Chris Finill
Thanks to Shankara and her magnificent team for another well staged 24 hour event. I am particularly grateful to the back up after the race which saw me efficiently despatched to St Georges Hospital for much needed intravenous fluid! Thanks too, very specifically, to Jeremy Mower and Ken Fancett both of whom displayed immaculate track discipline throughout the entire event.
Best wishes
Chris Finill - Harrow AC
Dan Coffey
The previous weekend had been gloriously warm, sunny and dry so I thought that this weekend should be the opposite; it was not, although not as warm as the previous one; the forecasters had been predicting increasing wind strength which never materialised!!
I would like to thank the organisers who provided yet again a fantastic race and to all the helpers who did such a grand job, if I do not mention anyone by name then I cannot miss anybody out but a very BIG thankyou to you all!
This year was the first anniversary of the death of Sri Chinmoy; a true Man of Peace, who had contributed so much to the Arts in so many ways so I was very impressed by the placards put up round the track with some of his great thoughts revealed, an inspiration surely to all who wended their way round the track for countless hours.
One thought struck me as the first turn around drew near; I would not be able to read them! However the organisers simply went out and turned them all around so that they were visible again!There were some very fine performances and it was good to see sao many passing the magic 100 mile mark and going on to even better personal bests; surely a great credit to all concerned. I only hope that the two runners who needed hospital treatment recovered well and are now back in training so I close again saying Thank You to everybody.Dan Coffey
Chris Carver
Coming into this race I felt unusually confident.and unusually nervous. Training had gone well but I had a strange pain in my right ankle every time I started running. It felt like a sprain except that it gradually disappeared after 15- 30 minutes. Very strange. I had been using a wobble board twice a day for three months in an attempt to make it go away and numerous visits to the doctor and physio had failed to get to the bottom of it. Still, it hadn't disrupted my training one iota- I knew what I had to do and I was focussed. But 140 miles is still a very long way.
Travelling to London the day before the race helped ease some of the pre race nerves, as did arriving at Tooting Bec track at 9.30am for a noon start. Meeting fellow ultra runners and crew members before the start was a good way to overcome pre race nerves as we all prepared our food, drinks, kit, etc for the challenge ahead. On paper I should have finished fourth. Jim Rogers (E. Hull Harriers) ran 148+ miles a couple of years ago, Ken Fancett ran 144+ miles in London last year and Chris Finill (Harrow AC) ran 141+ miles in 2006. My best was 137+ miles from the Hull race in July this year.
Setting off at about 8:10 per mile I surprisingly found myself in the lead after the first hour. I knew that wouldn't last long though because my walking breaks seem different to other runners- sure enough I was fourth after the second hour. As expected, the ankle pain came and went and after 45- 50 minutes I'd forgotten all about it. Throughout the afternoon and into the evening my race plan was going well except for the all too frequent trips to the gents. Passing 100k in a new pb was definitely encouraging as I was still feeling good at this point, even if it was becoming hard work running at 9:00 per mile.It was now becoming very cold indeed and many crew members had put on multiple fleeces, gloves and hats while the runners, as usual, didn't appreciate just how cold it had become and had to be told to put on warmer clothes. The temperature fell below 6 degrees Celsius. After Jim Rogers had stopped with a hip problem it was Chris Finill now beginning to dominate and he was pulling away from me, in second place. By 100 miles though an Irish runner, Eoin Keith, had begun to drastically pull back a big deficit. At 40 miles he was 20 minutes behind me, at 110 miles he was 27 minutes in front. I was still going to the gents every hour, regular as clockwork- too often, something was wrong.
From about 2 o'clock in the morning I noticed a pattern emerging in my running. The hour began with a visit to the gents followed by something to eat and a short walk. When I started running at ten minutes past the hour the first lap or two were slower than scheduled but then I got back into it and by the end of the hour I was regularly running 20 to 30 seconds per mile quicker than expected. On a few occasions I overtook Chris and Eoin who were ahead of me.passing the leader yet remaining in third place is a very strange feeling.
From about 4.00am toilet breaks were becoming more frequent- not a good sign but I didn't know what the problem was. By this time I was only drinking 400ml per hour and I was reluctant to drink less than this. Still, I felt good while running though.
It was also becoming ever more apparent that Ken Fancett was having a bad race and was slipping behind. At dawn he was about 70 - 80 minutes behind me. My target for the race had been 230k (143 miles) but by now the leaderboard (updated hourly) alternated between my being just on target and being one mile behind. I knew by now that my target would be very difficult but I knew I could still make England Athletics' Commonwealth Championships qualifying standard of 225k (140 miles). As long as I could keep running at 10:00 minutes per mile.
At about 10.15am the Tarit Adrian Stott was waving to me from the edge of the track and as I ran past I was told "well done Chris- you've just passed your pb". A very nice touch and this confirmed to me that 140 miles was within my grasp. After grappling with the maths for a lap or two [2.2 miles in 1h 45 is really difficult to work out after 22 hours of running]. I set out to just enjoy the last few miles. It helped that I also knew I wouldn't catch Eoin or Chris but more importantly no-one would catch me if I kept on my feet.
I remember breaking down in tears at around 11.05am when I knew for certain I was going to make it. Half an hour or so later I asked my lap counter how far I had run and expected to hear 139 or 140 miles. When she replied "141 miles" I was so overjoyed all I could do was run around the track and give Fay a big hug. Alan Young, William Sichel's handler, encouraged me to carry on running but I didn't have the will to run any more- and I also had an eye on my post race routine and how to avoid collapsing and passing out.
After the final whistle I carried on moving for ten minutes or so and then put on some warmer clothes but keeping on the compression tights. Then I sat on the floor, back to wall with feet on a chair, for at least 30 to 40 minutes. Then I felt perfectly OK, no sign of collapsing- until I got on the underground where I lasted all of five minutes. Half an hour later we hailed a taxi to King's Cross Station instead.
My final distance was 228.011 km which is 141 miles 1196 yards.
Special thanks to everyone connected with this very special race but especially Shankara Smith, Tarit Adrian Stott, my lap counters, the woman on the refreshments stall/table for the whole 24 hours, Alan Young, Carl Walsh (The Divan Centre, Leeds) and of course Fay & Keir without whom ....
