Originally posted to the Green Belt Relay facebook page, this is the stage breakdown of the 2024 race. Thanks to Peter Kennedy for the detailed run through that allows us to re-live the event.
SATURDAY
Stage 1: Hampton Court to Staines.
Windmiler Richard Cohen and I lead the pack over the road crossing (I feel like a Fiat 500 leading Formula 1 cars) and then they’re away. Alex and I jump in the van and head off to Walton to check Ealing’s water station, lay some sawdust through Shepperton and at the final towpath in Staines, then briefly say hi at the changeover.
The overall record for stage 1 has stood for 17 years until 2022, and now it’s fallen again – Paddy Roddy of THH taking another eight seconds off it with a blistering run. Peter Cook of Ranelagh is second in a run that would have broken that old stage record just two years ago. Not far behind in third, and lead V35, is Rich Bull of Chasers. It is clear from the outset that Thames want their prize back, Ranelagh aren’t interested in giving it back, and Chasers fancy it too. What a start.
Stragglers announce their intentions to challenge for the women’s trophy with a fierce win for Maddie Garner over Chasers’ Mollie Virgo in 2nd and Dulwich’s Helen Shannon in 3rd (taking the LV35 category win), all within 22 seconds of each other. Wow.
Steve Francis of MAC is fourth overall and takes the V45 category win, while last year’s broken record winner Joseph Gonzalez-Armas of 26.2 gets the V55 win and record. Colleen Renihan of Serpentine wins the LV45 category over Caroline Heminsley of BeaRCat not far behind.
Alison Dunks of Burgess Hill is lead V55 woman and Dineke Austin of Eagles lead V65 woman. They may have been alone in their categories, but you gotta be in it to win it…
Stage 2: Staines to Boveney
We are standing at Boveney catching our breath from detour-marshalling and then sawdusting when all of a sudden Richard Ollington of Thames comes into view, over a minute ahead of record pace. That can’t be right, we think, there was a big detour – they’re a mile away from the finish. And yet there he is. The timekeepers scramble to attention and I grab my camera.
Marc Leyshon of Ranelagh is three minutes behind and lead vet, while Ed Rees of Chasers is third – the same order of clubs as stage 1. Thames are starting to open an overall lead, and Chasers are already a way up in the Mixed.
Harri Daniel of Stragglers makes it two from two for the home club in the women’s race, opening up a sizeable gap already in the women’s leaderboard. Sophie Dunley from Serpentine is second, and Windmilers’ Kate Carter in third picks up both V35 and 45 category wins.
Denis Gorman from Frontrunners is fourth overall and lead V45 over Pete Gregorowski of Straggers, and Paul Prosser continues a memorable weekend of Burgess Hill achievements as lead V55 over teammate Andrew Biggs. Vikki Filsell of THH is lead LV55 over Lucy Pickering from Dulwich.
Two stages in and the race is taking shape. And we’re going to have to update our timekeeping and marshalling instructions – these winning times are too quick for them.
Stage 3: Boveney to Little Marlow
We head over to Maidenhead, wave at the MAC marshals by the bridge and in Cookham, lay a few bits of sawdust along the way (David Clarke does the must-have checks for the railway crossing on this one), and we’re at Little Marlow to open the gates to the car park.
Stage 3 sees no change to the opening of the women’s race: Stragglers take a hat trick of stage wins with a thumping win from Sarah Holt beating the stage record by 6 (six) minutes, and taking the vet win too. Claire Altmann of Thames is second and Aurelia Osborne of Beckenham is third and first V45. Stragglers are only three races in and already 35 minutes ahead of Thames – it’s breathtaking stuff.
But there’s a big change at the top for the men. After two dominant Thames stages, it’s Chasers’ turn to boss it – Chris Biley takes huge chunks out of both their main rivals to take the overall lead and nearly two minutes off the stage record, as well as the V35 win. And behind him is a great story too – Jonathan Neville of Burgess Hill takes easily BHR’s best ever finish that would have been a course record if Chris hadn’t just smashed it. It’s a big, big result for them. Ranelagh’s Nick Twomey limits the damage somewhat, and the leaderboard sees Chasers nearly 4 minutes in the lead and Thames and Ranelagh just ten seconds apart.
In the other vets’ categories, Rob Buckle of 26.2 picks up the V45 win, Duncan Wright of BA the V55 one, just ahead of Karsten Buecker of Serpentine. Ann Kearey of Ranelagh is lead LV55 over Caroline Rush of Eagles, while Andrew Atkinson of SHAEF Shifters is our lead V65.
Stage 3 sometimes feels to me like a bit of a transition phase before the hard stuff starts (mainly because we rarely see any of it, although we did at least see the start this time) but not today. What a race that was.
