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The steady overnight rain cleared and left the Dolbel Estate vineyard soggy and the skies blue. The ditch had a fair amount of water in it and the scene was set for another edition of the Green Shield Relay.
There was the usual confusion in the clubrooms as the 40 athletes were sorted into ceded order and given their instructions, and then off to the vineyard we headed. First up were the one-lappers, some of whom hadn't bothered to check the course and were consequently in for a bit of surprise when they came across the half full ditch jump. At least one of them decided to check the depth of the water, and having determined that it was the perfect depth for a quick bath, promptly sat down in it for a quick breather. (I promised Lynette I wouldn't mention it so I can't tell you it was her).First back to the changeover was Shayna Heywood, who had little sister Aleesha hot on her heels. Sheila Smidt was third in with Joan Vyle keeping her team in with a shot.
As with last year's event the first runner back tagged the slowest runner for the next leg. Unfortunately the cedeing was caught out here as Eric Phimister took off first with Aleesha tagging Mark Speakman, Sheila tagging Niall McCormack and Joan tagging Hannah Drury. Daddy Speakman made short work of Eric Phimister's lead, and Nial caught Eric P over the last few meters of their 2 laps, with Hannah coming home fourth. Eric Speakman was quickest over this leg but could only get his team up to fifth.
Leg three saw Evan Ward, running on for Daddy Speakman's team, plummet through the field but only little change for the other top three teams with Mark Walwyn, running on for Eric Phimister, bringing their team back to the lead. Hannah Drury had tagged Rochelle Bryant and they moved up to second, while Jack Smidt running on from Niall McCormack ran well to hold on to third spot. Sam Hall ran the fastest time for this leg, but it was his younger brother Toby who upstaged most of the runners putting in a really gutsy run over a distance he should not have been asked to race.
The battle on the final leg was between Kim Creagh, who Rochelle had tagged and Captain Walwyn's runner Jodi Nagel. In the end Kim proved too strong, running her team through to the lead with 8 seconds to spare. Jack Smidt's runner, Georgia Kirby held on to third place from a charging Georgia Creagh who had run the fastest time for the leg and brought her team through from eigth to fourth.
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