ERRA 2026 - Jake pulls on the EAC vest

For the first time, Edinburgh AC fielded teams for the Mens 12 Stage & Womens 6 Stage Road Relay Championships at Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, 11th April 2026 with a very special team mate…

“Having missed the chance to pull on an Edinburgh AC vest at British Champs the last few years it was great to get it back on once again.” Jake Wightman

Video footage thanks to Rafe Littlefield

Race report

“I’ve managed to get the 12th man, some runner called Jake Wightman. Think he’s quite handy…”

Imagine the injection of excitement to know you made the team for the British Road Relays and a world champion is coming too. In most sports this just doesn’t happen. In typical style, Jake turned up, put his bag in the club tent and joined in the day as an equal. We all did our best to act like this was the most normal in the world and some of the joined in his extra session after his leg before hanging around watching everyone finish and getting a final team photo. What a legend! Next year Jake, we are expecting a full Last Rep coffee bar too.

Other teams had their celebrities too, Youtubers Phily Bowden and Ben is Running blended into their club camps with supporting camera teams or just a phone but on the road, just another runner.

Not that we didn’t have plenty more classy runners in this squad. This is a golden generation of EAC women. All winter, there have been podiums in cross country, mountains, road and indoors for individuals and teams. To qualify for the ERRA, the first team won the Scottish relay champs in a course record. Throughout these races, different runners made the podiums demonstrating the depth as well as the quality.

Depth is key to the ERRA. There is a good reason why EAC has not managed to get full teams at this event before. It takes a really big pool of runners to get 12 men and 6 women on the day. All the clubs will tell you “if we’d had our best runners here, we could have won”. Of course, that is the point, nobody will between training camps, injuries and holidays. As team organisers, Iain and I started out with two teams worth each but by the end, I was the only ‘spare’ for the first teams (thank goodness I wasn’t needed).

After a Friday travel day, we got to the course in a hilly parkland. Rain cleared but the wind stayed fresh. The course was vaguely close to 5km, longer than last year, uphill or downhill but almost never flat. It is a stern test of simply running hard until it ends and see how many you can catch or hold off. The men’s and women’s races fold into each other after the first lap after which the course seems to be a continuous flow of runners.

The men’s position within the field ebbed and flowed until an excellent final 24th place and a marker in the sand for next year. Everyone cheered on throughout with great support from our fellow Scottish racers at Corstorphine AC. The women’s team gained ground with each leg to finish 9th just a whisker away from 8th to match last year’s position.

Results

https://www.racetecresults.com/Results.aspx?CId=20223&RId=275&EId=1

Women’s 6 Stage: 9th place

Lucy Naga - 20:28
Anise Macaulay Orr - 20:45
Abby Thomson - 21:49
Hannah Cox - 19:39
Isla Cubitt - 19:01
Kirsty Walker - 18:31

Men’s 12 Stage: 24th place

Patrick Barnes - 18:24
Jake Wightman - 16:03
Noah Howlett - 16:19
Iain Whitaker - 17:40
Scott Macleod - 18:19
Stuart Johnston - 18:18
Gary Constable - 19:31
Adam Bayley - 19:13
Sam Leitch - 18:15
Nathan Brown - 18:10
Pete Cameron - 16:37
John Lenehan - 18:01

Next year, we go again

There are some team events that many runners cite as highlights in their running career, SIAB cross country teams, Interdistrict and Intercounties. Ask any of the older folks in the club and they may talk excitedly about the Edinburgh to Glasgow relays. The ERRA is another of those events not just for the quality but for the team experience and comradery. Edinburgh Southern Harriers (an older iteration of the club) managed 2nd place in the men’s race twice in 1974 and 1975.

With each year, I hope we can build stronger teams to disrupt the English domination and contest for the win. You might be hearing from me next year…