Stage 4: Little Marlow to Great Kingshill
We’ve got work to do on stage 4 and we split up – Alex makes sure the marshals are in place for the nasty road crossings, while I get on my foldie commuter bike and sawdust the lengthy woods sections. Legend has it that there are runners still wandering these woods from the 1996 race, trying to find their way out…
In the men’s race, it’s an amazingly closely-fought race, with the top seven runners all finishing within two and a half minutes of each other – it’s a good job the timekeepers were paying attention. Neil Chisholm of Thames takes the win and sweeps the V35 and 45 categories too (class is permanent…). He’s ahead of Jonathan Smith from Ranelagh, Marius Thies from Front Runners and James Senior of 26.2, with Chasers in fifth. Chasers are still in the overall lead but only by just over a minute from Thames, and less than three minutes from Ranelagh.
Meanwhile there’s an interesting race hotting up in the Vets race between Serpentine Paddington and Ranelagh Golds. They’re just one place away from each other in the leaderboard, and here they’re just eight seconds apart. One to keep an eye on too.
In the women’s race, Stragglers’ stranglehold is at last loosened a little. Catriona Paterson of Hillingdon takes the win (Hillingdon’s third ever stage win) and the V35 category just ahead of Stephanie James of MAC.
Sophie Biggs of Stragglers is the lead LV45 over Verity Knott of 26.2, while David Stevenson of Stragglers picks up the V55 win over Damian Coffey of Ealing.
Good to see Alun Thomas, former BeaRCat captain, too. Welcome back Alun.
So stage 4, the first of our Mountain stages, is done – sometimes it’s an opportunity for a team’s superstars to open up a gap, but this time it’s made it all even tighter. On through the Chilterns…
Stage 5: Great Kingshill to Chipperfield
Our longest stage. We’re off ahead – I love marking the fields down to Little Missenden here and we’re done with marking for a couple of hours, so time to take stock, eat some flapjacks, drink some tepid water and wave at marshals. It’s been easy so far because all the marshals have been bang on time – makes it so much easier. We haven’t even argued with each other yet. Thank you all. Tom Reay from Ranelagh marks the tricky bits of this stage too so we can press on.
Stage 4 was a bit cagey. Stage 5 runners can see Thames’s James Hoad warming up, and James doesn’t really do “cagey” – last year he was 30 yards up after 60 yards of the race and beat the stage record in 1:13:50. This year he wins in (need to double check this): 1:13:50. Really?? Dylan Wymer of Dulwich somehow manages to get within six minutes of him in second. Ranelagh’s David Ready is third, while Chasers counter all this with Steph McCall. She’s one of three women in Chasers’ title-targeting Mixed team and she finishes just behind David, in fourth overall, and smashing the women’s record by over two minutes. All of that leaves Thames with a nearly eleven minute lead over their rivals Chasers, who have two minutes over Ranelagh.
James Hughes of Windmilers is first vet in this stage, closely followed by Natalie Seymour of Thames – they pick up their respective V35 wins. Ranelagh and Serpentine’s vets teams meanwhile again finish within a minute of each other, and there’s not much to separate them still.
In the women’s race, Steph and Natalie (see above) are first two, with Lu Robbins of Chasers in third. Lisa Bailey of Stragglers is third, keeping their lead to over half an hour – it’s looking like a good weekend for them. And four women in the top 9 on our longest stage.
Graham Weller of Ranelagh is first V45 over Graham Hannay of Striders, while Oliver Day of Burgess Hill picks up the V55 win over Dave Dixon of BA. GBR legend Ange Norris, Dulwich captain, picks up category wins for both V45 and V55 women, with Gayle Tyler of Burgess Hill second V45.
So the race seems to be shaping up – Thames opening a small lead overall, not much to separate the vets, Chasers practically already won the mixed, and Stragglers in command of the women. We stop to chat with timekeepers on Chipperfield Common and look enviously at the crowds outside the Two Brewers, then head east. Nearly half way through the day.
Stage 6: Chipperfield to St Albans
We head through Kings Langley, stop for a quick chat with Elmbridge’s marshals and BHR’s water station, then head up the hill to mark the invisible turn through the hedge into the fields with tons of sawdust. Peter Wedderburn, John Greaves and David Clarke are marking most of this stage so it’s an opportunity for us to jump ahead to stage 7, where we’ve got work to do in another tricky woods section. We’re not usually this far ahead of the race so we indulge ourselves in the unimaginable luxury of a 10-minute food break at Hatfield Asda – yum.
At the title end of the race, there is once again not much daylight between our three top clubs. Eirin McDaid of Ranelagh takes the win and the V35 too, followed by not one but two Chasers – Stu Rawlinson and then Anna Lawson, a few seconds behind. Simon Barrett from Thames in fourth (and the V45 win) means that the leaderboard doesn’t change much, with Thames nearly ten minutes up and Ranelagh just five seconds behind Chasers (five seconds! After seven hours of racing!).
Anna has also broken the course record here by nearly two minutes, which is frankly ridiculous given that a muddle at the start added 0.4 miles to the route, while Simon has managed a V45 record too.
So in the women’s race, Anna got the win, followed by Chloe Binley of Stragglers, continuing to build their lead in the women’s team event. Lucy Hancock of Chasers is first LV35, while Sarah Simms of MAC is the first LV45, followed by Zoe Dobbs of Hillingdon.
