Life on the Run

by Stan Eldon

  During the early to mid 1980s John London and myself set up a race organising company, Running Management Services, which organised a large number of these running events, and some of the latter ones were run by myself. The first of these events was the Ron Hill Sports 10K run on 21st October 1984. It was part of a nationwide series, and the Reading race, which was run from Palmer Park, the home of Reading AC, attracted 452 runners; the largest event in the series. The first three runners all beat thirty minutes, and the first across the finish line was Martin Philpot (Hillingdon AC) in 29:36. The first sixteen runners beat thirty-two minutes.

  The following year the sponsor of the 10K changed to Arrow, a shoe company wanting to promote itself in the UK.

  In October 1985 we organised the first race for Yellow Pages, when they took over as sponsors of what had become an annual 10K race in Reading. It continued to be a good event, but the new sponsor went overboard with the promotion of itself; something that was to be repeated nearly ten years later in the Reading Half Marathon, when they took over as sponsors. This event continued for a further two years under the Yellow Pages banner. For the first two years the race was run from Whiteknights Park (Reading University), and in the final year the race moved to Palmer Park. This actually brought races from that venue to an end, as the police said they would not allow another race from Palmer Park because of traffic conditions. A great pity, as the running track and facilities provided an ideal location, and many races are run from local running tracks. Nearly 1,000 runners lined up for this final race, and it was another good quality field with winner Chris Buckley (Westbury Harriers) clocking 29:11. The early leader had been an “American at Oxford”, Paul Gompers, who had a previous best time of 28:24, but finished up in third place with 29:36 on this occasion. Mike Cadman (Wolverhampton and Bilston) was second in 29:32, and there were fifteen runners inside thirty-two minutes. The outstanding run of the day was by the man who finished in eighth place, Taff Davies (Aldershot), who recorded 30:35; the fastest time in the world by a fifty years plus veteran. Westbury Harriers won the team race, with home team Reading AC taking second place, and the other new local team Reading Roadrunners fourth place behind Aldershot. The surprise in the women’s race was the defeat of the two ‘Samy’ twins by Alison Gooderham (Bournemouth) 33:48, and Lynne Harvey (London Olympiads) 34:41. Marina Samy was third in 34:48, and sister Shireen, who had won the race in the previous year was fourth in 35:29.

  The following year, 1988, we could not get permission to go back to the same venue, so we moved the event to Cantley Park at Wokingham. It was Olympic Year and the usual request had gone out for fund raising, and we persuaded Accountants Grant Thornton to sponsor a fund raising 10K in March.

  After John London decided to retire from race organising I continued, not just with Reading, but with other events as they came along. These included New Year’s Day 10Ks for the National Playing Fields Association in Hyde Park. I organised these in 1995 to 1998. Hyde Park was a good venue, but New Year’s Day was not the best day to be organising a road run around the Royal Park. We had high winds, heavy rain, snow and frost, which made the task of producing quick results more difficult than normal.

  In 1997 I was approached by Ian Branfoot, the former Reading FC Manager who was now at Fulham, to organise a fun run from the football ground, as part of an open day at Craven Cottage on 6th April. It was a nice event, and the race went along the towpath on both sides of the river; most of the Fulham team took part and some of them were very good runners.

  The quality of races was lifted by the likes of my partner John London and myself during the 1980s. Time clocks were introduced; prizes were improved; many more category prizes were given, and the overall management of events was much better, with proper marshalling and water stations. Proper full results were also possible with the help of special computer programmes. Sadly by the end of the 1990s things were drifting back to the old sloppy ways, except in the larger events. Races were being run by well-meaning amateurs, some in charities and others in the athletic clubs where time had stood still. Some events have started to use technology to produce results swiftly, but others are still struggling with quills and ink. Having said that, the way that results were produced forty or fifty years ago did have some merit. In events like marathons, the results always included the times at various stages like five, ten, fifteen and twenty miles, not just for the lead runners, but for all those taking part.

