50 Years of walking The Viking Way

We arrived in Lincolnshire (Claxby) in 1975 just one year before The Viking Way. I was 28 and always a keen walker and runner. Working at the local comprehensive school, I became concerned to see how little local students knew about their own environment; most had never heard of The Viking Way. I ran a cross country club at the school and one day I had the idea of organising a relay race along The Viking Way from Caistor to Tealby. Thus was born The Viking Challenge Relay. At its peak it attracted more than12 schools(60 plus athletes) with some schools submitting two teams. Later a girls' race was organised. We ran the event in March (sometimes in snow!) and on one occasion in thick mist. A fleet of volunteer timekeepers tracked each stage and records were kept of the times for each leg. First years(11 year olds) competed in the first leg (about 1 mile from Caistor to Nettleton) and handed over to Fourth Years(14 year olds) up the gruelling climb to Mottley Brant's Farm. Third years ran to Normanby Church and second years sprinted down hill to Walesby. The final stage was the undulating stretch from Walesby to Tealby. Every stage had a "hare" (sometimes it was me!) but we did once have a runner who got straight on his team bus without handing onto to his waiting team mate! It was overall an exciting and challenging event.