Sunday the 25th of April came and it was a very apprehensive Deon who made his way out of his hotel in London, where he had to leave his girlfriend Kerry behind on her birthday, and on to his assigned starting point, red, section 9, right at the back. There are three starting points around London, red is the main body of runners, blue is for the elite and green is categorised for wheelchairs and ‘fast for the age’. Between the three categories the total number of runners for the London Marathon 2010 was approximately 56,000!
The starting gun sounded at 09.30 and the runners were off. Fortunately however, although the starting gun sounds, the individual runners’ times does not start to be recorded until the individual crosses the actual starting line. This is just as well because with 56,000 runners all starting on a line, the line and indeed the streets of London would have to be about sixty kilometers wide!
So, the gun had been sounded and the first contestants started over the starting line. It was no reflection on Deon’s prowess as a runner but he eventually crossed the starting line at 10.15 (45 minutes after the start of the race!) and this is testimony to the bottleneck effect of moving such an enormous amount of people at one time.
The race was on and Deon was off and running, trying to do his best for his chosen charity, The British Sailors’ Society, for whom he successfully raised £1,400 through his efforts.
Winding his way through runners dressed as Camels, Beer Bottles, Storm Troopers and Firemen, Deon crossed the finishing line just in front of a Fullers Beer Bottle!
How did he do? Congratulations Deon, an extremely respectable time of four hours, fifteen minutes and fourteen seconds! Out of the 56,000 runners he finished as the 14,822nd and his half way time was a very good time of one hour, fifty-nine minutes and forty-four seconds! Well done from all of us at Ocean Village and, by the way, “welcome back on board”. Yes, Deon is back on board as Financial Controller.
So how was it Deon? “I was very apprehensive to start due to my knee but I had tears in my eyes as I ran up the last stretch to the finish line, very emotional, I couldn’t believe I had finished and in a reasonable time!”
Michael Lobban, Hotel Director
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