the year due to it’s team spirit and comradery, and it is in her honour that we award the Annabelle Reed trophy each year. It goes to the member that most embraces team work and true WRC team spirit at Ekiden.
A couple of names were mentioned by the committee members at Ekiden this year, but the one mentioned most often was
Andrew Read!
Not only did Andrew help with set up and take down, he also volunteered to run a leg F 5km having run the first leg for his team. He was also found in the starting area, cheering runners in and making sure runners were making their baton handovers.
A final thanks to everyone for the efforts and support today – and a post will soon follow about our next team event – the Essex Way Relay!
Jodee
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