The Great Welsh Leek Relay 2011
The Great Welsh Leek Relay 2010, a set on Flickr.
What started last year as an office discussion on how we can raise the issue of Food miles in Wales, has now almost turned into a full blow annual event in its own right.
The Great Welsh Leek Relay last year involved members of Bridgend Athletic Club running, cycling and swimming with a freshly picked leek from a field in Buckley in North Wales, all the way down to Bridgend in time to open the Wales Alternative Food Festival.
“The idea was to show how food over great distance does not travel so well” said Head of Welsh Athletics and double Olympian Marathon Runner Steve Brace was one of the three elite athletes who completed the task ” It was such an usual thing to do and a great way to promote the beauty of Wales while raising awareness of the Food Miles issue. We’re delighted to be involved with this unique Welsh event again this year, and so looking forward to seeing the huge support that we get en route. It helps massively.”
This year, Steve heads a team of elite athletes once more for the Great Welsh Lek Relay which will start in Bangor on Tuesday 27th September, weave its way down to Portmeirion by Wednesday 28th, then on to Aberaeron by Thursday 29th. It will leave Swansea on 30th September on a short leg to Bridgend to officially open the Wales Alternative Food Festival in Bridgend appropriately around about lunchtime.
You can check their progress as they snake their way down through Wales on twitter http://www.twitter.com/followtheleek or #leekrelay
The Great Welsh Leek Relay 2010
The Great Welsh Leek Relay 2010, a set on Flickr.
This was a pretty mad thing to do last year to promote Feastival, and this year we are doing it all again.
Basically to raise the profile of ‘food miles’ as an issue, and to fit in nicely with our Alternative theme at Wales’ Alternative Food Festival, we decided to do the Great Welsh Leek Relay.
Essentially, we managed to persuade three elite athletes from Bridgend to pick a leek from a field in North Wales and transport it over land by bike and foot (and over water by swimming!) all the way to Bridgend in order to open Feastival last year.
It does help when you’ve got people like triple Olympian marathan man Steve Brace in the team. The good news is, they are doing it all again this year. Full details to be announced soon.
Leek relay athletes pose for pictures…
Well, they’re on their way up north to Flintshire, Alan, Steve, Jon and Rhiannon from the Wales Alternative Foood Festival have left Bridgend and eager to srat the leek relay early tomorrow morning. Steve Brace, double Olympian, Alan Kerr, former world triathlon Gold medallist, Jon Embling with 47 Marathons under his belt and Rhiannon Kingsley has just told us that she’s going to be running 8 miles of the journey too! Good effort RK but there again she is a marathon runner too!
Anyway, looks like they’re having fun en route that’s for sure. Pictured above is Alan showing the off the T shirt and below is Steve just showing off I suppose! Seriously though, these guys need a big pat on the back giving up their time to do this. Superb effort guys (though the hard bit’s still to come of course!)
PRESS RELEASE: The Great Welsh Leek Relay from North to South Wales in 3 days
Wales’ unique version of the infamous Olympic torch relay, the Great Welsh Leek relay will start later this month on the 29th September 2010.
The ‘Olympic’ Leek will be run, cycled and swam the length of Wales to open the first ever alternative food festival – FEASTIVAL, taking place in Bridgend town centre on 1st and 2nd October. Three top athletes from Bridgend will be starting the epic three day relay in a field in Flintshire, North Wales. The leek will be plucked from the ground and then transported 230 miles on a route through some of Wales’ spectacular countryside.
As well as the grand arrival in Bridgend to open the food festival, the journey of the leek will be highlighting the issue of food miles whilst raising money for Children in Need.
Steve Brace, double Olympian, Alan Kerr, former world triathlon Gold medallist, and Jon Embling with 47 Marathons under his belt have agreed to take on the challenge and carry the leek by hand and bike across land and water
“We’re expecting to take three days to complete this challenge before we arrive home in Bridgend but we’re all really looking forward to it” said former Olympian and British champion Steve Brace “It’s a bit of a unique event for us and hopefully others will join us en route or turn out to cheer us on”
Richard Arnold from Really Welsh Trading Company said “For decades Welsh shops were full of leeks grown anywhere but Wales. In 2005 we stated to put that right, developing a farm in North Wales that now produces up to 85 tons of Really Welsh leeks a week from July to May, and we think that by running some of our National Vegetables the length of the land, while raising some money for a great cause like 4 year old Finlay Brunt from Bridgend who is in desperate need of a life changing operation is a great way to celebrate Welsh National Leek week which runs from 1st to 7th October each year”.
Feastival, Wales’ alternative food festival will open on the 1st October with the arrival of the leek. This will mark the start of a new two day event in the Welsh food calendar that promises to be a little bit different to the norm. some of the most unique features include egg dropping, leek lobbing, melon sculpting and an unusual food art centrepiece in the from of a giant 10ft cauliflower sheep. As well as the traditional food hall and market stalls, there will be cookery demos, an urban allotment, food cinema and the grub-hub tent designed just for little foodies.
To follow the route of the leek relay visit our blog via www.walesalternativefoodfestival.com and follow us on twitter @ www.twitter.com/followtheleek
Ends.
Notes for Editors :-
This project has received funding through the Rural Development Fund for Wales 2007-2013 which is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.
The Olympic Leek Relay is being sponsored by the Really Welsh Trading Company. Feastival is sponsored by the Welsh Assembly Government, Capital Region Tourism, Bridgend County Borough Council, Reach, Bridgend Festivals, Puffin Produce Ltd., Altern8media, The Really Welsh Food Company & May Gurney.
Feastvial will take place on the 1st & 2nd October 2010.
For more information call 01656 815225 or visit www.walesalternativefoodfestival.com
For more information regarding Finlay Brunt www.fixfinlayfund.org.uk
