The annual Emsworth to Basingstoke Charity Relay took place on a near perfect day on Saturday, May 17th.

The race has been going for more than 30 years and, as the name suggests, is a baton relay from Emsworth to Basingstoke.  It's 18 stages cover some 50 miles of mostly offroad running going from south to north across the county.  Oh, and of course there are hills, what do you expect!

The race requires strong running, but equally as important is good navigation.  Not just for the running but also getting transport to arrive at the baton change over in time.

Liss was well represented with three teams taking on the challenge; Flapjack Fiends, Liss Lovely Limpers and Rose's Rebels.  Here's how our teams faired on the day.

Flapjack Fiends

Powered by Mel's and Paul's magic flapjacks, the Fiends consist of Liz Avery, Ellie Bryan, Mel Jensen, Richard Pegden, Paul Turner and Stavros Valourdos. The one thing that brought the team together, none of them had ever done the relay before but they all wanted to. So they met up, divvied up the legs as strategically as possible, and got straight to recceing.

On one of our more local legs, a team member ran into an unexpected obstacle: a bovine gang blocking the path, eyeing her with the kind of judgment that suggested they knew about that cheeseburger she once ate.  She wisely backtracked and swapped the leg with another runner, who managed to pass by calmly, after assuring the cows she was strictly vegetarian.

The team came away singing the praises of the noble art of the pre-race recce, not just because it's useful, but because getting lost is only funny after you've found your way back.

Come race day, they cruised through the legs (yes, even Poet’s Stone), belted out crowd-pleasers in the car between handovers, and reached the finish line with big smiles and the news that they’d come in sixth out of seventeen teams!  Not bad for first-timers.  They wrapped it all up with a promise to return next year, ideally with even stronger running legs... and tighter harmonies.

Liss Lovely Limpers

The Lovelies return after their triumph of 2024.  But this time with a rebrand give that most of these highly trained and fragile athletes were competing for the "whose injured the most" award. The Lovelies are Caroline Brown, Sandra Hunter, Sarah Page, Catherine Seager, Gemma Sills, Anna Wemyss plus driver, motivator and cheerleader Robin Greenfield.

Too frail and injured to cope with the flapjacks, this fruit power team probably spent more energy chatting than running - poor Robin!  In fact, they made the challenge seem a breeze on a perfect sunny day.  Despite the severity of the "injuries", they ran strong.  Those of the team who ran last year bettered their times, and collectively they shaved 19 minutes off last years' time.

The efforts paid off with 3rd place overall, a mere 3 minutes behind the second placed team.  And, was it ever in doubt, coming in first ladies team and retaining their big shiny trophy.

Rose's Rebels

Long time E2B team, the Rebels were out again.  With a few changes of personal, the eponymous team were led by Rose Lewis with Kev Durrant, Tom Frost, James White, Alex Wilkinson and Mark Bailey.  Not technically a Lisser, Mark has been a member in the past and is a long time friend of the club.

The Rebels found themselves in the middle of some tight racing with 3 other teams.  Lots of to and fro across the course adding to the enjoyment.  The added competition seemed to push the team with the 2025 version of the Rebels coming in almost an hour and a half quicker than last year. 

Despite all the fun of racing, good natured competition and banter with the other teams, the important business of the day was the fund raising.  While the amount raised is not yet known, typically around £3,000 is raised on the day.  This year's charity is The Pink Place that makes a real difference to those dealing with cancer.

Let's see more Liss teams out there next year.