At the mature end of the race, Dulwich’s Andrea Ceccolini is ahead of Straggler Jim Desmond for the V55 men’s race, and we have a V65 lead in Robert Kipling of Ealing. Paula Maguire of Ranelagh is our LV55 champ, followed by Maria Higgins of 26.2.
Onwards through Hertfordshire and we’re over half way. Still plenty more to do.
Stage 7: St Albans to Hatfield
The 4 miles of the Alban Way are a chance for all of the organisers to take a very brief breath – not much marking or marshalling needed there. Then all hell breaks loose again. We check the road crossings through Hatfield and lay some sawdust at the tricky turn over the railway, then we need to check the Front Runners marshals at the nasty A1000 road crossing, and as ever we’re right up against it for the must-have sawdusting through Commons Wood and Welwyn. It’s flooded in parts too, just to add to the fun. By the time we get to the final section, Chasers’ Charlie Mason has yet again caught me up, so we exchange a “same time next year” cheery wave and I get the rest of the sawdust down as fast as I can. Just about got away with it again.
At the sharp end, we yet again have our three contenders – Chasers’ Charlie with the win, Thames’ Gordon Pearce with second and the V35 win, and Ranelagh’s Mark Herbert in third. It’s a convincing win for Chasers and suddenly Thames’s lead is down to under six minutes, and there’s then a seven minute gap to Ranelagh. I’m no longer so sure that Thames have this in hand.
In the women’s race, Thames score a big win for Bethanie Murray. Sarah Winter takes the V45 win (and course record) for Stragglers and their overall team lead is still just over half an hour, but the women’s race isn’t quite done yet. Natasha Sheel of Serpentine is second and first V35, equalling the course record, with Chasers’ Gaby Reynolds just behind her.
Serpentine and Ranelagh are, meanwhile, still stubbornly exchanging blows like Victorian prize fighters in the Vets team race, this time with Natasha taking four minutes or so off Rick Jenner. No idea who’s going to win that one.
MAC captain Nick Sille wins the V45 category from Ranelagh’s Rick, while Stragglers’ Malcolm Davies wins the V55, and Striders’ John Foss the V65. Behind Sarah in the LV45 is Melanie Tudor from MAC, while Alison McCulloch from Ealing is our first LV55.
Saturday afternoon is ticking on and the race is hotting up.
Stage 8: Letty Green to Dobbs Weir
We don’t see any of Stage 8 at all, having missed Letty Green – Peter Wedderburn and John Greaves have marked Hertford town centre and the rest of it is fairly straightforward, and we’re keen to get on. We’re also getting reports of impassable crops from 11 from Chrissie so we’ve having to replan on the fly too.
Meanwhile on stage 8, things continue to get interesting. Chris Pocock of Chasers takes the win, Ed Perry of Ranelagh is just 37 seconds behind him and first V35, while Matt Jones of Thames has a good run in 6th but concedes nearly four minutes to Chasers. So the glint of hope for Chasers from their stage 7 win is starting to grow and after nine hours of racing Thames’ lead is down to just 2 minutes, while Ranelagh are 7 minutes off.
In the women’s race, Harriet Preedy of QPH scores another big win well ahead of Ranelagh’s Nicola Douglas, who wins the LV35 category. Claire Curtain of Stragglers is third and LV45 winner, and the Stragglers team inch a bit further ahead of Thames in the team race.
In the vets, Serpentine have opened up a nine minute gap over Ranelagh, still not a lot either. Individually, Nick McKay of Windmilers has a great run for 3rd overall and first V45, followed by Crispin Allen of Stragglers 4th overall and first V55, leading a healthy field of V45s and 55s on this stage. Behind Nicola and Claire (see above), Dorothy Wilkinson of Elmbridge wins the LV55 category.
The hills of Epping are looming ahead of us – what does the forest have in store for us this time?
Stage 9: Dobb’s Weir to High Beach
Stage 9 saw some history being made: GBR legend Hugh Torry of Serpentine, already our GOAT in terms of stage wins, won his SIXTEENTH GBR stage (as well as the LV45 category and stage record). Congratulations Hugh.
The oldies generally ruled this stage. V45 Ted Mockett of Ranelagh was second, putting pressure on the top two. V55 David Symons, himself a multiple stage and Green Belt winner, kept Thames in the lead with 5th place. Meanwhile in the chase for the belt, youngster Ellen Cheetham put further pressure on Thames with a 4th place overall, bringing the lead down to just over a minute. Steven Artist of Front Runners got a strong third too.
In the women’s race Victoria Crawford of Thames was second behind Ellen and first LV35, while Sonia Bandeira of Stragglers was lead V45 and close enough to Victoria to limit the damage to their overall lead in the teams race.
Frances Sille of MAC was second V35, Andrea Pickup of Beckenham was second V45, Julian Diamond of SHAEF was second V55, while Paul Robinson and Trevor Pask of Ealing battled it out for first and second V65.
Into the forest, with Thames barely a minute ahead. All to play for.
