The Ladies Captains go International……

….it was only a matter of time before the International status was calling Captain Murphy and her sidekick! Departing from Blackpool International Airport and arriving at the Isle of Man International Airport, we were to be in good company....Pete Waywell and family, Simon Eaton and family, Anne, Norman and granddaughter and George Flanagan…..what a squad!!

Kirsty collected us from the airport – not forgetting she’s 8 ½ months pregnant…and our destination for the weekend was to be the Hilton in Douglas. Lovely hotel, nice rooms, fantastic food and great location – so all was going good! Now, being a member of a club that has the honour of a members who hold claim to some professional veteran athletes, Alex, Alan, Trevor, Gary etc we pondered on how they go about achieving such great success and status in the professional athletic world…..and so we did what we do best – we hit the bar to discuss it! Having decided that it was highly unlikely our fellow successful athletes would succumb to such pre-race day activities in such volume, we left the others and headed into Douglas to see what we could see!

Returning with bottles of water, jelly babies and ‘Compeed’ we went for a swim and a sauna – in preparation, of course, for our race the next day! We had dinner and consumed a modest amount of alcohol before deciding to retire to bed….and then it all went horribly wrong………….for those that don’t know, Julie likes to make stress relieving noises…..loud, long and deadly – but apparently not smelly – the joys of being room mates……….!! With a 6.30am breakfast being served we discussed such ‘noises’ in great detail….and it got worse! The group then started to disclose their pre-race ‘movement’ habits – if it’s a 10K it’s twice, a half marathon three times – and some people consider this normal!!! Apparently it’s a common running conversation and habit….it’s enough to make you give up running if you ask me anything! What’s wrong with just being ‘normal’…!?? J

Anyway, talking of normal, we then had the final WRR contingent to meet – at Douglas sea terminal. Preferring to prepare for the race with a slightly alternative approach, Chris Moss and a couple of his friends had travelled across on the Sunday morning 2am ferry, loitered around the sea terminal for 2.5 hours and then boarded the bus to the race start in Ramsey with the rest of us – looking and feeling fully refreshed and raring to go – sort of!!

With our numbers collected and the rest of the team having completed their allotted number of toilet visits we were off! The route was to be an ‘undulating’ and quite scenic route, over quiet lanes and thorough little villages. The marshals provided great support but there was not a heavy spectator presence! Massive thanks go to Ann, Norman and Faith strategically placed en route to offer great support and words of encouragement; it would have been a lot harder without them!

With an excellent number of water stations, (roughly every 3 miles), great marshals and good support from the marathon runners, who were on the first of their two lap marathon course. The WRR members were on target to run well and enjoy themselves.

Running back into Ramsey, (well the last 800 metres was downhill!), was fantastic, Kirsty and Megan Waywell, Sue and Emily Eaton, Ann, Norman and Faith provided a great reception…..leaving the final cheer of encouragement to come from Peter Waywell at the finish! It was a great race, perfect running conditions, (if you ignored the head wind for the first 4 miles!), a nice route and a well organised event. The goody bag contained medal, T-shirt, water, pen, Mars Bar, a piece of fruit and some lubrication oil……..just what everyone always wanted…..!!?

Everyone from Wesham completed in less than 2 hours so mission accomplished. One of Chris’s friends had never run more than 5 miles previously, although he had admittedly run 5 miles more than once (!) completed in 2 hours and 12 minutes earning himself a PB to be proud of!

The bus back to Douglas was to be 4pm, (post marathon), but with all of us finished and changed by midday Pete had us all organised into cars and we travelled back in convoy over the TT route and stopped for a well deserved drink at a pub on the way back! Back to the hotel, there was football to be watched, food to eat…..and the old ones had to go and have a sleep – in preparation for our celebratory dinner and alcohol consumption that night, (apart from the pregnant lady)!!

We all had a lovely weekend, rounded it off with a hearty breakfast the following morning. A fab weekend on a beautiful island. Massive thanks to Peter and Kirsty for organising the weekend - it was a great success! It wouldn’t be right at this point not to mention Alan Taylor who promoted the Isle of Man Half in previous years – but I guess he is busy finding an alternative run in Oz!

We departed the Isle of Man International Airport having had a great weekend. We still think we might have prepared for the international athlete status with slightly different conduct to that of our faster WRR runners – but hey everyone has to start somewhere…..with some of us already thinking of booking for next year……..!!

Finishers:

Peter Waywell - Simon Eaton - Yvonne Russell - Chris Moss - George Flanagan - Julie Murphy

Written by: Yvonne Russell

Submitted: 25^th August 2007

Edited by: Brenda J Earnshaw WRR Editor