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Rugao June 2009
China Champs beckoned again. This year in Rugao. A sleepy town of just over one million citizens that is reached by an easy 3 hour bus trip north from Shanghai. Robert Herd volunteered to arrive early to expedite team registrations. So he travelled to Rugao on Wednesday afternoon and took a stroll to find the event headquarters hotel and the competition venue. Passing the hotel just before 7pm he stuck his head in just out of curiosity only to find the registration desk still open and staffed by a bevy of helpful folk. Registration was duly expedited and he was supplied with promotional bags, t-shirts, race numbers and a program.
Thursday was now freed to walk about town, explore the historic quarter and to generally relax. At 3pm Robert met up with John Casey and Ross Millburn as prearranged at the HQ hotel for the pre-competition technical meeting. As in previous years this meeting started late and went on and on with instruction after instruction. Guts of the 1.5 hours talking seem to be that ID’s would be checked at each race and that we should be prepared to wear a small bag on our hip for the collection of a urine sample for drug-testing!
Better news was to follow as John got his ear better in tune with the local Mandarin dialect being spoken. It was a small race number that we would have to wear on our hip. Even better news. We were invited to the welcome dinner about to commence in the hotel. So John phoned his wife Annky and the four of us took our place at a table signed with a reservation for a representative (that is, one person) from AVOHK. We four ignored that. Food to excess followed, accompanied by a grand cultural show, báijiü and sweet Chinese wine. Alas no beer. We each left with a commemorative boxed bottle of the local báijiü. We had earned it, for the báijiü company was clearly a major sponsor of the event, and the organisers had us posed for so many photos holding up the boxes, photos that will presumably be used for promotional purposes, or maybe just to show that we foreigners are soaks.
Friday kicked off early with a grand opening welcome parade and just a few short speeches (truly, only a few and they were short). Nothing to do till John raced late afternoon, so Ross and Robert accepted the offer from a local student to be our volunteer guide so she could practise her English. We left for a simple but delicious breakfast of local dumplings in broth and then toured the “Longevity Park” scenic spot on the edge of town. Late afternoon John took the track to race his 5000m in very warm conditions. He ran well but found the pace up front just a little too hot and missed out on a medal.
Early Saturday morning Ross ran his 5000m race. The cooler conditions allowed him to set a cracking pace that took him to a credible 2nd place Silver medal finish. By afternoon it was stinking hot, probably close to 40oC on the track, so little need to warm up much for the 1500m races. Robert was first to run. He quickly found himself trailing a pack of three runners but by halfway had been able to catch and pass two of them. Runner no.1 was just too strong but Robert was very pleased with his run and to collect the Silver medal, after having missed out on any medal the previous year in Tangshan. John raced next. He found himself in a big field of over 20 runners. He started steadily with a plan to build pace as the race progressed. This he did, and he progressively passed many of the runners who had started too quickly, but he could not catch the leaders and missed out on a medal. He vowed to work harder on his racing tactics for next time.
Sunday morning warmed quickly so by 400m race time it was hot. As was the pace set by the front runner in Robert’s race, but Robert ran well and collected the Silver medal. He had no doubt that his regular solo speed training on the university track in Hangzhou had been rewarded. Sunday afternoon saw Ross milburn run in the MV65 10,000 which he won in a excting finish.
Highlights of the meet included the excellent organisation, good track and toilets, the friendly officials, all the smiling student volunteer helpers and posing for about a million photos. We three were the lonely westerners we spotted in five days in Rugao. Competitor numbers seemed down a bit, but those who stayed away missed out, for we had a great few days in Rugao. Next year the Championship will be held in Fuzhou, Fujian Province.
Brunei August 2008 Brunei Veterans Track Meet Aug 2-3, 2008 By Grace Wong
DAY 1
I was 1 of 4 runners – Mabel Wu (LRRC), Mark Reeves (AVOHK), Raymond Lo (AVOHK) led by Bill Purves with his big group of race walkers. Flew into the capital, Seri Begawan by Royal Brunei Air. The hospitality Bruneian style was truly reflected when we were met by a representative sent by the organizer on arrival just to make sure that none of the HK team is caught trafficking alcohol, on top of that a van was already waiting outside to take us to the athletes village. Less than 15 mins we were there, very neat 3 story blocks of dorms next to the National Stadium with basic, hygienic and most important of all air conditioned rooms. Brunei being a Muslim country we were separated into male and female dorms but funny enough, men are allowed to walk in the female dorms while the male dorm is strictly forbidden ground for us. We then headed to the hall and surprised to find the same lady who met us at the airport sitting behind the registration table. After much currency swapping (we could pay entry fees in local currency/Singpore $ or US$), last minute event changing, registration and entry fee collection were completed and for some reason I ended up with a few Bn extra on hand.
DAY 2
Woke up at the crack of dawn, gobbled down a few pieces of biscuits and out the door. A short short distance away upon arrival at 6:15 a.m. we were puzzled to be greeted by only singing birds in the trees and an empty sports ground. The first event was scheduled for 7:00. Where is everyone? As we sat there watching day break slowly the workers started to appear here and there to set up.
The gun did not go off until 9:00 for the women 200m when it was supposed to have started an hour before. By then the sun was high and hot. I ran along 2 ex national reps from Sabah. They looked pretty intimidating when they mounted the iron bars (don’t know what they’re called) while I squatted down clumsily for the start. I was 3rd to cross the finish line and clocked 0:36, 1st in my age group. Not bad considering it’s my first ever sprinting race. The 2 Sabah girls took gold and sliver in W40.
As I jogged to catch up on my breath the 400m registration was called for. Oh my God, my next event. Literally the whole pack of 200m sprinters quickly gathered at the 400m start. Like me they were still panting heavily. The first half was a reply of the 200m but after we turned the 200m bend I realized I was no longer looking into the backs of the Sabah girls. Then I remembered how we do stride stretching at club training night. I kicked up higher, reaching further forward with each stride, passed the Sabah girls before the 300m bend and crossed the finish line clocking 1:25:22, a PB!
I had 30 mins rest before my next and last event of the day – 800m. Like all other events there was only one start for all. The 800m was an extended 400m but with a bigger gap between the first and the rest of the pack. This time I over took the Sabah girls in the first lap and ran home in 3:14:19. I surprised even myself.
We stayed on to watch other H.K. teamers the rest of the day. Saw other AVOHKers compete in various events. Bill Purves successfully defended his 5000 walk title and Mark Reeves kicked up a long trail of dust as he flew along the track in every event he did.
Day 3
Like day 2, the first event was supposed to start at 7:00 but again we walked into an empty sports ground at 6:30. They’ve put the 5000m men and women starting all together. Some 35 runners jammed up the start area, the biggest group so far. I lapped quite a few girls, some twice, and even 1 or 2 50/55 men while Mark lapped me twice. As was expected, with such a big group of runners of different speed all doing laps at the same time, it was confusing for the bell boy as it was for the runners. I think only Mark could pick out the bell for his last lap. I never like running in the heat. It certainly was not pleasant. I remember Li Ho Tung once called me a European horse. I could very well imagine how the true European horses would feel at the Equestrian Event to be starting in Hong Kong next week. When I hope my timer would give me the last lap sign he yelled ‘2 more’. Well, that 5000m felt like a Chung Hing Cup 10km summer run. Finished in 27:09 with the 2nd girl close behind who I had lapped once. Then I realized they didn’t stop me at my last lap and had made me run one extra lap. But I didn’t bother to do anything about the time because I was still the first girl to finish.
The opening cum closing ceremony took place at 1 pm. After that Bill tried hard to talk the girls into running the relay in the afternoon but we decided to go sight seeing instead. The organizer arranged a van and a driver to take us to town. We were taken on a swirl wind tour of the city – the beautiful mosque with it’s glimmering golden onion shaped dooms, the royal palace (we only saw the gate to the royal palace). We even went to the biggest department store and did some shopping.
