|
Jul 2010
8:21pm, 22 Jul 2010
535 posts
|
T no P
JaneyM - don't miss out, that would be a real shame. Why don't you try staying half way - say MOrpeth or Alnwick for example. I'm sure there are B&B's or pubs with rooms which will help you break up the journey.
I'm actually driving over from Lancashire on the morning but the issue will be more about getting home than the early start for me....
|
|
Jul 2010
8:38pm, 22 Jul 2010
2,895 posts
|
Pestomum
Or somewhere like Darlington or Durham, and come up on the train in the morning?
|
|
Jul 2010
10:24am, 23 Jul 2010
252 posts
|
JaneyM
Thanks for all of your suggestions - but I have tried everywhere, even over towards cumbria. (I even phoned the organsiers accommodation finder and they just laughed - no not really but I am sure they were stifling a laugh - they said everything is gone as far as they could see) I am thinking I am going to just do our local Half Marathon in Glasgow - which is quite a big race also. I believe I can defer my place for the GNR, which I think I will do and then get myself more organised for next year. Thanks for all your suggestions and have a good one all of you!!!
|
|
Jul 2010
3:42pm, 23 Jul 2010
495 posts
|
makkem
On a different note, I received an e-mail from Nova to say that Anne Wilson (who runs dressed as Minnie Mouse), one of the 120 or so who like me has completed all prevoius 29 GNRs is planning her own book about the GNR & asked for a few memories.
So if you want a read, here are mine.
BUPA GREAT NORTH RUN – Memories
Obviously the first race in 1981 is the early memory. Not knowing what to expect as a half-marathon was a new distance for the majority of people. The finish then was on what is now the car & bus park outside Gypsies Green Stadium & for some reason the organisers had issued everyone with black bin liners to put a change of clothes into, but try finding one bag among thousands. Then there was the now annual travel chaos in trying to get back to Sunderland afterwards, as the Metro at the time didn’t reach South Shields. If I remember I got back home at 4:30pm after heading out for the run at 7:30am.
On to 1982. Nearing the finish, another runner collapsed in front of me. So I stopped to pick him up. Three others saw this and did likewise and together we carried him over the finish where he was whisked away by the medics. To this day I have no idea who he was or who the other three runners were. (Photo attached).
1983. For the first time I decided to run in a Sunderland F.C. football strip, it was the dreaded thin candy stripe shirt, also referred to as the Ally McCoist Pyjama Top (photo attached). This was the first time I set a personal best, romping home in 1 hour 44 mins.
1985. The race in the early years was in June & entry forms came out in early February I think. In the meantime I’d moved to London to work in March that year. My mum informed me in a phone call that my entry had been accepted & I somehow persuaded her to post me the race number. Thus armed, a plan hatched & I booked onto the overnight bus from London Victoria to Newcastle. I left work at 9:45 pm. The bus dropped off at Central Station at 6:30am. Despite this far from ideal build-up, I still got round in under 2 hours, before catching a bus back to London..
1986, again wearing a Sunderland football top, I reached the 2 mile point and spotted two other runners similarly attired, only they had numbers on the back of their shirts. Turned out they were David Corner and Paul Atkinson (Reserve Team players from Sunderland Football Club), a little later we caught up with John Moore (Reserve Team Centre Forward). Myself and Moore got away from the other two and finished in around 1hour 34 mins.
2000. For reasons best known only to Nova & BUPA the race was moved to October for two years, this was the first. It also clashed with an England international match at the Stadium of Light. So given the fact there were two large events taking place in the region’s two major cities, you’d expect extra trains and buses. You’d expect it, but it didn’t happen. My mum had come to the finish with my ticket for the England game, on arriving back at Newcastle for the train to Sunderland, the train was it’s usual two carriages. Cattle Truck was how I’d describe the journey back, the train was packed with Great North Runners heading home & supporters heading for the Stadium of Light.
2001. The second and hopefully last time the race was held in October. Boy was it cold. My mum was at the finish again, armed this time with a flask of soup. This was also the last year the baggage buses parked on the road leading to Gypsies Green, as the householders living opposite had obviously complained about runners changing in front of their homes.
2003. The year I first ran for the Banana Army (Leukaemia Research). Mainly as a result of their celebrities being from Emmerdale, a programme my mum watched regularly along with DeadEnders & Coronation Street. The Pasta Party was held at The Leazes (the finish area) in Shields. The Emmerdale mob were introduced to the massed (well 250) crowd, before Chris Chitall (Eric Pollard) requested the Leukaemia Research runners go to the Leukaemia stand. There the clebs joined us for a group photo. (attached)
2005. The hardest race for me emotionally. My mum had started going to the finish & standing close to the finish line at The Bamburgh pub, then meeting me at the baggage buses. In June this year she died. Approaching the finish I was almost a wreck, I’d thought about placing a plastic flower near the spot where she stood, but never got round to it. I still think about doing this every year, but never do.
And Finally
Between 1987 and 1996 I was a member of Barnet & District A.C. in North London, a small club with no great pretensions, but an excellent team and family spirit. Among ourselves we came up with two pieces of “advice” for Marathon and Half-Marathon runners :-
1) Start slowly and slow down &
2) Start at the back and work backwards.
|
|
Jul 2010
3:35pm, 25 Jul 2010
36 posts
|
gadgy
Makkem that final bit of advise sounds like what i do all the time.Intersting account of the Gnr history.
|
|
Jul 2010
10:13pm, 25 Jul 2010
7,004 posts
|
DeeGee
Keep looking Janey. I found out in August last year that my originally booked hotel had become a nursing home without anyone telling me!
Kept looking on hotel sites and eventually found a Travelodge, in Newcastle, at normal prices!
|
|
Jul 2010
1:16pm, 26 Jul 2010
20,796 posts
|
Hills of Death (HOD)
Nice memories Makkem 
Sorry about ya Ma
|
|
Aug 2010
9:11am, 3 Aug 2010
79 posts
|
Mick the slug
Procrastination! Need to get out for 10 miles today. how far are pther people doing on their long runs at the moment?
|
|
Aug 2010
10:06am, 3 Aug 2010
80 posts
|
Mick the slug
still cba
|
|
Aug 2010
11:46am, 4 Aug 2010
81 posts
|
Mick the slug
Did it today. 10 miles. well chufftybits
|
