Friday, April 15, 2005
Matchbeat's Marathon Man
Matchbeat's Mark Smith will be among the competitors in Sunday's 25th London Marathon.
Here Mark looks ahead to one of the worlds greatest sporting occasions
On Sunday 17th April I will be running in the 25th London Marathon, sponsored by Flora.
It is an especially significant year to be running as the great race will be celebrating its quarter of a century and by Sunday evening over 550,000 runners would’ve completed the race since it began in 1981.
In that year, two runners crossed the line hand in hand: Dick Beardsley of the USA & Inge Simonsen of Norway, in a time of under 2 hours & 12 minutes which would still win many major marathons today. The following four years all produced British winners: Hugh Jones, Mike Gratton & Charlie Spedding, all still involved with the sport today, and arguably the greatest of all British Marathon runners Steve Jones who won in 1985 in a remarkable time of 2.08.16 which competes with the times posted 20 years later.
The next 20 years of the London Marathon has produced only two more British winners in the men’s race: Alistair Hutton in 1990 and the most recent Eamonn Martin, way back in 1993. Other notable names have figured since however. Mexican Dionicio Ceron & Antonio Pinto of Portugal both won three times while track athletes Douglas Wakiihuri & Abel Anton have both also triumphed. The fastest of all men was Khalid Khannouchi’s astonishing 2002 time of 2.05.38. Anyone who is anyone in World Marathon running has attempted the London Marathon and even the greatest long distance runner ever, Haile Gabresalassie has yet to cross the line first.
The fastest women’s time by a considerable margin was Paula Ratcliffe’s phenomenal run in 2003 in under 2 hours 15 & ½ minutes. Derartu Tulu, Liz McColgan, Katrin Dorre, Ingrid Kristiansen & Grete Waitz are among an impressive list of past female winners.
But, while the star names add to the attraction of the race, it is what goes on miles & hours behind that truly establishes the London Marathon, as one of the great annual events on the British Sporting calendar.
I am often asked particularly at this time of year what the attraction of the marathon is and also why I want to put myself through the event. The first part of the question is already answered above. Arguably the greatest annual event in the national sporting calendar took place last week: The Grand National, watched by millions and a truly monumental event. But much as I’d have loved to I couldn’t have climbed aboard a horse & ridden around a couple of furlongs behind Ruby Walsh & Hedgehunter. I can’t turn up in the early rounds of Wimbledon & expect a knock about with Tim Henman.
On Sunday I will be lining up in the same race as Paula Ratcliffe. I’ll be at the start stood behind the Olympic Champion Stefano Baldini & last year’s winner Paul Tergat. In no other sporting event would that be possible.
The second part of the question is a most valid one. Why do I want to put myself through the event? Casting a few thoughts back to 2004, I recall both myself and fellow runners, blacking out, vomiting and temporarily going blind. You bleed from places you never even knew bled, you pull every muscle in your body, muscles you didn’t even know you had.
And even allowing for that, the London Marathon is the single greatest thing you will ever do in your life. You really can’t quit. The 500.000 strong crowd won’t let you. You consider it – seriously consider jacking it in – usually while asking yourself why you can’t just play badminton or go to church on a Sunday morning like ordinary people and that you’re not cut out for marathons.
But it can be a simple “come on” or maybe a pat on the back that spurs you on, a couple of jelly babies gives you that tiny bit of energy to open your eyes and see the next mile marker, sooner than you were anticipating and then, in scenes most resembling ‘Shaun Of The Dead’ with blood splattered zombie like creatures swaying from one side of the road to the other, you’re back on your feet and peculiarly loving every second of it.
It is said that 98% of those that arrive at the start line of the London Marathon make it to the finish. It is easy to see why. Even leaving aside the crowd, last year I wasn’t running for anybody but myself, and the thought of not making it to the end, didn’t enter my head. This year I’m running on behalf of the charity Children In Crisis. The generosity of the countless people that have contributed to my approximate £1,500 that I have raised will be all the inspiration I need when the miles begin to take longer in Docklands.
Whether it’s sitting in a bath of baked beans or attempting 2 mile walk, any sponsored event deserves praise, but when a target of £1,500 is set, I find myself receiving £5 from people earning little over the minimum wage – over an hour’s salary. I feel it only fair in return that I repay the generosity by undertaking an activity that pushes the human body to the absolute limit. And then some. When you’ve asked it for every ounce of energy it can find – you then ask it to find a little more. So, why not attempt the ultimate of all endurance events – a marathon. And if you are going to undertake a Marathon – why not the biggest of all? – London.
