Autumn Relays 2003

The seventeenth running of the Top House Autumn Relays was held on Wednesday the 22nd of October, as ever at the Kitty Brewster Industrial Estate. The weather wasn't too bad; cool and damp, it was a bit windy though, although we've had worse!  Thirteen full teams (three more than last year) lined up at the start line, and were away into the dark right on time. Once again keeping both of their attendance records going were Steve Gillespie, who has the only 100% record for this event, and George Young, who has run all bar one of them.
The lead changed after each of the legs; first it was team F, with team K in the lead at the start of the third leg. Finally (and most importantly) Ian Richardson of team A led all the runners home, just as he did last year. The victorious team A runners were: Dave Bradley, Gareth Hope and Ian Richardson, in a time of 44:21, 40 seconds or so faster than last year's winning time. In second place, 13 seconds adrift were team F; Mal Derbyshire, Eddie Stott and Ralph Dickinson. Almost a full minute behind were the third team home, they were team K; Kenn Reay, Barry Metcalfe and George Young .
Fastest on the night was Robby Barkley, and the fastest Lady was Helen Morris. Rob Hall was fastest vet, recording the evening's third fastest time in the process.

I hope everybody appreciates the effort needed to organise this race; this task was undertaken by Dave Kitching and Andy Brown. This is a lot more work than most people realise; Dave and Andy are to be congratulated and thanked for putting on a very enjoyable and well contested event.

Thanks also to those who marshalled; Jim Jones and Ken Gibson; those who did the timekeeping and recording; Eddie Woods and Sandra Gaughan.

For those of you who enjoyed the event, but who thought conditions weren't cold or windy enough, the Winter Series dates are now confirmed:

Race 1.    Wed. 19th November.    Race 2.    Wed. 3rd December.    Race 3.    Wed. 10th December.

Race 4.     Wed. 28th January.    Race 5.    Wed. 4th February.    Race 6.    Wed. 25th February.

Race 7.    Wed. 24th March.

Full results are as below:

Pos. Team

Leg 1

Pos. Time Lapsed

Leg 2

Pos. Time Lapsed

Leg 3

Pos. Time Lapsed
1 A Dave Bradley 7 16:07 16:07 Gareth Hope 3 14:04 30:11 Ian Richardson 1 14:10 44:21
2 F Mal Darbyshire 1 14:49 14:49 Eddie Stott 2 14:38 29:27 Ralph Dickinson 2 15:07 44:34
3 K Kenn Reay 2 14:54 14:54 Barry Metcalfe 1 14:29 29:23 George Young 3 16:05 45:28
4 J Cath Young 5 15:48 15:48 Aynsley Herron 4 15:20 31:08 Michael Brown 4 14:50 45:58
5 I Kirsty Huntington 9 17:34 17:34 Marc Cochrane 6 14:23 31:57 John Mallon 5 14:08 46:05
6 M Sue Walker 13 20:17 20:17 Sean Kirtley 12 13:16 33:33 Robby Barkley 6 12:40 46:13
7 D Nina Reveley 8 17:24 17:24 Raymond Kirkup 10 15:32 32:56 Rob Hall 7 13:29 46:25
8 E Ron Ingram 6 15:53 15:53 Terry McCabe 9 16:48 32:41 Martin Gaughan 8 13:48 46:29
9 L Helen Morris 3 15:39 15:39 Mark Martin 7 16:35 32:14 Steve Walker 9 14:23 46:37
10 C Dave Cox 4 15:39 15:39 Dave Roberts 5 15:39 31:18 Kevin Freeman 10 15:33 46:51
11 B Louise Farmer 10 18:02 18:02 Steve Gillespie 8 14:31 32:33 Dave Morris 11 15:10 47:43
12 G Pauline Cunningham 11 18:08 18:08 Kevin Westwood 11 15:23 33:31 Adam Robinson 12 14:44 48:15
13 H Debbie Henderson 12 19:54 19:54 Dale Smith 13 14:27 34:21 Mark Walbank 13 14:28 48:49

Fastest Times

Pos. Name Time Pos. Name Time Pos. Name Time
1 Robby Barkley 12:40 14 Eddie Stott 14:38 27 Dave Cox 15:39
2 Sean Kirtley 13:16 15 Adam Robinson 14:44 28 Cath Young 15:48
3 Rob Hall 13:29 16 Mal Darbyshire 14:49 29 Ron Ingram 15:53
4 Martin Gaughan 13:48 17 Michael Brown 14:50 30 George Young 16:05
5 Gareth Hope 14:04 18 Kenn Reay 14:54 31 Dave Bradley 16:07
6 John Mallon 14:08 19 Ralph Dickinson 15:07 32 Mark Martin 16:35
7 Ian Richardson 14:10 20 Dave Morris 15:10 33 Terry McCabe 16:48
=8 Marc Cochrane 14:23 21 Aynsley Herron 15:20 34 Nina Reveley 17:24
=8 Steve Walker 14:23 22 Kevin Westwood 15:23 35 Kirsty Huntington 17:34
10 Dale Smith 14:27 23 Raymond Kirkup 15:32 36 Louise Farmer 18:02
11 Mark Walbank 14:28 24 Kevin Freeman 15:33 37 Pauline Cunningham 18:08
12 Barry Metcalfe 14:29 =25 Dave Roberts 15:39 38 Debbie Henderson 19:54
13 Steve Gillespie 14:31 =25 Helen Morris 15:39 39 Sue Walker 20:17