Hyde Park Relays 2008
By Robin Brown
It is a fine spring day in Hyde Park. Hundreds of students from around Europe are slowly gathering for what promises to be a hotly contested road relay event. The sun is shining in the sky, and there isn't a cloud in sight. Occasionally one hears a child shouting or a bird chirruping. We see two of our canine eponyms rip apart a squirrel, and it offers us a penetrating insight into the law of the wild.
Thus with a feral primitive aggression the Cambridge University Squirrel and Hounds club set off on 6x5.164k for the men and 4x3.464k for the women. David Yu made the most of his first leg, putting in a good strong race and coming home in 16:27, offering Diarmuid O'Seaghdha a group to chase. Diarmuid made short work of the pack in front of him and brought the baton home in a leg of 16:32.
Meanwhile the Victoria Mason was embodying the afore-mentioned aggression, leading off for the Cambridge ladies. Never out of the lead pack, she completed her leg in 12:40, finishing in fifth place. Excited spectators ran from the men's first handover to the ladies' change point to see Vicky hand over to Harriet Owles who continued her return to fitness with a 13:20 leg -- overtaking the Oxford runner in the process, and handing over to Alice Fraser in 4th place.
By this point in the men's race, the pack had split up and Liam Richardson had the third leg, working on a bit of speed in line with his marathon training. Liam ran an 18:54 leg and tipped hands to Jason Wray, who set off strongly. Unfortunately at this stage in the race, a strong Oxford side were challenging St Mary's for the lead, while their B-team was gaining on us.
Despite having a genuine issue over whether she was healthy enough to run, Alice had a very strong third leg, demonstrating much strength of character to hold on to the Oxford runner who eased past her. Alice came in with a time of 13:32, and after the third changeover former Club Captain Claire Day's imposing start was a firm declaration of intent. Claire's leg of 12:51 made up several seconds on the teams ahead of her and she overtook the Oxford runner to finish in third place, behind St Mary's in first and Sheffield Hallam in second.
With the ladies' race over, the men had undivided attention. While Bristol, St Mary's and Oxford were some way ahead of the competition, Cambridge were looking to pick up places towards the middle of the race. Chasing the nearest runners from Bristol B, Oxford B, Nottingham and Politecnico Milano, a top ten finish was not out of the question. Jason finished his leg in 17:54, setting Rich Mathie on his way. Due to a wrong turning taken by Oxford B's fourth man, Rich opened up a sizeable advantage over their fifth runner, and although he clawed some time back it was Rich who showed some excellent potential track speed in bringing the baton home on the penultimate leg, handing over to Robin Brown. Robin set off to chase Nottingham, and though he overhauled his man, Oxford B's last leg runner went past him halfway round the loop, and it fell to Robin to cruise home in 17:03 for ninth place.
The Cambridge ladies can take many positives from the day; with considerable strength in depth beyond the team that ran in London, they look a force to be reckoned with in the future and on the track. It was somewhat a pity that the men didn't put on a show of true strength, but nonetheless there were many good individual performances in the first post-cross country outing of 2008, leaving the men's team with high hopes for spring and summer.