Chingford League Relays Wanstead Flats: 11th March 2023 

It is very hard doing a race report for the Relays without seeing the full results, having received partial results while writing this, but let’s give it a go. This event is just the most amazing and joyous event of the year. Everyone runs together regardless of age, gender, shape, pace or anything else. All the teams are out there cheering on their teammates, making so much noise and being so encouraging. It is truly uplifting. 

Men’s Team

Scott took a big risk in including two 16 year olds in our A team but Ethan Jackson and Ben Halstead did themselves and the Club credit running strongly. The were bookended by old boys Dave Kunzmann and Ben Allen (the first time Dave and Ben have been called ‘old boys’). This A team finished 5th overall with a total time 46.52. The winning time of Orion was 45.03. Our B team of Jim Arrowsmith, Scott Aiken, Alan Hathaway and Will Rowley finished 4th B team and 11th overall in 49.52. The C team of Paul Ward, Paul Bracken, Luke Bowie and Matt Bannon finished 39th overall in 57.17.Giovanni Ferrari and Eamonn Cullen ran as individuals and ran well.

Women’s Team

The ladies had 2 full teams and finished 3rd ladies A team and 4th ladies B team. The A team was Kat Alpe, Anja Greenwood, Anna Sikorska and Poppy Allwright whose time was 55.17 and the B team was Roisin Keohane, Meneka Sidhu, Amelie Driscoll Edwards and Bev Tipping in 62.58. Christine Hawker ran as an individual and ran superbly in 17.50.

Junior Team

As well as having some of the older Juniors running in the Senior teams we had a full Under 13 Boys team and they gave us the most exciting finish of the day when they were just edged out on the line, some people might say edged unfairly but that is the way racing goes. The team consisted of Robin Greenwood, Nikodem Katwica, Tom Carter and Adam Falkowski. I don’t have results or timings for Juniors yet but I’ll defy anyone to separate our Under 13 Boys and the Woodford Green team on time. We also had Sam Driscoll Edwards and Jagna Falkowski running as individuals and they were both well up when they finished their individual legs. Anja wanted to use Jagna in the Senior team but the officials wouldn’t allow it. She would certainly have made a difference.

Once again I have to say this is a superb event and we should certainly get there next year in big numbers.

Chas Taylor