In August on the way to F3 Dad’s camp, Taz mentioned that F3 was trying to create a relay race around Lake Norman. I was intrigued because it was closer to home, shorter and would be at night so we talked about it but then I somewhat forgot about it. While running BRR, Taz talked to MiniMe about the relay race and again mentioned it to me when I saw him after the race. Taz and I talked about it again but did not get much interest when we mentioned it to others. Then Taz was injured so the race was pushed out of my mind again. While I was sitting at home one night, I saw a tweet from OBT asking for runners for the Lake Norman Basin Relay Race so I sent him a tweet and said I was in. I had no idea what I was getting into other than the race was around Lake Norman and it started at 10pm.
I arrived at D9 Brewery ready to run and hung out with F3 brothers from around the area for about 3 hours before the race started. Our team consisted of 1 man who I had met and 4 others who I only knew their name. The Iron Project’s Stormin’ Norman team was OBT, Minnow, Snowflake, Don King, Clamdigger, and myself.
We finished 10th and averaged an 8:50 pace while the winning team averaged a 6:54 pace and the last team averaged 10:11. Those numbers are provided for all pax to realize that they can get together with other men from the area and run a relay. You do not have to be fast to run a relay. At the end of the day, no one cared what place they finished and it was all about having fun. During the course of 10 hours, we slept, ate, laughed, and ran a little bit. The legs were not tough and ranged from 10.55 to 13.27 total for each runner over 2 legs. I have provided more information on the legs below if you want to look into them further.
There were some minor issues during the race but I know these will be fixed for the next race. Yes, they are planning to do this race again and hope to double (at least) the number of teams running. The interesting thing about this CSAUP is that it is open to the public. We raced against F3 teams, FIA teams, mixed teams, and non-F3 teams. We may even be able to enter a father-son team if we had enough interest and they would allow us. Having this race during a full moon also created additional light that allowed you to cut off your headlamp and still see out in the country. We ran with actual batons, not slap bracelets, and the exchange points were better and easier to get in/out of than previous relays that I had been on in the past. We used 1 van but this can easily be completed with a SUV or even two cars. Be spontaneous and see how it goes.
The main reason that I wrote this is to bring this race to your attention and let you know that it will be available again next year. I highly recommend this event and it allows you to be away from your family for a very short time (I left at 6p and got home about 9:30a) which makes it even better for your M and 2.0s. Another reason I recommend this is that it is cheap! The cost for early registration is $350 per team and there are no hotel expenses and possibly no van rental fees. The fellowship was not like on other 200+ mile relays but we still had a lot of fun. If you can run 3 miles (or 0 miles) then this is a great race to get introduced to relays. Who knows, maybe FUSE and HBC will run as a 2 man team next year! Let me know if you have any questions or want more information.
Preblast: http://f3lakenorman.com/announcement/lkns-basin-run-relay-presented-by-f3lkn
Race Website: http://jonesracingcompany.com/lknbasinrunrelay/
LKNBRR Legs: https://f3-meca.com/2017/09/13/basin-run-relay-strava-segments/
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