EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathon &

The2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships

Sunday 11th October 2009

Above: It’s all smiles from Tracey on the course (picture by Pete Hawcroft).

Thinking that there might be a repeat of the traffic problems that delayed runners getting to last year’s event when it started at Perry Barr, Jane dropped Len and I at Five Ways before parking within walking distance of the 4 and 10 mile markers. Broad Street was already closed off to vehicles and as we headed towards Centenary Square we admired the smooth running of elite athletes of the various national teams warming up for the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships – Ethiopians, Kenyans, Russian, Americans, Japanese, South Africans and French athletes gliding along where Birmingham’s late night revellers would have been flagging taxis the night before. Oh and there was Alan Elsmere going back to his car to retrieve his race number.

Centenary Square was decked out with flags and when we arrived just after 8, the opening ceremony  was taking place on the central stage watched by a crowd of few hundred club and fun runners and a host of press and T.V. cameras. Local school children were welcomed on to the platform carrying the flags of the individual competing nations, the last ones being the host nation Great Britain and the flag of the IAAF. It was lump in the throat time as the British national anthem was played but the unfamiliar IAAF anthem provoked a more quizzical response.  Seb Coe made the welcoming speech for the World Championships and described Birmingham as being England’s premier athletics city and highlighted the importance of what is to be the last athletics world championships to be held in the U.K. before the 2012 Olympic Games. Olympic gold medallist Kelly Holmes was introduced as the starter to a rapturous round of applause.

So with half an hour to the start of the Women’s World Championship race and an hour and a half to ours, we made use of the facilities of the International Convention Centre – much better toilets than at our usual races and had a stroll to soak up the atmosphere. This was a slight mistake as by nine the Square was filling and the crowd was two or three deep along the barriers and the two temporary grandstands full for the start of the women’s race. We just caught a glimpse of their heads above the spectators as they set off along Broad Street heading towards Paradise Circus. However, on the big screen we were able to watch the runners speed past the Town Hall and head downhill towards the back of New Street Station and the market areas. By the time that the leaders (Africans of course) reached Station Street, the high quality field was already stretched out on Hill Street behind them. That was the last that we were to see of them for nearly an hour as we left the T.V. coverage to get ready for our race.

Above: Gavin ran a P.B. at Birmingham much to the pleasure of his sponsors, the Beano.

The crowds of runners were really starting to build up and rather than wait for the start of the Men’s Championship race we headed to the National Indoor Arena to ditch our bags  – there was a moment of panic when we saw the queue of runners waiting to get in, knowing that the baggage area was to close half an hour before our start. It was a false alarm and we breezed past the queue in to the main arena. Back out on to Cambridge Street to head up to the start areas through the queues for the rows of Portaloos. I bumped in to a group of our runners and we squeezed in towards the front of the second start block with five minutes to go. Within minutes the elite group had started and our group were moved forward to await our start at the feet of Kelly Holmes, with the inevitable invitations for her to join in. After a thirty second wait we were off and soon rushing past the Iron Man in Victoria Square and on to the fast downhill section with over ten thousand runners behind us. We soon saw the World Championship runners speeding in the opposite direction with a mile to their finish. Passed the markets, out on to Pershore Street, a very picturesque loop through Cannon Hill Park and on towards Stirchley with the crowds of spectators building up. The traffic-free roads were great – residents had been told that they had to have their cars off the road the night before or they would be towed away! The roads that had been swept spotless during the night were rapidly filling up with discarded lucozade and water bottles from the drink stations. The first real uphill came as we approached halfway and turned in to Bournville approaching  – the streets were now lined with supporters and there were some barbecues set up in the front gardens. Back downhill just after 9 miles, glad to leave the speed bumps behind and to turn on to the main road to be faced with the masses of runners and walkers heading in the opposite direction on the other side of the central barrier. The runners approaching the testing last mile back up to Broad Street were greeted by an unofficial feed station – a young girl holding out a tray of sweets at the road side.

Through the line and it was like the Generation Game had returned – silver foil blanket, a medal (a very good one with a picture of the Boulton, Watt and Murdoch statue on Broad Street), a souvenir key ring, T-shirt, canvas goodie bag containing a very entertaining mixture – samples of Typhoo teabags, one Fisherman’s Friend (with a competition to win an entry to what looks to be the German version of the Tough Guy event), some Swiss herbal sweets, a box of cereal, a bottle of lucozade, a Children’s Hospital biro, a tube of DNA-repairing moisturiser (I think it would take more than just a tube to repair me after the run), a sachet of Vaseline skin care for men (hope you notice the improvement) and perhaps most strangely but very popular, a jar of cranberry jelly – then a bottle of lucozade, an energy bar and even more lucozade! Certainly great value for money.

Above:  Two races in two days for Dave after running for the XC team at Bourton.

