Quieter than usual: The Start of the London Marathon

 

When I set off at 8.30am under the most brilliant sky I'd seen for months, it seemed as if the whole neighbourhood was about to burst into Spring

 

 

At the edge of Blackheath I saw the first contenders walking ahead of me,  red plastic bags hanging from their shoulders.

I walk over the heath, spot  the huddle of giant publicity balloons in fron of the Greenwich Park Gates, but I enter the park by a side entrance, some way to the left of the Ranger's House.

There's the usual melee of supporters and runners but seemingly more space...

The 'elite' runners have set off, but I like to see the charity-driven enthusiasts getting into bizarre outfits.

Including some that look decidedly uncomfortable for a 26 mile run.

So much of the area this year is cordonned off for the use of runners only that I need to take a detour if I'm  watch the start from near the park gates. I  walk all the way down to the Observatory. Overhead, the drone of helicopters, and I recall my husbands words to me just before I left home:  'Security is 40% up on last year'. Is that the reason why there seem to be fewer supporters in the park?

I have to go as far as the statue of General Wolfe at the end of the avenue, and I begin to regret not having breakfast.

So the 'Honest Sausage' van is a welcome sight. Remembering last year's queues, I commiserate with the proprietor, and he says it's something to do with the route changes.

Good news for me, though. I hear an announcer telling the runners to deposit their gear in the vans and gather at the start lines.  I have plenty of time to  sit down and  rest before veering off to a side gate to watch the runners on the heath.

It's a family occasion, and the smallest supporters get a good view. It takes half an hour for the runners to pass by, all bearing logos of charities. With 33,000 runners that's a lot of money raised and it's heart-warming to see so many willing to sponsor the causes.

A long nervous wait and no doubt plenty of water intake means some runners head off for an early pit stop. Seems to be good for the gorse bushes.

When the last of the rhinos pass I can cross the road and head back across the heath.

I manage to stray into an area of the heath where vehicles are  patrolling  and I'm escorted to safer territory.  It's good to see how well-co-ordinated the  clear-up is. Volunteers  collect all the plastic bottles and huge sacks of clothes discarded by the runners, which are donated to charity. A good effort all round.

The London Marathon

I had to laugh at 'The Archers' attempt to recreate the start of the London Marathon. It's true that an announcer told participants to go to their correct zones before the start. But to marshal 10,000 participants on a large park, with friends and well-wishers shouting above the noisy helicopters you need better amplification than one last used at the Ambridge Flower and Produce show.

The real thing sounded like the main stage at Glastonbury.

It's comical, too, when the BBC uses a member of the existing cast with a lightly disguised voice when the plots call for a one-off extra character. Considering the £100 licence free , you'd think they could pay an actor for once. They make enough savings, after all, by mentioning characters never actually heard from week after week.


The real announcer's Geordie accent carried round the park and probably half across Blackheath. At I thought at first they'd got Ant or Dec, but he announced at one point he wasn't and that he wasn't Gazza either.

His job, apart from chivvying the runners to their zones, was to keep up a stream of banter as the runners massed slowly towards the park gates and the start line, which took about about twenty minutes for some, and to reassure them their ankle chips wouldn't activate before they crossed the line.They must be sure to wave at the Mayor 'wearing his bling' on the podium with his lady wife. That's where the cameras were positioned.

I'd walked around beforehand watching the runners doing stretching and limbering up, smelling the tang of liniment and asking could I take photos. As I pointed the camera towards a young man in a Batman costume his friend encouraged him to move about: 'You could be famous on YouTube, man'. So I switched to 'video', unfortunately, as you'll see, only towards the end of his display.


I heard the starting gun, but didn't see the serious contenders out on the heath. Instead I photographed the parade of people running for hundred of charities. Many were dressed as super heroes or animals, including a plastic rhino, and there was even a woman on stilts. The mood was cheerful but nervous, maybe because the jovial commentator kept reminding them they had 26.5 miles to go.

I'd got there by walking over the heath, but decided to take th DLR back to Lewisham. The Cutty Sark DLR station was completely cut off by the stream of runners, but it's only a ten minute walk down to the other one. I couldn't believe the scene.

I was going the other way, but the huge crowds wanting to travel to central London found they had to queue at the DLR ticket machines, or take their chances with the replacement buses, because Greenwich station was closed for weekend engineering works. I'd have thought the Mayor could have laid on proper transport arrangements for such a big event.

We don't know how the The Archers got back to Ambridge but I hope it wasn't via central London.