Relay For Life is the world’s largest fundraising event, and supports of the Cancer Council Victoria’s cancer research, education and support programs. These events are already held at regional and suburban venues across Victoria and Melbourne.
The event involves teams of individuals coming together to support a common cause, using their team spirit and teamwork to create a unique and special atmosphere.
Miles James took the challenge and here’s how he fared…
“Ten hours going round in circles for Cancer Care Victoria!
As part of the relay for life held at Mornington Secondary College I pledged to walk for ten hours out of twelve.
The American version of this relay goes on for twenty four hours to mirror the never ending challenge we have to confront with the various forms of cancer but daylight saving and possible extreme heat has meant that this event in Australia is confined to the hours 4:00 p.m to 10:00 a.m.
The first hour or so is taken up by a ceremony involving cancer sufferers. Meeting them then, and at various parts of the overnight event, was often a humbling experience.
A Rotary barbecue followed before the slog began. I had pledged to walk for ten hours out of twelve and as the promised breakfast was at 7:00 a.m. a 7:00 p.m start was the obvious choice. All went well for the first ten laps lots of conversation and merriment which was fine until a baton changeover reminded me I had forgotten to turn on my pedometer ! Fortunately the track around the paddock at the secondary college had been measured so at least I knew that the first ten laps equated to 3.8 km. Turning the pedometer on also brought the realisation that it was measuring in miles so would offer a smaller encouragement as the time wore on. After a couple of hours brisk strolling the pedometer was barely registering- or so I thought – the sensitivity was set for a heavy man with a heavy stride. The worst thing was I had no idea how many strides it had missed because of my “smooth light footed” glide!
Sensitivity adjusted and light gone the number of walking companions dropped off sharply. Got to midnight with a bit of damp air and a chilly breeze. all the food stalls had closed up and gone just leaving a solitary coffee stall still doing reasonable trade.
Time for a check on distance : I remember at about ten past midnight having walked just under four and a half hours since 7:oopm as the pedometer hopped over the ten miles. The pace was a bit slow but as the numbers of people walking decreased the extra space allowed a bit more forward momentum.
Fortunately the “entertainment” also stopped before midnight and an Irish member of our team then entertained me with his company and his good pace helped even more until he had to go and the solitary hour spent between 2:00 a.m and 3:00 a.m. was a bit of a bind.
Milage steadily increasing now but the feet beginning to bark and the mild undulations of the paddock becoming a tripping hazard. The couple of minute stops for a drink and spell off the offending feet were becoming five minute ones and I realised at about twenty past five that I was all out of stops and the now positively howling feet would just have to get on with it. I was encouraged that the rest of me felt fine in fact the legs felt better the faster I went. As 7:00 a.m approached I was dreading the extra lap I might have to do to get back to the base when the direction of walking changed yet again and to my relief, just as my alarm went off, the directors chair which had been my only resting spot for the past twelve hours was only a few metres away.
A breakfast of egg bacon and sausage is not on the agenda for the honed athlete but went down a treat for me. So what was the mileage or in this case kilometerage for the ten hours ? The pedometer showed 22.22 miles. Add to that the 3.8km knowingly not recorded and the maths gives us a figure of 39.56 km. I’m certain I did more than that but as we need a figure for the “guess the distance” that will be the one and the lucky winners are David Kimber and Corinne Stevenson who both guessed exactly 40 km.
Thanks so much to all those who supported me in sponsorship with a dollar here and few dollars there I have been really pleased to hand over your $ 121 to Cancer Council Victoria.
Miles James
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Miles and Miles
Relay For Life is the world’s largest fundraising event, and supports of the Cancer Council Victoria’s cancer research, education and support programs. These events are already held at regional and suburban venues across Victoria and Melbourne.
The event involves teams of individuals coming together to support a common cause, using their team spirit and teamwork to create a unique and special atmosphere.
Miles James took the challenge and here’s how he fared…