  Chapter Sixteen: France - The Return Run

  In 1992, just ten years after my first run from France, I was persuaded to run the 175 miles in the opposite direction, finishing at the French end. On a very wet Saturday morning we were outside the old Town Hall in Reading, ready for the start. A small group of us were sent on our way by the mayor, including some Rotaractors in fancy dress. Well-known blind Reading runner Bill Gulliver was there, and he was going to run with me to Portsmouth; also in the line up, an old friend, Kathy Tayler, television travel presenter and former world modern pentathlon champion. She was there to support me by running the first few miles with us. There were also five French runners, including my old friend Alain Hau, who had cycled with me on the first run, but had now taken up running. Dominque Zitouni from the Meru Athletic Club; Monique Spiguelaire, a thirty-eight-year-old mother; René Bollé, a veteran runner in his sixties, and José Antonio Santiago, all from the Meru Athletic Club. Before we left a lady rushed up and gave me a St Christopher medallion. I said thank you, but that was all, and do not know who it was. It may have been someone I should have known, or it may have been a complete stranger, but in the excitement of the moment it did not register with me. I hope one day I will find out who she was.

  Off we went with our escort runners, cyclists and vehicles. We ran out from Reading for a few miles, and said goodbye to Kathy as we left the town. In my diary of the event I describe the run and how I felt on each stretch. The first 14.5 miles, run in two hours nine minutes, I wrote ‘going well’. It really was raining hard, and the water was pouring down the side of the road as we ran towards Basingstoke. I like the rain, and I could see to avoid the water, potholes and puddles, but for Bill Gulliver it was very tough. The minders and myself tried to help him as much as we could, but he got very cold and wet. The second section of 13.5 miles took two hours twenty-eight minutes, and the last four miles were described as ‘tough’. Eventually we arrived at our first stop, Faringdon in Hampshire, and we had all had enough. We were wet, cold, and I had a bit of jogger’s nipple, even though I had given myself the Vaseline treatment. My main problem however was my diabetes. I ended up very low on blood sugar (2.4), and the doctor who was accompanying us decided I would need some help to get through the next and subsequent days. Total distance on that first day in the rain, twenty-eight miles or 47K in 4:37.

  We all returned to Reading that night; it was the plan, as there was no point in putting up at a hotel only twenty-eight miles down the road. Alan Hau and another of my French companions came back to my home, where Marion had the washing machine going to wash all the socks and T-shirts that we had used on the first day. We had a good roast beef meal and some wine and an early night. There was some disappointment however when Bill Gulliver confirmed he would not be able to continue next day.

  The next morning it was up and back to the finish point of the previous day. The weather was a bit better, and the entourage set out for the thirty miles to Portsmouth. Dr Borthwick had been to the local Savacentre and bought up their stock of glucose tablets, which were to be my life-saver over the next few days. The weather was better and there was a following wind, and I ran 14.6 miles in 2:30; but the next section of 6.3 miles was not so good, and it took me seventy-five minutes. We made our way south, and had a good run into Portsmouth with the help of Portsmouth Joggers, running the 5.7 miles in just an hour, and arrived at the Mountbatten Sports Centre in Portsmouth in the late afternoon, where we were welcomed by Portsmouth North Rotary Club and others. Total
running distance that day 26.6 miles or 43K, and total time 4:45. A shower and meal followed before boarding the cross-channel ferry for the night crossing to Le Havre.

  I slept well on the boat; I have always been able to sleep anywhere, and arrived refreshed in France at 7 a.m. next morning. A slight hiccup here, as we had been told that the Rotary Club were to meet us and take us to a breakfast meeting. This did not materialise, but arrangements were made by our escorting French to have breakfast before setting on our way towards Meru and Chambly; our final destinations. We had left the wet and windy weather of England behind, and in France it was quite warm again, like my first run in the opposite direction. The target for the first day in France was Norville about 35.5K from Le Havre. We set off at 9.10 a.m., and my legs were very stiff and it took time to get running properly. The first section was just over eleven miles (18K), which was reached in just over two hours, but we made good progress and my legs were easing as we ran the next 10K in sixty-five minutes. Finally it was just 7.5K to finish the day, and we all grouped together those that were running all the time, and those who were running in stages, and although very tired it was a ‘sprint’ finish for a bit of fun. That final stretch took just fifty minutes, and the 35.5K (22 miles) had taken four hours of running time.

