My journey to the podium

I’m not sure if last weekend really happened, maybe it was just a dream. After 5 years of running backwards and a few months of training with increasing intensity I attended my first World Retro-Running Championships and claimed 3 medals, one of each.

My journey had started in Heaton Park back in 2011, slightly hung-over and curious as why anyone would attempt to run backwards. That day I met Garret who came over from Dublin to take the UK Championship title despite throwing down a €1,000 gauntlet to anyone who could beat him. I wouldn’t say I was hooked after this first race but having finished well up the field I was eager to train a little, to improve and claim the veteran’s title leaving the overall crown to the very impressive Garret. After taking and retaining the UK veteran’s title in the next 2 years that the UK event was held, there was nowhere left to go other than into international competition against a world class field!

I traveled over to Germany on the Thursday with the rest of the family joining me early Saturday afternoon. I’d committed to a 3k race on Friday morning and a 5k race on the Saturday evening. The half marathon on Sunday was open to anyone who fancied it on the day. I’d run backwards every weekend for 3 months but hadn’t covered the same mileage as I’d done last year. I’m sure I could complete the half but probably not as quickly as I’d run last August in Heaton Park; my best training run had been 10k in under an hour and that hadn’t left me too uncomfortable. There was the possibility of running relays too though there weren’t enough GB athletes to form a team and I didn’t actually know 3 other people who would be there either!

I arrived in Essen late in the afternoon and found the Stadium Am Hallo, 5 miles into the city’s surburbs about a minute before the opening ceremony was due to start at 7pm. The only person I knew there was Garret but that soon changed. I first met Mark who was the only other GB athlete in attendance and I found out he had a claim on the 400m world record that he might have set back in 1987 before Retro-running records were published. I was pleased to hear he was a sprinter hoping to run 100, 200 and 400m and thus avoiding me head to head. We were both competing in the M1 – Masters1 class 40 – 55 years there were also Junior and M2 classifications as well as the open classification.

I enjoyed a couple of practice laps forwards and backwards before parading with the other athletes and proudly carrying the Union flag. There were well over 100 athletes there representing about 25 different countries. Home advantage meant that the German squad was the biggest but there was also a large number from Italy who had hosted the last World Championships in 2014.

Friday morning I returned and was ready to race. My plan was to use the 3k to get acclimatized to competing on the track and then major in the 5k the following evening with the family present to cheer me on. I was pretty sure I’d be able to do the half marathon as well, but not yet knowing the calibre of the opposition finishing it would be the primary objective.

There were 20 men across all the classifications ready to do battle in the 3k. We lined up across the track to start and without feeling too nervous I confidently took a position in the first 10 as we ran the first corner. I passed a couple on the finishing straight and then settled myself for 7 more laps. As the race unfolded I was aware that I was 6th overall but couldn’t be sure of the classification of the men ahead of me.  There was nobody to go head to head with so I focused on feeling comfortable, running within myself and most importantly not getting lapped by the overall leader. This I managed and came home in 14:26 as 3rd M1 runner. I was going to get a chance to stand on a podium for the first time in my life!

Elsewhere in the GB camp things weren’t going so well. There were heats for the 100m and although Mark had finished 3rd in his and qualified for the M1 final his achilies had twinged about 10m from the line. He wasn’t sure whether he could run again. He massaged the base of his calf, applied cream and eventually sourced some calisthenic tape together with a nurse who could apply it but this was all damage limitation. Sprinting is hazardous. The achilies are stretched more than in conventional running and it is more awkward to warm up pre-race. Falling is another hazard too. When tiring towards the end of a sprint and pushing hard for the line it is easy to trip. A few runners went to ground and some wore rugby head guards which seemed a sensible precaution to take. Mark’s forward movement improved but backwards was still quite uncomfortable. He was wondering whether to give up his place to the next quickest qualifier but we egged him on to carry on through with the final knowing that he wouldn’t be able to compete again that weekend. Although I had lost a relay team mate I had gained a relay team manager as Mark rose to the challenge of bringing Europe to run together in harmony. More of that tomorrow…..

I popped back to the apartment at lunchtime enjoyed a couple of celebratory Dunkelweizen before returning to the stadium to enjoy the evening’s events. The high point was witnessing the astounding Thomas Dold taking 30 seconds off his 10,000m world record to bring it down to 38:50. When my time came, I took to the podium with the 2 Italians who finished ahead of me. I’ll never tire of hearing their anthem played (especially when they all sing along with such gusto) though it would be nice to hear God Save The Queen played. Maybe one day….