Stage 10: High Beach to Toot Hill
I’m always worried about stage 10. The first mile is almost impossible to navigate, and I struggle to mark it no matter how many times I’ve been there. So we get there nice and early and I do it slowly and on foot rather than bike – keep the fence in sight on the right, it’s not too hard. Then we’re in the car and moving on to mark Bell Common and check the marshals and then off towards 11.
Stage 10 followed the pattern we’ve seen so far: Thames, Chasers and Ranelagh within about 2 minutes of each other. It also saw the resurgence of another serial GBR stage winner, in this case the irrepressible Bryn Reynolds, notching up his 11th stage win. It saw another awesome vet performance, the extraordinary Ben Reynolds (Thames) pulverising the V45 record, let alone the V55 one. And it saw Ranelagh hanging on and keeping the pressure on, this time Dave Lawley. By the end, Chasers were just 33 seconds away from Thames, and Ranelagh were just 6 minutes off them.
In the women’s race, Lizzy Apsley took a big win for Thames and ate a big chunk out of Straggers’ lead in the women’s race as well as out of the course record. Ellen Easten from MAC was next and first V35, and Libby Ferguson minimised the Stragglers damage with third and first V45 and they remained 24 minutes ahead.
In the veterans’ slugfest, Mike Thomas of Ranelagh was second V45 to Jonny Hough of Dulwich, but scored a big right hook to Serpentine in the team race, narrowing that gap to just over ten minutes. Steve Clelland of Stragglers was second V55 and 8th overall, and Rebecca Bissell was second LV45. Gail Arnott of Beckenham was first LV55 followed by Maryam Hulme of QPH.
Reports came in afterwards of horrors on the Essex Way – deep sticky mud, runners on their hands and knees crawling under fallen trees, cuts and bruises. We’ll see what we do about that, but well done to everyone who finished that one.
Stage 11: Toot Hill to Blackmore.
Stage 11: I dream of being finished by this point and running the stage myself, and it never really works out. This time, our marker Chrissie has been unable to get through the field past High Ongar and we need to find an alternative. This has happened before and we know what to do, and I enjoy some moments marshalling runners into the evening tranquility.
Ranelagh’s Ross MacDonald wins this one (and the V35 category) after a lot of second place near misses, gaining 3.46 on Thames captain Nick Altmann in 4th and 5.47 on Chasers’ Joss Thomas in 6th. Windmilers score a second place with Sam Walker and a 5th with Jared Alexander too. As a result of all this, we go into the evening break beautifully poised with just 2 mins 49 separating the top three teams after twelve hours of running – amazing.
Stragglers go to dinner with a 23 minute lead in the women’s team race, as Thames stubbornly refuse to give up, this time with a fine win from captain Katy Hedgethorne (and V35 win) just 11 seconds from Stragglers Nicky Hornzee (who got the V45 win) – they are really battling when they come past me at half way.
The main story here is also in the vets race. Serpentine have led much of the day, narrowly, but here Ranelagh take over the lead with a great run from Jonathan Moore, also sweeping the vets categories as a V55, giving them a lead of just 1 minute 9 seconds over Serpentine. Wow.
Matthew Clare from Front Runners is second V45, Russell Holt from BeaRCat second V55, Janine Rawlinson of Chasers second LV35, Nathalie Gaudillat second LV45.
Perhaps two of the standout performances of the day are from V65s: Mike Dennison of British Airways is 15th overall, and Dave Wilson of 26.2 is second V65 and equals the all-time record for the most stages ever run in the GBR. More about him tomorrow…
SUNDAY
Stage 12: Blackmore to Thorndon Park
We skip breakfast in the disappointing Holiday Inn and head back towards Blackmore to lay sawdust around the main road turns in the calm morning cool. Alex drops me in Ingrave where I say hi to the 26.2 water station and then mark the last bit into Thorndon, arriving there about the same time as her. I have a quick chat with teams including Chasers’ Joe Spraggins, who tells me they reckon with better stage selection they could win this.
We head off to mark stage 13 and I get the Whatsapp that we dread – Thames are missing a runner. I alert the first aiders and look at who is closest on the live tracker, and have a few anxious minutes planning for the worst. It slowly emerges that it’s Matt Jones and he has gone wrong – we’d marked that one quite carefully so I wasn’t sure where, and feelings turn to slight relief as well as pain for Matt.
So at the sharp end, Ed Rees takes the win (and vets title) for Chasers, Nick Twomey is just over a minute behind, but Thames end up with a cutoff time – Matt has at least managed to finish, so Thames can still try and win something, but it’s now Chasers in the lead, Ranelagh 1:33 behind, and Thames now 50 minutes off the top and hoping for a miracle. It’s now a two-horse race, and Chasers have a great chance. Simon Shenton of BCG has a big run for third and his teammate Andrew Harris gets 9th too – they’re having a good weekend.
In the women’s race, Bethanie Murray of Thames gets her second stage win of the weekend, and again Sarah Winter of Stragglers bags the V45 record to limit the damage, so Stragglers are 20 minutes ahead – still a long way from a comfortable margin.
