CERN Relay Race: No records broken in a bumper year

Tribute is paid to David Dallman, 20 times the organiser of the CERN Relay Race, who is now retiring.

Solve the following mathematical problem for athletes: take the first and third-placed teams in the 2006 CERN Relay Race, randomly mix the runners to form two new teams, and what is the result? Answer: first place and fifth place. In short, the team which has reigned supreme in first place since 2001, the "Shabbys", decided to spice up the race this year by merging with their arch rivals, the "Latinos Volantes", themselves no strangers to the podium. And at the winning line, it was the hybrid formation, "Shabbys Volantes", which took the honours (no surprises there!). Sadly, they were unable to beat the Shabbys’ previous record nor get anywhere near the all-time race record of 10 minutes and 13 seconds for the 3.9-km course, held for a quarter of a century by the "UA1 Strollers". One of the members of that legendary team and race organiser 20 times, David Dallman, marked the silver jubilee of his team’s record by bidding farewell to the event. Members of the CERN Running Club presented David with a mark of their esteem on the occasion of this, his last race.

In the end, the only record broken was once again that of the number of teams taking part. Not only was it broken, but it was literally smashed, with 82 teams on the starting line, compared to 65 last year, representing a total of 492 runners. An excellent reason for David to smile !

A runner of the HR Angels flying over the finishing line.

The team "Impossible Mission" with its first circulating proton in 2007.

The team Armata Brancaleone.