Peter Palmer Junior Team Relay Success
Our two Southdowns Junior Teams ran to podium positions at the recent Peter Palmer Junior Team Relay which took place on Ashdown Forest. The seven person PP team took 2nd place and the five person daybreak team took 3rd place. Our junior teams ranged from age 10 to 18 and included seven newcomers to this event.
Teams met up at Broadstone Warren late in the afternoon of the Saturday and set up in their accommodation - some teams were camping and some were in the lodge.
SO Peter Palmer Team:
1 Red James Curtis M18 (night)
2 Red Emma Chapman W16 (night)
3 Light Green Emily Water W16
4 Orange Mark Johnson M12
5 Yellow Oliver Johnson M12 & Christopher Warner M14
6 Green Ben Chapman M18
SO Daybreak Team:
1 Red Daniel Duncan M18
2 Orange Lucas Waters M12
3 Yellow Erin Barter W12 & Harriet Nichols W14
4 Red Rowan Sillet M14
Our two teams of juniors met up with ten other teams from across the country and soon some games of football and volleyball got going. Others sat in groups catching up after the long summer.
Will, Kate and Pete were hard at work in the kitchen and dinner was rapidly served to about 90 people - juniors and coaches tucked into a lovely meal. After a quick check of the assembly area and setup for changeover everyone was quickly to bed, ready for an early start.
Alarms started sounding at 4am for the first helpers and first leg runners to get up. The weather was good to us and it was a lovely warm dry morning. Torches twinkled in the darkness and we prepared for the first mass start at 5am. The countdown started and an audience of 2nd leg runners and coaches cheered them off into the darkness.
It was a little while before we saw their torches again with the first few competitors running through the arena on the way to their second loop. The arena setup was really good for spectators as red, light green and green all had run-throughs which meant teams could see how they were placed.
As the longer 6-leg Peter Palmer race carried on, dawn began to break and first leg runners gathered for the daybreak relay start at 6:30am. There was a bigger audience to send them off this time and now all teams were into the forest.
The courses were pitched just about right with a good amount of physical and technical challenge. It was exciting seeing how the places changed over the different legs and we were delighted to end up with a 2nd place on the Peter Palmer Relay and 3rd place on the Daybreak relay. We actually had the 3rd fastest time on the Peter Palmer, but because a team in front of us was eligible for the Joan George Trophy (for younger juniors), we ended up with the 2nd place!
Our juniors all rose to the occasion and put in a fantastic performance and we look forward to putting more teams in next year when it will take place in Yorkshire on 12th September 2027.
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