Day 4
Most of the group wanted to take a jungle tour to the Ulu Temburong National Park while Bill Purves and Raymond Lo took a boat ride to a nearby Malaysian town Labuan for a cold beer.
Day 5
We were escorted to the airport by a very friendly lady who works for Royal Brunei Air. She came with us all the way from the village to the airport. Some of us even managed to buy some silk scarves (made in China, where else!) at the airport duty free shop.
If you are middle of the group type but hungry for medals, Brunei is definitely worth going. Extremely friendly people, clean air, free accommodation……….
UK Trailwalker 2008 Trailwalker UK July 19 2008
Clive Saffery
There is something very satisfying being over half way through an ultra and meeting people who are still saying good morning to you (always assuming of course that you started that day!). At 11.25 a.m. on July 19 we passed through 50k of Trailwalker UK in seventh place. Ahead of us were six Gurkha teams and we fully expected to spend the rest of the day in glorious isolation: too quick for the teams behind us and not quick enough to catch anyone in front of us.
Just over 500 teams started the race which takes place on the South Downs Way between Petersfield and Brighton. Each year the race has grown and this was the third year in a row we had competed as Lost in Wanchai. We’d chosen the name in the hope of creating the odd laugh with the Gurkhas and sure enough there were plenty of people around who had run checkpoints in the Hong Kong event prior to the departure of the British Army.
In the previous two years we had competed in the Mixed Team category and won it both times. The plan this year was to enter a men’s team and a girl’s team but stress fracture injuries to Claire Price and Jacqui Saffery meant we had just one team. Further misfortune befell us in the shape of Peter Lee’s hernia but fortunately Alex Morgan was able to enlist Bill Nock from his local UK running club to join Rob James and myself.
The night before the race promised rain but as we blearily woke up shortly after 4 a.m. it looked as if it might be a perfect day for running: and so it was. There are few better places to be running than the South Downs of England when the sun is in the sky and the wind is firmly behind you.
With picture postcard country to our left and the slope towards the sea on our right the South Downs Way can be run virtually all the way. Our tactics were to tag behind the leading teams and see what transpired in the second half of the race.
I’ve always felt the best place to be in an ultra is to reach half way and be in a position to over haul the teams in front of you. The problem of course is actually being in that position in the first place. Alex was in superb form throughout the day and I had to work very hard to stay with him in the first 50k. Shortly after half way however we got wind of a team in front of us and suddenly it was race faces all round and we went Gurkha hunting.
Running a team race is very different from running as an individual. You always hope to produce the perfectly balanced team but it rarely happens: in our case we were perfectly imbalanced. Bill is strong uphill, Alex downhill: I’m strong in the second half of the race, Rob the first half.
On the day however we only suffered a few minor issues. Rob’s need to eat Celebrex by the bucket load to manage his dodgy ankle resulted in the usual projectile vomit whilst my long standing heel injury was taken care of by a single anti-inflammatory and a massive dose of adrenalin. Even so we both suffered to maintain the standards set by Alex and Bill (especially as the latter said his optimum race was 3,000m round a track).
By the end of the day we’d hauled in three Gurkha teams including both the crack Gurkha Engineer teams and finished in fourth place in 11 hours 27 minutes. We’d broken our own civilian record by over an hour and took nearly 3 hours off the over 40’s record. The first place Gurkhas finished just over an hour in front of us but we claimed a moral victory on the grounds that a) they were incredibly young and b) they had (literally) an army of people to carry them over the latter stages of the course.
Post race we decided to stay in Brighton. Our hotel lift was conveniently out of order necessitating a climb up four floors to my room, just what we needed after running 100k.
Given the status of Brighton as the gay capital of England there were several unfair comments about the way Rob and I were walking the next day. The photo below however hopefully puts paid to any rumours.
Trailwalker UK is a wonderful race and conveniently takes place during the school holidays. There were three Hong Kong teams (at least) this year: let’s hope for a few more in 2009.
London Marathon 2008 Martin Kennard
This was my fifth marathon and, in terms of the race itself, the least traumatic of the lot. Mind you, the experience of getting to the start line caused plenty of stress. Fukuoka and Xiamen marathons had been booked but a lower back injury, sustained in late October 2007, put paid to participation in either event. The journey to the gathering point at Maze Hill could have been smoother too. Come eight in the morning, all trains were jam packed with exuberant runners, all of whom seemed a great deal more relaxed than I. London transport kindly created an extra warm up by halting in Greenwich, rather than making the scheduled stop at Maze Hill that would have left me a few metres shy of the start line. There followed a thirty five minute jog/walk to get to the gathering point. Just to top things off, before the gun, I had the displeasure of getting my feet soaked in a pool of pee in the outdoor urinals. Still I was well prepared, reasonably confident and had bagfuls of long runs in my legs.
The weather gods seemed to have waved their magic wands for this race. As Seb Coe got the show on the road, the temperature was a little below 10c, winds were light and skies were clear.
I had set myself a target of finishing in two hours and thirty six minutes, which made the timing easy as this meant averaging a little under six minutes per mile. Predictably, the going was easy in the first hour and I reached half way about a minute up on my goal time. However, as with previous marathons, my splits starting worsening a little after reaching the fifteen mile mark. At around two hours into the race the skies erupted and participants were greeted with a storm and gusty winds for about twenty minutes. This knocked a bit of wind out of my sails and I slowed significantly. Then something strange happened – when I ventured beyond the twenty mile mark, for the first time, I didn’t experience the deadening effects of the wall. Although very tired, the ‘sinking into sand sensation’ wasn’t apparent. I waited but it never came and was able to pick up the pace a little to cross the line in 2.37.38. Not exactly what I was after but two minutes better than my previous best and cause enough to celebrate.
So London Marathon comes highly recommended. If you have a UK address and a time that is considered ‘good for age’ a start position just short of the line can be assured. The course is pretty flat and fast and, were it not for the number of turns, it could be one of the best in the world. The crowd support is terrific for most sections and there are plenty of people to cheer you on through those last few difficult miles. Sensible runners, whose sole objective is to complete the marathon, can take in all the main sights of London whilst out on course. The race marshalling is excellent and the drinks stations are so prevalent that there is really no need to plan your stops in advance. You needn’t wear a watch either as the clock is clearly displayed on all mile markers and on every five kilometer split. I’ll be back sometime but for the time being will be happy to run for fitness with no clear objective in mind – something I haven’t had the pleasure of doing for a while.
Dubai Marathon Report Course - probably 8/10, flat as a pancake other than small cobbled bumps at the traffic lights, a few turns on the way out and way back with a 17K straight out and a 17k straight back, a nasty little 2k loop at the end when you're within smelling & collapsing distance of the finish, iconic Burj Al Arab hotel at the turnaround, but other than that and Jumeirah mosque the course is perhaps a little boring for those who want to take it easy and enjoy the sights.
Start - no problem here with less than 1000 runners, at most you will be only a couple of seconds getting across and you'll be mixing it with Haile Gebse and the likes.
Enroute - low numbers mean that you may need to pace and run by yourself if you're target doesn't match that of other runners. Good drinks provision along the way (5K and in between) - sponges towards the end - no snacks. Plenty of marshals but inexperienced so they don't always wave you along the correct route - not a problem on the 17K straights, or elsehwere for that matter. Roads closed and traffic diverted - Dubai wants a record so no messing in this department - make it flat and fast as possible! Groups of support along the route - not London, but not HK and just about right if you don't like the glitz - about 500 screaming Ethiopians and Kenyans at the end.
Organisation - 7/10, but getting better every year. My biggest gripe on the day was the lack of champion chip mat at the turnaround, which meant that those so inclined could cut back early - 99.9% of us won't, but there's always the odd one - my missus spotted runner no.903 finishing (with spray on sweat) in 2:27 but he was not spotted at the tunrnaround (and his thighs were memorable!). Also I heard that they ran out of finishers medals - how can this be?
