Birmingham Uni Reunion Race

On the 15th May 2010 25 ex-Birmingham University athletes met up in Marlow to remember a good friend Angela Deegan, reminisce about the good old days 30 odd years ago and enjoy each others company! The team including Olympic athletes Andy Holden, Ray Smedley Chris Benning, and British record holder Mike Kearns who decided the first tactic was to find a pub with good food and stay until closing time.

The food was excellent and the conversation even better as we eventually rolled into our respective hotels and B&Bs around midnight. Having raced the day before at the National Vets relays at Sutton Park, I was out for a 10-minute jog at 7am on Sunday to survey the damage to my legs. Verdict not too bad, I pinned my number to my racing vest not my t-shirt, and got a text from Jill Harrison around 9am saying she was up for racing too!!

So as the 11 o’clock start approached on Sunday 16th, only 2 of us stripped off to vests and shorts (Ronhill of course), as the rest stayed in limited edition reunion t-shirts. A field of 700 set off and I decided just to see how I felt & not check kilometre splits. First 2km felt easy so I decided to race and broke away easily at 4km to win by 22 seconds in my fastest over 50s time to date 34m 16sec.
Moral of the tale; forget the watch, just race!

Only 90 seconds later my best man from 1982 and uni flatmate Mike Longthorn arrived in 35m 47s. I hope he isn’t planning a comeback or I am in trouble. Then Mike Kearns out kicked Jill for 16th place overall 38m 03s to 38m 06s, who is still as competitive after all this time. Eventually everyone made it back including Steve Lawrence and Paul Rowland, just recovering from knee surgery but determined to finish in Ange’s memory.

Back to Junes for showers and a BBQ before the long goodbyes. We had packed a hell of a lot into 24 hours and now it was time go back to reality. What is it really time to go? Can’t we stay a bit longer and remember great times in the Gun Barrels, having destroyed Loughborough in the BUSF XC Champs yet again, 1973-77 straight?

Yes, work beckons, but we've had a magical moment remembering good friends Angela Deegan and Ian Logan who left us too soon, and raised almost £12,000 for Cancer Research UK.

Maybe we should do is every month!! Will we ever do it again? Get Kearns over from Pittsburgh, Gilmour from Melbourne, Longthorn from Zurich? Maybe but if its going to take another 30 years it will definitely be a 5km next time, and a battle of who has the fittest carer pushing the wheelchair!!

Just Giving - Birmingham Uni Run to view full results and photos of the event.

Last few weeks before Bob Graham Attempt

It is a fine line between over training and getting enough stamina in your legs for a 100km (30,000ft ascent) challenge. On all runs except my last main run before my attempt on the Bob Graham Round at the end of May I seemed to get the balance right.

Ascending to High Raise - 7am

One long day with a group from Dallam running club ended up in heavy sleet and high winds, it is tough going in such conditions, with rough ground to cover and tricky navigation at times.

Descending to Wasdale before the weather deteriorates

There are many "skills" to learn in order to succeed at this challenge, nutrition and hydration are very important of course over such long periods of activity. If you get de-hydrated, run out of energy, too hot,  or too cold you are going to be in real trouble! Within a couple of weeks I have experienced weather from rather hot to absolutely bitterly cold and wet, so you have to be ready for any eventuality!

Ascending Kirk Fell in miserable conditions

The last main training run was intended to be a confidence booster and also to try some night running. Setting of at 9.30pm (on leg 2 of 5) at approximately the same time as on our attempt, we were going to run through the night and cover around 60kms. We would be testing our kit at night and seeing what the navigation would be like. Everything felt fine until around 2am when my body started telling me I should be in bed asleep. My legs started to tire and I generally felt pretty rough, this was not how it was meant to go! I hope I can put this tiredness down to a busy couple of days at work and tired legs from the the Fred Whitton cycle challenge a few days before. Certainly if I feel like this on the day there is no way I  will get around! So despite fuelling some negative thoughts it was perhaps a useful run to finish on as it made me realise it will be vital to rest up and sleep as much as possible on the few days prior to my attempt, perhaps even trying to change my "body clock" a little.

Running along the Helvellyn Ridge at midnight.

Ronhill Connemarathon 2010

Mountains reflected perfectly onto lakes as smooth as glass, flocks of sheep running through the finish line and the Ultra Marathon course record broken by an English man were the talk of the day at the Ronhill Connemara Marathon. There were as many stories as there were runners when the 3,200 participants gathered in Peacockes Hotel in Maam Cross for the after run refreshments - many of whom dined alfresco to soak up the 19 degrees of glorious sunshine.

'It is one of those days that you truly believe will be a once in a lifetime experience', commented Ray O'Connor, the Connemarathon Race Director, 'Everything went perfectly from the weather to the traffic management which involved moving 3,200 people around Connemara in a convoy of seventy buses, to the post race celebrations'.

The event sold out four months in advance and entries are already in for the 2011 Connemarathon. It has always been extremely important to the Tourism industry in Connemara and Galway City and attracts participants form all over the world.

The Ronhill Connemara Marathon is now regarded as a serious event on the Irish Athletics Calendar - runners come from far and wide to test their stamina in what is regarded to be one of the most challenging Marathons in Europe. The winner of the gruelling 39.3 mile Ultra Marathon was David Kirkland from the UK in a course record time of 4 hours and 3 minutes which also gave the winner a well deserved prize of €1,500 and a Galway Crystal Trophy. The title was hotly contested by Denis Walmsley from the UK and Russian athlete Vasilily Neumerzhitskiy. The Women's Ultra Winner was Ann Marie Holland from Cork in an impressive 5 hours and 40 minutes. The Full Marathon was won by the National Marathon Champion, Sergiu Ciobanu in a time of 2 hours and 31 minutes. Canadian woman Mary Walsh completed the Full Marathon Course in the winning time of 3 hours and 12 Minutes.

The United States had a clear sweep in both Half Marathon races with Chris Mahoney winning the men's race in 1 hour 17 and Mairead Finucane finishing fastest in the women's race in 1 hour and 31 minutes, both from Massachusetts.

The success of the Connemara Marathon has lead the way for a whole host of new events throughout Ireland - nine years ago there was the Dublin, Longford and Belfast Marathon - now there is a marathon or half marathon in nearly every county. This is good for the country on several levels but mainly on the fact that these events encourage people to train and live a more healthy lifestyle.

The Connemara Marathon is organised by running enthusiast Ray O'Connor who has completed 73 Marathons and is preparing to take on the challenge of running 10 marathons in 10 days in Cumbria next month. 'I know exactly what I am letting myself in for' he says, 'I completed the same challenge two years ago - I have trained really well but sometimes ignorance is bliss and the mental challenge will be more of a problem than the physical one'.
So what is the secret ingredient that makes the Connemarathon so successful? 'The Scenery is breathtaking even in good weather, the course is challenging especially as there are very few spectators so the runners bond and help each other through the tougher miles but I think it is the attention to detail from the organisers that make this event extra special.'

A change of sport - Building up endurance in the Costa Blanca

Cycling is great for resting the joints and yet giving your legs and cardio vascular system a full workout. On a hilly challenge like the Bob Graham I'm convinced that lots of long days cycling really helps. So 5 days in the Costa Blanca, based at Abdet, resulted in 400 miles and 40,000 feet of ascent. All of course in glorious weather.

The final day consisted of a mega 100 mile circuit finishing with the 2,500 foot climb back up to Abdet, 25 kms inland from Benidorm. The superb mountain scenery makes the training a pleasure!

Highlights are the massive climbs and descents, some up to 25 miles long, on perfect tarmac with very little traffic.