by Stephen Day
The new-ish format for the University Relays, with its mixed gender races and combined age categories rather than traditional age grades, makes for some fascinating permutations. With that in mind, I headed along as a spectator, took my phone and recorded a few voice notes while watching.
Before I started, I checked in with club coordinator and selector, Meg Ferry, for insights on how she wrangled the teams. She was looking confident, and confided that Todd Stevens had applied a complicated mathematical formula to the selection process that was sure to pay dividends.
Meanwhile, outside the Olympic Harriers’ tent, it appeared their selection strategy involved inspecting chicken entrails.
With that insider information, I headed off to my spectator spot. Here is the transcript of how the races unfolded in my head, in real time.
“So, I’ve picked a little spot in the bush where I can hear Rees Buck commentating. I’m at the top of a little rise and just after two little jumps, so it’s all gonna be a good spot to see who’s still got a bit of gas in the tank.”
“We’ll wait and see, once this race has started, how far deep into the course we are located, but my guess is probably a bit past halfway. I’m also nestled in a cabbage tree grove, so a nice, pretty spot. I’ve got some nature to look at if I get bored with the race.”
“And I am right next to ‘Bird Count Site Number One’.”
“I can’t see any birds at the moment, so my count is 0.”
“Last-minute warm-up by some of the fastest Scottish boys come by me, yelling out, ‘Hey, Steve. ‘Hey, fast boys.’ Yeah.”
“First lap is always a stream of runners just coming past, one after the other. It’s not very easy to tell what’s going on. In the distance, I can see Lennox Crowe is in 4th place after 90 seconds, though.”
“Left or right? Glen Wallis reckons I tell anyone not in yellow to turn left, but we’re not even sure if that’s the wrong way. It might actually be a shortcut, so maybe that’s not such good advice.” (*foreshadowing later comment.)
“Oh, just seeing my first bird. Flying off though. It doesn’t wanna hang around for the bird count.”
“Lennox is in second place at the 7-minute mark. He has a good gap on third at what must be a bit over halfway.”
“And there goes a whole bunch of Scottish masters runners coming through, looking like they’ve got a good race going on.”
“We just got the tail of the first lap field coming past now, and it can’t be far before the 1st runners run in to finish their lap.”
“May not be any birds, but there’s one very loud cicada here, which is a weird sign, this late in autumn.”
“Lap two runners coming through: Olympic, WHAC, Hutt, Olympic, Olympic… A few juniors in that mix, by the look of it. Some of the men’s teams are starting to come through. And here’s our Scottish runner. It looks like it’s Alice Sowry.”
“And suddenly, lap 2, there are massive gaps everywhere. Lots of people are just running on their own or in pairs.”
“Is Emily Solsberg going to catch the two runners in front of her? She looks like she’s got the strength that she might catch them both. One of them is definitely tiring, and the other looks like she may not be a 5K runner.”
“No idea what’s going on anymore, just watching little battles over the 50 metres in front of me, wondering if someone might or might not catch someone else. “
“Oh, but here comes Dan Clendon. ‘Good stuff, Dan!’ Grinding it out as always, and probably going to catch about a dozen people, but that’s alright. I’m not jealous.”
“No coloured ribbons on people, so it’s impossible to know what grade anyone’s in any more. Especially on the men-only laps, trying to distinguish the mixed teams from the men’s teams. But I guess we’ll see if we can figure it out.”
“And then, as it turns out, I did see one WHAC runner turn back because he thought he’d gone the wrong way. But I kindly put him right. I think he figured it out himself, actually.”
“Two, maybe three cicadas now. Still well ahead on the cicada count versus the bird count.”
“No idea what is going on any more. I’m just randomly yelling at people that third place is just in front of them and to dig it in. Some of them seem to believe me.”
“Right, Rees is announcing that the first teams are crossing the finish line. Probably time for me to make my way back to the tent. I need to think of some intelligent analysis before I get back, so if people ask, I don’t just tell them about the cicadas.”