Richest race - sadly this is limited to the elite men and women as there are no category prizes, which is a shame as there's a lost incentive. We will lobby for a change.
Etiquette - no need for head scarfs for women - although Islam is the religion, Dubai is a moderate / liberalised emirate - but perhaps no bare chests please. Unlike Japan, no beer at the finish though!
Participants - running is not as popular here as in HK so a lower turnout for the marathon and a bigger mix of overseas runners (very few Emiratis I would guess). Good to see and hear (because they were loud and excited) a group of HK runners - I didn't recognise my old adversary Lai Kat with a go faster haircut, so belated hello to him and congrats on his 2:41:41
Weather - for this race it was perfect with a 12oC start rising to about 18oC, albeit the clear blue skies gave us a few degrees higher in the sunny patches. Humidity was probably 55-60% - not an issue. This weather was preceded by 3-4 days of rain and flooding, so be warned at this time of year there's an increased chance of variable weather.
Marathon / Dubai experience - I'd have thought at least 8/10 if you're coming over for a week from HK. Taking part in a marathon that produced the second fastest time in history was epic, as was the support that the Ethiopian residents of Dubai showed Haile. Hope to see more familiar faces at next year's race.
World Championships Report My Osaka World Championships X1 journey was in two halves.
The first was being wedded to my PC and the IAAF website with its live
updates and radio broadcast. The information flow and coverage of events
was first class. I remembered listening to a live radio broadcast of the
Munich Marathon in 1972 in the middle of the night in Melbourne as an
aspiring distance runner trying to catch splits and leaders given around
15mins after they had happened. It is almost impossible to imagine the
immediacy of global communications and real-time sport some 35 years later.
The second half involved a Wednesday flight to Osaka from Hong Kong to
watch the last 5 sessions. The 'road team’ included Colin Whittington,
myself and my daughter Ella. As good as the IAAF web coverage was, nothing
could surpass 5 days of ultimate track and field.
The marathons were brutal events. Both held in the morning when the
humidity, temperature and sun were all rising as the events proceeded. A
potent heat index! As a result Luke Kibet ran 2.15.59 and Catherine
Ndereba 2.30.37. Many sub 2.08 and sub 2.22 runners reduced to the ‘good
ordinary’.
No big negative splits. Just attrition. The women’s race was compelling
with 8 or 9 still there at 39K including Edith Masai (42 years old and
there for the team) and Lidia Simon, winner in 2001. Chunxiu Zhou, London
winner and joint favourite, ran great after losing a month in July to
injury. But ‘Catherine the Great’ showed why she will be the favourite in
Beijing.
Bernard Lagat won the 1500/5000 double with consummate tactical nouse.
Lagat, a US citizen after pushing EI Ghourouj in 2004 for Kenya, and
married to a Japanese American, is an example of our borderless world.
Other highlights for me were Bekele (now among the pantheon) and 'imagined'
on radio, and the men’s long jump. The latter was an incredible
competition with Saladino (Panama) taking the gold from Howe (Italy) at the
death, after a somewhat premature celebration by the Italian. Just as
entertaining was Carl Lewis and Mike Powell watching over the pit and the
pandemonium caused among the Japanese spectators. We all remembered the
1991 Tokyo long jump. (Is it the greatest athletic event ever?)
Lastly, it is not possible to live in Hong Kong China and not follow the
fortunes of the great Lui Xiang. An error in the semi gave him lane 9.
But he was up to the task and produced another phenomenal finish. Lui will
be the face of the Beijing Games. It is frightening to imagine the
pressure we will all feel for him. But it will take a truly great
performance to beat him in the high hurdles.
Chris
A tale of tail-less cats and a three-legged race in the middle of the Irish Sea  The Isle of Man marathon
As I was planning to travel back to the UK this summer with my family to visit my parents I began searching for a race to enter during the trip. There were several interesting ones available such as the Mt. Snowdon Race but I was looking for something a little longer in duration. I eventually discovered the Isle of Man marathon and then Martin Kennard told me that he had experience of the race and had good things to say about the organisation and friendly, informal nature of the event. That was it, I had decided.
Unfortunately my training took a nosedive almost as soon as I arrived in Yorkshire. Old friends turned up for reunions, desperate to catch up on things over a pint (or two) and eager to eat freshly caught Haddock with chips. After jotting down my training runs during the first week I realised that I would have to lower my estimates regarding my finish time. That’s okay I thought, I am on holiday. However, by the time we were ready to make our trip across the Irish Sea I had revised my expectations to such a point that they were currently focussed on simply finishing.
There was a brief stopover in Liverpool to visit another old friend (this time a nice bottle of wine and a barbecue – more pace revisions), before we were finally on the SeaCat speeding across to Douglas. The Isle of Man symbol features three running legs clad in armour and bearing spurs. Declining the temptation I decided to run in my favourite sub-threes instead.
On race morning the weather could not have been better; overcast with a damp mist drifting down from the sky and cool enough to make runners rub their hands together as we gathered on the start line on the seafront in Ramsey. A few photographs with the sponsor and his banner (he also ran the race) and we were off at 9:00 am. The half marathon runners started half an hour later.
Before we reached the 1-mile sign we passed the hotel where my family and I were staying, a grand old Edwardian hotel a bit frayed around the edges, and there were my wife and kids standing by the roadside snapping photos and shooting video (not one to remember I thought at the time).
From around mile 4 there was a steady climb to Bude followed by a long stretch gently sloping downhill through the pretty village of Andreas where I had the one and only Manx cat sighting of our stay! I believe there are two varieties, a ‘rumpy’, which has no tail at all, and a ‘stumpy’, which has a small vestigial tail as the name suggests. The cat I saw was of the latter type.
A water station had been set up outside the Ballacloan Football Stadium where the registrations had been made and where the finish line was waiting. We all had another lap to complete before we could nip through the gates and line up for the post-race buffet. I ran down the road and along the sea front to the hotel where my family were still waiting.
During the second lap I realised that I was not suffering as much as I had feared I and I began tentatively to increase my pacing. The big test came at mile 20 when, after having passed it to no ill effect, I decided to speed up and attempt to catch a few runners I could see in the distance ahead of me. A course marshal obviously thought I was giving it my all and generously gave me the distance to the runner behind so that I could judge my run in to the finish.
I crossed the line 11 minutes adrift of my PB, which was a huge surprise (I had been expecting to be at least half an hour slower) but not the only one. As I was tucking in to the generous buffet supplied by the Isle of Man Veteran Athlete’s Club my wife informed me that I had finished 10th overall and 3rd in my age group. Running in this cool climate had helped the run feel comfortable and besides the unique horse-brass finishers medal I was given my age group award consisting of a piece of engraved local slate mounted on wood.
That evening I rounded off an enjoyable day with a supper of Manx Kippers and cool Guinness.
The pic shows me running close to the incredible Steve Edwards (featured in the current issue of Runner’s World) who, at the age of 45, was attempting his 438th marathon. His race number: 438.
The last race finisher was also incredible. David Rossler came in at 6:09:22. He is 93 years old.
UK Trailwalker '07 New Mixed Team Record Trailwalker UK 2007 report from Clive and Jacqi Saffery
My season of ultra running is taking me all around the world. Starting in Hawaii in March when Jacqui and I ran 57k from sea level to the top of a 10,000 feet
volcano I then progressed to Japan in May for the first Japanese Trailwalker where our team came 3rd. In July it was time for Trailwalker UK.
