One of my friends asked me if I would be interested in a running event called London 2 Cardiff 24 team relay challenge. In the past I did several challenges but not like this one. So I've signed up with Honda Runners Team. Our team included 14 people (Emma, Vicki, Rosa, Hayleigh, Andrea, Shannon, James, Mark, Toby, Dave, Gaz, Stuart, Shaun and myself Karin)
Two weeks before the challenge we received all instructions we needed, for example starting time, the routes, checkpoints and safety. I took the opportunity and I went to check my routes before hand so it will be easier for me on the day of the event. There were 24 stages (checkpoints) with different lengths between them (3 to 13 miles). We had 3 team runs which we ran together from the beginning, in the middle of the 160 miles and at the finish. Each route had two difficulties of route, red and green. The green route you could take any route you liked but with the red route you had to follow in the exact directions as you had been told to do so.
We set of 10th June 2016 at 5:08 pm from Twickenham in West London. The running route took us along rivers and canals, through forests and towns, across fields, along bridleways and public paths and also over bridges including the Severn Crossing. The terrain varied from tarmac to mud and gravel to long grass. Most of the time we had to go with our instinct especially during the night where is hard to see. Each runner was followed by one cyclist from our team. At the start line we got a GPS tracker the size of a small phone. This is was like a stick which we had to carry and pass to an another runner at the checkpoint. Each checkpoint has a code which we had to remember and call to a central hub. This hub was monitoring us as well as the rest of the teams. This year 34 teams were joining.
My first run
As soon as we finished our first team run we (the rest of the team) were quickly moving to another stage by mini bus. My stage was number 3 (8,28 miles long) and 12 (3,66 miles long). Myself and some of my teammates were waiting in the checkpoint number 3. As soon as the runner came, we checked the code and then I shot off. First run was good, nice and sunny but in the middle of the run I was caught in rain. I actually really enjoyed it. It’s always better to run when it's cooler. I was also pleased with my time 1 hour and 10 minutes. The others were waiting in checkpoint 4 with our mini bus. I quickly changed and then we moved to another one. The good thing was if we didn’t run we could talk, rest, sleep, listen to music, eat and support each other. This swapping happened in each checkpoint. We had some stops on the way too where we could top up our nutrition such as pizza, have a cup of tea or coffee or just have a hot shower. Everything was going smoothly until midnight where we lost a runner. Hub informed us about it by phone. Luckily we could track our GPS too so we could see where our runner is. We followed him and he wisely chose to go to the main road. We kept him company for a bit and waited on the next check point. It was impossible to sleep as adrenaline was kicking in. We were glad that he was ok. Cyclists didn’t go during the night runs as in some places it was dangerous terrain.We were doing well after this stage where rest of the team managed to run super fast.
Emma and Gaz in action
My other run was continued straight after our second team run in Coate Water Country Park around a lake which was 2 miles long. My legs became quite stiff from the beginning. After a while they were behaving better. I did stretch my legs after as much as I could. There was a one thing we didn’t expect, in Cardiff town centre there was a traffic jam and we couldn't reach our last and final stage. We were going on and on in circles but eventually managed to get there. Everyone could see how stressed and nervous we were because we wanted to finish under 24 hours.
At the checkpoint after my second run
Our last team run ended up in Sophia Gardens. We crossed the finish line together. We did it in a very good time in fact 23 hours and 21 minutes. We were 11th team which I think is a brilliant result. We also raised money for Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity. Thank you everyone who sponsored us.
It was such a busy challenge but worth every second! :)
