2019 Ridgeway Relay

2019 Ridgeway Relay

As races are not taking place at the moment, I'm creating some web pages entitled "where I was taking photos this time last year". Today, I'm looking at the Ridgeway Relay which is organised by Marlborough Running Club. As the name says, it's a relay race along the Ridgeway. So it starts at Ivinghoe Beacon in Bucks and it finishes at Marlborough in Wilts. The 89M route is divided up into 10 legs that vary in length from 5.4M to 11M. The organiser's website has detailed information about the race in the race information pack. The pack has lots of useful information about the race and about each of the legs - it includes the locations of the changeover points of the legs.

In 2019, the Ridgeway Relay took place on Sun Jun 16th 2019. 41 teams from 24 running clubs took part. The winning team was Reading Roadrunners A who finished in 09h51m02s. Vale of Aylesbury A were second finishing in a time of 10h00m09s. Those were "Mostly Men" teams. Of the 41 teams, 35 were "Mostly Men" teams, but there were also four "Mostly Ladies" teams and two "Veterans" teams. Bearbrook R&TC had the first teams to finish in both the "Mostly Ladies" and "Veterans" categories.

The organiser's website says "We are very disappointed to tell you that we will not be able to organise the Ridgeway Relay this year - Covid-19 has ended an unbroken 30 year run." It also says "We have now launched an informal, non-competitive virtual Ridgeway Relay, as a training run to be held on Sun Jun 28th 2020, the date we had planned to hold the proper Ridgeway Relay."

The logistics of taking photos at the Ridgeway Relay

I've been taking photos of the Ridgeway Relay each year since 2014. As the race tends to be crowded at the changeover points (and parking is often limited), I instead take photos at points that are somewhere along the route of each leg. The point I choose depends to a large extent on where I can drive to and can easily park. And, by being in the "middle" of a leg, runners have a surprise or something to look forward to! and it can be comforting for those legs that reach places that are miles from anywhere!

If I cloned myself 9 times, then me and my clones could see all the runners passing through each of these points. Luckily, there is only one of me! So I have to make a decision as to how long to stay at at each point (before leaving for the next point). I try to optimise this so that overall I get photos of the most runners. It's an interesting mathematical problem which I've grabbled with a few times. However, after photographing the race for several years, I've now have a timetable which I try to keep to.

This timetable means that I'm too late to take photos part way through leg 6. That's the leg that starts in South Stoke.

And, although I can see the runners who are at the front during leg 1, this attempt to try to get photos of the most runners means that for the later stages I don't get photos of those at the front nor those at the back.

It makes for a long tiring day (0640 to 1930) but it's very enjoyable - I'm going to miss it badly.

Photos of some of the male runners who did well at the 2019 Ridgeway Relay

Here are photos of the fastest male runner that I saw in each of the legs (apart from leg 6). As I've attempted to explain above, for most of the legs there will be runners who got there before I did. These photos are ordered by the leg number. By the way, you can click on any of the photos on this web page if you wish to see the photo in hi-res.

Ben Cole (33, Swindon_Shin_Splints) was 1st in leg 1.

Mark Apsey (24, Reading_Roadrunners_A) was 2nd in leg 2.

James Eve (15, Headington_RR_Open) was 1st in leg 3.

James Currah (43, Witney_B) was 2nd in leg 4.

Jason Campbell (44, Wroughton_Whippets) was 8th in leg 5.

Brian Kirsopp (27, Reading_Roadrunners_Veterans) was 3rd in leg 7.

Tom Baker (12, Eynsham_A) was 2nd in leg 8.

Paul Bonner (28, Royal_Wootton_Bassett_Hounds_A) was 15th in leg 9.

Steve Young (42, Witney_A) was 1st in leg 10.

Photos of male runners from other running clubs

Here are photos of a male runner from running clubs other than those mentioned above. These photos are ordered by the name of the running club.

David Fraser (1, Abingdon_Mostly_Men) was 8th in leg 8.

Colin Hornby (2, Alchester_Red) was 2nd in leg 10.

Rob Palmer (6, Bearbrook_Ladies) was 9th in leg 5.

Jon Taylor (8, Chiltern_Harriers) was 4th in leg 7.

Mark Naylor (9, Chissy_Chasers) was 18th in leg 10.

Darren James (10, Compton_Sole_Mates) was 18th in leg 9.

