Covid 19, Storm Alex and the Clarendon 5 Mile "Mini" 2020!
A Marshal's Story
The 5 mile to go location
This is the bitter-sweet story of the Clarendon mini-marathon 2020. A tale of trial and tribulation, and ultimate triumph; and like the actual race it is quite short. Covid 19, Storm Alex and a lot of people all running in different directions certainly made it a day that I will remember.
Smiling marshals in weather proof clothing.
There were 32 registered runners. All were meant to travel by bus. But only ten plus myself, as starter, turned up at the South Winchester Park and Ride, where the heroic Sue Cook had been on a marshal’s lookout since before dawn. Two more were waiting at King’s School, one with a young daughter due to be transferred to a grandmother – who never came! Three runners now sent messages of withdrawal. The bus waited until it was 10 minutes overdue. Already its course to the ‘Junction’ Start had been changed to accommodate overhanging branches. Four more runners were located in the ‘lead’ car designated to clear the way for the bus down the lane from Stratton Farm. We were up to 50% of the registered total. At least social distancing was no problem.
The Junction Car Park was already full of cars. On arrival the bus blocked the road. Bags had to be dumped on board for its quick get-away. The wind blew hard and the rain hammered down. Now without any protective clothing several abandoned the queue for nearby bushes. Bystanders looked on and two more entrants emerged from their ranks. Neither yet had numbers. While numb hands located these, a small group headed downhill for the start. The stragglers followed withmyself. The strength of the storm increased. In protective clusters inevitably social distancing was abandoned. So too were the plans for individual starts one minute apart. Two walkers went first. The next ‘Bubble’ pair followed 30 seconds later, and already this was too much delay for one lady. She was off, with a married couple next in hot pursuit. All 16 had gone in the space of less than five minutes, before indeed two more stragglers turned up having arrived at the wrong car park. At best timing was approximate.
And at this point the penny dropped. We were not at the right place. It looked like where we had rehearsed the start the previous day, when we had come across a team of helpers still trying to adjust signposting to the revised route. But it was not. The mile marker by the gate we had been told to use as our marker indicated ‘4 Miles’ to go, not five! The ‘5 Miles’ sign was the other side of the gate! Between them now was the extra mile ‘out-and-back’ extension to make up the Marathon mileage. It had not been there before.
And now two more runners appeared looking for the Start, one from Farley Mount itself and the other being the person who had at last located the grandmother at King’s to care for her daughter.
Lanham Lane Welcome Station run by Hampshire Search & Rescue.
Geoff and Tricia Meads with 200m to go.
So there were 20 runners in total and already messages were coming in from the early starters. Fearfully I awaited the backlash. It never came. At first there were several notes of congratulation as PBs were (falsely) claimed. Then there was relief as I jogged the whole five miles to find no more casualties along the way. At The Finish gazebos were being taken down. Spirits were high. And even as reality struck so the runners’ messages, of not regret but appreciation, started to arrive.
That the race distance had actually been 3.8 miles not five, seemed to matter not a jot! A great time was had by all, but for 2021, more planning required. It will be excellent!
Mark Brooks crossing the finish line having complete 5 miles (4 miles)
Welcome smiles from the finish team at Kings School, Winchester.