On Sunday, 10 June, as part of Bingley Harriers 125th anniversary celebrations, a relay of 125 x 1km was organised at Bradford and Bingley Sports Club.
In order to finish the event within a reasonable time, the run was organised in pairs, with the take-over taking place when the second person in each pair crossed the line.
It had been hoped that at least 125 different people would do one lap apiece, and that was the way it turned out, with 136 kms being covered by 134 people.
The relay began with two of our most distinguished and experienced members, Club President John Smithurst and Fred Gibbs, completing the first lap. The honour of completing the 125th lap fell to Denise Wright, our membership Secretary, who crossed the line just in front of husband Simon.
The ages of those taking part ranged from 81 to 2, with young Mack Thackray showing his mum the way round, and it was a real pleasure to see such a wide range of enthusiastic participants.
No times were taken, but the average time per lap was below 6 minutes – a most commendable achievement.
A big thank you to Lisa Pearson for organising the whole Fun Day so splendidly, and for making sure that we were well-fed and watered, and to those thoughtful club-mates who put up a shelter so that we didn’t get burnt to a cinder on what was a beautiful summer’s day.
Finally, very special thanks to two people whose contribution to this event was absolutely vital: to John Smithurst for his expert help in setting up the 1km lap on the Friday evening, and to Graham Smith for his unstinting support throughout the day, organising the runners and giving out the splendid souvenir buffs to each finisher.
Tony Kingham