Ekiden 2023-Final Teams and Instructions

17 July 2023 - By Annalise Tye

EDIT: please make note of team changes below!

It’s time. The legendary Ekiden relay! Packing instructions from your captains include the following:

WRC race vest (as always)
Water (keep hydrated folks)
Picnic blankets/camping chairs/sun loungers
Sun cream
Your supportive cheering voice

It would be great if everyone could bring something for the picnic for us to share, both sweet and savoury!

We hope you are as excited as we are to be running in this event with a total of 185 teams, bringing out a huge force of black and gold with 8 teams of our own!

Below you will find the final teams and information about the event. Please let us know ASAP of any changes required, as we will need to find replacements.

THE TEAMS

The order and distances for each leg is as follows:

7.2k (3 laps)
5k (2 laps)
10k (4 laps)
5k (2 laps)
10k (4 laps)
5k (2 laps)

Ladies Open

1. Elizabeth Prior

2. Rachel O’Leary

3. Christine Israel-Jones

4. Nadia McLeod

5. Annalise Tye

6. Jodee Mayer

Small Elves-Ladies Vets

1. Leanne Andrews

2. Liz Stuckey

3. Sian Tate

4. Lindsey Morgan

5. Maggie Mason

6. Angela Wray

Ladies Super Vets

1. Anita Grainger

2. Karen Flowers

3. Lysia Jiggins

4. Jenny Layley

5. Sarah Naughton

6. Lisa Leader

Over 60s

1. Mick Poulter

2. Ross Silverton

3. Ian Lucas

4. Trevor Johnson

5. David Jobling

6. Colin Short

Boyz 2 Ekimen- Men’s Open

1. Paul English

2. Ian Cuthbert

3. Dan Griffiths

4. Jack Welch

5. Will Radley

6. Clive Smith

Men’s Open

1. Ben O’Leary

2. David Grainger

3. Louis Kitchener

4. Mick Conroy

5. Steven Alder

6. Dan Griffiths (again)

Men’s Vets-Team 1

1. Simon Scott

2. Tom Ashley

3. Sam Hajder

4. Paul Cole

5. Owen Dare

6. David Carey

Men’s Vets-Team 2

1. James Attenborough

2. Alex Stuckey

3. Peter Banks

4. Andrew Notley

5. James Cooch

6. Andrew Read

EVENT INFORMATION

The information below has been provided by the hosts. We highly encourage you all to stay for the whole event instead of leaving once you’ve you’ve done your leg-we want all of our runners to be supported, regardless of which leg they run!

Location

New venue this year! See link for Ipswich High School website, including drone footage of the grounds: https://www.ipswichhighschool.co.uk/. It is in the village of Woolverstone.

Parking

The car park will be on the left halfway down the main, long drive. Coach and minibus parking is closer to the School. There is often a speed trap in the village so please respect the speed limit on your approach (which is a 30 mph area). Race day is busy, we have 1200 runners so it is recommended you get there early. The car park will be open from 7:45. Please do not leave cars and block the access road which is required for emergency services. It is possible that at peak times traffic could be backed up on to the road. The car park is separate from the course so you can leave before the end of the event.

The relay itself

Start Time: The Ipswich Ekiden is scheduled to start at 10:20-10:30 am. Please arrive by 10am to sort out race numbers and batons.
Batons: We are using batons containing timing chips which will be handed out to the A leg runners just before the start. Each runner will have a number showing the team number and a letter designating the leg. Letter A = Leg 1, Letter B = Leg 2 etc.
Holding Pen: Team captains need to ensure that their runners are in position to take over when the previous runner finishes. You’ll need to wait in the holding pen until told to go out on the field and get ready to be passed the baton. We will cover this again on race day and have a demo of the hand over.
All runners need to count your own laps, not so easy if you are having to run 4 in the 10km leg!

The course: the course layout is similar to that at Woodbridge so is set up for spectators (and quite loopy for runners!). Please use the dedicated crossing areas to cross the course and be courteous to those running.

See below for the course map this year:

Catering

The RD has organised lots of catering options including burgers, pizzas, ice creams and coffee. There will also be a bar this year (we’d suggest running your leg first!)

Hydration

There will be a water station and water available at the finish.

General info

There are plenty of portable toilets. We will NOT have access to the facilities in the main school buildings. This is a dog free zone, so please don’t bring any pets with you as there are often sheep grazing in a field which are part of the grounds.