The Steeple Chasers were under starters orders on Tuesday evening with an Olympics themed and inspired relay race around the village, with The Waggon & Horses kindly acting as ‘Race HQ’.

Five teams, each representing a colour of the Olympic rings, were made up of four members who individually ran a 2km loop on a rather hot evening, carrying an inflatable Olympic torch baton. Cheered on at strategic points by volunteer marshalls and Tor the dog (could he be auditioning to be the club mascot?), who made sure that those less familiar with the roads and footpaths of Steeple Morden didn’t get lost! Baton exchange outside the Waggon & Horses was given massive support with much hollering and clapping as each team member started and finished their leg, fortunately no batons were dropped although there was the odd fumble…

Three teams ran anticlockwise and two ran clockwise, with high 5s between competitors along the route, it was a closely fought battle until Team Black was pipped at the post by the amazing final runner from Team Green. Matthew ran the course in a stunning 7 minutes 35 seconds (trust me, that is super fast and it was very warm). We bow down to his greatness!

The winning team members were presented with their prizes of a bag of Steeple Chasers Olympic Hula Rings each (Hula Hoops to you and me) in this no expense spared local event. 

After all that exertion, everyone enjoyed delicious home made Olympic themed cupcakes made by Anya and our cheerful landlord Frank happily served drinks to some very thirsty runners.

It just leaves me to say a huge thank you to the extraordinary athletes, the Games Makers, the BBC for their fantastic coverage (OK, they weren’t there but a couple of us did take videos!), the organisers, the cake maker, Tor the dog and the Waggon & Horses. It was a fabulous, fun and social evening of chatting, drinking, eating, oh and a little bit of running!

Our next event is open to members and non members alike - a Friendship Family Fun Run on Sunday 18th August, with distances of 1km, 5km and 10km on offer. If you’d like to know more about this or our running club in general, email our secretary Sarah at steeplechasersrcc@gmail.com.