Running a Relay?
The Blue Ridge Relay is a road race where a team of 4-12 runners (along with 1-2 vehicles/vans) will rotate through 36 legs (35 exchange zones) as they run 208 miles from the start in Grayson Highlands State Park, VA to the finish line in Asheville, NC. For teams of 12 runners, each relay team member runs 3 legs (4 runners per team = 9 legs per runner) of varying lengths and difficulty and will cover an average total distance of ~16.6 miles. Your team will be on the course from anywhere from 20 to 35 hours. The runners rotate in a set order once the race begins and will be obligated to follow this rotation until the final runner finishes. 12-runner teams typically have 2 vehicles on the course – an active van and a resting van – which will transport their runners/teams. Van #1 will hold runners 1 – 6 and Van #2 will hold runners 7 – 12. Passenger vans seem to work the best for a relay.
Van Example: Van #1 (active van) will come to the start of the race and drop off runner number 1 and then drive ahead to Exchange 1, park in the designated area, and allow runner #2 to warm up. After runner #1 hands off to runner #2, runner #1 will hop in the van and the van will drive ahead to Exchange 2 where runner #3 will warm up and where runner #1 can cool down, while waiting the arrival of runner #2. This process will continue until runner #6 has finished his/her leg. At that point (called the Transition Zone), Van #2 (resting Van with runners 7 – 12) will become the Active Van and repeat the process until the finish line.
Each Blue Ridge Relay team is self-supporting, which means that they will provide their own food, water, sports drink and first aid items.
