by Paul Schreiner

A record number of teams participated in the Cross Island Relay on Sunday 3 February 2013. The race organized by the Hash House Harriers and sponsored by Fidelity had 93 teams start in the predawn hour of 6am near Colliers Public Beach in East End as the teams started the race across Grand Cayman. The race was sure to be hotly contested with the Bulldogs trying to repeat as champions but the prior year champions were expecting to be tested by Cayman Express. Sole Sisters were back trying to repeat in the Female division and KPMG was back with several teams trying to hold onto the Corporate title.

The first leg was extremely fast as Dominic Corbin of Cayman Express ran the fastest individual leg of the day as his team jumped into the lead followed by The Massai Warriors and the Bulldogs with KPMG uno heading up the Corporate division and in the fourth overall position. Leg 2 saw Greg Meaker of Not A Very Creative Bunch of Runners storm into the 2nd overall place with Cayman Express holding on to first place. Cajan Hounds overtook KPMG uno to arrive in 4th overall place and the Sole Sisters were keeping pace leading the female division in 9th overall place behind a superb run by Beth Florek.

The Cayman Express continued to run away from the field in during the 3rd leg of the Relay while the other teams tried to keep pace and maintain their place for the final 3 legs. The 4th leg of the relay saw Jason Saunders gain ground and he put the Bulldogs into 2nd position while the youngsters in MDR’s A Team gain the 4th overall place after the leg was completed. The Sole Sisters continued to pass other teams climbing to 7th position and Maples Mauraders had a strong hold on the Corporate lead at this point.

Leg 5 saw Mike Ridsdale of the Cajun Hounds run past the MDR’s A Team to put the his team in into the 4th position with only 1 relay leg to go. Cayman Express was easily in first with the Bulldogs having a strong run to ensure a second place finish was obtained. Walkers Running was on the heels of Maples Mauraders as the Corporate title would be decided in the final 4 miles.

The final leg of the day saw Cayman Express put the race away with a nice run by David Walker with the Bulldogs finishing second just over 6 minutes slower. Third and fourth positions were taken by Not A Very Creative Bunch of Runners and Cajun Hounds respectively while 5th in the overall division was the teenage team of MDR’s A Team.

The Sole Sisters finished 9th overall and were the first female team to cross the finish line. Followed by the WNRC Fierce Females and Jaxi’s Birthday Team to round out the top 3 in the female division.

The Corporate trophy went to Maples Mauraders who won by 9 minutes over Walkers Running and KPMG uno taking 3rd position.

The Hash House Harriers would like to thank Fidelity for sponsoring the race. Also the Hash would like to thank all of the volunteers who assisted with the race including the Red Cross who volunteered at all of the water stops and ensured the athletes were hydrated. Thank you also to CaymanActive for assisting with pre-race registration. Finally thank you to all of the runners who made this event such a success and the record breaking number of teams was a great show of support for the 39th running of the event. Next year the race is scheduled for 2 February and the Hash hopes that 100 teams will participate in the event.

The Hash House Harriers run each and every Monday and anyone is invited to come along. Details of the schedule can be found at
www.caymanhash.com/Cayman_Hash_House_Harriers/Schedule.html