CAN I FOLLOW YOU ON FACEBOOK / TWITTER?
OK - so no-one has actually asked this question, but what FAQ page is complete without a healthy dose of self-promotion? For those interested, in addition to the blog Stragglers JOGLE 2011 is also on Facebook and Twitter. I can't vouch for the quality of the tweets or wall postings though. You have been warned......
WHO CAN JOIN THE RELAY?
OK - so no-one has actually asked this question, but what FAQ page is complete without a healthy dose of self-promotion? For those interested, in addition to the blog Stragglers JOGLE 2011 is also on Facebook and Twitter. I can't vouch for the quality of the tweets or wall postings though. You have been warned......
WHO CAN JOIN THE RELAY?
For participants to be considered for the relay, you have to be a paid up member of the Stragglers running club. You also need to commit to the full relay from John O’Groats to Land’s End and be willing to run at least once a day for an hour each time with one or two days running up to two hours during the day. These runs may be at any time of the day.
DO I HAVE TO RUN AT NIGHT?
In short, Yes. In order to minimise the amount of night running each runner will be required to do, I have allocated each 'night running shift' between the hours of 23:00 and 07:00 to a single team of four individuals. With the event covering six nights and there being five teams of four runners, one team will need to run two 'night shifts' with the remaining four teams all running one night shift each. This way everyone (other than the two night shift team) gets the same amount of time out on the road between 11pm and 7am.
AM I FAST ENOUGH?
All runners, subject to being willing to run every day / overnight as above, are welcome to join the relay irrespective of speed. Based on the experience of the 1995 Stragglers JOGLE relay, we are aiming to run the relay at an average pace of 8 minutes 15 seconds per mile. We hope to have several runners capable of consistently running faster than this so slower runners can easily be accommodated. In order to neither get too far ahead nor too far behind schedule, we'll need to be reasonably accurate on the pacing otherwise teams will need to travel significant distances ahead or back to get to the booked accommodation.
JOGLE and not LEJOG?
Do any research and the common consensus is that the best way to attempt the end to end route is Land’s End to John O’Groats (“LEJOG”) and not the other way round. Logic seems to suggest that prevailing winds are South Westerly and so it’s clearly preferable to have a tailwind. However I don’t know about you, but I regularly do circular running and cycling routes convinced that there’s a headwind the whole way round so wind direction is more about perception than reality. Moreover if you are going to run into a headwind, surely it’s better to run into a south-westerly one than a north-easterly one???
BUT LAND’S END IS SUCH A TACKY / NAFF PLACE TO FINISH
I’m not arguing with you on this one, but have you ever been to John O’Groats? It’s probably fair to say that neither start nor finish would make it into the collective consciousness if it weren’t for the fact that they occupy the most south-westerly / north-easterly spots on our fair isle. Land’s End does have the benefit of being relatively close to some beautiful places to visit and sits in probably the best county in England whereas you’re a full 400 miles from getting out of Scotland from John O’Groats……..
WHY A 24 HOUR CONTINUOUS RELAY?
With it being a continuous 24 hour relay, relay members aren’t fully part of the whole event as it’s impossible to follow all of the course over 1,000 miles. There’s also obviously the discomfort of runners having to run in the small hours and in the pitch black. That said, 1,000 miles at an average pace of between 8 to 9 minute miles takes between 5 and ½ and 6 days. Including the necessary travel time to and from the start and finish, this means it is realistically achievable in just over one week. Doing the same in just daylight hours / allowing for 8 – 10 hours per day for sleep would significantly increase the length of the event and reduce the number of runners willing / able to take time off work to participate.
IS THIS A CHARITY EVENT?
Yes. However there is no set amount that each runner will need to raise and no obligation on any runner to participate in any group fundraising events etc. The group will be raising funds as a combined team for either a single charity or select number of charities. In this way, any fundraising is truly a team activity in much the same way as the relay event being only realisable with the combined running efforts of all 20 runners.
THIS REALLY ISN’T HARD ENOUGH FOR ME – CAN WE NOT DO SOMETHING A BIT MORE EXREME?
Yes. However there is no set amount that each runner will need to raise and no obligation on any runner to participate in any group fundraising events etc. The group will be raising funds as a combined team for either a single charity or select number of charities. In this way, any fundraising is truly a team activity in much the same way as the relay event being only realisable with the combined running efforts of all 20 runners.
THIS REALLY ISN’T HARD ENOUGH FOR ME – CAN WE NOT DO SOMETHING A BIT MORE EXREME?
If you’re interested in something a bit more extreme, there’s a group of 16 competitors individually running the whole distance over 16 days in May next year (http://www.ultrarace.co.uk/events/details/?eventid=94). If this is for you, maybe you could run the Straggler relay in July as a warm down…….