At least 21 B&R men and 7 B&R women completed the Birmingham Half Marathon (let me know if there was anyone else that we didn’t spot in the results). Our youngest runner Ryan was also our first runner home in a terrific time of 79-13 and 90 seconds ahead of our next runner James King. The downhill first mile and quality of the runners at the front had produced a very fast start with James King going through 3 miles in 17 minutes. There was a large group of B&R men in the second start wave (runners were allocated start places according to their predicted finishing time) and it was Mark who moved to the front of this group in the first mile and maintained his pace to be  our third runner home. Gavin ran a P.B. and despite not wearing his club vest was the easiest to spot in his Beano top. Huw’s marathon experience paid off as he moved through the field in the second half, passing James and Phil at about 8 - 9 miles and stretching the gap to over them to a minute by the finish. Phil managed to lead James for a few miles as James suffered with severe calf problems (on top of his early shorts difficulties) but James stormed back on the flat sections and passed a tiring Phil on Broad Street. There was consolation for Phil in getting his best time for years.  There was then a flurry of B&R men finishing. Rob showed no ill effects from his recent effort in the Jungfrau Marathon and Dave would surely finished ahead of  Phil if he hadn’t raced in the Gloucester Cross Country League at Bourton the day before! Andy looked strong after a summer season on the track and should be in good form for the Cross Country season. Alan got inside 1-29 on his chip time, just over a minute outside his own club V60 record and by my reckoning 2 nd vet 60 on the day. Simon missed out on his target time but did well whilst suffering from a cold and having to pause due to sickness during the race. Judging by the photos, Jimmy Atkins enjoyed his run and he was a minute quicker than in last year’s Birmingham Half Marathon but down on his recent good run at Lake Vrynwy. Paul ran inside of 1-40 even though he hasn’t been training recently. Sam Moran and David Cooper recorded impressive times on their half marathon debuts, well worth David’s blistered feet at the finish. You would have expected Rich Malin to be our first runner home but he had decided to accompany  a friend and ran 1-43, a stroll in the park for him. Chairman Len was well within his predicted time of 1-55 and Steve Rabone was two minutes under the two hour mark.  The B&R women had a successful day with P.B.s for Judy and Jeanette, both finishing with chip times of 1-37. Merissa trimmed 7 minutes off her time for last year’s event.

Birchfield Harrier Jean Ndayisenga won the men’s race in 1.06.17 and our men can expect to run against him in the first Birmingham Cross Country League fixture at Senneleys Park on 25 th October. The 2008 Scottish National Cross Country champion Susan Partridge (Leeds City) won the women’s race by over six minutes in 1.12.50.

Above: Zernsenay Tadese crosses the line to win the men’s world championship.

Not forgetting the small matter of the World Championships. The Eritrean Zernsenay Tadese ran a championship record 59.35 (beating his own mark of 59.56 in last year’s race in Rio De Janeiro) to win the men’s  title for the fourth time. Kenyan Bernard Kipyego (59.59) out-sprinted Dathan Ritzenhein (USA) to win the silver by one second. The Africans monopolised the team medals with Kenya, Eritrea and Ethiopia taking gold, silver and bronze. In the women’s event, Mary Keitany finished in 1.06.36 more than a minute clear of her team mate Philes Ongori and Ethiopia’s Aberu Kebede. The Kenyan women made it a double by taking the team gold with Ethiopia and Russia in silver and bronze places. From the reports on the IAAF websites (CLICK HERE FOR IAAF SITE) it sounds like these were two terrific races. What a pity there was no live terrestrial T.V.coverage in the UK. The event was screened on Skysports and there was a live web feed on the IAAF website. Apparently this was the first time that an athletics or running world championships staged in England had not been covered on one of the main T.V. channels. There was some adverse comment on the web about the BBC and possible conflicts of interest in screening the Great North Run.

(Phil Anderson)

B&R performances

Listed according to chip time rather than finishing position.

Position crossing line, Name, Chip time & Gun time

Men

65 Ryan Lee 1.19.13 1.20.01 (5 th U21 man)

79 James King 1.20.43 1.20.45

112 Mark Graham 1.22.04 1.22.55

149 Gavin Moorhead 1.23.56 1.24.45

171 Huw Jenkins 1.24.51 1.25.43

201 Phil Anderson 1.26.00 1.26.52

196 James Bowler 1.26.40 1.26.42

232 Rob Mole 1.26.51 1.27.42

238 Dave Daniel 1.26.58 1.27.48

263 Andy Freeman 1.27.51 1.28.40

314 Alan Elsmere 1.28.54 1.29.44 (2 nd MV60)

435 Simon Bowen 1.31.27 1.32.17

616 Jimmy Atkins 1.35.22 1.36.16

2141 Sam Moran 1.35.54 1.52.47

843 Paul Atkins 1.39.21 1.40.13

2296 David Cooper 1.41.36 1.54.07

1445 Richard Malin 1.43.01 1.46.46

3526 Len Quartly 1.51.17 2.02.46

4667 Steve Rabone 1.57.51 2.09.54

8481 David Carney 2.20.28 2.40.48

Women

933 Judy Appleby 1.37.14 1.41.18

978 Jeanette Malin 1.37.43 1.42.00

2355 Merissa James 1.47.49 1.54.38

2377 Betty O’Gorman 1.48.51 1.54.48

2788 Tracey Jones 1.51.56 1.57.52

3036 Jayne Parsons 1.48.08 1.59.29

7154 Katherine Smith 2.08.51 2.28.06

Click for results page on BHM website     

Click for Pete Hawcroft’s picture gallery (28 photos)     

Click for Jane Anderson’s photo gallery of the World Championships and B&R in the Birmingham Half Marathon (39 photos)