COMMONWEALTH 24 HOUR CHAMPIONSHIPS - 17/18 SEPTEMBER 2009

banner in Keswick town centre - photo by Alan Young

For this report I think we should go right back to the beginning. After I achieved the England Athletics 'A' standard in October 2008 I expected to be selected as part of the first wave at the end of January 2009. Alas, for the 24 hr race, only Chris Finill was selected (he ran well over 241k at Tooting Bec - the same race where I ran the 'A' standard). This meant that I couldn't just train right up until September. I felt, rightly or wrongly, that I had to take part in an ultra in spring to prove to the selectors that I was fit enough when the second wave of runners was announced in July.

I originally planned to take part in the Athens 48hr race in April but that fell through at an early stage when I lost my job and found myself unable to fund a trip to Athens. Within a couple of weeks though I had settled on the idea of organising my own ultra ... a 218 mile trek from Otley to London at the end of May. Full details of that adventure can be found here.

After eleven days recovery from my Run To London I began training in earnest for the Commonwealth Championships on Saturday 6 June. I wasn't to receive official confirmation that I had been selected until early July but other people more experienced than I had told me to expect it and to train as though I had been selected.

By late August I began to realise that it wasn't going to be very easy for a non-driver, like myself, to actually get from Otley to Keswick on public transport. Neither Otley nor Keswick have a train station and three large suitcases/bags are not easily carried on a bus. Eventually transport to Keswick was arranged for me and my luggage (mainly food, drink and kit for the race). I could now relax properly in the week leading up to the race. I knew my training had gone very well and all I had to do now was relax and enjoy the race.

Arriving in Keswick the day before the race I quickly settled into our room at the youth hostel. I was sharing with another 24 hr runner, Ken Fancett, and also Walter Hill and Andy Smith (men's 24 hr coach and 100km coach respectively). There were three bunks but only four people with lots of kit, food, etc just filled the room nicely - six would have been a tight squeeze.

top: view from our room

middle: our room
bottom: the youth hostel from Fitx Park
All photos by me

Next job was to have a stroll around the course - slowly, not wasting too much energy before the race. On entering Fitz Park (400m from the youth hostel) I found it very difficult to proceed because of the large numbers of runners, coaches, photographers, etc gathering and talking. I found Chris Finill, Wendy Lynas, Alan Young, Stephen Mason, Richie Cunningham, William Sichel, Arun Bhardwaj, Andy Smith, Ramona Thevenet-Smith, Bethany Clague, Anne Wilson, Adrian Stott ... spent quite a while talking before I eventually sauntered on my way around the 1.00554 km course.

three views of the course - taken by me

I was well impressed by the flatness in a region known for being mountainous.

Back at the youth hostel in time for an evening meal (two large meals for most of the 24 hr runners ... well me anyway). This was followed, at 8.00pm, by the official team meeting/briefing in one of the common rooms where everything was explained: from the rules and regs to where the food will be to how many helpers will be allowed trackside at any one.

At this point more England kit mysteriously arrived to supplement my vest, long sleeved top, shorts and waterproofs and then I was allocated Eleanor Robinson and Bill Gayter to be my helpers during the race. I was very happy about this - Bill is Sharon Gayter's husband and regular helper; Eleanor is one of the world's best ever ultra distance runners. The last task on Wednesday was to run through, with Eleanor, the intricacies of crewing for me - my likes and dislikes, when I'll need feeding and watering, etc, etc. And then to bed and a reasonable night's sleep.

The official opening ceremony was scheduled to take place on the morning of the 24 hr race and, as expected, not many 24 hr runners (from any country) decided to attend. Most seemed to be eating, sipping water and resting ahead of the big race scheduled to begin at noon.

Andy Smith, and other non-runners, took everything the competitors would need across to the feed zone - ten English runners need lots of food, drinks, clothes, etc. Poor Andy seemed to be walking back and forth all morning carrying heavy bags.

At about 10.45am I ambled over to Fitz Park in order to collect my timing chip at 11.00am.

After that it was team photos followed by last minute preparations - mostly private rituals runners undertake in the last moments before the beginning of an important race.

Wendy Lynas and myself - ten minutes before the race. By Alan Young

After standing on the start line for what seemed like ages the gun finally sounded and off we ran - the first ever Commonwealth Championships 24 hr race. The startlist had included runners from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Kenya and India as well as England, Wales, Scotland and the Isle of Man. As usual it took me two or three laps before I managed to settle into my planned pace for the first hour of 4:55 per km (7:55 per mile).

the start - by Alan Young

Right from the start I made a habit of looking at either the official clock or my own stopwatch at the end of each lap so that I could get my pacing on track. Even though I could see the official leaderboard, and I knew it was to be updated every hour, I never saw what my hourly distance was. Occasionally though, in the first third of the race, I managed to see what my overall position was. For the most part I just wasn't interested ... I was only concerned with running at my planned pace for as long as possible.

