Report by Neil Stabbs
The evening of Tuesday 1st July saw the annual running of the Danefield Relay, taking on 3 x 3 mile laps of the Chevin Country Park, north of Leeds. Knavesmire hadn’t fielded a team for a few years, so 3 of us decided to head over to see how we fared on what turned out to be a tough course with a killer climb at the end.
Having offered to take the 1st leg, I lined up for the mass start and got away well on the fast downhill. As we moved onto the first climb, the quick guys from Leeds City, Ilkley and Wharfedale started to pull away, never to be seen again. A few meanders through the woods avoiding fallen trees and a few bogs led to a pleasant downhill and then the last climb. Despite the occasional bit of walking on the steepest section, I made it past 3 teams here to come in 7th and hand over to Anwen Darlington on leg 2.
Anwen had a storming leg, dropping a couple of places at start but hanging on to finish her leg in 11th and clocking the 2nd fastest ladies time on the night. Anwen handed over to Chris Roberts on the anchor leg, who finished with our fastest leg – taking back a few places and finishing in 7th overall out of 84 teams. We couldn’t quite beat the York Acorn mens team, who finished a minute ahead of us in 5th, but we were the first mixed team across the line, ahead of Valley Striders in 11th and Nidd Valley in 15th.
Next up is next Friday’s Washburn relay, where we have a mens and a ladies team competing.