The legacy of the Leeds Dock Relay dates back to 2019, when the first event took place with the organisation of Active Leeds, who were working hard to influence the physical environment at Leeds Dock. Three years on, this unique area is a hub of activity, with its very own collaborative called Leeds Dock Active, a partnership which meets regularly to co-ordinate and discuss a wide range of activities and events in this space, which can be offered to the local residents and workers of the Leeds Dock community and beyond. 

These now include running, cycling, open water swimming, paddle boarding, with established run groups such as the Recovery Runners and the Leeds Dock Running Group. The annual event that is the Leeds Dock Relay, like the area, has grown in popularity year on year, and 2022 proved to be the biggest one to date with 100 teams of between 2-4 participants!

The preparation and administrative planning for the event began back in February, to make sure the various risk assessments, insurance, and event plans were processed, an Eventbrite system set up, as well as securing support of the Royal Armouries and Allied London to have access to the square free of charge. With these things in place, the event took place down on a warm sunny evening at Leeds Dock on Friday 19^th August. Allied London, the landowners of the dock greatly supported the event by helping with access, security and use of equipment and facilities, including the Glass Box for registration.

The marketing campaign was incredibly successful, which in part led to such a huge increase in numbers participating in the event. Kirsty, our Run Leeds marketing expert, created some eye-catching promotional material for social media, which was launched in March. This was also shared with the Recovery Runners, The Leeds Dock Runners, Active Leeds Comms, Insite and Good Gym, who also did an excellent job in the promoting the event.

In the week leading up to the Relay, Jack Conlon from BBC Radio Leeds Sport contacted Run Leeds to do an interview outlining the details of the event, which Jamie from Recovery Runners and Neil from Active Leeds kindly agreed to do. They did a fantastic job, and really got the message out there regarding the purpose of the event, which was to ultimately raise money for the Recovery Runners, a group which helps those facing addiction. The event raised over £1000 for the Recovery Runners to use for places in races and kit, for some of their runners facing financial hardship.

This year saw the return of a single open relay race, and the increased the capacity of numbers to allow more teams from across the city and Yorkshire to enter. The event format remained the same, with teams of up to 4 people tasked with completing as many laps as possible of the approximate 1-mile course within a one-hour time frame. Tokens were given to team members after completing a lap and taken back to the rest of team to collect and be counted at the end of the race.

The event saw a return of various local running clubs such as South Leeds Lakers, Roundhay Runners, Crossgate Harriers and a number of corporate teams from businesses across the city. The event also saw many new running clubs, both social and affiliated which made for a vibrant atmosphere. The evening’s format also meant that the event was very inclusive and allowed for a range of different abilities all to be taking part together.

To top the evening off, some of the local Leeds Dock businesses also generously agreed to donate some prizes for the evening, for the top three teams. Both Mumtaz Restaurant and The Canary Bar provided £50 vouchers, and our very own Active Leeds provided four free month gym memberships. There were also spot prizes on the evening of Run Leeds T-Shirts and Run ‘Buffs’ handed out for best team name and youngest team member. The winning team were The Valley Striders under 18s, lightning fast with 13 laps!

The event could not have gone ahead without the amazing volunteers. Leeds Good Gym supported by providing several volunteers on the day to help with the route course and marshalling.  The Recovery Runners and the Leeds Dock Running Club also provided several volunteers to marshal the event. A huge thank you to everyone involved!

The Run Leeds Ambassadors were also a crucial part in promoting and capturing the event on social media. They also managed to do quite a few laps too 😊

Nicola, one of our Run Leeds Ambassadors kindly put together a reel for Instagram which she posted the same evening of the event as well as another video as part of her Youtube channel ‘Nicola Runs’ which documents the entire event. Click on this  link  to watch the full video. The positive feedback post-event on social media really made all the hard work and effort worthwhile.

So, with another successful Leeds Dock Relay done and dusted, time to start planning for 2023! Next time with the local Leeds Dock Run Clubs taking the lead on what has become a real sustainable legacy for the Run Leeds Project.