Hour after hour it continued. Ten minutes walking followed by a lap or so to get back into my rhythm then running at my planned pace (or as close as possible to it) until the next scheduled walk.

By early evening I noticed that almost every other runner had put on warmer clothes but I wasn't feeling cool just yet, even though Eleanor had my long sleeved top draped over her arm from about 7.00pm. After an hour or more I decided that it must be getting cold and it would be wise to swap my vest for that warmer top.

By now we were running in the dark and the temporary floodlights had been lighting the route for a couple of hours on the darkest parts of the course. There were still sections which were very dark though and one runner, Mick Francis of Australia, injured his hamstring quite badly when he missed his footing in the dark.

Between 11.00pm and midnight my planned pace was about 5:28 per km (8:48 per mile). This is significantly slower than all my training but after eleven hours on the go it was beginning to feel like very hard work. During this hour I was starting to suffer. At about 11.45pm I decided there was only one option - I asked Eleanor to provide me with a large coffee at midnight. Something to look forward to for the final 15 minutes of day one.

At midnight the coffee arrived and I used my planned ten minute walk to put the bad hour behind me and re focus while letting the caffeine work it's magic. I'm sure Eleanor's words of wisdom helped too. I can't remember a single word of what she said but I do remember that she walked with me for a while chatting away.

Eleanor and myself - by Pete of Keswick AC

On to day two of the race now and after a couple of laps I was back into my stride and determined not to let the previous hour become two or more bad ones. Towards the end of the thirteenth hour I was effortlessly running at least 20 seconds per km (32 seconds per mile) quicker than my schedule. I was happy again - and feeling good.

Into the early hours and I was becoming increasingly aware that Chris Finill was having a prolonged bad patch. It wasn't easy to tell though as I often didn't see him for what seemed like hours at a time. All my previous 24 hr races have been on a 400m track where I could see all the other runners almost constantly, on a 1 km road loop things are much different. Also at around this time I became aware of what seemed like a fire nearby ... this began to worry me a little as smoke, dust, etc can cause major breathing difficulties for me.

Chris Finill, obviously suffering - by Alan Young

As a young child I was diagnosed with recurrent papilloma and had to have numerous operations to remove the wart like growths that sprang up on my vocal chords. It is caused by a virus harmless to most of us but, for some reason, my body just couldn't fight it off. This condition only affects a handful of people in the UK and sufferers can either recover suddenly, without warning, or continue needing operations for the rest of their lives. I was one of the lucky ones, my last operation was in 1983 immediately after a bad turn at the Reading Festival. Although I don't need any more operations I still find that, as mentioned earlier, dust and smoke affect my breathing.

Sure enough, after a while, the smoke drifted across the eastern end of the course and I had a bad coughing fit as I ran through it. Panic set in for five minutes or so but when I ran on that stretch of the course again the smoke had receded slightly and I slowly began to regain my composure.

Between midnight and about 6.00am, apart from the above episode, almost every hour seemed to follow a similar pattern: walk ten minutes, a lap or two to get into my stride then every lap quicker than the preceding lap so that by the end of the hour I was running up to 30 seconds per km (48 seconds per mile) quicker than I should have been. I felt so good at this point though that I didn't want to slow down. It must be said though that Andy Eccles was doing a fantastic job and his natural cheerleading skills were being put to good use during the dark hours. By about 5 or 6 o'clock I began expecting to pay for my excessive speed, I hoped that when the sun rose the daylight would revive my flagging spirits and stop me slowing too much.

Space here for a couple of memories to illustrate what was happening:

(1) I hadn't looked at the leader board in at least eight or nine hours but Eleanor had been keeping me informed and I knew I had overtaken Chris Finill and was in fourth place. At one point I remember running past him and he turned to me and said "have you caught those Aussies yet ?" I knew that Martin Fryer and Jo Blake were well out in front but until that point I had no idea that I might actually be closing the gap.

(2) After the race had finished Martin Fryer admitted that during the night he was regularly using me as a pacemaker. I didn't mind this ... I've done the same thing myself, but it does illustrate just how fast I was moving at times.

I don't remember too much of the race when the sun was rising but I do remember that my planned pace of about 6:00 per km (9:39 per mile) was seriously difficult to maintain. Into hour 21 or 22 and I decided that I just had to have two walking breaks. I knew I was suffering but because I hadn't looked at the leaderboard in the past fifteen hours or so I had no idea how I was doing in relation to my target of 235 km (146 miles) ... I suppose this helped stop despondency from setting in.

mid morning - by Pete from Keswick AC

I remember, at about 22.5 hours, thinking to myself, if I can just finish with 230 laps that will bring me to 235 km. I know I'm good at mental arithmetic but I'll never understand how I managed to get 235 out of 230 x 1.00554. I guess 24 hr races do strange things to the mind [or my mind anyway].