Ahead of this year’s race we had all the usual drama of losing team mates, sweating on getting replacements and so on but by the time race day dawned we
had established three priorities. Firstly to finish as a team, secondly to have a go at retaining our Mixed Team title and, if all went really well, to have a
crack at the mixed team record. Our original intention had been to have two girls in our team but with Michelle Blaydon injured we ended up with Alex Morgan and Peter Lee running with Jacqui and myself. Jacqui was a bit intimidated by the prospect of being in a potentially fast team (apart from me of course) but she was relieved by Alex asking her what pace she felt we should run at. Her reply of thirteen and a half hours was an improvement of 3 hours on last year but still 45 minutes short of the record. Nevertheless it seemed a realistic assessment.
We checked in and had the mandatory gear inspection late on the Friday afternoon before heading to the pub for some last minute carbo loading. Alex thoughtfully phoned his daughter, Asha, and asked how many beers he could have. The answer of three seemed a sensible compromise between a good night out and taking the race too seriously. In bed by 10 we were up at 4 ready to head to the 6 a.m. start. Despite England having a colder summer than last year both the check in and the start actually
seemed warmer than the conditions we faced 12 months ago.
From the start our tactics were to track any other mixed team but run our own race. The splits between check points in the race guide book were those achieved
by the various record breaking teams in each category: the problem with those of the mixed team was that it was obvious that the record holders had gone out very
fast and then faded. We decided to run at an equivalent to 12 hour pace and spend between 2 and 4 minutes at each of the ten checkpoints. All being well
this strategy would put us in a position to win and attack the record later in the race but for now it was simply a case of getting a good start. Within the first kilometer we were walking: this however was deliberate. The plan was to walk all the uphill and run the rest with a view to be able to walk the last hill as fast as the first one. It was quickly obvious though that another mixed team was running everything at better than record pace. Our team was too experienced to panic and we struck to our own plan.
Each checkpoint was incredibly smooth. Alex carried Jacqui’s waist pack and filled her drinks bottle meaning that she barely stopped moving all day. By using small plastic sandwich bags we ate on the run and saved even more time. The teams around us however were not even stopping at all nor were they eating. We remained of the view that they were making a mistake but at each checkpoint the gap between us and the other mixed team was growing. As the day warmed up we reached the 40k point and were eleven minutes behind. A team of Gurkha officers and two or three other teams of young guys were also in close attendance.
The first decisive moment of the race happened at the 40k checkpoint. We were there for less than 2 minutes: we left with the various men’s teams settling into chairs and having a few minutes rest. It was the last time we saw them. Halfway to the next checkpoint we saw our mixed team rival. We could see that their eleven minute lead was down to 5 and over the next kilometer we reduced it another 20 seconds. The chase was on. As we came into the 50k checkpoint our rivals were still there changing clothes and equipping themselves with hiking poles. We didn’t stop: grabbing fuel we ran out ahead of them and then pushed on knowing that the hiking poles would slow them if they wanted to run hard.
We were now in fifth place overall. Many of the favoured Gurkha had imploded and only 4 elite teams (all Gurkha) were ahead of us. Our performance was causing a
bit of a stir on race radio. The military were having problems understanding how all but 4 of their teams were being beaten by a team including a woman but they
were incredibly excited about it. We later found out that much of the excitement was caused by Jacqui being way ahead of their commanding officer.
The second decisive moment came at 75k. The sections between checkpoints had been between 8 and 10k meaning we could run them in an hour: the stage in front
of us was a daunting 14k and held the key to our eventual finishing time. Get it right and we’d be on target for the record: lose concentration, get tired or
pick up an injury and we’d be off record pace very quickly. The race book was not encouraging: the required 12 hour pace spilt was 1 hour 41 minutes which we felt was not taking into consideration any fatigue this late in the race. In the event the stage was perfection: we ran comfortably into the checkpoint having taken just 2 minutes more than 12 hour pace. The record bid was now very probable. With just 11k to go we set out on the final climb, incredibly we did it faster than the very first hill of the day. As they had done all day the long legs of Alex and Jacqui shot up the hill at a pace Clive and Peter had to run to keep up with. The last hill done we descended to the last checkpoint, just 6.4k to go now. The Gurkhas ran out of their tents, checked us in and told us that if we ran we could catch the team in front. We didn’t really believe them for two reasons. Firstly we had seen that they had checked in at the previous aid station at 4.17 p.m. which was 50 minutes ahead of us. Secondly the final checkpoint has a view of the next kilometer of the race and nobody was in sight. Clive however made the mistake of asking Jacqui how much she wanted to be 4th and spent the rest of the race trying to keep up with her (largely unsuccessfully).
We maintained our strong finish and soon the finish at Brighton racecourse came into sight. As we entered the final part of the grass track we heard the sound of bagpipes at the finish. It was the 4th place team being piped across the line: they just finished. Three minutes later the pipes were being sounded again as we crossed the line, arms aloft, 5th overall, winners of the Mixed Team category, the fastest non-Gurkha team and now, by a margin of 14 minutes, holders of the new Mixed Team record in a time of 12 hours 35 minutes. Given that the previous record was held by a crack US Montrail sponsored team we were fairly happy!
The time also meant that Jacqui was now the fastest all time woman to have completed the course (and the race has been going 10 years).
Many thanks are due to our support crew, Michelle Blaydon, Adam Roud and Natasha Saffery. They did a magnificent job. Thanks are also due to various other members of Clive’s family who were there (especially his Mum for the champagne at the end) and to Babs Bukanola who was idling reading “What’s On in Brighton” is his flat, saw the race and charged out on his mountain bike to see us.
Now its time to start training for the next one…which just happens to be the 100k World Championships on September 8 in Holland.
Top 6 Teams:
1. Queen’s Gurkha Signals 1 10 hrs 34
2. Gurkha CS 10 hrs 49
3. Queens Gurkha Signals 2 11 hrs 48
4. Queen’s Gurkha Engineers 13 hrs 32
5. Lost in Wanchai 13 hrs 35
6 Surrey Fire Service 14 hrs 07
PB Hunting On The Gold Coast After completing Rotterdam Marathon in April I was soon back on the internet in search of a race to redeem myself with before the season ended. The best option available was a half marathon on the Gold Coast, Australia on 1 July. In some senses it was a ridiculous idea. After all, I only had four days to spare and I would spend the best part of two of those in the air. However, the prospect of a flat course and cool weather lured me into signing up for the race.
Shortly after arriving on the Gold Coast I bumped into Australian running legends Steve Monaghetti and Lee Troop. The former is a Chris Wardlaw protege - and quadruple Olympian - who I had met whilst at the Fools Creek training camp in Australia over Christmas. I felt a tad embarrassed to admit that I'd switched continents to 'have a shot at' 1.14/1.15. Monaghetti has a half marathon PB of one hour and a few seconds! Lee Troop is hoping to represent Australia at the next Olympics. I had read in running magazine that, in preparation for Athens, he had taken to running 3 times a day, averaging 240km a week with 921 consecutive days of training. There lies the secret.
A race start of 6.30 meant a 4.45 rise (or 2.45 in Hong Kong time). Upon arrival at the start line it became apparent that the wind, which had threatened to ruin the race, had died down. That combined with a priority start - which the race director had kindly granted me after a short telephone conversation - left me in good spirits. Off went the gun and out charged a number of over exuberant half marathon runners. I was one of those, clicking through the first kilometre in 3.20. Whilst I managed to contain myself a little, I charged through the 5km mark in an over ambitious time of 17.30. Thereafter, I struggled to maintain the pace and clocked 35.38 at 10km. Beyond halfway it became tough going although I received plenty of motivation from the sight of a tiny female runner out in front of me. With a few kilometres to go it became apparent that I would have to up the pace in order to get the PB I came for. A sprint down the home straight improved my overall position and saw me home in a new PB of 1.15.31. A result which left me satisfied, rather than ecstatic.The half marathon was won in a time of 1.03 whilst the winner in the full came through in 2.20.