The veteran teams still aren’t giving up. Serpentine’s James Gillanders (another many-time stage winner) has a great run to take the V45 title ten minutes ahead of Ranelagh leaving the two teams 5th and 6th on the leaderboard and Serpentine recapturing the lead. There’s quite a battle still going on between MAC Old Timers and Stragglers vets too, and they’re just a couple of minutes apart.
Dave Dixon of BA has a great run as first V55 and 10th overall, with Straggler Steve Clelland not far behind in that category. Ange Norris once again sweeps up both V45 and V55 categories – generally the stage 12 results suggest that the youngsters find it harder to get up in the morning.
So one stage in on Sunday, the race all of a sudden is turned on its head. It’s not over yet though and both Chasers and Ranelagh must fancy it, while any slip-ups could let Thames back in.
Stage 13: Thorndon Park to Cranham
We mark the first few turns of this through Warley and chat to the Burgess Hill and Serpentine marshals. Chrissie has marked the rest of this stage on her bike earlier in the morning, so we head over to the Jobber’s Rest where Alex gets a coffee and I mark the first couple of miles of 14.
Stage 13 turns out to have an amazing story to tell. Crispin Allen of Stragglers was running with me back when I was good, and unlike me he’s carried on doing it ever since and just kept getting better. He’s run every race since 2018 and had four second places. Today he goes one better and, as a V55, bags the stage win. It’s turning into an amazing weekend for Stragglers. Well done Crispin.
In the overall race, Ranelagh’s Mark Herbert takes 44 seconds out of Chasers’ lead with Joss Thomas limiting the damage, while Dave Symons of Thames is not too far back in 12th (there are four V55s in the top 12!). Ranelagh came close to doing a Thames by missing a key turn in the fields around half way when they appeared set for a 1-2-3, so Mark has had to dig deep for that result. The race hinges on moments like that.
In the women’s race, Kirsty Matthews of Maidenhead takes the stage win. Nicky Hornzee from Stragglers takes second and sweeps the V35 and 45 categories too, with Dulwich’s Katie Smith in third.
In the vets’ team race, Jonathan Moore from Ranelagh takes 37 seconds from Karsten Buecker from Serpentine, so the Serpies lead is under 9 minutes.
Lucy Pickering is our lead V55 for Dulwich, leading Alison Dunks from Burgess Hill.
Heading towards the river with 49 seconds separating the two lead teams, after nearly 14 hours of racing…
Stage 14: Cranham to Davy Down
I cycle through Thames Chase and over Thurrock’s only hill, and meet Alex with some Front Runners at the road, then we head over to meet Beckenham and the world’s greatest-ever water station, where Ken has got fresh flowers on the table and has donned black tie, in perhaps the remotest point of the entire course. Then we’re skipping ahead over the QE2 bridge.
The stage is won by Paddy Roddy of Thames, although the stage record survives. Chasers’ Anna Lawson is just three minutes behind him, beating the stage record by well over eight minutes, and extending Chasers’ lead over Ranelagh to 2:33 – each second is going to count. Ranelagh’s Dave Lawley is 4th overall and lead V35.
There’s big news in the women’s team race too. Natalie Seymour of Thames beats the V35 record by over fourteen minutes and is ten minutes ahead of Claire Curtain from Stragglers, who herself beats the V45 course record. Natalie’s run puts Thames women tenth overall and closes the gap to Stragglers to just over 17 minutes.
In the vets team event, Serpentine hold their lead over Ranelagh – Graham Weller of Ranelagh takes 48 seconds off Roger Reid from Serpies in that ongoing battle. Graham takes the V45 crown with Roger second.
Windmilers get another double inside the top ten too and while they’re a long way off Chasers, they look good for second place in the Mixed.
Oliver Day of Burgess Hill takes the V55 crown followed by Malcolm Davies of Stragglers, while Gayle Tyler of Burgess Hill is second-placed V45. Ann Keary of Ranelagh takes another LV55, while Dineke Austin takes another LV65.
The race finish at Davy Down is enlivened by a giant puddle. Sensible runners avoid it, but many of them are goaded by the crowd into splashing straight through it, with some memorable results.
The race is heading over the QE2 bridge and there are just eight stages to go with all to play for.
Stage 15: Stone to Lullingstone
We stop briefly in Stone to chat with timekeepers and runners, then off to check marshalling with BHR, BCG, Elmbridge, Thames and Ranelagh, then to Serpentine in Horton Kirby, and we just about have time to see the Lullingstone car park and wave. Peter and John have marked much of this, and I did some on Friday.
The stage sees a big win for Rich Bull of Chasers, taking over 4 minutes from Ranelagh’s Ed Perry and over 10 minutes from Thames, as well as the V35 record by some distance. Windmilers notch up another impressive result with Jon Bruce finishing third.
There’s another big stage win for Victoria Crawford from Thames too, taking another five minutes out of Stragglers’ lead – could they catch up? Frances Sille of MAC is second in that race, and Stragglers Libby Ferguson third (and first LV45).
