Ekiden Relay Results 2017 another Hot Humid one and a New Star

17 July 2017 - By Anita Grainger

 

So where to begin with the Ekiden Relays other than to say Summer has arrived for those GOT fans! Conditions were hot and humid or rather energy zapping!

Thanks for everyone for turning up, filling in at the last minute and remembering to run the correct number of laps . The organisers were very accommodating with our many changes over the final week and especially the last couple made on the day.

I have sent a thank you on behalf of the club and had a response back to say that WRC entered into the spirit of the event. Thanks to everyone who provided cake, we had some left over which we gave to the organisers at the end which they thanked us for & was very popular with those clearing up!

Thanks to the supporters who came along it was great to hear Charlotte Elms shouting at all of us at the top of her voice as we went past! I found as you rounded the corner towards the end of each lap the noise levels definitely went up and it was nice to hear all the encouragement from the team gazebo.

Thanks also to the juniors who stayed to cheer us on and the adults who were there to cheer on the juniors.

Our only minor hiccup was Bob Taylor who collapsed at the end of the 1^st7.2km leg metres from handing over. He was taken care of by the paramedics and several  WRC members who checked in on him and plied him with cake once he was back in the team gazebo, although nobody remembered to stop his garmin 🙂  Wishing Bob a speedy recovery.

It was great to see Steve McMahon come along for the presentation of our new Annabelle Reed trophy awarded to the club member of the day at Ekiden. The trophy was selected as it is tall like Annabelle was and has a star on top to represent her shining personality.

Lee Blake is our first winner of the trophy for the spirit he showed taking everything in his stride, running a respectable time whilst not feeling 100%, having been moved across teams and experiencing issues the day before. Well done Lee!

Now for the stats part that we all love. We had 7 teams out; 3 Ladies, 3 Mens and one Mixed and although we were missing some of our regulars we did the club proud. Our highest placed team was the male vets who came 4^th, followed by our female open team who came 6^th and then the ladies vets , ladies senior vets and mens senior vets who came 7^th. Our male open team came a respectable 14^th with some speedy competition who seemed to just whizz round the course and last but by no means least our mixed team came 30^th.

Our highest placed individual was James Crisp who came 2^nd in his age category on the 7.2km leg, Rachel Sweatt came 3^rd in the 10k, as did Leo Cole also on 10k and Paul Chandler was 3rd in his 5k leg. So we should all be proud of ourselves and the incredible team spirit we showed encouraging everyone. Thanks to Tracey who ran alongside team members to get them round when things got tough and thanks to the youngest Jobling who gave some lovely waves whilst in the buggy with grandad DJ. Special mention should be given to Michelle English who chased Martyn Byford round the final 5k leg to sneak past him on the line. Who would have thought we would end up with 2 of our teams finishing within seconds, we couldn’t have planned it better!

Well done everyone thanks for making Ekiden the success. Full tables below

 

 

Pos	Name	Time	Cat Pos	Gen Pos	Laps	Fastest Lap
14	Witham Male Vets	2:44:36	4	14
	(Winners Colchester)	2:34:41
12	James Crisp	27:06	2	11	3	07:34
22	Marc Underdown	20:27	8	22	2	10:00
20	Heydon Mizon	38:33	5	19	4	09:04
16	Andy Lager	19:48	4	16	2	09:50
21	Dave Campbell	39:20	5	19	4	09:42
20	Peter Riley	19:23	5	17	2	09:36
35	Witham Male Open	2:54:56	14	35
	(Winners Colchester)	2:24:09
73	Bill Smythe	33:31	25	63	3	10:07
5	David Hunt	18:15	4	5	2	09:01
31	Chris Martin	40:09	11	29	4	09:31
36	Paul Thomas	21:21	13	32	2	10:17
38	Giles Sowerby	41:09	11	35	4	10:01
44	Paul English	20:36	18	38	2	10:15
65	Witham Female Open	3:13:11	6	65
	(Winners Ipswich)	2:46:00
92	Hayley Ellen	35:08	8	15	3	09:53
86	Tanya Nash	24:43	10	22	2	12:10
39	Rachel Sweatt	41:40	3	3	4	10:15
74	Vicki Riley	23:28	8	14	2	11:39
75	Angie O’Shea	44:50	7	11	4	10:53
86	Michelle English	23:21	7	18	2	11:38
66	Witham SV	3:13:15	7	66
	(Winners Colchester)	2:42:22
54	Mark Austin	31:31	6	48	3	09:06
84	Dave Jobling	24:27	11	63	2	11:51
135	Lee Blake	51:19	11	104	4	12:39
42	Paul Chandler	21:38	3	38	2	10:30
36	Leo Cole	40:45	3	33	4	10:08
91	Martyn Byford	23:36	8	71	2	11:39
112	Witham Mixed	3:35:49	30	112
	(Winners Ipswich)	2:37:26
129	Bob Taylor	37:57	29	99	3	10:32
113	Dawn Shilling	26:40	15	39	2	13:03
70	Kevin Harper	44:12	20	65	4	10:43
136	Becky Grimwood	28:12	19	51	2	13:37
113	Thomas Ashley	48:03	30	93	4	11:38
178	Kayleigh Carr	30:44	27	69	2	15:08
144	Witham Lady Vets	3:50:04	7	144
	(Winners Ipswich)	3:09:37
143	Ruth Mizon	39:24	7	37	3	11:35
139	Emma Sweeney	28:36	7	59	2	13:47
148	Carina Taylor	53:20	9	36	4	12:43
111	Louise Pascoe	25:38	5	35	2	12:19
144	Becky Booty	51:01	6	31	4	12:07
184	Penny Clarke	32:04	10	74	2	15:49
179	Witham Lady SV	4:05:55	7	179
	(Winners Colchester)	3:20:03
173	Haydeh Safavi	42:20	6	56	3	12:12
134	Tracey Denby	28:16	4	57	2	13:29
178	Anita Grainger	57:03	7	52	4	13:45
189	Kerry Townsend	34:47	7	100	2	16:37
167	Sharon Carr	55:24	4	41	4	12:32
159	Karen Flowers	28:06	7	54	2	13:30