The race itself deserves some accolades and certainly comes recommended.The website was updated on a regular basis and the results were available online the next day. The race director was accessible and willing to help. Runners had the option of switching between the half marathon and the marathon right up until two days before the race. My request for a course elevation map was met with the response: “We don’t have one of those. It’s flat”. And so it proved to be with the exception of a few rises. Both the half marathon and full marathon offered pacers for different target times with the legendary Monaghetti heading up the sub 3.00 pack. Runners also benefited from unpolluted air and traffic free roads. Clearly, the organizers had put the race at the top of the agenda for the day. Upon completing the race, athletes were loaded up with fruit and sports drinks before being led into a covered area for a sports massage. For a runner whose only other big city half marathons had been in Macau and Hong Kong, this was all mightily impressive.
Bostorm Marathon The BoSTORM Marathon
By Roberto V
I actually do not like running marathons: the training requires a lot of motivation and the long runs are endless. And in any case, even the best possible training will not spare you from suffering like hell in the final miles of the race.
Said that, when my sister invited us to USA to visit her and propose to also go visiting Boston together, my brain neurons snapped in a moment of madness and I replied that going to Boston without running the Boston Marathon would have been a pity….so I enrolled.
Few months later I find myself landing in USA under welcoming snow flakes and a temperature of 2C. That was only the prelude to a week that announced to be very cold in the North East of US.
By the way, on my first run I found the air incredibly dry, clean and crispy, running probably 10sec/km faster than in HK at equal effort.
In the few days before the Marathon, anyway the weather forecast was turning into horrible: a storm would have affected Boston on the weekend, with rain and wind up to 60km/hr. The organizer gave us some "moral support" releasing a mail to all participants, mail that could have been summarized as follows: "the weather will be terrible, prepare yourself for the worst scenario, you will run at your own risk, hypothermia can lead to death(!!)". mmmm… a good prospect.
The pre-race morale was anyway high, because Boston is invaded by runner on that weekend and they are obviously all "serious" runners (to be able to meet the time required for entry), so there is the atmosphere of a real serious sport event.
Before telling more about my race, I need to write how well the race is organized, putting the needs of the runner at the centre of any decision:
- the race number are assigned in order of the qualification time; 20 starting corrals are set based on the qualification time: you start together with runners of similar ability and there is no need to push or make extra effort at the start.
- there have water stations every mile, on both sides of the road. At mile 17, there is even a "carbo gel" station !!
- at the finish line, someone takes care of you and they are ready with scores of wheelchair for those in need. They have volunteers even to help you to remove the “Champion Chip”.
- very outstanding is that at each mile there is a medical station with a volunteer standing out with sticks of Vaseline to hand out "on the go" to runners with chafing problems
- the crowd support is huge, both in the small towns along the way and in the final miles in Boston
Going back to my race, I woke up on race day with trepidation: I trained quite well and had in mind to run below 2h50 but the rain and the wind were relentless all night long, so I felt a little hopeless.
At the starting site, I found shelter in a truck(!) and changed myself for the race (....I was already soaked by rain 2 hours before the start).
At 9AM, I think that the God of Runners decided for a helping hand: the rain started to taper off and the wind became "normal" rather than a storm. By the time of the start (1000am), I could say that the conditions were by far better than any expectations, even if it was still raining. It really boosted my morale and I decided that was time to put fears aside and stick with the original race plan of targeting the 2h45’/47’ pace.
My strategy was to run with an eye to the HRM until the famous hills, staying in the range of 165-170bpm. I settled into that pace, but the course requires to be concentrated at all times: the first half is mainly downhill but there are many "rebounds" where it was very easy to push too hard and lose the energies needed in the hilly section. To my disbelief, I passed the 10k and later the HM almost 2minuts ahead of my best envisage able pace but the heart was in steady state, so....
The hills: actually there are many myths about the hills of BM and the ultra famous Heartbreak Hill: if you arrive in decent conditions, they are quite “reasonable”,. This year the wind was right in the face so I preferred to negotiate them with even gentler pace, to avoid killing the legs for the final 10k.
After the hills I still felt strong and from mile 20 it was really pleasant to enjoy the gentle descent to Boston, passing several runners who were out of fuel. The head wind was channeled between the buildings (wind tunnel effect !!), so the final miles were even harder than usual, but I was really feeling good and the watch was clearly telling me that even jogging to the finish, the race would have given me a sub-2h45’ !!
At the end, I ended in 2h42’05” and that was really beyond any wild dream before the race. It is probably true that training in the heat, humidity and dirt air of South China does not give you a real indication of the target in cold climates but probably the morale boost of running in Boston was a plus factor. Overall, a superb experience: if you can go to Boston, do not miss it. Now I can only think about resting (after so many ups and downs, my legs are shattered).
Roberto Veneziani
Rotterdam By Martin Kennard
The promise of cool spring weather and a flat course led me to Rotterdam to attempt my 4th ever marathon On 15th April 2007. The freak weather conditions on the day came as a nasty surprise though. From the outset there were clear blue skies and the course provided few opportunities to escape into the shade. By the time I staggered over the finishing line temperatures were up into the high twenties - hardly conducive to running a marathon but nothing entirely new for a hardened HKonger.
The race started well enough and I covered the first 10km in 36.27. However, from around 18km I was struggling desperately. In fact, things got so bad that, during the second hour, I toyed with the idea of throwing in the towel. Fortunately, my pigheadedness saw me through and I ploughed on to reach the finish line in 2.45.58. I take some comfort from a 58th place finish but really I would have been far happier to have come in half way down the field with a PB.
Turning to the course itself. It was as flat as a pancake throughout, apart from a few horrible rises between the twenty and thirty kilometre marks. The race was very well supported. According to the official website, 850,000 spectators turned up on the day. A few of them wafted their joints in my direction but I didn't inhale, so I can't use that as an excuse. The marathon was well organised with sponges, water and sports drinks every 5km. Water was also given out at the start in an effort to prevent runners from getting dehydrated. It was a pity that the start time could not have been brought forward a few hours from 11 o clock, but I'm sure the organisers had good reasons for not taking any action . As it was, they stopped all runners who had failed to reach the 30km inside three and a half hoursand only just over 50 per cent of starters finished the race.
I've come to the conclusion that the extreme weather conditions put paid to any potential PB. However, going off too fast at the start probably made things a lot worse for myself. One can't harp on too much about environmental factors. After all, Lai Hok Yan got around the infinitely more difficult Hong Kong Borathon course in 2.37 in humid and smoggy conditions. Hats off to him. He deserves every cent of his prize money.
Boston Marathon Growing up, I remember walking about 400 meters each year from home to watch the Boston Marathon. There was always a great crowd and supportive atmosphere. My own preferred sport, however, was mogul skiing so I never imagined that one day I would actually run in the thing - to my mind, running the Boston Marathon was only for fast people or nutters.
Fast forward about 30 years and I'm living in snow-challenged Hong Kong and newly married to my lovely, marathon-obsessed wife, Aya. Sick of turning down all her suggestions to run this marathon (too hot) or that marathon (too boring) locally, I have this great idea that we should run the grand daddy of all marathons, Boston, instead. As I say this, I realize that in doing so, we can kill several birds with the same stone: I can show Aya where I grew up, introduce her to my American relatives and friends, and I can be one of the nutters I used to watch as a child.
We duly ran our Boston qualifying marathons in a hailstorm in Japan last October (another story) and survived the Rugby 7's, strategically timed to offer maximum carbo loading two weeks before Boston. We endured the 15.5 hour flight to New York, surprisingly smooth customs and immigration and transfer flight to Boston to be met by my mom, her boyfriend Harry and freezing rain.
The weather comes as a complete shock - April is supposed to be spring, but we've stepped back into winter! Worse still, the forecast is for an old fashioned "northeaster" storm on marathon Monday. In a northeaster, the wind blows straight inland from the ocean to the east. The Boston Marathon is basically a straight line course from west to east so this will be interesting.
We try to make the best of our pre-marathon days in Boston. The Red Sox game we were scheduled to see is rained out, but the welcome party my mother throws for Aya and I is a great success. More carbo loading!