Chasers’ Graham Sutherland is lead V45, and the vets team race takes another twist as Ranelagh’s Neil Rae claws back some time (and second place in the V45) over Serpentine’s Abu Asad. British Airways’ V65 Mike Dennison is again well up the field, while SHAEF’s Julian Diamond has another great V55 result too. Beckenham’s Gayle Arnott and Front Runner Gwen Right are the LV55 leaders.
As we head for the mountain stages, that all puts Chasers nearly seven minutes in the lead going into the mountains, and it also means that Stragglers’ lead in the women’s race is down to 12:45 after a sustained charge by Thames, while Serpentine’s lead over Ranelagh in the vets is down just 4:16. It’s nail-biting…
Stage 16: Lullingstone to Tatsfield
We manage a ten-minute tea break in Otford, watching BeaRCat set up their water station, then head over to see Front Runners guide runners onto the North Downs Way. Stage 16 – a stage which can make or break any runner or team. David has marked the early miles and GBR legend Alan Pemberton has marked the rest.
We see the familiar sight of Thames’ James Hoad absolutely tearing down the high street towards us. He ends up beating his 2019 record by 15 seconds. Then we see the less familiar sight of someone nearly keeping up with him – Chasers have seen the opportunity to steal a march on their rivals by putting Chris Biley on this one, and he’s tracking James well, eventually finishing just 46 seconds behind and beating Hugh Jones’s vet record dating all the way back to 2003. He’s eight minutes ahead of Ranelagh’s Ross MacDonald (those two are first and second V35), so he’s stretched Chasers’ lead to nearly 15 minutes, with just six stages to go. It’s a big, big result.
Chasers’ Lu Robbins takes a huge overall win by some distance in the women’s race and 7th overall, but it’s a good race for Stragglers in the women’s team event, with Sophie Biggs taking seven minutes off Thames as well as the V35 and 45 titles, stretching their overall lead to nearly 20 minutes. It’s starting to look good for Stragglers there.
And it’s even bigger news in the vets race where Ranelagh at last overhaul Serpentine to go fifth overall and lead the veterans’ race by 9 minutes. Michael Morris takes 10th overall for Ranelagh (and second V45) ahead of Serpies Ewan Paton in 20th.
Individually, Dulwich’s Dylan Wymer has a big result in third place, as does Pete Gregorowski of Stragglers in 5th and first V45. Teammate David Stevenson is first V55, followed by Andrew Biggs of Burgess Hill. Katy Hedgethorne of Thames is our second vet, with Sarah Simms of MAC second LV45. Elmbirdge’s Dorothy Wilkinson is once again lead LV55, followed by Paula Maguire of Ranelagh, and Ealing’s Robert Kipling takes the V65 title.
So we go into Tatsfield with leads starting to look more solid for the main teams. Six more stages to go, and the next three are brutal ones.
Stage 17: Tatsfield to Merstham.
We set off ahead of the field, check that Front Runners are there for the tricky busy road crossing, then sawdust the road section before the North Downs Way. Beckenham and 26.2 are well set up marshalling, while Tom Reay and David Clarke have marked the rest of it, so we start heading towards Reigate.
Stage 17 sees Ranelagh fight back for the overall race. Eirin McDaid takes the win and over three minutes off Chasers’ lead (and the V35 title), with Chaser Chris Pocock in second. James Senior of 26.2 is 4th overall and second vet. There are more big runs from Windmilers too (James Hughes and Simon Wright in 5th and 6th), and Thames captain Nick Altmann keeps them in the running and takes the V45 title.
In the women’s race Sarah Holt of Stragglers gets her second win of the weekend, and nearly 7 minutes off Thames – she and Claire Altmann are first and second LV35. It puts Stragglers lead up to 26:42.
The vets race sees what look like a decisive shift to Ranelagh, with James Ritchie taking about 15 minutes off rivals Serpentine and an overall lead of nearly 25 minutes in the team race.
Individually, British Airways are again the stand-out with Duncan Wright’s 9th overall to take the V55 title, and Jim Desmond of Stragglers is second there. Lucy Wilson-Shaw of Front Runners is our lead V45, followed by Jo Shelton-Pereda of Dulwich. Chania Hemsley-Smith of Burgess Hill leads the LV55s.
Two more sections of the North Downs Way to go, and only five more stages. Chasers have a slim 11:34 lead over Ranelagh, coming back at them. It’s still anyone’s race.
Stage 18: Merstham to Burford Bridge
We skip the start to go and mark around the school and up to the viewpoint – Peter and John have marked the woods, and we then need to mark Box Hill. Burgess Hill are there on the tricky Pebblehill Road crossing, and Beckenham, BeaRCat, MAC and Striders cover the climb up and down the hill. We stop to say hi to the finish marshals too before fighting our way out of the traffic mayhem.
Stage 18 sees some history: Burgess Hill’s first ever overall stage win. Jonathan Neville had a record-breaking second place the previous day and today goes one better. What a weekend they are having.