Anyway, lap scorer Andy kept shouting out the lap numbers as I ran past and about thirty minutes before the end I realised I was going to hear the magic 230 so I took one final walking break and prepared myself for running the last five or ten minutes.

almost finished - by Alan Young

At the end Wendy Lynas (team manager) immediately came to look after me as per our pre-arranged plan to avoid me fainting. The idea was to keep me moving for at least ten to fifteen minutes before lying me down somewhere warm with my feet elevated. Whilst walking about I managed to thank lap counter Andy for his meticulous work which helped keep me going for the final 90 minutes or so. Then Wendy and I headed back to the youth hostel where I laid on the floor in reception with my feet on a chair.

Because Wendy understandably looked exceptionally tired I felt a bit guilty about having her look after me. She should have been preparing for her own long nap, not minding me for an hour or so. Still, I was very grateful to have her by my side just in case the worst happened. The post race plan worked perfectly though and for the first time since October 2006 I didn't keel over at some point during the four hours post race.

Amazingly, I was still unaware of many of the end-of-race details [positions, distances, etc]. I guessed that Martin Fryer had won and that John Pares had beaten me but all I knew about myself was that I had completed 230 laps and finished in fifth position. A few hours later I decided to walk the short distance back to Fitz Park to try and find some results ('walk' is not a good description of my movements so soon after a 24 hr race). Once there I came across Jack, Kath and Andrew Robertshaw (Otley AC members in Keswick mainly for the hill races but also spectating at a 24 hr race for the first time) and together we persuaded Nadeem Khan to let me have the only available copy of the results.

While Kath bought me a cup of coffee I looked at the results. It took a while for it all to sink in but I shed a tear or two when I realised that I was the first Englishman and that the English men had placed second team. For the next couple of days though this happiness was muted by my sadness at not achieving my personal target of 235 km (146 miles). I also knew that my personal failure was a result of often running far too quickly between 12 and 18 hours.

My actual distance was 231.506 km (143.858 miles) which puts my 2009 ranking at number 1 in England, number 3 in the UK, number 21 in Europe, number 30 in the World and number 6 in the Commonwealth.

I was exceptionally pleased with the way my nutritional plan had worked though. In a few of my previous 24 hr races I had had 25 or so comfort breaks – far too many. Some people had suggested that I was just taking on board too much liquid while other people pointed to the fact that my sodium potassium ratio was all wrong. Beginning with my Run To London I decided to seriously address both these areas. I consumed about 150ml less liquid per hour but also used a different source of additional electrolytes. I now use Shotz Electrolyte Tablets and after 560 km (350 miles) of racing I know they provide me with all the electrolytes I need - and more importantly, in the correct ratio.

Many thanks to the good people at ASSIST for supplying all my Shotz products (electrolyte tablets, energy gels and carbohydrate bars). ASSIST Creative Resources Ltd are the UK distributor of choice for specialist quality brands focused on sports and fitness performance monitors. Brands distributed by ASSIST include Timex sports watches, Timex heart rate monitors, Timex Bodylink Systems, Timex healthcare, Timex Active, Tanita Body Fat Analysers, Shotz sports nutrition products, Powerlung respiratory training products, Physicool, Oregon Sports & Fitness and SmartHealth heart rate monitors that work right off the wrist.

In the very early hours of Friday morning I woke up needing a pee. Got to the toilet, turned on the light ... and nearly fainted. Oh shit, I thought. Sat down by the fire escape door for ten minutes or so until I felt better before returning to bed none the worse for the experience.

The day after my race finished most of the 24 hr runners decided to venture out and support the sprinters in the 100 km race. After witnessing the start I went to the southern end of Thirlmere with Ramona Thevenet-Smith, Pat Robbins and his partner Sam. Once there the first thing I did was have a massage from a couple of the physios who were there. Thanks to Eleanor for pointing them out to me. The massage was fantastic and a worthwhile thing to have after an ultra distance race, the only problem though was that the positive effects didn't last long enough.
Also met up with Chris Finill (who was still obviously sad about his own performance), Alan Young, Andy Smith (crewing for the English runners) and Mick Francis who was recovering well from the hamstring injury sustained in the 24 hr race.

Had a long chat, too, with Dave Annandale who was less than happy because he was told, as race director of the 24 hr race, that there would be lots of local people helping to erect marquees, move tables and chairs, lap counting, etc. In the end practically no-one turned up and he had to do most of the work himself. For lap counting he phoned lots of friends and acquaintances at short notice and persuaded them to come and help - many of them all the way from Hull (a 200 mile round trip). Not good.

