Another fantastic relay organised by Darren Park.

Having only done Durham Dales a few hours earlier, it was a quick tidy up and pack and back in the car on the way to Filey. 2 hours later we arrived at the campsite. The weather was on our side with promises of thunder through the night and possible rain the next day didn't dampen the spirits of all those who camped. Finaly got to sleep with the realisation that we had to be up for half 4. 

 

Brian and Andrew were running the first leg so it was nice to see everyone - (Darren, Sandra, Michelle, Lewis, Paul, Lucy, Nick, Ian and myself) see them off on the beach at 5.00am. Then it was all system go, The others went off to the next legs, Ian, Nick and I went back to the campsite for a cooked breakfast before meeting Anthony to take him to his leg, we arrived to see Parky had just set off with Jeff to arrive next to pass on to Anthony. From there we went to Whitby, then Runswick Bay so see other team members come and go, time for a quick scone and cream then off to drop Nick off at his start at Lord Stones Cafe, I managed to have a quick sleep in the car on the way as I have to admit I was totally knackered and rapidly wishing I had chosen a leg to run early on in the day. We saw Nick W and Mark in who both did fantastic time in the ever increasing heat then went to Sneck Yate for my start. I was very very nervous but was nice to have a few friendly faces to see me off. The leg i did isn't hard, but I am not good in the heat and that mixed with lack of sleep and food did make the run quite challenging with the run down to the white horse seeming endless. I did take a wrong turn which put me back about 10 minutes which I only have myself to blame, doing a reccie of your leg is essential and I have learnt my lesson for next year, it was good to see Steve who was running the same leg for some words of encouragement.

 

Finaly managed to pass onto Ian, feeling slightly sorry for myself and it was off the Helmsley with the promise of a fish and chip supper. The turn out at Helmsley was great and helped brighten my very tired and hungry mood, with a good number of the Quakers choosing to catch up on the days event and swap stories of heat, hills and times.

 

This really is a great day and one I think will be a permanent fixture in the Quakers diary. A massive well done has to go to Darren Park who not only organised 32 runners and made sure we were all where we were supposed to be at the right time, but gave constant support and saw an lot of us start and finish, he also had to contend with a few injuries resulting in people having to drop out and finding replacement.

 

This day is what the Quakers is all about - fantastic team work.

 

Well done to all and roll on next year