Behind him, all sorts of disruption is happening. Ranelagh close to just 2:18 from the lead. Serpentine close the gap in the vets race to just 12:26. And Thames close the gap in the women’s race to just under 15 minutes. How did this happen? Is this race really going right to the wire?
Marc Leyshon is the one who does the damage for Ranelagh – he’s second overall and first vet. Hugh Torry comes third for Serpies vets and breaks the V45 record. And Lizzy Apsley has crushed the women’s stage record to get Thames women back in contention. Ellen Cheetham is the Chaser who just manages to keep them in the lead, finishing second in the women’s race, while Thames’ Gordon Pearce keeps them in contention in 7th place. Maddie Garner for Stragglers keeps them in the lead in the women’s event with 17th overall, while Rick Jenner keeps them in the lead for the vets.
As well as the breathless team events, there are some great individual runs too. Edijs Veide is second V35 for Elmbridge, Paul Knechtl is second V45 for British Airways, and Murray Hunphrey gets a 6th place for Dulwich. Verity Knott of 26.2 is our first LV45 with Caroline Heminsley of BeaRCat second. Ealing’s Damian Coffey is the first V55 followed by Kenny MacLeod of Front Runners. Helen Lane of Serpentine takes the LV55 win.
So we go into our last hilly stage with still very little to separate teams fighting for the Green Belt, the women’s race and the Walking Stick. What must Chasers be thinking? Can they hold on? Or will we be hearing the Ranelagh Ra Ra Ra song again? We still don’t know.
Stage 19: Burford Bridge to West Hanger
We’ve done most of our hard work by this point, but the race takes a weird turn. A saddled horse has escaped from a farm and its owners are trying to get it under control and getting increasingly irate at our runners, who aren’t to blame at all. We miss all this but our runners and timekeepers Sally and Sue have to put up with some nasty abuse and disruption. We’ll move the end of this a little to get further away next time.
At the front of the race it looks like trouble for Clapham Chasers – having led all day they’ve been overhauled by Ranelagh and are 18 seconds behind them. This is thanks to a big stage win for Ranelagh’s Peter Cook, who beats Bryn Reynolds by 2:36 and breaks the course record by over a minute. Bryn takes the V35 win and record. Chaser Stu Rawlinson is right behind Bryn and would have taken the V35 record if Bryn hadn’t nabbed it a minute before.
In the women’s race Harriet Preedy of QPH takes the stage win and the course record and 7th overall – wow. Stragglers calm some nerves in the women’s team event thanks to Harri Daniel, who is first vet, breaking the V35 record, and well ahead of Thames, giving them a lead of over 21 minutes.
In the vets race, Ranelagh open up their team lead to nearly 33 minutes, thanks to Chris Davidson, 4th overall and 3rd vet but well ahead of Serpentine. This one looks headed their way, at last, although who knows what might happen next?
There are lots of great individual races as well as those. Thames’ Simon Barrett takes the V45 win and record in 5th, Windmiler Nick McKay equalled the previous V45 record in 6th, Ellen Easten of MAC is second LV35, John Reece of BeaRCat is first V55, Ranelagh’s Rebecca Bissel is first LV45 followed by Jo Winnick of Clapham Pioneers. Charlie Chandler of SHAEF is first V65. Behind him is Dave Wilson, who completes his 44th ever stage, a new record.
The race is headed out of the mountains with only three stages left. Most of the team prizes look settled except for the overall Green Belt – in over 20 hours of racing, there are just 18 seconds in it, and Ranelagh look to have the edge…
Stage 20: West Hanger to Ripley.
We’re just ahead of the race and marking here while also trying to enter some results into the app, and we get caught napping by runners, needing to call instructions to them as we frantically lay sawdust. It’s OK thanks to marshals from Chasers and 26.2. Phew.
Marius Thies of Front Runners gets a first stage win of the weekend for them. Tim Harman of Chasers does just enough in second place to take the overall lead back from Ranelagh’s Ted Mockett – it’s not much at 1:55 overall, but they’ll take every second they can. Chasers again double up, this time with 2nd and 3rd, then it’s a great V55 win for Thames’ Ben Reynolds, beating the V45 course record. Following him is Ben Chown and another good finish for 26.2.
In the women’s race , Natasha Sheel of Serpentine breaks the vets record to win the stage, and there’s a 2nd place for Catriona Paterson of Hillingdon. Kate Carter of Windmilers is first LV45 and beats the course record. In the team event, Sonia Bandeira of Stragglers is ahead of Andrea Stehlikova of Thames and Stragglers now have a lead of over 25 minutes with just two stages left.
It’s a race dominated by vets. In the actual vets team race, Ranelagh keep their lead to over 34 minutes thanks to a 6th place for Jonathan Moore (and second V55).
The other team prizes look pretty much in the bag, but not the Green Belt. Chasers are going to have to pull something out of the bag on stage 21 here. Can they do it?
Stage 21: Ripley to Walton Bridge.
