Biggleswade Athletic Club had a team once again participating in the Greensand Ridge Relay, on Saturday 15th June. Organised by the South Midland Orienteering Club, the GSRR comprises of six legs of varying distances following the Greensand Ridge Walk from Leighton Buzzard and finishing in the village of Northill. For each competing runner an estimated time to complete their respective leg is calculated according to their gender and age to give each team's starting and expected finish time. A different type of event to the usual road races, the Greensand Ridge Relay is all about the overall team effort as well as providing an opportunity to do trail running and test one's navigation skills. The route passes through some picturesque-Bedfordshire countryside, including the Grand Union Canal, Stockgrove Country Park, Woburn Estate, Ampthill Park and Maulden Woods.
Left: Neil Harvey (Leg 2)
Right: Charlie Arnold (Leg 5)
The weather on the day was mixed and after the recent rain much of the footpath was extremely muddy underfoot, this was such a contrast to the sweltering hot and dry conditions of previous years. Andrew Hedley started things off for Team BAC running from Waterside Park, Linslade to Stockgrove, a distance of 5.6 miles, handing over to Neil Harvey who took on the 4-mile stretch to Woburn. Natalie Morgan then ran the 9 miles to Millbrook, having last ran this section 2 years ago and clutching a copy of the route as a aide memiore just in case. Richard Hill was ready and waiting to take on the duty of running leg 4 to Deadmans Hill, taking in Ampthill Park along the way, and passing the baton to Charlie Arnold for the penultimate 5.5 mile section to Deadmans Cross. Finishing up was long-standing member, Damien Pitts, who arrived at Northill just after 5:30pm and resulting in a total BAC Team time of 5 hours 50 minutes. Out of the 44 teams participating, Team BAC achieved a team position of 36th. And as always, the reward for finishing is a drink or two in the nearby Northill pub, The Crown, afterwards!
Our thanks go to Team Captain, Ian Grimwood, for his efforts in coordinating the BAC entry plus a special mention to BAC members Nick Haworth and Corinne Calligan for manning the final changeover point at Deadmans Cross.
Photo credits: Ian Grimwood and Lynn Hill
