Green Belt Relay 2024

This year’s edition of the Green Belt Relay will be held on the weekend of 18th and 19th May 2024.

>> 2024 GBR Sign up <<<

For those that are not aware of the event, the Green Belt Relay is a team relay covering 220 miles around London. The start point of the relay is Hampton Court and the finish is in Bushy Park however we go the long way round! The distance is divided into 22 stages. 11 of the stages are run on Saturday by 11 different runners in each team. The same runners then run a second leg somewhere else on Sunday. Stages vary in length and difficulty (both by terrain and navigational challenge). All stages have a fixed start time so being quick to arrive for the next runner is not necessary, in fact nearly nobody arrives at the finish before the next stage starts.

More details can be found here: http://www.greenbeltrelay.org.uk/
In particular, the details of the 22 stages are here.

26.2 RRC will be entering 3 teams into the event. This means we will need 33 runners. We will be entering one more competitive team and 2 mixed teams.

As this is a relay around London, some runners will be running far from home late of Saturday and again early on Sunday. To make this easier, some runners may need to stay out in subsidised hotels. Hotel arrangements are more complicated this year as our usual hotel is a lot more expensive than usual. We will work out something though!

The relay is very much a fun event. As well as the competitive aspect, just completing the relay is a challenge and very rewarding experience. If you want to know more, ask on a club run for more details.

To cover the cost of race entry and help subsidise hotel costs where needed, we will be asking for an entry fee of £20 per runner. Places will be confirmed once this has been received.

If you wish to take part, please sign-up here:  >>> 2024 GBR Sign up <<<
The google form asks for a lot of information. Please provide as much detail as possible.

We encourage all members to take part however as the minimum distance to run on Saturday is 7.5 miles and then 6 miles on Sunday you need to be comfortable running these distances on back to back days within the course cut off times (around 10.5 – 11 mins/mile).

 

Valentine’s 10k – Thank you volunteers and runners!

Congratulations to everyone that took part in the 2024 Valentine’s 10k. It was a fabulous morning on running and we hope everyone had as much fun as we did.

Well done to winners Rhys Doherty (33:20) and Angharad Daniel (39:36) both from The Stragglers Running Club.  With 60 runners taking part, The Stragglers also won the mob prize!

>> Results available here <<<

As always, a huge thank you to all 26.2 members that made the event possible. Under the leadership of Race Director Jacqueline Chang we delivered another fabulous event.

Surrey League XC – Lloyd Park

 That’s a wrap for the XC season – well nearly!

On Saturday, 10th Feb, the final round of the Surrey XC league saw the Men and Ladies compete at the traditional final venue of Lloyd Park.

It is not everyone’s favourite, but it is mine and it served up a perfect course – dry and mild weather but gloopy mud and standing puddles, not to mention the odd hill!
See Facebook post for some lovely photos.

Men

The men started at midday with 26.2 having 24 runners, all of which made it to the end of the two-lap course, just!

We were led home by Matt Jiggins and James Senior who had very strong runs to finish 10th and 11th respectively.

Three runners, Joe Brewer, Michael Street and Bob Dean ran their first XC of the season.
Full Results

For the season 44 ran at least one race with special praise to the Magnificent Seven who ran all four fixtures: Ed Francis, Mark Cannings, Harry Kim, David Pimm, Max Riley, Dmitry Selemir and Richard Hall.

26.2 were 5th on the day, but after a strong performance over FOT on the day, we nipped in front of them to finish 4th overall.
A great improvement over last year. Ed Francis was also a superb third in the v50 individual award for the season.
Overall Results

Ladies

The Ladies ran at 2pm over the same 5-mile course with six runners. Daisy Street was our first runner home, followed by Tess Lambert, Jess Waring, Caroline Dawson, Sophie Cooke and Lisa Kingsbury.
Full Results 

Over the season 22 people ran with Daisy and Lisa running all four, so special kudos to them!

The Ladies were 6th on the day and finished 4th overall, a brilliant effort.  
Overall Results

So, to summarize a great XC season:

  • Successfully hosted the first fixture at Epsom Downs
  • Both the Men and the Ladies finished 4th in their league – the highest position for awhile
  • We had a large total of 66 runners representing the club

Finally, good luck to Tom Sellen who will be the sole club representative at the National XC on the 24th. Good luck Tom!

Volunteering information for our Valentine’s 10km

Thank you for volunteering for our 10km on February 11th. Here is the list of duties.
We will give out hi vis tops at the club on Monday and Wednesday this week. If you cannot get to the club, you can collect before 8am on the 11th from Chessington School (race HQ).
Here is detailed information about each marshal point. 
Here is the course map.

Any questions, please just get in touch. 
Jacqueline Chang.

Membership renewals time again!

Hi Everyone!

Please renew your membership for 2024!  It’s £15 for the club and an optional £19 for EA membership which almost everyone goes for totalling £34 to pay.

Please pay by BACS using the following details:
Barclays sort code 20-84-17 ; account number 00897302

Please include as reference your name (names if you are paying for more than one person).

EA membership gets you £2 of most race entries and is required for representing the club in cross country league and championship races.

 

 

 

 

Surrey XC League – Oxshott

That went well!
Saturday 13th Jan, at Oxshott, was the third out of four XC races, and 26.2 had by far the largest team out on the day with 50 runners competing.
It was cold, but excellent conditions, on a very technical course where any footwear seemed to work (nearly, fingers crossed for Ben).

Men


First off, at 12pm, were the Men in their combined Div 3&4 race with 363 runners, 32 of which were from 26.2.
26.2 A team were 4th (out of 10 and only 5 points behind 3rd)  with the B team 1st in the B league.

Ben Chown was a fantastic second, even with nursing an ankle injury. James Senior, a strong addition to the club this year,  an excellent 10th (8th in Div 3).
In the V50 category Rob Buckle was 2nd and Ed Francis 4th.
Callum, Richard T, David T, David W and Lorenzo ran their first XC of the season. Full Results

Overall 26.2 are safely in 5th but are only 51 behind3rd place so all to play for in the last fixture!
Individually, Ben is still in 1st place but needs to run the final fixture as all four scores count.
Rob is 2nd and Ed 5th in the V50 category.

Ladies


The Ladies were in the final race of the day at 2pm in their Div 2&3 race which had 365 runners, 18 of which were from 26.2, our largest turnout in a long time! In Div 3 the 26.2 A team were an amazing 2nd with the B team 10th.

New runner to the club Emma Stringer was our first runner home in 22nd place. As well as Emma, Katherine, Jess, Sophie, Tess and Viola also ran their first XC of the season. Full Results

Overall 26.2 A are 3rd and 26.2 B 15th with one fixture to go.
Individually Jo Buckle is 5th in V50 category

Last fixture is on 10th Feb (day before V10K – please volunteer for that!) and likely to be Lloyd Park but not confirmed yet. No race times yet.

Lastly, thanks to all the great photos uploaded to Facebook from Andrew Eames, Graeme Maisey, Henry Carter, John Matthews and Viola Nicastro

Surbiton's friendly running club. Open to runners of all standards, fast or slow. We participate in local races of all distances.