The day before the marathon we drive the marathon route into Boston to pick up our number bibs and the weather is absolutely dreadful. As we drive over "Heartbreak Hill" we promise ourselves that we will run this hill tomorrow no matter how badly we feel.
There are rumors that the marathon will be canceled due to the weather. However, when we enter Hines Convention Center there are thousands of runners collecting their bibs and countless booths marketing their running related products. We get our bibs and souvenir bags in under 2 minutes and have great fun checking out all thats on sale. The merchants are doing a roaring business in running tights, rain coats, and gloves, and everyone is enthusiastic about the next day's challenge, the weather be dammed. There are free samples of all manner of energy bars, energy cookies, energy potato chips and energy drinks. Some taste quite nice.
Monday dawns cold and wet, but substantially better than Sunday. There will be a 40 kph headwind the entire race, gusting up to 65 kph, but rain will only be intermittent and the temperature has risen to about 8 degrees C.
My mom drives us to the start. Starting corrals are strictly assigned based up the qualifying time one submits. Since I was faster than Aya in the qualifier, I am placed in the back corral of the 10:00 AM start while she will be in the first corral of the 10:30 AM start. We would have like the option to run together so this is a bit of a bummer. It also seems preferable to be at the front of the second start rather than the back of the first start, but this is a minor quibble. The rest of the organization is great.
From the back corral, it takes me over 6 minutes to cross the starting line. However, everything is based upon net chip time so this doesn't really matter. Both Aya and I are wearing lots of warm clothing that my mother would have preferred me to throw out ages ago. I knew it would come in handy sometime. Just before the starting line I toss off my old ski jacket safe in the knowledge that the race organizers donate all discarded clothing to charity.
My plan is to run 7.5 minute miles at the start and try to pick it up a bit after 10 km if I feel good. The start of the race has a distinct downhill bias so I should have realized something was amiss when making my splits over the first few miles already feels like more work than they should. The problem, of course, is the headwind which slows the winner and course record holder by over 7 minutes this year compared to his record run the previous year. However, I'm too stubborn to just ease off and run by feel. I get through the first 10 miles more or less on pace and hit the halfway point in just over 1:39.
The highlight of the first half is definitely passing Wellesley College. There is crowd support the entire way, but here the all female school girls are out in force and cheer lustily.
Just before the 14 mile mark, I pass the place where I stood cheering all those years. My mom and Harry are there to cheer me on, but they don't see me until the last second and we barely have time to exchange a brief hello before I pass. Shortly after this, I begin to feel myself slowing down. At the 20 mile mark just before Heartbreak HIll, Aya's friend Satohi catches up and passes me. Heartbreak Hill proves not to be a problem. By Hong Kong standards, its hardly even a hill. Its not at all steep, though it does go on for a while.
From here on in the crowd support just gets bigger and bigger. As I slow down, I have more time to thing about some of the different types of people who come out to watch. Many treat it as an excuse to party with their friends. They look for people with names on their shirts or something distinctive to shout about. Others take a more personal approach. They single out individual runners and offer extensive encouragement, "You can do this. Looking good. Its all about you. Stay focussed." They are looking to make a temporary connection with that runner and hopefully to actually make a positive difference in that runner's race. Still others have set up their own water stop and aid stations to supplement the already fantastic support offered by the race officials.
Just after 23 miles I am passed by a man wearing a pink dress who gets a lively response from the crowd. My pace has really fallen off and I'm no longer going to finish in under 3:30. This will be the second slowest marathon of my life. However, I can't help but enjoy running through places I remember from childhood and the roar of the crowd is now deafening.
Soon enough it is all over (3:39 chip time, sigh). Marshals force us to keep walking down an endless chute where we are given drinks, food and an emergency blanket for warmth. One of the nicest touches of all is that they even have volunteers to assist in removing the chips from one's shoes and retying the laces. I'm sure I would have cramped up had I done it myself. They take the chip and give us our finishers medals and then its off to the baggage collection buses.
Here my luck turns bad. All the other buses seem to be handing out bags efficiently, but the bus with bags for my number sequence is queuing up badly. Perhaps its because all of my corral mates have finished at the same time? No, on our bus, they haven't stored the bags in numerical order so they have trouble locating individual bags. Instead, they just call out the number of the bag on top and hope that the corresponding runner is present to collect it. This happens about 30% of the time. The rest of the time they put the bag to the side and just call another number.
It takes me nearly 30 minutes to get my bag and by the time I collect it I am close to hypothermic. I find a place to lie down nearby on the roadside and require a further 10 minutes to change modestly into warm clothes. I get up and discover that there are actually warm tents for this, but am so desperately cold that I'm happy just to lean against the outside generator and absorb its warmth.
Finally I head over to the agreed spot in the family rendezvous area to find that Aya has been waiting there for me for sometime despite starting 30 minutes later than me. She's had an altogether different marathon experience than me. Too cold at the start to run quickly, she decides to forget about a fast time and just have fun. She cruises and enjoys herself, running back and forth across the road to high five spectators, blows kisses at cheering fans and even stops for a hug and a picture with my mom. She finishes in 3:32, still full of energy.
All marathon runners get to ride the subway for free and we are soon on our way home. Back home that night we celebrate with Boston Lobster and champagne.
The final piece of the entire wonderful experience, we discover, is that all marathon runners with injuries are entitled to a free medical consultation at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. We book our appointments over the internet and show up at the hospital the following afternoon. All of the doctors are sports medicine specialists who have volunteered their time both during the marathon and for this free service. My recurring ankle pain is deemed worthy of an X-ray and, all free of charge, the specialist pinpoints 2 likely bone spurs that are causing the pain and gives me a list of suggested options for treatment. I even get to keep the X-rays. Aya's doctor is equally good and even gives her his email for follow up in case her pain persists after a month of rest.
At US$150 to enter, the Boston Marathon is not cheap, but it certainly is world class. Both Aya and I would love to run it again sometime. Just a pity that its such a long flight from Hong Kong.
Keith Noyes
London Marathon There aren't many Sunday mornings in April in London where you wake up to blue skies, bright sunshine and 15 degrees at 7am in the morning. Most of the time it would be cause for wild celebrations - plans would be made for a trip to the seaside and shorts packed.
But not on the 22nd of April ...... there is a snag .... a commitment to run 26.1 miles through the streets of London. This bright summer morning in spring is not welcome.
Once again the Rogers family were kind enough to provide shelter the night before the race with the added fun that John would be joining me at the start rather than dumping me at the station with a happy smile on his face. This morning there is a far more serious look about him. Ha !.
By the start at 9.45 the temp was close to 20 degrees, great for relaxing on the grass - no need for black bin liners, disposable teeshirts, more a concern to cover all exposed skin with sun block.
As ever the start is a wonderful experience with close to 40000 people all queing for a last minute toilet trip as the nerves kick in. Its pretty clear this is not going to be a fast run and within 6 miles its clear that control and getting through will be the main objective. London , like I imagine all the big city marathons to be, is a 26 mile street party and this feeling begins at mile 1.
Heart rate and pace is out of step which makes me realise that I will not be fast today so heart rate takes precedent. Go through 2 miles in about 6.30 mile pace and I am overtaken by the Runners World 7 min pacer with 25 very sweaty and panting guys hanging on all deperately trying to work out what went wrong !
Things progressed pretty well but lots of attention on drinking and taking gels on time. Things started to become a real challenge after 20 miles. It's clear that the temp is taking its toll and I am struggling to maintain pace. Twinges in my quads at 22 miles which is not good - I start to get worried about cramping so take my last gel early and try to maintain an easy pace. Finally cross the line in 3:11 which was my slowest London ever but happy I got through it without major damage.
I would like to thank all of you for myself and on behalf of the charity - we raised 1700 gbp for "Gets Kids Going" which is great made the whole thing very worthwhile. I will be back next year to hopefully finally tame this course !.
