Hi all I hope you are well.
Its that time of the year again where we start to look at entering various
relays and I thought I would just give everyone a reminder at how selection
works.
Over the past few years the numbers of runners that now run on the fells has
increased sharply which is great to see but unfortunately the big land owners
over who's land we run races have started to impose limits on the numbers of
runners that can run over their land as they are trying to reduce footfall that
leads to erosion, damage to footpaths and the impact on animals/birds.
With this reduction in numbers there is a knock-on effect to some of the relays
only being able to offer a limited number of team entries.
There are 2 relays that we have historically entered for many years now and
these are the main relays that have had restrictions put on the number of
entries available, The Hodgeson brothers relay in the lake district and the
British fell relay championships which are in a different location every year.
The British relays are where clubs compete to become the best relay team in the
country and there are different categories within the relay, Open age, Vet 40,
Vet 50, in both men's and ladies' categories and each team consists of 6
runners. Now, as I have mentioned earlier the number of teams being allowed to
enter this event has been reduced over the years so usually each club only gets
1 team entry for each category.
With it being the British championships we always field the strongest team
possible at the time to try and continue to win national titles. Selection for
these relays is undertook by looking at the form of the fastest runners in the
club and this is done by individuals racing throughout the months up to the
event. Most of the runners that are selected for these relays will take part in
the individual British and English championship races that are in the months
leading up to the relays combined with local races also and this then gives
Carolyn (ladies capt) and myself the stats we need to pick the strongest teams
available for the nationals.
If you are interested in being selected at these relays then all you need to do
is get out there and race and show us your form and as said earlier the best
races to prove yourself at are the British and English champs races as you are
racing against the best in the country.
The Hodgeson Brothers relay is not a national relay but is looked upon in the
fell running community as the cream of relays so again competition is fierce
and due to various restrictions in place the number of entries are even more
restricted than the British relays and as a club we are only allowed 2 teams a
year, we enter a men's A team and if there is enough interest a ladies A team
but in the past years there hasn't been enough interest so it has ended up
being a mixed team, each team consists of 8 runners so again not a lot of
places are available.
As with the British relays the selection is undertook in the same way for The
Hodgeson relays and if you want to be part of the team you need to prove
yourself racing.
I need to make it clear to everyone that there is a lot of work that goes into
the organising and selection of the teams for the national events and selection
is gained on form NOT from who is mates with who in the past year's teams!
There are another couple of relays that we enter as a club every year and these
are the Caldedale Way relay and the Lee Mill relay and these 2 have not as many
restrictions on as the first 2 therefore we usually get a higher number of
entries made available to us and we find that with these relays being more
local then we usually get a lot of interest from the club members and usually
make a day/night of it.
For the Calderdale Way Relay we put out an expressions of interest post asking
for people who are interested to let us know and then usually try to enter as
many teams as we need from members replies although sometimes we are limited to
the number of teams but not often. We do try to put out our fastest mens and
ladies team in this event too but we then enter B, C mixed teams etc.
The Lee Mill Relay is a little bit different as its up to yourselves to form a
team of 4 runners and enter yourselves.
A couple of our club members usually organise an inter club event within the
Lee Mill Relay that involves all interested cvfr runners being put into seeded
pots and then teams are picked to compete against each other and money is payed
by each team member into a pot at the end of the relay and the amount depends
upon your team finishing position, the slowest pay the most and the winners
nothing and then all this money is put behind the bar at a pub for all the
teams to have a drink or 3........its a good twist to a good event and makes
for a fun day/night out.
Just to finalise all the above relay entries are paid for by the club and we
really hope that you all get out there racing to show us what form you are in
to assist us with our tricky selection/pairing.
I look forward to seeing lots of you at the upcoming relays.
Shaun x
