South Downs Relay 2006
STUBBINGTON Green will be going for an unprecedented fourth win on the trot at this weekend's South Downs Relay.
Twelve months ago, the senior team completed the 97-mile race in 10 hours 21 minutes, to win a nail-biting event from Sussex-based Hailsham Harriers.
It was Stubbington's third win in a row, and during the race's race's 19-year history only two other clubs, Brighton & Hove AC and Sussex Police, have managed to win the event in two consecutive years.
The gruelling, ultra-distance event, starts at Beachy Head in East Sussex, and takes the six-man team on a tough course across the picturesque South Downs, negotiating a number of tough and extremely steep hills along the way.
So this year, the Stubbington team will be the last to set off at 9.30am along with Steyning AC.
Tor Duffin will lead off on the four-mile opening leg from Beachy Head to Jevington Church, before handing on to Pete Turrell. The team also includes Tony Allen, Kiran Ravel, Andy Simpson, and Mark Le Gassick, who will be anchoring the final leg from Holding Farm to Chilcomb.
The first of the 37 teams, which includes ladies, mixed and veteran squads, will be setting off three hours earlier at 6.30am.
Stubbington has three teams taking part. The club's veterans squad, which won the senior's title last year, will be hoping to improve on their time of 10 hours and 52 minutes. Victory would ensure a third win on the bounce. The six-man team features John Exley, Ray Gunner, Mike Bainbridge, Steve Marshall, Chris Vernon and Alasdair Ewing.
They start at 9am, and an hour earlier a Stubbington B team of Nick Crane, Phil May, Dave King, Andy James, Marcus Lee and Jon Leigh will be heading off across the South Downs .
A team of Stubbington volunteers will be marshalling one of the checkpoints at Harting Hill car park, near Petersfield. Teams should be passing through that point from 3.30pm to 5.15pm, and the first arrivals in Winchester are expected from 6.45pm.