It can be difficult to talk of marathons without sounding slightly big headed, if you remark on how difficult or easy you find them. I completed the 56 mile London to Brighton bike ride last year, with little to no bike riding training & found it remarkably easy – less taxing than any 10k run. I cannot anticipate ever saying that about a marathon. 10k runs, 10 miles, even in half-marathons – it is possible to encounter the annoyingly, naturally fit, so and so who is able to turn up and lap you, having done no training. You don’t get that in marathons. It is a great leveller of ability. I know that all being well, when I head towards the Mall, hopefully around the four hour mark, that those athletes around me would have universally made all those same sacrifices as I have and while the rest of the country were in bed on Christmas & New Years Day they were pushing their body to the limit.
While you wish some of those around you at work & day to day life could be more aware of the enormity of a marathon, even down to knowing that you cannot just wake up on the morning, decide to turf up at Greenwich & join in, or that 2006 applications will be underway not too long after this years final competitor crosses the line, the knowledgeable crowd are more than aware of the task. It reinforces Andy Warhol’s anecdote of being famous. For 364 days of the year – nobody wants to be me. No-one in their right mind, outside of the London Marathon arena would look at me & think I want to be like that. But for four or so hours on a Sunday morning in April and especially a final 30 minutes along the Embankment, Bird Cage Walk & The Mall, crowds of 30 people deep are wishing they were you and longing to do exactly what you have had the courage to achieve.
That however, is an exact same feeling felt by every one of the runners. It’s a feeling you get at the start when you line up alongside fellow athletes of every size, shape, age and race imaginable. Competitors of an age or of a size so unsuited to the ‘typical’ marathon runner, that you doubt they will even last to the start line, until they pass you in Docklands! But more astonishingly, competitors of such courage that if they were you or I, wouldn’t even be alive: Illness, ailments, loss of limbs & countless disabilities ploughing on through gritted teeth, outpacing able bodied runners. It is this, more than anything that ensures people like me have their kept firmly on the ground and could never let completing a marathon or that worshipping of the crowd get to their head.
But, as a banner at the London Marathon Exhibition read “London will gain 40,000 more heroes this weekend.
Though I’d maybe question that, you cannot help but feel a small sense of pride & achievement in being talked of in that manner.
I would like to thank the many individuals that have sponsored me and the companies I will be running on behalf of: Banc Tec, The Independent Place Nursery, Drive Point and Hair Express, as well as Hertbeat FM who have given my cause great publicity and Stevenage Borough, who have donated a signed football which I have for available for auction on www.ebay.co.uk
If you want to support Mark by way of donation go towww.justgiving.com/mark36637
GOOD LUCK MARK FROM ALL ON MATCHBEAT
Here Mark looks ahead to one of the worlds greatest sporting occasions
On Sunday 17th April I will be running in the 25th London Marathon, sponsored by Flora.
It is an especially significant year to be running as the great race will be celebrating its quarter of a century and by Sunday evening over 550,000 runners would’ve completed the race since it began in 1981.
In that year, two runners crossed the line hand in hand: Dick Beardsley of the USA & Inge Simonsen of Norway, in a time of under 2 hours & 12 minutes which would still win many major marathons today. The following four years all produced British winners: Hugh Jones, Mike Gratton & Charlie Spedding, all still involved with the sport today, and arguably the greatest of all British Marathon runners Steve Jones who won in 1985 in a remarkable time of 2.08.16 which competes with the times posted 20 years later.
The next 20 years of the London Marathon has produced only two more British winners in the men’s race: Alistair Hutton in 1990 and the most recent Eamonn Martin, way back in 1993. Other notable names have figured since however. Mexican Dionicio Ceron & Antonio Pinto of Portugal both won three times while track athletes Douglas Wakiihuri & Abel Anton have both also triumphed. The fastest of all men was Khalid Khannouchi’s astonishing 2002 time of 2.05.38. Anyone who is anyone in World Marathon running has attempted the London Marathon and even the greatest long distance runner ever, Haile Gabresalassie has yet to cross the line first.
The fastest women’s time by a considerable margin was Paula Ratcliffe’s phenomenal run in 2003 in under 2 hours 15 & ½ minutes. Derartu Tulu, Liz McColgan, Katrin Dorre, Ingrid Kristiansen & Grete Waitz are among an impressive list of past female winners.
But, while the star names add to the attraction of the race, it is what goes on miles & hours behind that truly establishes the London Marathon, as one of the great annual events on the British Sporting calendar.
I am often asked particularly at this time of year what the attraction of the marathon is and also why I want to put myself through the event. The first part of the question is already answered above. Arguably the greatest annual event in the national sporting calendar took place last week: The Grand National, watched by millions and a truly monumental event. But much as I’d have loved to I couldn’t have climbed aboard a horse & ridden around a couple of furlongs behind Ruby Walsh & Hedgehunter. I can’t turn up in the early rounds of Wimbledon & expect a knock about with Tim Henman.
