Saturday 24 September 2011

John Pares is the Commonwealth Champion

Huge congratulations to John who won the men's commonwealth 24 hour race in Llandudno today. I can't find the full details of how far he ran, but suffice to say that it was a ****** long way!

Going there to score for a couple of hours gave a fascinating insight into what these races are all about. The preparation in terms of drinks and clothing, the helpers, the strategies ( do you run/walk, when to have a massage, when to eat etc. etc. ) all have to be thought through and the kit laid out in the tent beforehand. There were times when your runner apparently 'disappeared' for up to 10 minutes, and you weren't sure whether they'd given up, or gone for a change of clothes, or an extended walk, or what. Mike Robbins was in the Welsh tent who were helping John and the others in the team through the 24 hour period, so thanks to him.

John usually does a write up of his races, so hopefully we can put that on the blog, or make a link to it, so that you can see a proper write up of the race.

But for now we can simply bask in the reflected glory of having a Commonwealth champion in our club !.

Dave

5 comments:

  1. It was an amazing experience to be there. These ultra runners are something else. John was clearly focused on the job but ever cheerful, with a word or two to the scorers on every lap. Results seem not to be published yet but the last report I got was that he had a 9 km lead over silver medalist.
    John has made the Welsh news and Buckley gets a mention. Ahhhh. Warm glow.
    Posted by Rob.

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  2. BBC website reports that John ran 150 miles

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  3. Results & write up are now available on this link

    http://www.cmudc2011.org/news/11/09/lizzy-hawker-smashes-the-world-24-hour-record

    Dave

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  4. Ok it was seven and a half kilometres. That's about 40 minutes running. No photo finish required.
    Rob.

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