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Lewes AC win the tough South Downs Way 100 mile relay
Up against 50 teams from across the South East Region the Lewes AC team of six runners comprehensively beat all other teams to complete the tough 100 mile relay in 10 hours 29minutes 30seconds. The 100 miles relay along the South Downs National Trail from Eastbourne to Winchester is divided into 18 legs with each runner completing 3 legs each. Not only did the Lewes team win the prestigious event but in doing so the team smashed 14 of the club’s 18 leg records in doing so.
Matt Bradford not only smashed the 3 club records for the legs he ran but also broke the relay race record for the 4.5mile leg nine with a time of 26mins 39secs. Andrew Masters and Mike Ellicock also broke the club records for each of the three legs they ran.
In addition to winning the event outright the team also won the ‘age graded’ trophy which recognises the team which gets closest to world class times for their particular age group. Also the team was 4 seconds away from having a clean sweep of trophies. The teams missed it overall predicted time by 29 seconds whilst Stubbington Green B team missed theirs by 26 seconds. Phew!
This was a tremendous team effort by the six club runners and Saturday’s winning time would, over the previous 6 years, placed the club first 4 times and second twice.
However winning or even entering the event was touch and go right up to the Friday before the Saturday of the race. Having booked a mini-bus support vehicle the firm e-mailed on Thursday to say it was not available. Stepping into the breach the Lewes Football Club loaned the team their mini-bus which was a true act of sportsmanship. Without the football club’s support all the team’s preparations in getting ready for the relay would have been in vain. Thanks Lewes FC and thanks to Peter Masters and Andrew Pearce, navigator and driver in the support vehicle.
The winning team were Matt Bradford, Lewis Sida, Alan Velecky, Andrew Masters, Mike Ellicock and David Bradford.