Life on the Run

by Stan Eldon

  In the summer of 1986, Running Management Services, the race organising company set up and run by John London and myself, were invited by Nashua Copiers at Bracknell to organise an Executive Relay. The Nashua company had already run successful similar events in South Africa. The idea was for relay teams of eight runners to run the total marathon distance of 26.2 miles. The longest leg to be six miles, and the shortest just two miles. The teams would be from companies and all had to work for the same company.

  A great deal of work went into planning a marathon route around the Wokingham and Bracknell area. There was great support and enthusiasm in the area, and a launch was held at Wokingham Town Hall where David Moorcroft was the main attraction. Other personalities were present, and the details of the first event of its kind in the UK, to be held on Sunday, 14th September 1986, were announced. Entries started to come in and everything was going well, and then out of the blue while I was on holiday, John London got a call from the company to say they were pulling the plug and there would be no event. It was one of those strange company decisions that did not make much sense as they were already into expense. But the decision was final and they did the honourable thing and paid us for our work. It was a pity as the event could have been as great a success as the London Marathon or Reading Half.

  In June there was the second running of the Nabisco Fun Runs in Reading. I sometimes think that the formula for these events regarding awards should have been used more widely for many of the mass running events, like the London Marathon, Reading and other half marathons. Instead of everyone receiving a medal for just competing, there were awards based on achievements. The top fifteen per cent in any age group getting the gold award, the next thirty-five per cent a silver, and the rest a bronze award. This gave everyone something to aim for; if you did not achieve gold this year, it gave you the opportunity to improve and have another go the following year. This system was also used by the very popular Sunday Times Fun Runs in Hyde Park, run in the late 1970s and 80s.

  In October the second Yellow Pages 10K was run from the university. The individual winner was Hamish McInnes (Old Gaytonians) in 30:45, and the ladies’ winner for the second successive year was Diane Wildash (Basingstoke) in thirty-five minutes. The Old Gaytonians won the team race from Aldershot and Reading.

  Before the next half marathon there was another 10K at Stratfield Saye by courtesy of the Duke of Wellington. There was also a special event staged to raise money for the 1988 Olympics, the Grant Thornton 10K.

  This was followed by the 1987 Reading Half Marathon, which was now a very large event and also a quality race. Many of the problems of the new event had been resolved, and with a good sponsor, Digital, who had now become DEC, were now investing well over £25,000 each year into the event, and with a large entry the future of the race looked secure. Runners from overseas started to show interest, as well as some of the best names in British road racing. The Reading Borough Council were beginning to see the benefit to the community of the event, and they offered to sponsor a mini marathon for those below the age for the half marathon, that is under seventeen. The first winner of that new event was Dean Putt and the first girl was Ingrid Kinch.

  There was a good entry of first-class runners, including previous London Marathon winner Hugh Jones, and twins from Czechoslovakia, Pavel and Petr Klime. The winner of a very exciting half marathon was Kevin Forster, who took the record down yet again to a very good 62:07. It was a great run and he reached the ten mile mark in about 47:20. The Klime twins were second and third; Pavel in 62:30 and Petr in 62:38, both just ahead of Hugh Jones in 62:42. The winner of the women’s race was Paula Fudge, the twin sister of record holder Anne Ford. She had a go for that record, but just failed and ran 72:45 to record the second fastest time in the history of the event at that date, and to win and set a new record for the vet category. Mike Hurd returned to take the men’s vet prize for the second year, and still in a great time of 65:01. In the wheelchair race Chris Hallam made his first appearance, and shattered the record with 65:04. The team race went to Birchfield Harriers, with Bournemouth the runners-up. A future winner of the race, Steve Brace (Bridgend AC), finished eighth in 64:54.

  Around £60,000 was raised for charities, including the BSAD, Helen House Hospice, Royal Berkshire Hospital and St John Ambulance. There were lots of runners in fancy dress and even the police were happy. The police officer in charge of the 111 officers on duty on the day, Superintendent Eyles, said after the race “I was very pleased with the way it went.” There was a problem on part of the course when barriers had been put in the wrong place, which would have led to the runners going the wrong way. I had to leap out of the lead car and race on foot to sort out the problem ahead of the runners. I had not run so fast for years, but just managed to keep ahead of the field and jump back into the lead car still in front of the race.

  In May there was another new event organised by Running Management Services, that is John London and myself. Permission had been obtained from Peter de Savary, the owner of Littlecote House at Hungerford, to use that great facility for a run for charity. The new event was to be a 15K, starting and finishing near the House, but going out around the country roads including some very hilly terrain.

  The race was sponsored by Isostar, the energy drink, and the benefiting charity was the British Sports Association for the Disabled. The race was an instant success and a complete sell out. It was surprising that even then, a veteran forty plus athlete Shel Cowles, was able to win the race in the very good time of 48:40. He had a very big margin over second runner Stephen Miller in 50:26. There were many runners in that event who have remained on the running scene until the present day, including Ray Stevens, John Cullingham and Richard Disney from Reading AC, Robert Taylor Newbury AC, and many who were to form Reading Roadrunners a little later.

