A 26.2 mile relay in teams of 5 – with a twist!

Flyers Southend would like to invite you to their first ever public race.  After months of planning we’ve decided, unsurprisingly, to do something a little bit out of the norm!

So here’s the plan:

50 teams of 5 slog it out over the marathon distance of 26.2 miles or 42.195km depending on your Garmin settings.  Each team member completes a distance of 5.24 miles, over 2 laps.

So here’s the twist:

You won’t be entering as a team!  We’re asking individuals to enter and submit a current 5km time to allow us to create handicapped teams to make the final finish as close as possible. The organisers’ team selections will be impartial, random and final.  So, you might end up running with friends, you might end up making lots of new friends.  That’s kind of what the Flyers is all about, isn’t it?  We ran this informally last year and 15 teams finished within 4 minutes of each other making a really exciting finish to a great day out.

Teams will be notified 2 weeks prior to the event to allow you to sort out running orders.  The Flyers will provide stand-in runners in the event of illness or no-shows to allow your team to still compete.

When is it?

Block it out in your diary.  Sunday 11th September 2016.  Start time will be 9.30am and we anticipate that teams will finish around 1:30. To enter, complete the attached entry form and return with your payment to the address detailed. We’ll then send full race day details for runners prior to the event.

Where is it?

The race will take part in the familiar surrounds of Gunners Park, Shoebury. Don’t worry though, we’re exploring unseen parts of the park on a multi terrain 2.62 lap that you will complete twice, so we’re not looking at 5 parkrun laps!  The course passes close to the start/finish area at multiple points, so there will be plenty of opportunity to cheer on your team mates.

You’re unaffiliated, so how does that work?

The race is fully insured to £10m by the Association of Running Clubs http://www.runningclubs.org.uk/ and run to an established set of rules.  (Race permit number ARC 16/373)

We hope you’ll join us on this first exciting foray into races for us, and that you’ll embrace the Flyers motto:

“Everyone’s a Flyer, they just don’t know it yet”

All profits from the race go to the Finish Line Fund charity and our kind hosts Essex Wildlife Trust