Once again thank you all very very much
Peter
At The Nationals At the Nationals
This was our third consecutive year participating in the national veterans’ championships, and this year’s meet boasted a new feature: they at last distributed the results from last year’s championships in Dandong. So before the meet even opened we were in a happy mood. It seems The Yipper, Rebecca Lau, Wong Yuht Wan and Sahn Hahng Tai Bo can all claim to be national record holders in their respective events. Rebecca and Tai Bo were back this year to give it another try.
This year’s team comprised nine in all, focused as usual on the distance events. Grace Wong got us off to a good start on the first day with a bronze medal in the W50+ 1500m. She started at the back of a field of ten with a 93 second first lap, but she persisted and the field came back to her. She was 3:18 after two laps and 4:38 at the bell (as against the winner’s 4:00) and came home in 6:30 (5:37 for the winner). She said after that her legs felt like jelly.
It was a three-day meet, and Catherine Leonard opened day two with a gold medal in the 10,000m. It was an exciting race as, like Grace, Catherine started at the back of a big field with a 1:48 first lap. The leader opened with an 80, so Catherine was well behind at that point, but again patience paid off. She moved up to 5th in the second lap, then took them one by one. At about half way, Catherine was in 3rd when second place went after the leader and opened up a big gap on Catherine. Had the two of them duelled it out at that point, Catherine’s goose might have been cooked, but once she caught up, the second place elected to rest, then surge past. This kept the pace down and allowed Catherine to keep closing the gap. She passed the original leader and claimed second place, rested briefly, then surged (slightly) for a half lap to take the lead and open up a 100m lead about three laps from home. Her 1:44 last lap then kept danger at bay.
Raymond Lo and Wu Ting Hung had originally been scheduled to run a 5000 on Friday morning followed by a 10,000 in the afternoon. This was changed unexpectedly, moving their 10,000s to Thursday, where they clashed with the walks. It led to a lot of delays and confusion, but the walkers, as in Dandong last year, again came home with the medals. Rebecca (W55+), Edith Ebreo (W60+) and Tam Sau Lan (W65+) all ended up racing together. As befits a national record holder, Rebecca was among the leaders throughout, and came home with a nice silver medal in 36:11. Edith and Sau Lan seemed to be well back, but when the results were announced, both had silver medals, Edith in 42:30 and Sau Lan in 42:53. Many ahead of them had been (deservedly) disqualified. Tai Bo lapped the field in the men’s race to win in 29:50, far off his 27:03 last year in the cool weather (and after a dog meat lunch) in Dandong. Raymond’s 50:13 in the 10,000m left him well back (40:23 took the gold and 43:32 the bronze in his M60+ category).
Catherine again opened day three and again took the gold, this time in the W40+ 5000m. A pack of three pulled away early, and an opening 97 left Catherine alone in 4th. She gradually pulled them back, caught up about half way, then rested for a couple of laps. With a little more than a mile to go, Catherine pulled out to pass and scared one of the leading pack into a big surge. She opened up a 20m lead, but then promptly fell, so the pack Catherine and the others caught up again. Catherine then took the lead, but couldn’t pull away as the pace had speeded up considerably. On the last lap, a woman who had been running 5th or 6th and well back put on a big drive on came up from nowhere. She got by everyone else, but by the time she got up to Catherine she was pretty well spent and Catherine was able to hold her off with a sprint down the stretch for a 21:05.
Sau Lan was in the same race, but finished well back. Rebecca and Kwok Yuk Yin went later, but Rebecca started too slowly running with Yuk Yin and never had a chance. She picked up later, but the W55+ winner ran 23:01 to Rebecca’s 25:13. Raymond was left all alone in his M60+ 5000m. He was lapped with five laps to go and finished in 23:18 off a 1:56 last lap. Similarly, Wu Ting Hung had to do all his own work, running a 23:04 against the M55+ winner’s remarkable 16:34. If only Wu Ki Kai had been there.
Finally, Grace Wong closed the show with 24:56 for 5th in the W50+ 5000m. She opened with a two minute first lap, 10 seconds behind a lead pack of four who helped each other through the race, leaving Grace behind.
Hangzhou is a clean and pleasant city, and the train ride up was scenic, with plenty of snack food and cold beer on the platforms of the stations. Everyone enjoyed the trip. Next year’s meet will be in Tangshan (near Tianjin), probably again in May.
macau   Link to Macau results for 2006 Pictures of Hong Kong ladies Carolyn Kng , Catherine Leonard in the L40 category and Yeung Oi Yim and Finoa So in the L50 category awaiting their podium appearance.
Malaysian Vets KL 9th 10th Dec    Hong Kong Results:
800m: o/40 – 1st Mark Reeves : 2 min:14 sec
o/55 – 1st Dave Smith : 2min: 27 sec
1500m: o/40 – 1st Mark Reeves : 4min : 41sec
o/55 - 1st Dave Smith : 5min :00sec
5000m: o/40 – 1st Mark Reeves : 18min : 34sec
o/55 – 1st Dave Smith : 19min : 13sec
Seoul marathon success Regarding Seoul - It was great -- fantastic condition for the actual race considering at 5am it was torrential rain and 10 degrees. Didnt look promising at that point. Couple of bowls of porridge, and a couple of slices of toast the world was a rosier place.
Preparation had gone well with plenty of rest and good food and no last minute bugs. Half a litre of coffee at an hour to go and I was ready. Couple of loo visits and down to the start. Good field of invited runners all long skinny and dark with legs up to thier necks. Saw them briefly at the start and then again a good 30 minutes ahead at halfway as we had to turnaround. I thiink the winning time was 2 08 or so.
I have been working with Mark Sharp and Maree Blakey at Human Dynamics and he has helped me enormously in the preparation for this. I would recommend them to you all. In fact this is just the mid point in the programme so this was a learning run for me -- to learn how to run a marathon. I have done 3 previously and they have all been absolute agony. I knew I needed help so Mark and Maree were the team.
I had a plan - heartrate defined per 5 k - starting at 155 and increasing at a couple of beats a minute every 5 k thereafter. All went very smoothly. Went through halfway at 1.28 10 and felt well in control. At 30k felt good enough to pick up the pace a bit and go ahead of the plan. Its the first time I have felt a marathon was under control. My surprise continued and by 40k I knew my sub 3 time was on for the first time. I picked up the pace again and managed the last 2 k at under 4 mins a km which I was really pleased about. It was a great finish inside the Olymic Stadium in Seoul and for a brief moment I felt like an Olympic star -- ha we can all dream ! I am sure I heard the Chariots of Fire music as I ran around the track to the finish. I attach a photo at that point and you can see I think I am actually singing the words.. Finished in 2:56:45 with a lot still left in the tank, a 7 minute improvement on my pb -- all thanks to Mark and Maree for the fantastic preparation !!. My next aim now is to get the minutes past 2 hours below my age -- so thats 2:47 -- (if I wait to August I get a bit of a let off. ). So no let up in the training . !!
Japan Vets Report September 16th 2006 A team of 4 wound up the track season on the weekend of September 16 with a trip to Sendai for the all-Japan Veterans’ Championships. Paul Stapleton and Chiu Suk Han gave us a lot of help beforehand with the entries and the hotel arrangements, but when we got there we were delighted to discover that Jason Billings used to live in Japan and can speak and read a bit of Japanese. This came in extremely handy in the nightclubs and sushi bars.
Billie Kwok was the star of the show, with gold in the women’s walk. Her time was faster than the Japanese W30 record, and will be a new meet record. Sahn Hahng Tái Bó also won his race, in his fastest time for at least 5 or 6 years. Sadly, the crowd seemed more interested by the efforts of Willie Banks in the triple jump. This is one of the few veterans meets that accepts entries as young as 30. If you want to get back into track and field pencil it into your diary for next year.
