Rich on Running: Relay adds team spirit, excitement to Lynn Woods tonight

We watched and cheered on relay teams in the Summer Olympics. Today, we will have a chance to watch (and perhaps participate in) a 10-mile relay event in Lynn Woods.The 2012 edition of the Lynn Woods Relay, which founder Joe Abelon instituted 44 years ago, will begin at 6 p.m. at the Great Woods Road entrance. It consists of four-person teams, with each member running 2.5 miles through the Woods.Participants start in the ballfield area and run along the main road until they reach a turnaround point. Then it’s time to ascend the steep, single-track trail called the Goat Path, where runners will turn left at the top and come back down to “hand off” to the next member of their relay team on the paved portion of the main road.Unlike Usain Bolt or Allyson Felix at the Olympics, though, there is no actual baton involved. Instead, organizer Bill Mullen said, Lynn Woods relay runners will either do a hand-tag or pass their teammate at the start/finish line.”It’s not a typical track race,” Abelon said. “You need a lot of batons, for one thing. Eighty batons!”There is no technique in handing off (at Lynn Woods). When your teammate returns, you just go.”Mullen mentioned the extra motivation that the team atmosphere of the relay brings to the Woods.”There’s a little bit more sense of competition,” he said. “You’re trying to do well, keep the pace up,” adding this would help fellow teammates, too.He also said, “The start/finish is one place where everybody is there to see you run, finish and hand off to the next runner,” and described it as containing more “excitement and enthusiasm” than it does for the weekly cross country races at Lynn Woods.Abelon said, “There are four legs, and after the first person finishes, there’s another 45 minutes of running to go. I am sure (runners) can go out there to cheer on teammates. There’s a lot of energy there that evening.”As of Tuesday evening, there were 74 pre-entries and almost 300 runners, in 10 divisions – open men, men masters (over 40), men seniors (over 50), boys high school, girls high school, women open, women masters (over 40), women seniors (over 50), veterans (over 60) and coed (2 male, 2 female).Mullen predicted that “15 to 20 additional teams would try to register” before the relay.He estimated that between 82 and 85 teams will participate – “more than we’ve had in any week,” he said – but noted that this doesn’t mean 300 runners sprinting simultaneously through the Woods.As for the winning time?”Some of the local running clubs have fielded good teams and we had seen some real outstanding times, times around 50 minutes,” Mullen said. However, this year, he is anticipating the winning team to finish the 10-mile distance in 55 minutes.The cost is $50 per team. The top five teams in the men open category will receive awards, as will the top three teams in all other divisions. The first 100 teams will receive T-shirts, and there will be refreshments.Marathon recapCongratulations to Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda, who won the Olympic marathon on Aug. 12, the last day of the Summer Games in London. Kiprotich finished in 2:08:01, 26 seconds ahead of Abel Kirui of Kenya. It was the first gold medal for Uganda in 40 years.It was a tough event for the US contingent. Former silver medalist and NYC Marathon winner Meb Keflezighi finished fourth in 2:11:06, and because of injuries, his two compatriots, Abdihakem Abdirahman and Boston Marathon veteran Ryan Hall, did not finish.Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].