Author: Tracy Ratcliffe
23rd July saw the annual Ekiden team event held at Ipswich High School at Woolverstone. This annual event is hosted by Ipswich Jaffas and always draws hundreds of entries from running clubs all over the region. Previous years had seen the event held at Woodbridge High School so the change of venue was exciting to see. The Ekiden event always seems to be a hot day. This year was no different however the day started with some cloud cover and a breeze and the occasional scattering of rain but the sun came through by midday. We were very excited to see the erection of our new gazebo which had been bought a couple of months earlier. This was the first time it had been put up and was a welcome addition so we could sit inside when we weren’t running or supporting and store our bags somewhere.
RCR had six teams participating of varying abilities, competing against other running clubs. Each member of the team had been allocated a distance to complete the equivalent of a marathon distance of 42.2km.
The first member of each team ran almost three laps of the course covering 7.2km, three members of the team ran two laps to run their 5km leg and the remaining two team mates ran 10k.
Towards the end of the day the sun had become very warm and in the spirit of the clubs’ ethos that we are a club that pull together and support each other, we all ran the last leg together. This was a fantastic way to end the day.
The gazebo was taken down and packed away, hopefully not too long before we can use it again. The day itself is typical of any relay event. Everybody arrives and leaves together with lots of support and community atmosphere. Only a small part of the day is actually running but that doesn’t matter. All that matters is being together.
