The free (and feminine) electrons

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Some called us unlucky Team 13, but we did not flinch. We wore our number 13s proudly, and called ourselves “les electrones libres.” This is apparently funny in French: electrons are usually masculine, but we added some letters to make them feminine, because we were girls. This must’ve been really hilarious because when our team name appeared on the official list, the official somebody had corrected our spelling and returned our electrons to their masculine state. D’oh. So much for French humour!!

We were one of only thirteen all-girl teams running in the annual CERN relay. There were 82 teams altogether, which gives you a pretty good idea of the usual gender ratio around CERN. We really got into the spirit of it though. We made T-shirts, and some of our team even trained. Twice. Back in April. I was hauled in when the team captain was called to a conference at the last minute. My training consisted of several high-altitude train journeys, two 100m jogs on the way home last night, and one pair of newly purchased tennis shoes, white, with impressive things written on the heel (things likeVShock and High Performance Gel; I kid myself that this helps).

One of the horrible things about a relay is that you can’t hang out with your team while you wait for the baton to appear. You must wait at your designated point, all alone except for the other runners. These Other Runners all jog on the spot, stretch, bounce around in lycra shorts and running tops. This is hard to look at when the last time you ran 500m was…actually, I don’t think I’ve ever run 500m. Anyway, I was feeling a bit nervous until I saw other Other Runners correcting their fairy wings and adjusting their Viking hats. Then I knew: it would all be OK.

So, one brave electrone appeared on the horizon, she passed me the baton, I popped along down the road a bit, then gave it to the next brave electrone, and then I walked to the finish line to enjoy a cold drink and a bit of fame.

The relay required six runners: 1000m, 800m, 800m, 500m, 500m, and 300m. This distance took us 15 minutes and 37.509 seconds (bloody physicists and their infatuation with decimal places!). This time was enough to see us welcomed to the podium to collect a trophy for third place!! WOO HOO! And contrary to popular belief, there were more than three teams in our category. There were six!!! And we finished 73rd overall, which was a stirling effort.

(For those who are super competitive and want to know just how fast a physicist can run: the top team finished in 10 minutes, 41.359 seconds; the first all-women team crossed the line in 13 minutes, 56.404 seconds. Faster than a speeding particle )

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