Race Report: Astbury Mere Relay Marathon 30/06/2013

After stocking up on hayfever medication and Sky-Plusing the British Grand Prix, Nicola and I headed to Astbury Mere for the first annual Boalloy Marathon Relay Challenge. 

We met Liz shortly before 10am, before mounting our challenge against 8 other teams.


The course followed the basic Park Run route, consisting of a simple lap of the Mere plus an initial extra 385yards. With one lap being equivalent to one mile, 26 laps stood between us and the finish line.

Liz kicked off our first few laps before handing the baton to Nicola, then onwards to Helen. I managed a lap before Liz took over again. Soon our reinforcements arrived in the form of Kay, Stella and Lucy. Before long we hit the half way mark with Liz racking up 6 of those laps herself, the highlight of which included a lap-long overtaking spree.

With Kay taking on 4 laps herself, we began to approach the 26 mile mark in no time at all. Nicola, Helen and Stella completed their 3 laps, whilst taking it in turns to look after the family dog. New member Lucy finished off a further quick 3 laps, before I began our final lap.

Compared to the tranquillity of 10 O’clock in the morning, the mere is a completely different place at half three in the afternoon. Whereas a morning run gives you free reign over much of the pathway, your afternoon run is characterised by dodging dog walkers, avoiding angry swans and the heavy sun. This was no means a bad thing, indeed the evolving track allowed us to alleviate the monotony of 26 laps.

Our final time was 3hours 42minutes. The quickest time of the day was set by Congleton Boalloy with a time of 2hours and 48minutes. We came in 8^th position out of 9, missing out on 7^th position by a minute. The event raised £169 between 80 separate runners. In total, the combined mileage of all teams came to just under 234miles.

I’m sure I don’t speak for myself when I say I’d be keen to return next year. Every baton handover was greeted with cheers from all teams, and it was a genuinely enjoyable day… despite the sunburn, and embarrassing tan lines.

Ben