On Sunday I will be lining up in the same race as Paula Ratcliffe. I’ll be at the start stood behind the Olympic Champion Stefano Baldini & last year’s winner Paul Tergat. In no other sporting event would that be possible.
The second part of the question is a most valid one. Why do I want to put myself through the event? Casting a few thoughts back to 2004, I recall both myself and fellow runners, blacking out, vomiting and temporarily going blind. You bleed from places you never even knew bled, you pull every muscle in your body, muscles you didn’t even know you had.
And even allowing for that, the London Marathon is the single greatest thing you will ever do in your life. You really can’t quit. The 500.000 strong crowd won’t let you. You consider it – seriously consider jacking it in – usually while asking yourself why you can’t just play badminton or go to church on a Sunday morning like ordinary people and that you’re not cut out for marathons.
But it can be a simple “come on” or maybe a pat on the back that spurs you on, a couple of jelly babies gives you that tiny bit of energy to open your eyes and see the next mile marker, sooner than you were anticipating and then, in scenes most resembling ‘Shaun Of The Dead’ with blood splattered zombie like creatures swaying from one side of the road to the other, you’re back on your feet and peculiarly loving every second of it.
It is said that 98% of those that arrive at the start line of the London Marathon make it to the finish. It is easy to see why. Even leaving aside the crowd, last year I wasn’t running for anybody but myself, and the thought of not making it to the end, didn’t enter my head. This year I’m running on behalf of the charity Children In Crisis. The generosity of the countless people that have contributed to my approximate £1,500 that I have raised will be all the inspiration I need when the miles begin to take longer in Docklands.
Whether it’s sitting in a bath of baked beans or attempting 2 mile walk, any sponsored event deserves praise, but when a target of £1,500 is set, I find myself receiving £5 from people earning little over the minimum wage – over an hour’s salary. I feel it only fair in return that I repay the generosity by undertaking an activity that pushes the human body to the absolute limit. And then some. When you’ve asked it for every ounce of energy it can find – you then ask it to find a little more. So, why not attempt the ultimate of all endurance events – a marathon. And if you are going to undertake a Marathon – why not the biggest of all? – London.
It can be difficult to talk of marathons without sounding slightly big headed, if you remark on how difficult or easy you find them. I completed the 56 mile London to Brighton bike ride last year, with little to no bike riding training & found it remarkably easy – less taxing than any 10k run. I cannot anticipate ever saying that about a marathon. 10k runs, 10 miles, even in half-marathons – it is possible to encounter the annoyingly, naturally fit, so and so who is able to turn up and lap you, having done no training. You don’t get that in marathons. It is a great leveller of ability. I know that all being well, when I head towards the Mall, hopefully around the four hour mark, that those athletes around me would have universally made all those same sacrifices as I have and while the rest of the country were in bed on Christmas & New Years Day they were pushing their body to the limit.
While you wish some of those around you at work & day to day life could be more aware of the enormity of a marathon, even down to knowing that you cannot just wake up on the morning, decide to turf up at Greenwich & join in, or that 2006 applications will be underway not too long after this years final competitor crosses the line, the knowledgeable crowd are more than aware of the task. It reinforces Andy Warhol’s anecdote of being famous. For 364 days of the year – nobody wants to be me. No-one in their right mind, outside of the London Marathon arena would look at me & think I want to be like that. But for four or so hours on a Sunday morning in April and especially a final 30 minutes along the Embankment, Bird Cage Walk & The Mall, crowds of 30 people deep are wishing they were you and longing to do exactly what you have had the courage to achieve.
That however, is an exact same feeling felt by every one of the runners. It’s a feeling you get at the start when you line up alongside fellow athletes of every size, shape, age and race imaginable. Competitors of an age or of a size so unsuited to the ‘typical’ marathon runner, that you doubt they will even last to the start line, until they pass you in Docklands! But more astonishingly, competitors of such courage that if they were you or I, wouldn’t even be alive: Illness, ailments, loss of limbs & countless disabilities ploughing on through gritted teeth, outpacing able bodied runners. It is this, more than anything that ensures people like me have their kept firmly on the ground and could never let completing a marathon or that worshipping of the crowd get to their head.
But, as a banner at the London Marathon Exhibition read “London will gain 40,000 more heroes this weekend.
Though I’d maybe question that, you cannot help but feel a small sense of pride & achievement in being talked of in that manner.
I would like to thank the many individuals that have sponsored me and the companies I will be running on behalf of: Banc Tec, The Independent Place Nursery, Drive Point and Hair Express, as well as Hertbeat FM who have given my cause great publicity and Stevenage Borough, who have donated a signed football which I have for available for auction on www.ebay.co.uk
If you want to support Mark by way of donation go towww.justgiving.com/mark36637
GOOD LUCK MARK FROM ALL ON MATCHBEAT