  The mayor of the small town of Norville, where we finished that day, suddenly found out that we were arriving and sent his wife off to the hypermarket to buy drinks so that he could entertain us! He was very generous and took the instant decision to give us a cheque.

  We were now well into the run, and I had stopped taking my pills for the control of my diabetes and instead was taking dextrose tablets very frequently, as well as sweet drinks to keep me going. It was the reverse of my normal lifestyle of avoiding all things sweet.

  Next morning, Tuesday, we left Norville at 9 a.m.; there was a following wind, and the first session went well with 21K covered in just over two hours. I seem to remember lunch followed and a glass of wine or two, and at 1 p.m. I had to start running again. I was stiff as I started running, but it improved and I covered the 8K in forty-seven minutes. Another short break outside of Rouen, where fifteen from the local athletic club joined me and the others for the final run to the Hotel de Ville in Rouen. It was just about rush hour as we hit Rouen, but that was not a problem as the gendarmes were there to provide a motorcycle escort into the town. They rode in front and stopped all the traffic at every junction to give us a free run. We had a good final 5K to finish in front of the Town Hall, where there was a huge banner welcoming me and the others to the town. The last leg was run in just twenty-six minutes. A total for the day of 34K (twenty-one miles or so) in 3:17. There were speeches, champagne and presentations, before we called it a day and retired to recover for the next day.

  It was now Wednesday and very hot, and we started running at about 10.30. We ran a first section of 13K in eighty-one minutes. Followed by two more legs of 12.5K in eighty-nine minutes, and a short run over only 4.5K in thirty minutes, to finish the day with 30K (nineteen miles) run in a time of three hours twenty minutes. Again I had been met by about thirty-five youngsters from the local school at Entrepagny, who ran with me to the Town Hall for yet another presentation and reception. It was a hot day and the running had been tough, and as I ran into the finish there was a funeral going on next door to the Town Hall; not the best welcome when I felt shattered anyway.

  I had a good night’s sleep, and 10 a.m. next morning we lined up for the first run of the day. It was a short run of 10K, which we covered in fifty-eight minutes, followed by just 2K (eight minutes), before arriving in Gisors. We then ran on to the Golf Club, a further 6.5K, where we stopped and met runners who were going to escort us for the final run of the day. This was an interesting part of the run, as we were joined by a large group of young children and a local farmer; not a young man, who was determined to run with me. TV Picardy joined us for some TV coverage, and they seemed to have the camera set on my feet most of the time. It was as my diary said ‘very, very hot’. I wrote at the end of the day ‘a very moving experience, more than anything previous’. I added ‘Tomorrow is it! Lots of bits aching but OK’.

  It was now Friday, and the only thing left to do was to run to Meru via Chambly. The day started with 10K, run in fifty-two minutes, which took us to Chambly where my wife and others met up with us for the final run in. The next 7K took thirty-six minutes. We met up on a roundabout with about thirty school children a few miles from the finish, and then the final leg began. We were all running together; the two runners who had run all the way with me, and the others who had run sections of the run with us, plus the youngsters who had now joined us. We joined hands as we turned into the square at Meru. What a sight greeted us; there were lots of people; a stage, band and flags and bunting. It was fantastic and I was, I admit, very moved that the French had gone to so much trouble. There were speeches; the national anthems were played, and there were presentations to all of the runners. Then the champagne flowed. I was interviewed by the local press and media, and when asked if I would do it again, I said not before 2002, and added that I would be an old-age pensioner before then.