  The race was to continue there for a number years, and several different charities were the beneficiaries. On one occasion Peter de Savary, the owner of Littlecote House at the time, invited one or two of us into the house early one morning for a drink; he was still in his dressing gown, and we sat and drank champagne.

  In the same year I was asked by Reading AC if I would take on a role with them as Commercial Manager; my main function to raise money for the club by sponsorship and events. It was a challenge, but the club had a long history and some considerable success since its formation as one of the first clubs in the country in 1881. One of the greatest individual triumphs for the club was when Ann Packer won the Olympic Gold in the 800 metres in Tokyo, thus achieving for Reading what I had failed to do for my club Windsor and Eton. I had also known their chairman, Derek Bradfield, for many years as a very successful team manager for the club. He was their manager when they were in National League Division 1 in the 1970s, before taking on the job as chairman. I persuaded Digital, the sponsors of the Reading Half Marathon, to become club sponsors, and for four years, from 1988 to 1992, they supported the club with £10,000 a year sponsorship as well as other support which totalled around £60,000. In 1992 that sponsorship reduced, but they entered a new agreement and gave the club £7,500 per year for a further two years. The club had major sponsorship that should have lifted them to a high position in the sport, but the money really achieved very little and the long-established club continued to decline.

  In September there was the annual Courage Half Marathon, and under my arrangement with Reading AC, I took on the management of their annual ten mile race that they had taken over from the Reading Police in 1983. There were nearly 400 runners, and included some very good runners and teams. The individual winner was Graham Payne (Basildon AC) in 49:45, and the first lady was Ann Ford (Hounslow) the Reading Half Marathon record holder, who finished thirty-fourth in the race with 58:14. Aldershot won the team race from Fleet and Crookham and Reading AC. One of the winning team was Martin Duff, now well known through his reporting of athletics in the Athletics Weekly.

 
Like many events at that time, including the Reading Half who had rejected a potential 2,000 extra entries earlier in the year, the Courage race was sold out well before the day, and a special slip had to be sent out rejecting many runners.

  In October I was asked to help with the Great Sam Run Half Marathon which had been running since 1981. I had run in the event in 1984 when it was held at Virginia Water in Surrey, and I had a rival in the race that day, my fifteen-year-old niece Lucy Dancer, running the race although she was under age. We both did around 1:40.

  My first duty with the event was to act as starter, and the programme said they could not get Diana Dors but had someone far less cuddly, Stan Eldon. The race was now run from Easthampstead just outside Bracknell, and four of the key people involved with the event were related to me by marriage; Les Webber and Jackie, and Reg Morton and Patricia were relations of my sister’s husband.

  For the next ten years Marion and I were to enjoy working with the team from the Bracknell, Wokingham, Ascot and District Samaritans, who organised the event to raise money for their very worthwhile cause. Our function was to produce the results using the very good system that had been developed for use at Reading. Like so many events, circumstances surrounding them demand changes, and in 2001 the half marathon changed to a 10K race at Wellington College.

  The build up on events continued into 1988, and I was involved with a large number that had started the previous year and some that were new. The first event of the year was a new one for us, when we took over an established event, the Burghfield ten mile near Reading. It was sponsored by accountants Grant Thornton, and was run to raise money for the 1988 Olympics.

  The next event was the Reading Half Marathon, and on this occasion just one record was broken, and it was again in the wheelchair race. It was not Hallam this time but ‘the new kid on the block’ David Holding, who took the record down to 63:57. The sun shone on the race this year; it was a very fine day and it brought out very large crowds all round the route. The team winners were London Irish, and Paul Cuskin won the Digital Trophy with his win in 63:16. The Klime twins returned and again took second (63:21) and third (63:22) places but in the reverse order with Petr getting the upper hand this time. The winning lady was Karen Macleod from Bristol in 74:09, a personal best time by over a minute, and a new vet winner emerged, Ernie Cunningham, who lived in Reading but ran for Aldershot, Farnham and District. His time was 65:13, so the outstanding veteran times were being maintained. Veteran Martin Duff, who had previously been a member of three Berkshire clubs and well known for his contributions to Athletics Weekly, was also running for Aldershot and finished twenty-second in 68:10 and fourth placed veteran. The over fifty winner was Ron Pannell with 73:36, with Reading AC’s Brian Fozard third in the category with 78:19. The over sixty men included some runners who are still running today, including Patrick Phillips (Reading Roadrunners) and Bernard Dembo (Maidenhead). The winner was Tom Shilling (Basingstoke) in 93:54. The winner of the women over forty-five, Karin Downs, 80:47, was way ahead of the first over forty woman Jackie Clark in 87:04.

  In the mini marathon Mathew Lockey was the winner, and the first girl was Vicki Stevens. A runner with a fine pedigree from the Stevens family in Reading. Father Don a very good cross-country runner, and uncle Gerry a former British record holder for the steeplechase at both 2,000 and 3,000 metres.

