Essex Way Relay 2026 – report

7 September 2026 - By Jodee Mayer

Pre-race

Thanks to Ian Lucas and Steven Alder who checked and re-wrote the instructions for the leg we manage, leg 5, the route taking runners from Cressing to Great Tey, due to a little diversion and to DJ and Ian Lucas who did recces and “vegetation management” making sure the runners didn’t get any cuts to their heads – maybe other leg managers can take note!

This is a crucial part of us being able to manage Leg 5, and our gratitude to everyone for giving up their time.

Leg 5

Steven Alder was our leg manager this year and for those of you that didn’t see it, his message to the Leg 5 WhatsApp group was a thing of beauty and hilarity. As always, these things take a village and we had a number of volunteers helping out on the day:

• DJ, Will Radley, Clare Boston, and Monty on set up at the start of Leg 5
• Louis Kitchener and Wally marshalling at the diversion and running a very gratefully received water station
• Karen, John Flowers, Andrew Read, and Angela Read on finish area duties

As above, we couldn’t manage a leg without the volunteers, and a huge thanks to you all.

Results

My alarm was unnecessarily set for 6am in case of any last minute drop outs, as all of you fabulous people turned up to run when needed. Thanks to Jenny Layley, Maxine Leech, and Harry Solomon for stepping in fairly last minute for late drop outs. Thank you to you all for making your Captains’ job such a breeze.

It is also great to have photos of most of the runners and volunteers:

[Photos to follow, I need to add them from my phone!]

Out of 66 entered teams, Witham RC Team A – 35 came 44th overall, Witham RC Team B – 36 came 46th, and Witham RC Team C – 37 came 41st.