This year the Fast Frisky 40's Captain couldn't make it (some jolly to Antarctica) and our Vice Captain then suffered a detached retina the week before the race so I became Captain for the day. Fortunately all went well apart from a last minute hiccup when I discovered at the start of leg 10 that any women running leg 16 were supposed to wear trousers. Naturally I'd scheduled a woman on leg 16 and no, she wasn't wearing trousers, nor was she likely to be persuaded to ! Cue rapid driving to swap runners 15 and 16.
Once again the team performed creditably, finishing 35th of 74 teams (8 worse than last year). The weather was different - a downpour on legs 5-8 and high humidity once the sun came back out made a change from the normal unseasonal heat that usually re-appears on Marathon Day ! Hardest legs of the day (based on the average pace per km of teams finishing 21-40) were 5, 11, 8, 14 and 3.
Full results are below. Don't write to me saying the individual leg placings are wrong - I know - our individual times are correct but some of the cumulative team placings aren't - the team position change doesn't match my own experience (on leg 3 I definitely passed 13 runners and was passed by only 1 yet the official times show me as gaining only 8 places !)
Regardless of such irrelevancies it was the normal great day, a good performance by everyone, and the post-race refreshments went down as well as usual. See you all next year !
Leg |
Distance |
Runner |
Time |
Cumulative |
Position |
Comments |
1. |
3.0K |
George Keith |
13:16 |
0:13:16 |
46 |
A fast, flat leg with loads of other runners to provide competition. |
2. |
2.7K |
Khalil Tawil |
14:05 |
0:27:21 |
53 |
Uphill (although it doesn't look it) for the first 1.5K then flat for the remainder. |
3. |
2.9K |
David Malloch |
13:21 |
0:40:42 |
45 |
Uphill all the way, especially the last 1.5k. It must be 7 years since I did this leg - I'd forgotten how tough it was. |
4. |
2.8K |
Kent Preston |
12:08 |
0:52:50 |
42 |
Gently downhill with an uphill finish. |
5. |
2.8K |
Michael Ross-McCall |
13:08 |
1:05:58 |
34 |
Undulating - the hardest leg for all abilities on the day. Good time, Michael. |
6. |
2.8K |
Jennifer Cornelius |
16:54 |
1:22:52 |
50 |
A long gentle downhill with a nasty, steep uphill finish (sorry Jennifer !) |
7. |
3.2K |
Dennis Bell |
12:18 |
1:35:10 |
39 |
Down towards the sea and then a long run straight into the wind. |
8. |
3.2K |
George |
15:51 |
1:51:01 |
41 |
Over 2K into the wind and then a hard uphill section of close to 1K. |
9. |
3.0K |
Mike Alexander |
17:12 |
2:08:13 |
43 |
Uphill at the start and then a long downhill. |
10. |
3.2K |
David |
14:49 |
2:23:02 |
41 |
An uphill slog of 1.5K followed by an undulating 2K. |
11. |
3.0K |
Trevor Lewis |
13:53 |
2:36:55 |
39 |
Uphill all the way apart from the last 300M. A tough leg, and since Trevor knew it from last year... |
12. |
3.3K |
Khalil |
17:17 |
2:54:12 |
41 |
A long downhill and then gently uphill to the finish. |
13. |
3.0K |
Michael |
14:05 |
3:08:17 |
42 |
Fairly flat all the way. |
14. |
3.1K |
Kent |
14:34 |
3:22:51 |
41 |
Climbing up over the Saudi Causeway Highway with a descent to the finish. |
15. |
3.4K |
Denise |
14:23 |
3:37:14 |
38 |
Long and flat with a climb over Burgerland flyover. A great time since Denise had run leg 13 for another team. |
16. |
3.5K ? |
Dennis |
14:06 |
3:51:20 |
35 |
Pretty flat, true distance unknown as course was changed. A second real good run by Dennis. |
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