We like stage 21 as we go canoeing here a lot, but we don’t see any of it this time because we’re headed up to Hampton Court to mark the finish and get stuff ready. I’m concerned about reports of heavy traffic so I ask David (who marks this stage) to get to the finish in case timekeepers are late. He sets up the finish a little bit short, which confuses the timekeepers but they all have the presence of mind to sort it out. It messes up our records though, so apologies to record breakers – my fault. Next time…
Can Chasers pull it out of the bag here? Well, yes they can. Richard Ollington from Thames and Chaser Charlie Mason lead the rest of the field by nearly 5 minutes here with Richard taking the win by 11 seconds. It gives Chasers a lead of nearly 14 minutes going into the final stage, and perhaps captain Joe Spraggins is allowing himself a smile at last. Ranelagh have put up a huge fight and dealt with team illness too, and well done to Jonathan Smith for giving it a go.
There’s a fine result for Pioneer Matt Raeside in third and a really big V45 win for Steve Francis of MAC in fourth overall, while Jospeh Gonzalez-Armas is first V55 and 6th overall. It’s been a big weekend for our older runners and got me wondering about pulling my shoes on a bit more often.
In the women’s race, Chloe Binley pretty much wraps it up for Stragglers with a big stage win, ahead of Helen Shannon of Dulwich, who is lead LV35, and Nicola Douglas of Ranelagh who is second vet.
In the vets race, Ranelagh Golds and Serpentine Paddington are yet again battling neck and neck, with Ranelagh’s Mike Thomas beating Serpies’ Jonathan Moscrop by just 13 seconds. Still not giving up – what a race that has been.
Mark Gratton of SHAEF is second V45 and 7th overall in a great run,. Straggler Ian Hawkes is lead V55, just two seconds ahead of V65 winner John Foss of Sutton Striders, and not far ahead of British Airways captain Chris Kelly. Lindsey Chiswick of Serpentine is lead LV45, just beating Zoe Dobbs of Hillingdon. Ealing’s Alison McCulloch is lead LV55.
So after nearly 22 hours of running, we nearly have a winner. One last stage, and it’s time to head to the finish…
Stage 22: Walton Bridge to Bushy Park Sports Club
We watch the stage 20 winners come in then head up the A3 though slow traffic, and Alex drops me at Bushy Park entrance to sawdust through the park. Peter Wedderburn and Mike Mabin have set up the finish and it all looks in hand, and there isn’t long to wait until the first runners are due. Allan Barrie is there to finish off the results processing. I’ve hardly had time to look at the leaderboards all day so I’ve no idea who’s won – all we know is that it looked too close to call even at stage 20.
In first place, V45 Neil Chisholm gets his second stage win of the weekend for Thames – well done Neil. They’ve ended up in third place just over an hour off the lead and take second place in the men’s race – maybe not what they intended but a good weekend’s work, and a time (23:16) which would have won races in the past.
David Ready comes in second, winning the men’s team trophy and second overall for Ranelagh Harriers, just under 14 minutes from the lead.
Lisa Bailey of Stragglers is third, five minutes ahead of the stage record sealing a huge win for Stragglers in the women’s race. Wow.
Denis Gorman of Front Runners is fourth and they’re also fourth team – it’s a rare GBR where Front Runners don’t win a prize but they’ve just missed one here.
Fifth is Steph McCall – the Chasers are checking their watches and they’re pretty sure she’s done it. She smashes the women’s stage record, Chasers win the Green Belt outright for the first time since 2009, and only the second time ever (and also the Mixed prize – only the third team to win it with a mixed team, and the first to win it with three women). It’s been a huge performance from them and a great win.
Sixth is Glenn Hughes from Serpentine Paddington – the vets team who have fought all weekend with Ranelagh and take home the second place prize.
Ninth is Kevin O’Gallacher for Windmilers Blue team, wrapping up second place in the Mixed event.
Thirteenth is Hadi Katamizadeh of Ranelagh Golds, confirming their hard-fought win for the Walking Stick vets prize.
Twenty second is Vikki Filsell, whose Thames Hare & Hounds Women team take the second prize in the women’s event. She’s also lead LV55.
Thirty-ninth is Jacqeline Chang of 26.2, becoming the first women to run all 22 GBR stages. She takes home the “Broken Record” prize along with teammate Dave Wilson, who today become our most prolific GBR runner ever with 44 stages.
Fifty-fourth is Caroline Wilkinson, whose Ealing team take home the Toilet Seat, and are chuffed to bits.
There are lots more individual achievements – BeaRCat’s Richard Willoughby is lead V55 and teammate Alun Thomas is second, SHAEF’s Andrew Atkinson is again V65 lead ahead of Ealing’s Trevor Pask.
Then there are all the teams who didn’t quite get team prizes but achieved the huge task of making it around the course and also helping us marshal it – thank you to teams from MAC, Clapham Runners, Clapham Pioneers, Beckenham, Dulwich, BCG, BeaRCat, Hillingdon, Sutton Striders, British Airways, Elmbridge, Queens Park Harriers, Burgess Hill, SHAEF Shifters, and Hampton Wick Wanderers (in no particular order) and see you again.
