The Sydney Morning Herald is just round the corner (May 19th 2013) but this year there is a new event available.
Previously the event has been a half marathon only event. It’s actually the only half marathon only event which I know of. All the other events, Sydney Running Festival, Gold Coast Marathon, Melbourne Marathon and Canberra Marathon all have other running distances available. (10km, half marathon and marathon). This year, the organisers of the event are introducing a relay half marathon.
How does it work?
The Relay consists of teams of two and is split into a 7km and 14km leg. There is a transition area in Metcalfe Park at Pyrmont. There the first runner will be directed into a coloured laneway to match the colour of their bib. There the runners will exchange the relay wristband and the second runner will complete the rest of the half marathon. The finish line is similar for both the relay runners and the full half marathon runners. As for the results, runners will be able to view their overall race time (excluding transition), as well as their individual split times.
Why this is great!
This is a fantastic idea! Especially for people who are working towards doing a half marathon. They can start of with being the first runner doing the shorter 7km and progressing to 14km in future events before finally doing the full half marathon distance. Straight away when I read this, I thought of my girlfriend. She currently runs no more than 10km and this relay event is a something which we can do together. Unfortunately the Million Paws walk is on the same day too and she has already signed up for that. We’ll going to calendar it for 2014.
