After the hugely successful* debut that the Harriers had at last year’s Green Belt Relay we’re going back – yes, we are going to run around the M25 (or rather, the beautiful green belt) again.
The Green Belt Relay is a 22-stage running relay race around 220 miles of the Green Belt around the outside of London over a single weekend. The course mainly follows footpaths, towpaths or minor roads. The race involves around 50 teams.
Runners form teams of 11, and each runner runs one stage each day (so two stages over the weekend). The stages range in length and difficulty. The shortest stage is 6 miles and the longest 13.5 miles. Each stage has a cut-off time and to be within that you need to be able to run at a pace of approx.10 mins/mile.
Although the race is a relay, each stage starts at a fixed time. This allows each stage to be a competitive race in its own right, and also allows teams of all different standards to stay roughly together as they advance along the route.
We have one team to fill. We will need (at least) 11 runners to commit to running on both days. There is also a lot of driving involved but not everyone will need to drive/have a car. We plan on staying in Essex (the half way point) on the Saturday night (which might involve a night under canvas!). The club is covering the cost of the race entry but the overnight stay will need to be paid for by the individuals taking part, as will petrol, food, drink etc.
If you are interested in taking part please say you are attending on this event. If there are more than 11 people who want to take part we’ll pull names out of a hat to create the team. We’ll also need some reserves as it is pretty likely that there may be people who have to pull out due to injury etc. Support/cheer squad also encouraged!
If you’ve any questions just shout.
*Our success was in no small part due to some complex and colourful spreadsheets. Who knew spreadsheets could help engineer so much fun?!