I spoke to quite a few of you on Sunday and it was clear just how popular the Cleveland Way Relays is with us all and just what great event Martin has created.

When I took it on I really wasn’t sure how many teams we would get, what with the events of the last year and a bit, so I was really pleased that we had 18 teams out.
With some teams having more than one runner per leg this meant we had over 300 runners out on the day.   So a big thank you has to go out to you and your clubs as without the runners there’s no race.

I didn’t get to follow the race as closely as I’d hoped on the day but after talking with a few clubs recently I knew that there were going to be some competitive teams out.
You really didn’t disappoint and from what I was heard it was a very close race across the whole day.

From the start it was clear that Marsh House, Scarborough and Loftus had very strong teams and the lead swapped between them a number of times on the morning legs.  With Esk Valley creeping up on them throughout the course of the morning.

No Teams got to Clay Bank before the Mass Start, but it wasn’t long after the afternoon legs started that the runners from the morning legs started coming in.  With Loftus A being the first team in, having passed the Scarborough runner on that final morning leg.

I stayed at Clay Bank for as long as I could but I know I missed a lot of the teams coming in there.  So apologies to all of those runners who got to Clay Bank after I’d left.
Thank you to everyone who provided me with their times so I could complete the results.

At Helmsley there was a good crowd and an even better atmosphere.  The weather had got better over the course of the day and it was now a glorious evening.  I’d caught the sun a bit as it was pointed out by quite a few people!

Marsh House were first in to Helmsley and there were a few calculations being made by their team over how much time they needed to win back the trophy.  They were soon followed by Esk Valley and then Loftus just over a minute behind Esk Valley.

It was a pretty close finish and quite exciting waiting for the final team runners to come in while trying to work out the final positions of the teams.  Simple maths but as I’d been awake since 2:30 I needed to check my calculations a few times to be sure.

The overall Winners were Loftus in 13:13:25.
The winning second team was NYMAC in 17:55:03.
Unfortunately we didn’t have any Ladies teams entered.

Full results were;

Martin may have returned to Switzerland but his event lives on and the provisional date for the next event is Sunday 12th June 2022.

Once again thank you all for your hard work in getting the teams out.