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What a hog-thumping rip-snorter of a race! - April 1, 2007
What a hog-thumping rip-snorter of a race! My 162nd run for a Belgrave team was the most thrilling I’ve - somewhat stressfully - enjoyed. Congratulations to Shaftesbury, a prestigious club steeped in history, who have had a mercurial last few years but show that they are climbing back to where they belong.
As for us, our nifty sequence of Gold at Milton Keynes is finally at an end. The last time we lost there, the Twin Towers were standing proud, Sven Goran Erikkson had been in charge of England for just one match, Sharp and Blackledge were six months shy of their Bels debuts, Alex Bodin was 12, and I was 13 years off being a ‘vet’ – now I’m only one! (due to new age categories).
Imagination and comradeship
Considering a whole raft of unavailable runners, Alan and I were delighted with our starting line-up, which gave us about a 20% chance of victory. The message boards have been quick to slam us and do a little grave-dancing, but these are the same folk who wrote before the race: “The Southerns are an exercise in pointlessness… nothing happens after half-way… and should be binned.” One wonders if some of these anonymous mud-slingers love or hate running. This was a race that totally captured people's imagination, and the comradeship of over a thousand people converging on one place to pursue their shared love of road-running was great.
I knew my training pal Orlando “Pineapple-head” Edwards (so called for placing his 3-inch long pony-tail vertically upright on the top of his head), would give me problems on our stage. He has been marmalizing me all winter and word soon filtered thru from the SBH camp that I was cruising for a one-minute bruising. He took me out by 3:38 at the National so that threat was very real.
Come on Willie, let's go faster
Our duel was an example of a race within a race. We both recorded sub-par times but had eyes only for each other. My brief was to hold off Orlando for as long as possible, but when he did catch me to have gas left in the tank. I asked him to say something encouraging if he caught me. This occurred at 13 minutes with the ominous words in my ear: "Come on Willie, let's go faster."
Over the next 13 minutes Pineapple-head tossed several surges into the mix... and also experimented with a couple of 'go-slows' when the wind was at its worst. This encouraged me to make breaks for freedom of my own, but every time I had this smart idea, I'd get a sharp rap on the knuckles and dispatched to the back of the class. If I'd been offered a two second deficit at the end I'd've grabbed it, and yet such is the sweet mystery of sport that one often feels more could have been done. Why not just blast it? But oh the pressure - and the heaviness of the legs…
Alex Bodin, what can we say? Normally Alan or I wouldn’t dream of putting such a new raw talent on anchor leg in such trying conditions but the more we looked at the team the more he looked like the man for the job. Good returns all winter, a lethal kick, and a South of the Thames gold medal team winner. He dealt with the pressure fantastically and I hope this race has hooked him to athletics for decades to come, and won’t sending him scurrying for cover in the ‘women's auxiliary balloon corps’ instead.
Another nod to Mal
”Man of the match” is a close call – can’t give it to Wicksy again – five is enough methinks. Our “shorties” were brilliant yesterday, but it’s another nod to Mal for his excellent and clinical start; the result of eight months of consistent, hard training… can he hang on to this form and fitness for the marathon? We all hope so.
