Hereward Relay

Yesterday was the Hereward Relay. A four person relay from Peterborough Cathedral to Ely Cathedral, a total of 40 miles broken down into 6miles Peterbrough to Whittlesy, 12 miles to March, 10 miles to Welney and 12 miles to Ely.
I was in a team from Tri-Anglia and had landed the first stage. The short leg, so I volunteered to drive the four of us. Up at 5am to pick up Katy at 6am, Rose soon after that then Simon at 6.30am to allow plenty of time to get across to Peterborough for the 9am start.
I'd cleared the snow off my car for the second time that weekend and was on route to Katy's when I received a text from Simon. He'd been up all night. A bug had brought on diahorria and vomitting. Where were we going to get a replacement runner for stage 4 at 6am on a Sunday morning. No where was the answer. By the time I got to Katy's Simon had been sick again. There was no way I was going to let him sit in my car for two hours.
The roads out to Attleborough were heavy with snow, but once beyond Snetterton there was nothing.
I started the race in Peterborough. Not sure if I should pace myself for 6miles or 18miles. As I'd got the shortest stage of the 3 us I felt it was down to me to make up the final stage. I'd dug out my trail shoes as previous experiences on stage 2 and stage 4 of the Hereward had told me that trail shoes was a smart move. Not so, for stage 1, which is all on tarmac with the exception of 200m across a park. 6 miles of inappropriate footwear took a toll. The wind, rain and sleet also had an effect. Despite two long sleeve layers and gloves my hands and arms felt cold.
My run was okay. Not the blistering pace I'd hoped for, but okay. Need to map the route to work out the exact distance. Was halfway down the list of finishers and only 11 minutes off the fastest and 20 minutes ahead of the tail-enders.
I didn't fancy putting on wet kit ahead of stage 4, so stayed in wet kit as Katy drove me to the start of stage 3 for her run. It was now snowing heavily and settling on the roads. The conditions were really quite horrid. Felt sorry for Rose running. By the time we made March, I was too cold to remain in wet gear any longer, so knocked the idea of personal sacrifice on the head. By the time Katy had changed into her running gear and I'd changed out of mine, Rose had finished her stage and been waiting 4minutes for us.
Of the 3 of us Katy definately had the best weather and finished in sunshine. If we'd had a fourth runner they'd have had the best of all the stages, but we weren't the only team lacking a full compliment.
This is the third time I've run the Hereward Relay and now only have stage 3 remaining to complete my set. I did notice for the first time that the relay is available as an Ultra marathon for those runners who wish to do the whole thing. Maybe one year.
Full Results = http://www.marchathleticclub.co.uk/results_20081.htm