A 10-strong team from education triumphed in a 100-mile charity relay race on Saturday.
‘Team Ed’ beat off early bad weather and survived a baton change mix-up to win the Children’s Centre’s Race the Sun by more than half an hour.
Chris Kirk, who teaches at Foxdale School, Rob Sellors, headteacher of Cronk-y-Berry Primary School, Adrian Shorthouse, head of Scoill Vallajeelt, Rachel Holden and Judith Quane, teacher and administrator respectively at Laxey School, Tom Williams, a teacher at Castle Rushen High School, Illiam Quane, a student at Ramsey Grammar School, and civil servant John Swindlehurst were joined by two reserves, Kevin Vondy and Robert Quane, after Bunscoill teacher Aalin Clague picked up an injury in training and Nicola Lewthwaite, administrator at Victoria Road School, had to travel away at short notice.
Starting on Peel Promenade at sunrise at 5.08am, team members ran legs of the Raad ny Foillan, the coastal footpath, arriving back in Peel with the other 21 competing teams by sunset, 9.22pm.
‘It was a fantastic day,’ Chris said. ‘Tom and Adrian had the worst of the weather, battling into a head wind as they ran up the west coast to the Point of Ayre. The rest of the day steadily improved and even hit the dizzy heights of “quite warm”.
‘The team performed admirably, pulling off solid runs including two first places, a second and a third in the legs, giving a combined winning time of 13 hours 18 minutes 1 second – over half an hour clear of second place.’
Chris said there was a heart-stopping moment when he learned Robert was in the wrong location to take the baton from Rachel.
‘I had a phone message from Robert asking if he was at the right place. He wasn’t! He had gone to Port Jack Chippy rather than Summerland. Luckily he had a few minutes in hand and was able to drive to the promenade, park and be ready for Rachel’s handover.’
Chris said the team had ‘a few blisters and the odd twinge in the legs’ but was delighted to have won. ‘We will be taking the trophy to show off at our schools and hopefully inspire our pupils,’ he said.
He added: ‘The race was well organised and the marshals at the transition points were a real credit to the race and the Children's Centre.’
Described as ‘not for the faint-hearted’, the event, sponsored by the Mann Made Group, was in its fifth year. The past four races have raised £40,000 for the Children’s Centre’s charitable projects. Team Ed entered for the first time last year and finished fifth.
Image Caption: Mark Eastham (left), Adventure Events Co-ordinator with the Children’s Centre, presents the Race the Sun trophy to Chris Kirk, a teacher at Foxdale Primary School. Foxdale’s pupils are wearing medals they received for taking part in the Tesco Great School run today