At the Nationals by Bill Purves
Our trip to this year's national veterans championships was a pleasant demonstration of the American saying that, "What goes around, comes around". The HKAAA invited Olympic gold medallist Wong Li Ping to Hong Kong as the poster girl for the MTR racewalking day last February. With ample MTR sponsorship, they no doubt took good care of her: shopping, sightseeing, seafood, perhaps a souvenir gift. A few weeks later, this year's national vets championship was awarded to Dandong in Liaoning province, Wang Li Ping's home town. This made the meet popular with many of our Hong Kong racewalkers and, having met our walkers in February, Wang Li Ping really went out of her way to welcome us. She's based in Dalian now, but travelled home for the weekend to show us the sights. In fact, she sent a car 3 hours to Shenyang airport to pick us up, organized our hotel, sightseeing and much more. As guests of the biggest local celebrity, we enjoyed a whole weekend of banqueting as guests of her many friends, relatives and admirers. All in all, it made for a memorable trip.
Apart from The Yipper, our 10-man squad were all racewalkers. The racewalks were the climax of the meet on the last day, and as the most distant province , our team got lots of crowd support. The weather, too, was cool and clear, so everyone enjoyed fast times on what was, for many, their first representative appearance. In the 5000 walk, we took the gold in the W40s, gold silver and bronze in the W45s, second in the W55s (Rebecca Lau) and fourth in the W60s (Edith Ebreo). Sahn Hahng Tai Bo won the M60s, but was also first overall in the men's race, beating all the younger age groups. Wong Yuet Wan was our best performer, taking the gold in the W40 3000 and 10,000, as well as in the walk. The Yipper won the M80 3000 (and the long jump), but was disappointed in the 5000. He ran 32:14, but was beaten by a lap-and-a-half by a sprightly old guy in bicycle tights.
Although this was a veterans' event, Mandarin-speaker Echo Yeung did most of the organizing, and she did a fine job. |
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Brunei veterans meet August 2006 
The weekend of August 5th&6th saw the Hong Kong veterans track road show in Brunei for their annual veterans’ championships. This meet always attracts a good turnout from Hong Kong because it’s sometimes difficult for SAR and BN(O) passport holders to get visas without an excuse like this. And it’s an interesting place to visit. This year we had a team of 9.
Our flight was on August 4, the day after the big typhoon, so the airport was a zoo. The sight through the big windows from the bus stop was enough to make you want to get back on the bus and return home, but once inside it proved that the Royal Brunei counter was about the only one in the airport with no line-up at all. The flight left about 2 hours late, but other than that it seemed no worse than the usual airport hassles. Until, that is, we arrived in Brunei and found that Raymond Lo’s bag hadn’t made the plane. Fortunately, he’d packed his running shoes in his hand luggage.
Most of our team were there for the 5000walk, which was the first event on Saturday morning, and the usual shambles. Most women and a few of the men walked in long trousers, but it was their meet, so we said nothing. Fortunately, we didn’t have to, as we took 2-4-5 in the men’s race, with Lam Man Biu and Sahn Hahng Tai Bo taking gold in their age groups. The women’s race featured a former international from Indonesia, who went off like a rocket and looked unbeatable. But since leaving the international team she apparently hasn’t kept up her training – she faded badly after the first couple of K. Lai Yuet Mei tracked here, gradually closed in, and passed her with a good burst about half way. She met little resistance, and moved away to build up a 200m lead by the finish. Wong Yat Man walked a strong, steady race for an easy 3rd. Carol Chan struggled with another Indonesian, but eventually came 4th with Lee Wai Yit 6th. As in Dandong in June, the Hong Kong athletes looked the class of both fields in terms of technique, and our 7 athletes brought home 4 golds, 2 silver and a bronze from the walks.
The 5000run on Sunday went similarly for the women. There was a good, young 35 year-old in it from Malaysia. Mei-je and Yat tracked her for a few laps, but she was too strong for her elders. Mei-je came home a clear second place, but Yat had to struggle with the Indonesian racewalker who had beaten her the previous day. Yat had her revenge, however, to finish 3rd and first W40. Raymond Lo, in his first track race, led briefly in the early going, but finished 3rd overall after a good last lap drive. Chan Wai On was the second M55. Three golds and a silver, then, from the 5000s.
After last year’s starvation regime, catering worked well this year. Economical buffet meals at the hostel gave a nice sampling of typical Bruneian cuisine. The meet was moved to the big national stadium this year, but the hostel rooms were still free.
This year’s meet was scheduled to coincide with the sultan’s 60th birthday celebrations, so all the athletes spent Saturday evening in town amid the crowds of revellers. On Monday we took an all-day tour up the river to the Borneo jungle, with a quick visit to a longhouse. On Tuesday, we stayed an extra day so that people could visit the tourist sights of Bandar city, including the incredible display of all the gold, silver and jewels of the sultan’s treasures. The Brunei athletes very kindly took turns chauffeuring us around all weekend.
If you haven’t been to Brunei (and will be over 35), pencil this one in for next year.
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| Brunei Transport |
Happy Walkers |
Malaysia Veterans Championships August  Malaysia Vets Championships
by Bill Purves
A massive crew of racewalkers originally signed up to attend the Malaysia Vets Championships in KL August 12th&13th, because the Malay Mail Big Walk was scheduled for the same weekend. In the end, the Biggie fell victim to the hard times in the newspaper industry and was cancelled. Our team for the track meet was then reduced to Bill and Sheila Purves, Grace Wong Yin Yee from Lok Wah, Evelyn Fowler and Alan Frishman. Despite the small team, we managed to make our mark.
There were 15, including W50s Sheila and Grace, in the 1500m. A W35 and a W40 opened up a good lead from the gun and were never challenged. Sheila started in 7th behind former Malaysian international Lee Shew Keng; Grace was 9th. After the first lap, Sheila moved up to 5th, becoming the leading W50, then with 300 to go she moved into 3rd. She was passed in the stretch, however, to finish 4th overall, but still first W50. Grace was 3rd, 8th overall behind Shew Keng.
Alan is rarely seen around Wanchai SG these days, but he must be training somewhere, as he showed a powerful sprint to win the men’s 800 overall. Running in flats to favour an injury, he started conservatively and was 4th at the break. He stayed there through the first lap for a 75. With 300 to go he took off, took the lead at 650m and pulled away easily. A very impressive win for the M50 gold medal in 2:25.8.
Sheila was again 3rd all the way in the 800 behind some younger runners, but took the W50 gold. She tried to move up in the stretch, but was held off. Grace had a solo run for second in the category.
The 5000 and the 5000walk were held on the road around Malaysia’s expansive national sports school. The 5000run was held in 10-year age groups, so both Sheila and Grace were in with the W45s. Sheila went out with the lead group and settled into second place overall, behind a W35, after the first lap. It stayed that way right to the finish, with Sheila taking the W45-55 gold about 30 seconds behind the winner, and Grace fourth.
The women’s walk featured a lady from Indonesia who had previously been on their international team but was beaten by Hong Kong’s Lai Yuet Mei in Brunei the week before. She made no mistake here, leading from gun to tape. But Grace went out with the leaders and moved into second overall on the first lap. She finished almost 90sec behind the Indonesian, but still second overall and first W50. Sahn Hahng Tai Bo had an even more surprising result. Thomas Kok, Malaysia’s silver and bronze medallist from the world championships in San Sebastian, was in his category. Kok went out with some younger walkers for a fast, downhill start, but Tai Bo overhauled them on the long uphill on the first lap and took the overall lead shortly thereafter. Remarkably, they failed to chase him, and Tai Bo pulled away on the second lap for a 25sec win that greatly disappointed all the Malaysians.
Evelyn didn’t compete in the end, due to a scheduling mixup, but she did host a very pleasant sidewalk dinner in downtown KL on Friday night. It was a great weekend.
Photo of Grace , Sheila and Alan |
