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A Tale of Two Races: Evesham 10k and Frampton 10k - Edward Collier - July 2010

When thinking about this review I kept coming back to Charles Dickens' 'A Tale of Two Cities' - a book with many claims to fame, one of which is that its opening and closing sentences are both well-known quotations (if often mis-quoted). It opens:

'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...'

Of course modern editors would probably repair the comma splice with a semi-colon, which shows what they know about art.

The final sentence is

'It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.'

EVESHAM 10k - RACE TIME 43m 15s : CHIP TIME 42m 13s

What, you might be asking, does either of these sentiments have to do with a 50-something man doing two 10k races on two consecutive days? Sunday, the day of the first race, dawned bright and hot - lovely for sitting in the garden, horrible for running a race on the road. Regular readers will know how much I love my purple and yellow running vest (if in doubt, look up Paul Daniels' catchphrase) but I found it quite disconcerting that I couldn't find it. I'm a bit of a stickler for running in club colours but I'm also a stickler for turning up to the race in time to run, so the search had to be abandoned and instead I thought I'd psych out the opposition by wearing a GB athletics team vest from the World Athletics Championships (courtesy of my long-time running buddy). I don't think it worked in the psyching out department, not helped by my watch being wrong so that when the gun went for the start of the race at one end of Evesham High Street I was at the other end, looking over the railway bridge, admiring the track-laying

So I started plumb last and still I hadn't figured out my tactics. Should I go for it and try to run a fast time, and abandon any thought of running decently at Frampton? On the plus side, my legs felt fresh and I like the course. On the other, it was hot, the course is very twisty and not fast, and Evesham 10k isn't a race in the club series, whereas Frampton is. I decided to try to run steadily until 5k and then push on, and see if, for once, I could run negative splits.

A fine idea, and relatively easy to put into practice. It only required one thing on my part - to start my watch when I crossed the line. For the first time in God only knows how many races - getting on for 500 I should think - I forgot. Is this the first hint of whatever that disease is called when old people can't remember stuff?

It's curiously liberating to run without keeping an eye on the clock, though pace judgment can be a bit hit-and-miss. I saw a few Almosts on my travels - Ellen Kenny managed to recognise me even without my vest, a tribute more to her powers of observation than anything else, while Evan Stanley bade me a cheery hello in the last mile. The race takes a meandering path along the river, then turns back through the town before rejoining the river path, crossing the river, running along the river on the other bank, crossing the river again, and finally through the ruined abbey and onto the field beside - yes, you've guessed it - the river.

Were it not for the race's poor scheduling (the day before Frampton10k) I'd lobby hard for it to become an AA featured race. There's nothing about the race not to like - the organisation is as good as it gets, it's well supported, the course is interesting, quirky and attractive (though possibly not a PB course) and it's pretty local.

It would be best, I think, to draw a discreet veil over the remainder of Sunday - suffice to say it involved a fair quantity of alcohol, an orchestra, a cello, a barbeque and some shouting.

FRAMPTON 10k - RACE TIME 40m 01s : WATCH TIME 39m 58s

Monday dawned and it didn't promise much. I had a hangover. And a cold. And DOMS (which, for those like me who'd never heard of the acronym until Karen Galpin used it, means Delayed Onset Muscle Stiffness).

As the day went on, so it warmed up. By the time I arrived at Frampton it was plenty warm enough, thank you. Everywhere I looked there appeared to be purple vests (except when I looked down, as my own vest still hadn't turned up. Maybe it's sulking somewhere because I have been so rude about it).

Of all the people I'd least expect to see at Frampton, I'd put Steve T high on the list. When I first started running in 1982 Steve lived in the same village, and he was just about the only person I knew who didn't smoke and drink as if they were competitive sports. Plus, he did karate, so he was fit. We used to go out running and he was one of those annoying people who find running easy, but who don't take it seriously. We ran the Reading Half together, coming in at about 1h 24m, but after that he lost interest. Yet there he was at Frampton, large as life and in running kit. Actually, he was slightly larger than life, having in the intervening years swallowed more Chinese food than he'd burnt off on the roads (including, he told me, a takeaway at 6 o'clock, which I found frankly astounding), but he was just as cheerful and chatty as ever.

Enough of the reminiscences. Having thought I'd do about half an hour's warm-up to get the lactic out of my legs, in the end, having chatted to Steve and various AAs I actually did about half a minute, jogging down to the start, where I had a good chat with Duncan Mounsor, and the chance to reflect on my failure, yet again, to find a lavatory in time for the start. In the distance a man on a step-ladder was talking, to no great effect, into a bull-horn. And then we were off.

Unlike on Sunday I actually managed to remember to start my watch; not when the race started but about four seconds later, when I crossed the start line. I had set off from no-man's land in the middle of the pack, and found myself weaving around and past people whose starting place on the grid displayed a great deal more optimism about their final placing than I felt about mine.