  It was either in this year or the following year that a problem occurred with the police. They did not turn up on time for the road closures on an important part of the course. A group of about eight turned up in a minibus at the start/finish venue well after the time they should have reported. I noticed that the sergeant in charge of sending them to their points did not say much to them, so I enquired why they were late and why he had not at least drawn their attention to their poor timing. I have not forgotten his reply “Oh they are a special group and we have no control over them; they do their own thing.” I was not amused or impressed.

  This was the year I had another strange incident, which I really did not understand until a few years later when I had time to reflect. I was approached by an Italian about bringing a few of the runners he managed across to Reading for the half marathon. We got permission from the then AAAs, and agreed to provide a hotel and pay for their air fares. I collected the three from Heathrow on the Saturday morning, and one of the runners from the start insisted he ‘had to get to London’. After we had got them to the Post House in Reading, this one individual could not wait for me to get him to the station and a train to London. He was very vague about his ‘mission’ or where he was going. He arrived back later that evening and turned up for the race next morning, but he did not get very far; was ‘ill’ and dropped out. It was all a bit strange, and it was only much later that I put two and two together. I now think he had gone to London to collect some drugs, either performance enhancing or recreational. Either way he did not get it right, and whatever he did certainly made him quite ill.

  I have always been surprised that the drug testing, that is carried out on track athletes and in major marathons like London, has never been introduced into these other events where there has been fairly substantial money rewards for the winners and others.

  In May there was a 10K race at Cantley Manor in Wokingham; this was a new venue for the race that had been held at Stratfield Saye on the previous two years. In the same month the Littlecote Challenge 15K was held again, and this time for the benefit of the West Berkshire MacMillan Cancer Care Appeal. The event was again a sell out, and was proving to be very popular at the attractive Littlecote House.

  I had been asked by my Rotary District to use my knowledge and skills to organise a major half marathon in the City of Oxford. The purpose of the run was to raise money for the Rotary International Polio Plus Campaign. The object of which was to eradicate polio and other diseases from the world by the turn of the century. There was a lot of work involved in putting together a race on the streets of a city like Oxford. We had all-round cooperation, and in June 1988 the race was on. Over 3,000 runners took part, and perhaps the most interesting feature of the race was that a woman, Paula Fudge, took second place, in the very good time of 72:59, behind the winner Bill Domoney from Oxford City AC in 71:14. This must have been one of the highest placed women’s positions in any mass running event. The race raised a total of £15,000 for the very worthwhile cause.

  The race was run four more times, in 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992, and although the numbers were never as great as in that first special year, the event did raise worthwhile money for the charities that were chosen in each year by the Rotary Clubs of Oxford who were responsible for the event. The only reason the event finally came to an end, was the ageing of those who had worked very hard to make it a success.

  The Nabisco Family Runs took place again in the same month in Prospect Park, Reading.

  In September there were two races; the Courage Half Marathon again, where I provided the services for receiving the entries and producing the results; and also running the Reading AC ten mile race sponsored by Claude Fenton at Reading University again.

  The year 1989 saw the Reading Half Marathon move into a newly-set up Star Ranking. It was also the first year that the race was run without the major sponsor Digital, although they still gave support to the race by providing the computers and technical support, and the sponsorship was shared between six companies. The other five were headed by Barclays Bank, who had been involved in the race from the start, and four other companies; Clark Whitehill, Horncastle Ford, who always did a great job of providing the lead vehicles all very smartly decorated with the event logos each year, Dunster and Morton, Surveyors, and TNT Printed Leisurewear, who provided T-shirts for several years. The race became one of the Star Rank HOT 100 races, which were set up to give individuals a personal ranking in their own category. The event produced a first back-to-back winner, when Paul Cuskin returned to win again in a slower time of 64:11. It
was also one of the wetter race days. There was another huge entry, and the team race trophy went back to the 1986 winners, Westbury Harriers. The Barclays Bank Trophy for women went to a local girl, Marina Samy from Bracknell (the third twin to win that trophy), who won in 73:43. Chris Hallam took the wheelchair race for the second time, although he could not match the record time set by David Holding the previous year. The winning male vet was previous race winner and veteran winner Mike Hurd in 66:20, and the first lady vet was a local runner who had taken up running later in life, Jackie Jeffery.

  This was the Stars and Stripes race, as we received three guests from Reading; England’s twin Reading in Pennsylvania. The three had won their trip to our race as they had won or finished second in their category, in what was known as that town’s Historic 10K Run. The team of three was led by their race winner, twenty-five-year-old Randy Haas, who had a best time of just over thirty minutes for the 10K. There was a last-minute replacement for the women’s entry; Donna Anderson replacing Shelly Steely who had won the Historic Reading 10K, and the third team member was Tim Whitehead, an eighteen-year-old wheelchair athlete. In exchange, the Reading UK race was to send three athletes to compete in the US event later in the year. Randy Haas ran a very good race to finish thirteenth in 66:36, just one place in front of Tim Butler the first man from Reading to finish and earn his trip to the US. He was to be joined by the first Reading woman to finish, Caroline Hughes, 78:29, and the wheelchair winner Chris Hallam. Donna Anderson finished 270th in 83:38, and in the wheelchair race Tim Whitehead finished sixth out of twenty-four in 78:29.