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 Faye took her final preparations very seriously |
The waiting was over, the training was done and now came the day when the big question would be asked.... "where's Derek ?" 22 Hayle runners headed for London to take part in the biggest marathon in the world. For many it was their first. Some had demons to slay and Phil just wanted to avoid the lampposts ! |
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The competition between clubs started early as Newquay had organized an inter-club quiz for the train and St Austell had provided the trophy - we would provide the brains. Having secured another trophy for the cabinet (no thanks to Matt Kirby) we arrived in London, checked in and headed for the exhibition. (Derek was kept on a tight lead) |
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 There
was a nervous anticipation about the team at this point. The new
marathoners gasped at the size and variety of the exhibits, The
women wondered just how much that could get away with spending while
their other half's were safely in Cornwall and Faye wondered how much
longer she could go without a drink. |
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 The
exhibition had, as usual a large notice board onto which you could post
good luck messages. Hayle, of course, hijacked it and London was is no
doubt that we were in town. Everyone shopped hard. We had to . Alysia
was intent on buying half of the exhibition and there wasn't much
left. |
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 Alysia searches for a shipping agent to get all her stuff home |
Sam (our honoree Hayle runner for the day) was deciding whether to buy a London tracksuit top or a new Hayle runners vest. Soon we were spent out and headed back for a night out. (all good training). On Saturday many of the girls went in search of a wine bar while other went to a show (they didn't say if there were drinks at the interval) but we all met up for tea and then an early night | |
| Race
day ! and a 6am breakfast would produce many worried faces. I
produced the camera to take some photo's and then had to remove it from
my rear ! it was not a popular decision. At 7am we headed for the trains that would take us to the start. The blue start is at Blackheath and the red start is about a mile away so its important that you get the right train. We bid each other good luck and got on our respective trains. |
 The blue start . - that's blue Derek! |
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 Derek was very happy to have found the finish |
We'd
been traveling for about 10 minutes when my phone rang and a very
worried Nancy was on the other end. " we've lost Derek" .
"No", I replied "he's here with us" . "Ah"
said Nancy " He's on the wrong train !!" So when the train
finally arrived at Blackheath we packed Derek off to walk to the correct
start. Would we see him again? There were large screens set up in both starts and the camera man (naturally) focused in on Hayle as we were asked to pick the next song for them to play. At the same time the camera in the red start had found the rest of our team and soon we were waving at each other ! |
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| Then the countdown came to an end. A nervous hush descended on the place as we shuffled into our respective pens and Faye and Alysia charged into the wrong one. The horn sounded and we started on out journey. A journey that would see wombles, phone boxes, sunflowers, scoobie doo's and all sorts of other characters parade through the streets of London. |  Alysia was happy to have found the champagne |
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 Andrew was happy to have found his girls !! |
The weather was cooler than last year and after an hour of running , the heavens opened and we were treated to a refreshing shower. The crowds were just magnificent! . They lined the streets for the whole 26.2 miles and at mile 21 was our own Kathryn Osborne and Jackie Bowden, happy to be watching after their own 26.2 around Paris the week before. | |
| Ian Goodreid needed a sub 3:15 to get a guaranteed good for age place next year and just got it by 6 seconds. I finally broke 3:30 at London and got a p.b as did Faye and Derek. Faye beat her p.b by 26minutes and could have run faster but was shadowing Gordon Ramsay for miles. Presumably looking at his bum ! Bob Philpots killed the demons of last year and was also beat his p.b 3:28. Alysia smashed last years time by over half an hour and not to be out done, Andrew Thomas knocked 45 minutes off his p.b |  Ruth was happy to think she could do it all over again in Scotland....... |
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 And Suzanne was just happy !! |
Andrew Smith, Tom Humphreys and Ruth Nicoll were all running their first marathons. Andrew hit his expected time exactly while Tom was a little disappointed with his time (Its still a sub 4 first marathon Tom!!) Ruth was just happy to have done it ! Next home was Caroline Lewis who beat her p.b by half an hour. Mike Baldwin was next in with his first marathon having enjoyed every minute of it and Phil Rowe got round with out | |
| running into anything - A first for London. Denise Booth had only joined the club last Autumn after her father died and she vowed to run in his memory. She did him proud ! The winner of the Penzance mafia race was Rachel Bowker, closely followed by Maria Williams and Susan Chapman, both competing their first marathons, as was the extremely happy Nancy Bispan who had been a spectator the year before and had said " I could do that ! " She did it with style finishing in 4 hours 56 minutes. |  Add your own caption here ! |
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 Sam Perkins (MBH) made himself at home with the Hayle ladies |
Julie wood just missed the 5 hour marker but will be back to have another go next year I'm sure. As will Helen Gibbard. Both of them said they'd really enjoyed it - "now where's the champagne" Suzanne Trevenna was next home, smiling all the way and the team was completed by Mike Wright who ran the whole race with only one good ankle ! well done Mike ! | |
| All
of the Hayle runners were home safely and all that was left to do was
celebrate. Andrew and Derek (best buds at this point) Had blagged the
best room so, as is tradition , they hosted the party. Derek pushed the
beds back apart and the merriment commenced. It continued into
Kettners restaurant where Derek discovered the wonder of red wine before
going missing ..again ! We decided to go and look for him. He was a Cornishman alone in Soho. |
 Andrew needed a little help getting home .. |
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 Nancy returned from her Soho audition |
He'd noticed the drag queens on the way in and we all feared the worse. Luckily after we forced our way into his bedroom, we found him unconscious on his bed. At least he was safe. We later discovered that he had been stumbling around China town muttering "Trafalgar square! ! and someone had shown him home. The next morning we boarded the train for home and hatched a plan to steal St Austell running clubs flag. | |
With the help of Steve west we instigated this with style and the plan was to post it around the world so it could send back post cards to its owner. Unfortunately Newquay roadrunners got the blame so we thought we'd better return it for the sake of county relations ! The London
Marathon was over for another year and we all delighted as the news
filtered through that Fiona Ruetsch had won the Tresco Marathon! A
fantastic day for the club all round and not for the first time, I was
asked the question ... |
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| Results Ian Goodreid 3:14:54 Craig Tonkin 3:24:09 Faye Toms 3:27:35 Derek Smith 3:27:56 Bob Philpotts 3:28:20 Alysia Kirby 3:39:32 Andrew Smith 3:44:52 Tom Humphreys 3:50:16 Andrew Thomas 4:10:11 Ruth Nicoll 4:10:16 Caroline Lewis 4:13:33 Mike Baldwin 4:22:29 Phil Rowe 4:23:51 Denise Booth 4:29:23 Rachel Bowker 4:43:32 Maria Williams 4:52:41 Susan Chapman 4:52:41 Nancy Bispan 4:56:54 Julie Wood 5:02:53 Helen Gibbard 5:28:57 Suzanne Trevenna 5:35:30 Mike Wright 6:12:39 |
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Please
note that this photo was taken after we had sought the relevant
permission from the representative from the department for
national monuments.
he said no !!! |
