Sheffield Way Relay and Ultra results – October 2020

Race Date: Sunday 11th October 2020 (and the preceding 4 weeks)

Andy Green did an awesome job of organising to 2020 version of the Sheffield Way relay under some very difficult circumstances. Legs were restricted to one per week from 13th September until the Leg 5 finale on 11th October.

The Ultra could be run on any weekend and John Rawlinson choose to run it on 12th September 2020 and completed it in a time of 10 hours 56 minutes. Myself, Steve Haake and Matt Rimmer chose to run it on the final weekend starting with Leg 5 and running legs 5 through to end of Leg 4. Sadly Steve had to pull out during leg 3 and only myself and Matt finished in a time of 10:03;29. Below is Matt’s report:

Sheffield Way Ultra

I had been looking at this event for a few years now. I gave it a go 4 years ago and stopped at 30 miles. I’d been keen to give it another go ever since.

Nick Burns, Steve Haake and myself set off at 8am from Ford on a lovely fresh morning. The first few miles went really quickly, chatting and trying to work out where I was. It was very enjoyable just running easy and walking the hills, as well as seeing the sights of Sheffield.

Things started to go south for Steve at around 27 miles when his knee started to cause problems. He decided to take it easy from 30 miles and called it a day just after that. Great effort to complete 30 plus miles.

Nick and I carried on. From Stanage Pole to Houndkirk Road was a real highlight for me. The sky was clear, the views were great and it was nice to feel like I was skipping over the rocks, even though I probably wasn’t.
Just after this the demons set in for me. For some reason I forgot to keep taking my Clif Shot blocks and started to lose energy. Nick was great, encouraging me to continue to Totley and see how I felt.
At Moss Road in Totley and a few spoons of soup later I decided to continue as far as Mickley Lane (40ish miles) “you’re not stopping there” was Nick’s response.
I continued to walk/run, just following Nick’s feet.

The pace slowed even more and the walking increased, I now started to feel a little light-headed and a bit nauseous. The promise of a Sheffield Way mug helped me to continue.
For the last 2 miles it was more walking. Not what I wanted to do but my head just said no to running.

The pub was in sight, I thanked Nick again for staying with me, I had no idea of the route so it’s a good job he did or I’d probably still be out there.

Overall I am really pleased to have completed this, more running would have been nice, but I’ll take it.

Thanks to Steve and Nick for letting me join them and to Andy Green who put so much work into organising the Sheffield Way Relay.

Next year?
No

As for the main event, Steel City Striders Women’s team took first place in a time of 6:29:53. The men’s event was won by Totley 2 in 5:58:55. Ben Jones’ Striders A team were second in 6:14:42. The mixed team event was won by Headtorch 3 – We Do It With The Lights On in 6:51:04.

Full results spreadsheet can be viewed: Results SWR_2020_All_Legs

Huge thanks to Andy Green for the excellent organisation of the event and let’s hope next year’s event is under more ‘normal’ circumstances.

 

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