  The total raised by us and the French was around £30,000. Our contribution went again to Sport for Disabled People, through a Trust that was set up for the purpose. The French raised their money for heart equipment at their local hospital. Much of the money raised was by selling buttonhole pin badges; very popular in France. These had the flags of the two countries, the Rotary Wheel and a picture of a runner who had a moustache, and had a close resemblance to the man who had run the distance twice! These two runs had been very hard work for the runners and all concerned, but they were great for international relations, one of the reasons they were set up, were great fun and helped others by our efforts. There were speeches, presentations and the national anthems; it was like a mini Olympic Games ceremony, and perhaps it made up for missing my Olympic chance thirty-two years earlier.

  Chapter Seventeen: The Last Two Years in Charge at Reading

  Then it was back to work on the 1993 Reading Half Marathon. There was no major sponsor forthcoming, although a great deal of work went into trying to find one, but it was the height of recession and so the race had to go ahead without one. The entry was not quite as large as in the past, but it did produce a really great race.

  Sitting in the lead car, which I always did on race day (mainly because I could not trust that the course was going to be correctly directed), I watched a tall blond runner, Paul Evans from Belgrave Harriers, stride around the 13.1 miles. It was obvious from the first couple of miles that something special was going to happen, and as each mile rolled off in something like 4:40, and the ten miles went by in forty-seven minutes, it was obvious the record for the course was going to go, and there was no easing up on the pace into the final 3.1 miles, which he covered in 14:38, to arrive back at the finish in the excellent time of 61:38. It really was a superb run, and it was a pity that the whole race was not televised or videoed. Paul was well rewarded for his splendid run with a cheque for £1,000 and a new Ford Fiesta. It really was a great run, and it was my privilege to be one of only three or four people to see the whole of that great run.

  The first twenty-one runners beat seventy minutes. The runner-up was Peter Whitehead in 63:32, with Joseph Keptum (Kenya) third in 63:46. Three times winner Steve Brace was fourth in 64:43, with a Russian Vladimir Shtyrts fifth with 64:55. The event winner from 1988 and 1989 Paul Cuskin, was sixth in 65:37.

  The wheelchair race also produced two other records and two new winners, when Ian Thompson won in 59:23, and Tanni Grey (Grey-Thompson) won the John London Trophy as first lady in the new record time of 67:18.

  The first local runner was again Tsegay from Reading Roadrunners; this time with 69:48 (nineteenth); and Tom Munt (Reading AC) featured for the first time, finishing just behind Tsegay in 69:50 (twenty-first). The team race was won by Bridgend AC for the four
th successive year, with Reading Roadrunners just grabbing second place from Les Croupiers Running Club (Wales). But the Welsh club picked up two of the other team awards; the Women’s and the Athletic Club Veterans. The Royal Mail team won the companies category, which gave them fourth place overall in the team race. The Kempton Children’s Ward at the Royal Berkshire Hospital won the Charity Team award, and the men’s over seventy category winner was Ralph Batten in 101:26. In the Reading Leisure Mini Marathon, the winner was Daniel Getliffe in 11:58, with Jo Winterbourne first girl to finish in 13:51.

  The battles with the police and Reading Borough Council, that I had during the life of the event, continued. They did not seem to appreciate the importance of the event, either as a race, a community activity, or as the major fund-raising event that it was; or at least that was the impression they liked to give. These battles continued throughout the history of the race up to 1994. There were good years and not such good years, with regard to relationships with the council, and those connected to the event had to be strong-willed not to give in to pressure from these bureaucrats to abandon the race. I remember John London saying to me one day in the early years, that he would have to walk away from the event because he could not stand the attitude of the council. Even the council employee who sat on the original organising committee stated on one occasion, that the event would be much better with proper support from the council. John London did eventually do just what he threatened to do, and walked away from the event. I carried on for a number of years, striving to make the event one of the outstanding running events of its kind.