Terry’s vision guides Don to London finish
April 18th 2004, my 4th London Marathon turned out to be the hardest of them all, not only physically but also mentally. I had agreed to be the guide runner for Don Planner following a chance meeting at our local British Legion. I had just four weeks to prepare.
The day of the race arrived and conditions were poor - it was wet and windy, just what you needed! We had arrived at Blackheath with an hour and a half to spare, it seemed to take an eternity to pass and I just wanted to get on and get it over with. Finally we started - everyone was in good humour, it took fifteen minutes to reach the start line and off we went. The first couple of miles passed, we saw Dumbo get off to a flying start together with a couple of dragons, (one red, one green) a rhino and several thousand runners.
Don settled into his rhythm fairly easily. Concentration was needed to guide Don through the mass of runners and constant vigilance was needed to avoid possible collisions with sighted runners who might not be aware of Don's blindness. By three miles there were people already walking, and we had caught up with Dumbo and the Dragons. At six miles there were even more competitors walking, The Cutty Sark was a welcome sight and for the first time in London I managed to get a decent look at it. Don was still trotting along with the crowd as always giving plenty of support and encouragement.
We progressed to Tower Bridge, another pleasing landmark. We ran with Fred Flintstone for a while, before heading off towards Docklands. For me this part of the course always seems to take forever, with the fast runners going back up the course on the opposite side of the carriageway. We finally came through Docklands and headed towards the Embankment. I was noticing the mile markers even more now, and with some markers in kilometres I was working out the remaining distance in both Metric and Imperial measures!
The weather had slowly improved - it had stopped raining and it was OK. It seemed too good to be true, and as we came out of the tunnel on the Embankment and reached the 24-mile marker it chucked it down! My legs were now aching but Don was still trotting along and we were passing walkers by the dozen, in and out, in and out, we must have run an extra couple of miles navigating our way through them.
We reached 25 Miles, only 1.2 miles to go or was it 2k? This was the longest mile of them all, it just seemed to go on and on, we were both feeling quite cold by now but at last we were approaching the finish. There was a marshal holding a placard, one side said "This is like a Stones record" and the other side said "It's all over now", very humorous I thought though "Nineteenth nervous breakdown" would have been more appropriate!!!!
We had finished! Six Hours and Three minutes later and my first thoughts? Never Ever Again!
Terry Haughey - 1st May 2004
Ian takes 5K honours with clean sweep
Ian Barnes outclassed the competition during this year’s winter 5 km race series to collect the male veteran 55 award. The race series, organised by Poole Runners, takes place at Boscombe pier on selected Friday evenings during the winter months. Starting and finishing at the pier head, the race is a straight 2.5 km out-and-back dash along the promenade.
Ian’s best performance of the series was on the 19th of December when he completed the distance in a very respectable 17 minutes and 24 seconds. Winning his category on all six outings his full race card is a follows: -
Date and Time :-
24 October 2003
17:58
7 November 2003
17:35
19 December 2003
17:24
23 January 2004
17:35
20 February 2004
17:59
26 March 2004
17:30
Ian was on hand to receive his prize in person from Daveena Tweed, Poole Runners’ Ladies Captain, at the presentation in the Neptune Bar immediately after the final race.27 March 2004
Kevin competes in 50K Championships
On 1st August the Harriers were represented in the AAAs 50K Championships by veteran Harrier Kevin Dwyer. The event consisted of 14 laps along quiet lanes in rural gloucester
The race start was delayedby 20 minutes while the organisers staged finish photographs of all the competitors they thought capable of winning the event, and at 11:20 the runners set off under a cloudless sky for 14 laps of quiet country lanes. The weather conditions were to take their toll with temperatures of 31 degrees and little breeze resulting in many competitors dropping out.
The mens race was won by Navy runner Brian Cole in a time of 3:15, the ladys race was won by Serpentines Siri Tergesen with a time of 3:59. 1st over 50 was Phil Howells in 4:44. Harrier Kevin finished 11th out of 33 finishers in 4:47
Kevin Dwyer