Two teams from Dumfries Running Club took part in the Round Rotherham Relay at the weekend

Eight Dumfries Running Club members travelled to Yorkshire to take part in one of the friendliest events on the running calendar, the Round Rotherham Relay on Saturday.

This 50-mile event sees walkers and runners navigate their way along canal banks, through the South Yorkshire forest, across ploughed fields, on trail and road with only a minimal number of checkpoints and an absence of marshals. It takes place in an evolving landscape of former coal mines and rapid changes mean that it is so easy to go off route, even for those who are familiar with the terrain with only pictorial maps as navigational aids.

The Dumfries runners have taken part in this event for almost two decades and were welcomed as old friends and were by far the furthest travelled relay teams pitting their wits against the best from South Yorkshire.

One of the teams, the Dumfries Doonhamers, were a little bit serious about racing, but prioritised enjoyment, and consisted of three men who had to tackle the event with two of them, Kevin Gordon and Paul Hart, running three legs while Sandy Shankland did two legs. As a male team they were entered in the open category.

The other team, Dumfries Plodders, were there with just one goal and that was to get to the finish without too many navigational errors. This team had five members each with plenty of experience and resolve. Les Hill, Richard McDougal and Dawn McDonald ran two legs each as part of the race with Margaret Gray and Marian McPhail doing a single leg each. However, they all ran further as they did other legs accompanying team mates to provide encouragement and help with the route finding.

A few short recce runs were done on the Friday afternoon to refresh some memories and to give the Rotherham