Dave Wallace (14, Handy_Cross_Runners) was 5th in leg 4.

Rob Gregory (17, Hungerford_Hares) was 39th in leg 10.

Simeon Smith (18, Marlborough_Ladies) was 9th in leg 2.

Richard Dunbabin (22, Oxford_Tri) was 19th in leg 7.

Richard Pitt (23, Pewsey_Pacers) was 14th in leg 8.

Steve Buckle (30, St_Albans_Striders_A) was 2nd in leg 1.

Luke Byrne (32, Swindon_Harriers) was 7th in leg 9.

Eddie O'Dwyer (34, Swindon_Striders) was 30th in leg 1.

Oliver Newell (35, Thame_Runners_A) was 11th in leg 10.

Paul Gregory (37, Vale_of_Aylesbury_A) was 3rd in leg 3.

Andy Bailey (41, WHH_All_stars) was 5th in leg 7.

Photos of some of the female runners who did well at the 2019 Ridgeway Relay

Here are photos of the fastest female runner that I saw in each of the legs (apart from leg 6). These photos are ordered by the leg number.

Catriona Turnbull (17, Hungerford_Hares) was 38th in leg 1.

Catie O'Donoghue (33, Swindon_Shin_Splints) was 4th in leg 2.

Clare Mowforth (39, WHH_Throughbreds) was 4th in leg 3.

Sue Francis (11, Compton_Chaos) was 11th in leg 4.

Marie Sucksmith (40, WHH_Amazons) was 18th in leg 5.

Faye Sharpley (35, Thame_Runners_A) was 5th in leg 7.

Linda Charlesworth (44, Wroughton_Whippets) was 16th in leg 8.

Geri Taylor (44, Wroughton_Whippets) was 17th in leg 9.

Hannah Claydon (32, Swindon_Harriers) was 3rd in leg 10.

Photos of female runners from other running clubs

Here are photos of a female runner from running clubs other than those mentioned above. These photos are ordered by the name of the running club.

Rosie Davies (1, Abingdon_Mostly_Men) was 39th in leg 4.

Sam Usher (3, Alchester_White) was 16th in leg 7.

Angie Nuttall (6, Bearbrook_Ladies) was 13th in leg 8.

Ellie Bates (8, Chiltern_Harriers) was 6th in leg 2.

Eleanor Woodley (9, Chissy_Chasers) was 33rd in leg 2 - I don't think I got any photos of female runners from Chissy_Chasers.

Laura Leach (12, Eynsham_A) was 11th in leg 2.

Penny Cutler (14, Handy_Cross_Runners) was 22nd in leg 3.

Amy Flaxman (16, Headington_RR_Vets_(not_vets!)) was 19th in leg 2.

Amber Eden (18, Marlborough_Ladies) was 19th in leg 4.

Hilary Westall (22, Oxford_Tri) was 34th in leg 6 - I don't think I got any photos of female runners from Oxford_Tri.

Clare Kellar (23, Pewsey_Pacers) was 22nd in leg 10.

Laura Peatey (24, Reading_Roadrunners_A) was 16th in leg 3.

Fran Machin (28, Royal_Wootton_Bassett_Hounds_A) was 27th in leg 4.

Caroline Bailes (31, St_Albans_Striders_B) was 29th in leg 3.

Tamzyn Taylor (34, Swindon_Striders) was 36th in leg 10.

Sophie Delderfield (37, Vale_of_Aylesbury_A) was 5th in leg 2.

Lindsey Smith (42, Witney_A) was 17th in leg 8.

Postscript

If you did the Ridgeway Relay in 2019 and want a reminder, then here's a link to all the photos that I took.
The organisers website has a link to some photos taken by Marlborough Running Club and a link to the results.

If you want to see the reviews I've done on other races, then here's a link to a web page that includes an index of the reviews of races.

I'm planning for my next review to be of the 2019 Didcot 5. I plan to post that on Sun Jul 5th 2020. Today was also going to be the date of the CPM Thame 10K but that has been postponed. I'm planning to post a review of the 2019 CPM Thame 10K on Sun Jul 12th 2020.

I maintain a web page for runners that provides a list of races near Oxfordshire and the latest results. Visit www.oxonraces.com and follow @oxonraces

This web page is at www.oxonraces.com/blog/2020-06-28-ivinghoe-beacon. It was created on June 24th 2020 and last updated on June 28th 2020.