Youth Policy pays off at Relays

On Saturday I watched the Westies V60 team reach the podium at the British Fell and Hill Running Relay Championships for the second year running, but as they say it was a bit of a roller coaster. Of course the first hurdle is to have 6 fit team members and strength in depth made this possible after a couple of late call offs due to injury. Next test was to get all of the team assembled in the field before the start. With half an hour to the start, there were runners for legs one and four and a very tense team captain. A couple of phone calls established that the leg 2 runners were on their way, but unfortunately still no contact with leg 3 team.

Don Reid led the team and ran leg one for the initial stampede towards the Hammer Head before returning to the field to take on the cruel climb to Clover Law. This was a real grind and even the third place runner was walking with hands on knees. By the time Don was ascending the steepest bits, his face was practically in the grass. Maybe some streamlining technique or looking for his car keys. Much to Don’s relief a few minutes later when Don returned to the field he was met by leg 2 runners David Dickson and Gordon McCaffrey both very experienced and seasoned hill runners and they would need it for the next x km and m climb.

Even better news was that Davie Atkin had now materialized with his bowl of porridge after travel diversions coming from Perthshire had delayed him and David Rogers impressively turned up by bike. Not sure whether he had cycled from home – but still a good way of warming up.

Leg 2 runners David Dickson and the evergreen Gordon McCaffrey were by now battling the keen westerly wind on the tops but eventually made it down to Hollows Burn and were going well. Don and myself offered encouragement to get over one more rise and charge into the pen to hand over to the navigation team. A solid leg 2 had clawed back 5 places overall.

The navigation leg proved to be quite an epic outing. Both Davie Atkin and Dave Rogers had stepped in late in the day and pleased to say they nailed the route choices, helped by clear weather and a 1:25000 large scale map – essential for us older runners. Good job Davie had managed to have his porridge earlier or we might not have seen him again. Unfortunately the massed start meant they didn’t have the privilege to hand over to leg 4.

Leg 4 was the lynch pin with the youth policy coming to the fore. If you need a flying leg 4 – get the youngest V60 you can. New recruit Micky Anderson, who has just turned 60 was the man. After carefully negotiating the greasy wooden bridge Micky showed how to climb Clover Law and was a man on a mission as he picked off the runners. In fact at one stage I did wonder if I would see Micky before our leg 3 team arrived back! About 10 places overall were clawed back which meant the team were hard on the heals of Clayton and Holmfirth V60’s to claim 3^rd place for second year running.

It was a great effort by everyone who all appeared to be enjoying being out on the hills as well as making for an exciting afternoon spectating in a great setting. I am sure Don will already be planning for 2023 and who knows what that will bring.