It is not normal to mention virtual races on race reports but there are sometimes exceptions to the rules.
Cotswold Way Relay
The Cotswold Way Relay would have been in it’s 28th year this year and would have taken place on Saturday 4th July. Due to the Coronavirus the event this year was cancelled. For those not aware of this event, the Cotswold Way is split into 10 legs. Each leg is run by a member of a team of 10 with the total running time of the team being the final team result.
Hope 24
Hope 24 is a special event located on a private estate in Plympton. The event would have taken place over Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th July however this was also cancelled this year. This event provides a friendly atmosphere for runners to get together and challenge themselves to achieve their own targets. Based on a 5-mile trail course in this stunning estate, the event was open to solo runners or teams of 2-8, over a 24 hour period.
As you will see these events would have taken place on the same day this year. This would have caused a few issues as both events are well supported by RSE with some runners taking part in both events as they are normally held on different days.
One of our members was planning to take place in both events. This would have meant completing their leg of the Cotswold Way, driving down to Plympton and then taking part in Hope 24 at the same time as celebrating their birthday. To get over the disappointment of missing out on that Nadine Brown decided she would run 100k starting at 6am on Saturday 4th. She completed this distance at 10,45 pm. A great effort Nadine, well done.
Two other runners who were planning on taking part in Hope 24 decided they would run as far as they could between 12pm on Saturday and 12pm on Sunday which is the time Hope 24 takes place.
Gareth Roberts chose a 6 mile route from his home address and managed to complete 83 miles.
Elaine Chapman chose a variety of routes around Cirencester and although her aim was to complete 40 miles (a number which had nothing to do with age at all!!!!) managed to complete 65 miles.
A fantastic effort from both of you.
Dave Witnall also decided to do a virtual Hope 24 running mainly as support for Elaine and Gareth and completed 55 miles. Great effort Dave.
One of the great things about this weekend was the amount of support that was provided by members of the club to Elaine, Gareth and Nadine. I know they were all thankful and it made what is a very difficult challenge a little bit easier. Gareth will need to run another 83 miles just to run off the calories he will consume when he tries to finish the cakes that were donated to him.