Then it was back to Keswick to watch the finish of the 100k race. As expected Jez Bragg won with a time of just over 7 hours - remarkable on such a hilly course. He left it late though, only taking the lead at about 95 km. Jackie Fairweather (Australia) won the women's race by a staggering 23 minutes - just missing a national record. In fourth place was Angie Sadler who, soon after finishing, began shivering badly. She sent a friend to retrieve her kit but he seemed to be gone for ages so I let her borrow a spare top I had in my bag - I couldn't let her stand there getting hypothermia. She's a lovely woman and I guess she'll be pleased with fourth place and a team gold medal.

top: Jez Bragg being looked after by Andy Smith

bottom: Angie Sadler

both photos by Alan Young

After spending a couple of hours in the evening in a local pub it was back to bed and hopefully a good night's sleep. Unfortunately sleep was in short supply, probably because of the aches and pains of my race (or was it the adrenaline still). Turning over in bed was painful at times.

Sunday 20 September was a good day. Apart from the lack of sleep my legs, feet and shoulders were much less painful and walking about was almost normal. Standing still wasn't easy though. After breakfast most of my team mates were going up the local hills to watch the hill race. I decided that my legs and feet were still not quite up to that particular challenge just yet so off I headed in search of a decent cup of coffee.

"Now that I'm back on the caffeine", I thought, "I may as well find a decent brew." Eventually found Costa Coffee so I sat down with a large latte to read the newspaper and ... surprise surprise there was absolutely nothing at all about the four Commonwealth Championship races, lots though about the Great North Run. Surely a championship is more important.

I hadn't sat down long when a text message arrived from an old friend whom I hadn't seen since ... 1986 I guess. Yes, I remember, when Fay and I spent almost the whole of August cycling around Wales. From Bradford (where we lived at the time) we detoured via Southport to visit Sharon and from there to Chester we cycled under the Mersey Tunnel before turning west into north Wales. Still don't know how we got away with that one.

Anyway, back to Keswick, Sharon was in the area and suggested we meet up for a few hours in the afternoon. Of course I agreed and soon we were reminiscing and catching up as if we meet every month. However the lack of sleep was beginning to catch up with me now so Sharon walked me back to the youth hostel calling first at Fitz Park to find out if she would be allowed into the medal ceremony later that afternoon.

Sharon and me - by her friend Chrissie

And so to the medal ceremony which was an experience in itself. Quite surreal, from my point of view, as there's no way on earth that two years ago I would have expected to be even in Keswick let alone receiving a silver medal and being first English man in a championship 24 hr race.

English 24 hr and 100k runners

Sharon was there, with her friend Chrissie, and together they took lots of photos and we chatted again for a long time before I had to go back and rejoin the England team.

The party afterwards seemed to be quite a subdued affair with quite a large number of runners electing to go home and of those that remained many were obviously very tired from four days of competing and supporting. One thing I'll remember about the party though was that I persuaded Martin Fryer to swap his Australian jacket for my England T Shirt ... something I'll be forever grateful for and something to treasure along with the medal.

Went to bed very happy on Sunday night. The following day, after a leisurely breakfast, the remaining runners and crew members began their respective journeys back to their normal lives. My journey began with Fay's mother giving me a lift to Carlisle train station, from where I caught the train south to Leeds where Fay met me to help with the remaining ten mile journey back to Otley.

Space here for the 'who to thank' section. First of all the good folks at fitnessfootwear.com for supplying me with a fantastic pair of shoes a short while back. Fitness Footwear is a business built on family values with a focus on excellent customer service while offering the web’s widest choice of sports and outdoor shoes. Free UK delivery and easy returns are just some of the many services they offer. And if you would prefer to speak to them in person, a friendly customer service team is just a phone call away on 0203 167 4688. They put a friendly face to shopping online, and they always aim to be within easy reach to make sure you get the answers you want quickly and easily.

Other people to thank include Fay & Keir for their support, Eleanor Robinson and Bill Gayter for the crewing (and the midnight coffee), Walter Hill for motivation (and especially the kind letter), Andy Smith - too many things to list here, Keith Jackson and Elizabeth Robley for driving me places, my dad (he knows why), Andy Eccles - the world's best cheerleader, Martin Fryer for the kind words (and the jacket), Wendy Lynas for looking after me so well. And then there's Alan Young for being so knowledgeable (and for the great photos), Ramona Thevenet-Smith, Sharon Taylor, Pat Robbins and Sam, Chris Finill and Julie, Jim Rogers (don't retire yet), William Sichel, Angie Sadler for letting me have my top back, lap counter Andy, Dave and Emma Annandale, the Robertshaws for great support, Sharon Taylor for 25? years of letters, the Canadian runner who swapped his jacket for mine, and all the amazing staff at the youth hostel.

A big thanks also to Norman Wilson for organising the whole thing.

For mum - she never got to see any of this. What would she make of it all ?

photo below by Alan Young