Barnet & District Athletics Club

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London Marathon 22 April 2012

The 6.49am from Oakleigh Park didn’t go to Kings Cross as advertised, so it was a call to Joan to wizz me up to Totteridge to catch 7.10 to Bank. The bonus was that l met Nancy Nash (Conor and Ben’s Mum) and had an exciting journey as far as Camden Town. At the assembly tent near the Monument, l quickly collected my Course/Finish pass and kit before greeting youngsters l knew and helping with adjustments and the fitting of timing chips (stick on cards this year). The starter, Gerald Alterman, was asking for me so I jogged off to find him only to be told that in the absence of a celebrity, I was to be the honorary starter of the wheelchair Mini Marathon, which threw the TV people. We had a bit of a warm up and stretch then it was 5-4-3-2-1 and a blast on the air horn which froze my index finger where it leaked!

Down the steps and off after the kids, a quick emergency tape up of an U/14 girl’s feet then a jog to catch “Connor” from Poole in Dorset. Despite readjusting his compensator, he still veered to the right because his left side was stronger, so l just jogged behind him and flicked him straight from time to time. Up to half way, we had a real tussle with “Josh” from the Mile End group but Connor triumphed in the end with his perseverance particularly up the inclines. We saw Nicola F, the Butlers and the Grooms en route and had some laughs about the attractive policewomen.” Laughing is making my nose run” says Connor, so I managed some wiping on the move which made us laugh again! Soon we were bombing down the stretch from the Houses of Parliament to Buckingham Palace, then right for a fast finish. The lad beat his last year’s time by about 8mins, excellent. We were met by Jenny and Katie from Copthall still drooling over having just met Prince Harry.

Once all the children were in safely, there was a little time to sit and have a drink, then it was time to unload all the competitor’s day chairs and bags. We saw Harry again, Dame Tanni and husband Ian and some other well-known faces. Jenny Archer and I then waited to see if David Weir would win. Tears of joy, big hugs etc. Then busy finding all the Canadian, Japanese, Swiss people’s chairs and bags getting drinks, food and finding partners and friends for them. I saw in a couple of guys with whom l’d done some coaching and was pleased to see one guy who had his wheel collapse on his first marathon last year but had finished in a commendable 2hrs 18mins this time. I also met up with an old aquaintance from Harrogate who’d come back after a 5yr lay off who Paul Rea and I knew in the old British Pentathlon days.

Popped down to the Barnet & District baggage lorries to admire the efficiency with which we were dealing with the exhausted runners and to watch John Shirley work his miracles on those tired bodies.

Then home early (about 3pm) for a refreshing pint of gassy Tetleys and a shower. Great photos below at the start

Cisco Event at the ExCel Centre, E16. 2nd February 2012

I was asked to provide two racing wheelchairs, gloves and helmets and two coaches for a “corporate” event with Newham Council Sports Dept. on 2nd February. Apparently, Newham were supplying a portable track.
I was offered a generous “hire fee” for the chairs and an hourly rate for coaching, the surplus was intended to help finance repairs to chairs ready for the London Marathon.
Mark O’Neil (a quadriplegic athlete in our group who was struck by a “hit and run” driver whilst out cycle training for triathlons) and l arrived at ExCel East with the equipment ready for a “Health & Safety” check at 1pm.
After hanging around with Newham’s Coral Nourrice, an ex 400m runner with Croydon Harriers, we had some lunch provided by Cisco, watched the rehearsals and went home for a rest
All was revealed when we got back for 6.15pm having been stuck in the approach to the Blackwall Tunnel for 25mins. We were met by Chloe, one of the organisers, given a black long sleeved shirt with” Cisco Live” on it to wear and a large pass each to wear round our necks.
We were hit by a wall of sound as we entered the Auditorium, a crowd of people were being entertained by a group of Gospel singers. I spoke to a coach at the Sparrows wheelchair basketball club with whom Karen, Ty and I had worked at the Hackney Schools Championships who was leading a wheelchair basketball exhibition.
We were involved in letting people (those slim enough to get into a racing chair) have a go at wheeling a short distance of about 10 metres along a track from a standing start and being electronically timed. We encouraged races between two contestants and pushed people to improve their times in a “best of three” competition. After an initial small beer, we did not stop until just after 10pm when the event closed.
Mostly our clients were men; a few women who were good although one Greek woman couldn’t stop pushing with alternate hands instead of together. Towards the end of the evening, some were affected by drink and were tending to topple over backwards! There were a number of times around 3.34 secs but the best was an early evening effort of 2.87, followed by a 2.89secs.
We had time to glance up at the screens to see acrobatic dancers, bands, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, etc in a constantly changing choice of noisy entertainment. Various ethnic food was available; I had two mouthfuls of paella from Barcelona before getting back to work. We were really very busy!
There were over 4000 people there at this Cisco jamboree which represented about a fifth of the workforce, all to do with computer systems, “firewall” providers and the like. So despite the recession, some firms are obviously doing ok. We had people from, Austria, Germany, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Greece, South Africa, USA, France, Britain and Ireland have a go in a racing chair and discover how hard it is.
We got home at about 11.30 after negotiating the closed underpass at “The Angel” Edmonton.