Run Seychelles: Family Relay |15 December 2020

Promoting family fitness before the festive season

To celebrate the resumption of its running events and to promote family fitness before the Christmas break, Run Seychelles is hosting a Family Relay race on Sunday December 20, starting at 3pm.

The relay will be run over 16km (10 miles) and each leg will start and finish in the Stad Popiler.

There will be five runners in each family, including one under 12 years old, one under 18 years old, two runners aged 18-59 (junior, senior, master 1 or master 2) and finally one runner aged 60 years old or more (master 3 or master 4).

The under-12 runner may be either male or female.

Of the under-18 years old runner and the over 60 runner, one must be male and one female.

Likewise for the two 5km runners, one must be male and the other female.

The family team do not need to live together and team members can be drawn from the wider family provided they are related by blood or by marriage.

Relay legs

There will be five legs of 1km, 3km, 5km, 5km and 2km in this precise order and the legs will be run by the different age groups.

The 1km run is the first leg and will take place inside the stadium (2.5 laps) and all runners must be in the under-12 years old category.

When they reach the finish line they will hand over to the second runner who must be under-18 years and he/she will run 3km.

The second leg runners who must be under-18 years of age will run out of the stadium onto 5th June Avenue, before turning right and continue to the roundabout, then turn left and left again and run along diversion road (Télémaque Road) to Oceangate House.

They will then turn right into the Laurier Road and follow the road, past the Cat Coco terminal, the Espace building and turn at the 3km turning point on the other side of the bridge.

The runners will then head back to the Independence Avenue roundabout, before taking the 5th June Avenue and enter the stadium through the small gate.

Once inside, they will turn right and run 300 metres around the track to the start/finish line, where they will hand over the baton to the third runner.

The third and fourth runners who must be aged 18-59 years will each run 5km.

To begin, the 5km runners will exit the stadium through the small gate onto 5th June Avenue, before turning right and continue to the roundabout, and run along the diversion road (Télémaque Road) to Oceangate House.

They will then turn right into the Laurier Road and follow the road, past the Cat Coco terminal, the Espace building on Chemin De La Fraternité over the roundabout, Sir James Mancham Avenue past the Independent School (Ile du Port campus) until the Court and National Assembly buildings where the 5km turning point is located.

They will then return to the Independence Avenue roundabout and enter the stadium via the 5th June Avenue.

Once inside the stadium the runners will run 300 metres around the track to the start/finish line, where the third runner will hand over to the fourth runner who will cover the same route, before handing over to the fifth and last runner.

The final runner who must be Master 3 or Master 4 (60+) will run the 2km leg.

They will follow the same route as for the 3km and 5km runners onto Laurier Road, but will turn at the 2km turning point, just before the Cat Cocos terminal roundabout, before returning to the Independence Avenue roundabout. From there, they will enter the stadium via the 5th June Avenue and once inside they will run 300 metres around the track to the finish line.

The winning team will receive a trophy and some other interesting prizes which will be announced later.

Registration fee is R100 per team and the deadline to do so is December 17.

Water and juice will be available in the stadium and at the 5km turning point. There will be supervised entertainment for the younger runners and spectators inside the stadium so that families can leave their very children in safe hands while they enjoy the relay run.

Roland Duval