Strange to relate I felt pretty good. After a mile I had Ali Shaikl in my sights, and after two I had David Horne lined up. Russell Brooks I also recognised from his distinctive running style; he, like me, had obviously forgotten his vest! However, the wheels came off the Collier locomotive slightly when the "climb" began at about 2 - 2.5 miles. It's not really a climb, more an incline, but you don't welcome it, whatever you call it. Then the river comes into view, and at some point somewhere around the water stop in a rather twisty part of the course you notice that you're heading back towards the start (and, much more importantly, the finish).

Don't be fooled, people. The water station is only at half way, and there's a long schlep back to Fretherne and what's more the water station is at the lowest point on the course. This year, in contrast to previous years, I didn't blow up on the second half. I'd lost sight of David and Russell, but I had an old rival, Andy Furley of Stroud AC alongside. I've never quite forgiven him for beating me once on the opening leg of the Cobalt Marathon Relay, dressed in a tutu. Him, not me.

Somehow my creaking legs and failing cardio-vascular system held together until the end. I looked at my watch, and was delighted to see 39m 58s. I knew that my official time would be adjusted (what price chip timing now, Mr Collier?) and lo! I had an official time of 40m 01s. (A bit like my marathon debut in London in 1983 - no chip timing then, of course - when I ran 3h 11m officially but, because I didn't get to the start line for 13 minutes, recorded a watch time of 2h 58m. It's the abiding regret of my running career that I never managed an official sub-3hr marathon.)

Everyone I spoke to at the end, apart from Ali who was a bit disappointed, seemed to have run well and had a good race. Considering it was pretty warm, and that I ran the race faster than I did in 2005, so did I. My next race is possibly the Gloucester Half marathon later in the month - not my favourite half by a long way, mainly because, with all those hills, it is a long way.

And the relevance to 'A Tale of Two Cities'? Well, since I turned 50, the "best of times" is 39m 58s, though I suspect without consulting my running diary that the "worst of times" is somewhere south of my performance at Evesham. And the closing sentence - well, frankly, after two races in two days, a monster hangover and a cold exacerbated by standing around in a sweaty vest (not purple) in a stiff breeze, my appointment that night with my bed was 'a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known'.

Frampton 10K - Karen Galpin

A large contingent of Almost Athletes competed in the popular Frampton 10K, a race which forms part of the club's own road race series. First to cross the line on Frampton Green was David Horne, in 23rd position overall with a time of 37 minutes 25 seconds. He was followed in by Russell Brooks in 38.28 and the club's first veteran runner, Ed Collier in a fraction over 40 minutes. Katie Rose was the first lady to complete the fast, flat course in her first attempt at a 10K race for some time - she finished in 42.05. Edward Munro and Martyn Fisher both had successful runs with finishing times of 45.44 and 46.24 respectively. Personal best times were achieved by Carl Hartley, who had competed in the Evesham 10K the day before, Dave Chittock, who managed to dip under 50 minutes for the first time and Hazel Everett who knocked over 10 minutes off her previous time at a 10K race to finish in 51.50. Steve Wallbridge managed to turn the tables on his wife Sarah by coming in 2 minutes ahead of her and Graham Fletcher, having not raced for some time, paced the race well to finish comfortably in 1 hour and 27 minutes.

David Horne 37:25 Russell Brooks 38:28 Edward Collier 40:01 Katie Rose 42:05 Ali Shaikh 42:40 Duncan Mounsor 42:59 Philip Withers 43:15 Karen Galpin 43:57 Mark Willicott 44:18 Dave Elliott 44:50 Edward Munro 45:44 Martyn Fisher 46:24 Steven Adams 47:08 Ed Cane 48:03 Paul Turner 48:18 Rob Hume 48:20 Carl Hartley 48:51 Anne-Marie Willicott 49:55 Jean Bryan 49:56 David Chittock49:57 John Galpin 50:57 Hazel Everett 51:50 Paul Yarsley 52:37 Alison Hume 53:03 Julie Bridge 54:15 Philip White 54:41 Claire Hawes 55:36 Lindsay Morrison 56:21 Samantha Shea 56:22 Bill Jones 56:35 Steve Wallbridge 56:43 Abi Hawman 57:09 Sarah Wallbridge 58:39 Debbie Masding 59:18 Graham Fletcher1:00:27 Debbie Bishop 1:01:37 Natalie White 1:03:55 Arthur Williams 1:03:57

Evesham 10K by Karen Galpin

At the Evesham 10K Matt Baumber was first to cross the line, doing so in 41 minutes 37 seconds, just ahead of first club lady Nikki Weatherley and Andy Bullingham. Ed Collier started the race at the back of the field but managed to weave through and record a respectable 42.13. He was followed in by Evan Stanley, Dave Davey and Carl Hartley. 15 members in total took part in the race.

Matt Baumber 41.37 Nikki Weatherley 41.52 Andy Bullingham 42.26 Ed Collier 42.13 Evan Stanley 44.51 Dave Davey 48.48 Carl Hartley 50.02 Ellen Kenny 50.13 Mark Lyes 52.50 Dominic Lyes 53.57 Ellen Butt 55.44 Coralie Pearson 56.06 Jane Pritchard 58.04 Yasmin Shaikh 1.05.20 Caroline Chipperfield 1.06.09