2026

For many years Striders have entered a team into the annual Round Norfolk Relay event. This year it is on the weekend of 12th/13th September 2026 . If you are a fully paid up member of Stowmarket Striders and it is your first claim club, then you are invited to apply for a place on the team.  We also need to fill many support roles and anyone, member or not is welcome to help.

For those new to the Round Norfolk Relay it is a baton passing relay that starts on Saturday early in the morning (often before sun rise) and goes on through the night until about 10am on Sunday morning. The course mirrors the Norfolk county boundary over a distance of 197 miles and is divided into 17 unequal running stages. Each runner takes on a single stage and passes the baton to the next team-mate.

The race starts and finishes at Lynnsport in Kings Lynn. Some of the stages are run off-road along river banks, beaches, grassy footpaths (you name it and we run on it), some are totally on the road and some are over a mix of terrain. All road sections require a support cyclist and all night time runs require vehicle support that travels behind them, (I sort that for the team).

To make a team we need:
Runners
Support Cyclists
Support Drivers
Real time reporters (photos, social media updates)

It’s a logistical “challenge”. Each stage is a point to point (i.e. not circular) so runners must ensure they can get to their start and make sure they can be picked up at their finish. This adds to the fun of the event. As a team we may be able to work together to help each other, but please do not rely on this and make your own arrangements where ever possible.

Camping is available at Lynnsport, either in their field or there’s a room inside to bed down for the night for those who want to make a weekend of it and wave our first runner off in the early hours of Saturday and/or cheer our last runner across the finish line. Of course there are many lovely campsites around the route if you want to make it a family weekend away.

All the detailed information about the race can be found on the Round Norfolk Relay website: https://theroundnorfolkrelay.com/home.php

I have summarised the stages below but for more information about each stage please refer to the Round Norfolk Relay website “Course Details” section. From the table below you can see that the shortest distance is 5.76 and the longest is 19.67. We welcome all abilities on to the team. The team start time is based on an aggregate of all team members estimated running time, so as long as you can run the distance you can take part. Please consider that it is a 24+ hour race and from stage 9 we start to run into the night with Stage 15/16 running into dawn. Please also check the stage profile as some are hillier than others. The off road stages are marked with arrows and runners must carry the route instructions with them.

It really is a fantastic and quite unique event to be involved with and covers some beautiful parts of Norfolk. Some of our members have given themselves the challenge of running every stage over the years (yes that means it will take them at least 17 years). If you would like to be considered for the team, please respond on Team App and let me know which stage(s) you would like to be considered for, if you want to do some support for the runners. You can only run one stage, but can cycle multiple stages. Please note that runners must be fully paid up members of Stowmarket Striders, however cyclists, and support drivers can be friends or family.

If anyone can help with some car support – probably through the night, then please also let me know and we can have a chat about what’s involved.

If you would like to contact me to discuss anything, then please feel free to email me (rnr@stowmarketstriders.org.uk).

Regards

Charlotte Hawes