Overseas news

Abergele Harriers fielded a team of four runners, who were invited to join their counterparts from the French Running Club – Roissy in Paris and the German Running Club – Barmstedt near Hamburg.

The four were – former club chairman Alan Taylor, current club chairman Alan Lucas as well as Richie Lee and Rob Spotswood.

We flew from Birmingham with Ryanair for about £50 return and after a 90 minute flight, arrived in Marseille, late on Thursday night, where we collected a hire car and eventually found our accommodation. Don’t know what we would have done without satnav.

After an early breakfast on Friday, we hit the coastal road visiting Marseille, Toulon, a swim in the sea at Bandol and eventually arriving at St. Tropez. We then headed for our accommodation in Mirabeau, near Pertuis, where the marathon was held. Arriving at Mirabeau, late evening, we joined Christiane and Annick from Roissy, who very kindly made us a meal. The quality of our accommodation was outstanding, yet we paid budget prices.

On Saturday, we went sightseeing through rural Provence, visiting a wine museum and some remote medieval villages such as Rousillion and Benoix, where we had lunch. We joined the rest of the Roissy and Barmstedt teams at Pertuis in the evening, for registration and returned to Mirabeau for a self catering pasta party.

We were up early on Sunday for the race. It was a cold start and we had to scrape ice off the windscreens.

Alan Taylor, Alan Lucas and Andreas Thies from Barmstedt, ran the marathon, whilst Richie and Rob joined the French & German runners for the half marathon. The French and Germans got into the spirit of the event by running the race as a group in fancy dress or in costume.

The temperature rose during the run and hit the mid 20s by midday. The course was constantly undulating and on varied terrain, woodland, lake shores, fields, vineyards and cobbled streets. The scenery and support was spectacular throughout and eventually our tired legs found the finish line. We took advantage of a free post race massage and our efforts were rewarded with a couple of bottles of Luberon wine and a finisher’s medal.

The highlight of the weekend came on Sunday night, where Ernest had somehow got our entire party invited to a gala dinner and dance in Pertuis, with champagne on tap.

After a late night and over indulgence, we got up late on Monday and headed to the coast near Marseille, where we had lunch on a terraced restaurant overlooking the bay. After lunch we went on a four hour trek in the hills to a secluded bay where we swam in the sea. That evening we returned to our lodgings and reflected on our superb weekend. The images of the Riviera coast, blue skies and deep blue seas under a blazing sun, contrasted with the snow storms we had flown through on leaving Birmingham.

On Tuesday morning, we packed and went wine tasting to a local vineyard, before saying our farewells and heading home. We took a final opportunity to savour the French lifestyle, by having lunch on a waterfront restaurant in the old Port of Marseille. Then it was back to the airport, home and the grim reality of work.

All in all it was a fully packed weekend that we’ll never forget. We have formed lasting friendships with the French and German runners, as a result of an introduction via the Colwyn Twinning Association in 2002. This was the latest of many such events and it won’t be the last.

A team of 5 spent a very eventful long weekend in Berlin for its 33rd running of the Berlin Marathon. The team was made up of Richie Lee, Twins Dewi and Gareth Roberts, Rob Spotswood and Alan Taylor.

This was the 3rd leg of a trilogy of races involving twinned clubs Barmstedter MTV of Germany, U.S. Roissy en Brie of France and Abergele Harriers of the UK (Wales)

We arrived in Berlin Friday afternoon on 22nd September 2006 and having checked into our hotel in the eastern side of the city, we travelled on Berlin's superb rail network to Berlin's exhibition halls in West Berlin. We collected our numbers and met up with our friends from France and Germany. The day was ended in a local restaurant before heading back to our hotel.

We got up very early on Saturday to join 11,000 runners for a 6k gentle breakfast run which ended inside the Olympic Stadium. The atmosphere was fantastic and it was a privilege to run a lap of the track. We were then served a breakfast and spent the rest of the day on a river cruise of the city. The contrast between the austerity of the east and the prosperity of the west was very apparent. Berlin is a fascinating city and well worth visiting. The day ended with a pasta supper in an Italian restaurant.

Race day arrived and we got up at 5am. Breakfast was at 6am and we all took a train to the starting area. The marathon was organised just like London, with around 40,000 starters and around 32,000 finishers. The weather throughout the weekend was very hot and sunny, ideal for sight seeing but not good for a marathon. The start line was graded A to H with "H" being the largest block at the back. We were all graded in "D" which was 3 minutes from the front of the queue.

At London you can just walk into your section with minutes to the start. In Berlin, there was a hugh queue which lead into section "H" We broke out of the queue and ran for about half a mile through adjacent woodland with the starter announcing 2 minutes to go then one minute to go. We jumped the barriers into section "D" as the gun went off. Not the best way to start the marathon.

It started hot and got hotter, by 30k we were all suffering badly in 80 degrees of pure sunshine. We ran in the shadows where we could and got hosed down by Berlin's fire brigade, but it was tough. It was one of the best marathons we have entered and is highly recommended. There were 105 nationalities represented and Haile Gebresalassie won the race in just over 2 hour and 5 minutes. At the end of the race, there were free beers if you were quick enough. We all met up and returned to our hotel. In the evening, we went to a post race party and presentation.

We spent Monday sight seeing in the West of the city before flying home totally knackered. It was a great weekend and it is a marathon I would certainly recommend and do again.

Teams from the Abergele Harriers Running Club, Roissy en Brie Running Club near Paris and the Barmstedt Running Club near Hamburg, took part in the second race of a trilogy series to commemorate the 20^th year of Twinning between the Colwyn Twinning Assiociation and Roissy en Brie.

The first event was the Paris Marathon, last month, a superb race, the second race, the Bird Rock Half Marathon, held last week, was a complete contrast, being set in the beautiful countyside of mid Wales. The 3 teams are now commencing their preparation for the 3^rd event in the series, the Berlin Marathon in September 2006.

If any one is interested in overseas events and races, please contact Alan Taylor, the overseas events organiser.

Five Harriers started the Bird Rock Half marathon with eleven guests from Roissy en Brie, but Darren Blazier had to pull out after seven miles with a hamstring injury, not risking further injury and saving himself for the crucial final round of the Borders Road running league on Friday in Wrexham. Richie Lee, just four weeks after the Paris Marathon, was seventh, finishing in 1hr 23mins 32secs, an excellent time for such a hard race, with Alan Taylor not far behind in 23^rd position in a time of 1hr 31mins 47secs. Alan Lucas, just one week after completing his 60^th Marathon was next in 1hr 46mins 54secs (66^th) with Dave Edwards also running superbly to finish in 1hr 54mins 27secs. The Roissy en Brie ladies won the ladies team prize while Jean Marie Amary, in 1.32.51 was first MV65. Once again a superb weekend was had by all, with special thanks going to Alan Taylor for once again pulling it all together. Special awards were presented to the Roissy and Barmstedt teams after the race. The club would also like to thank all the hosts who helped to accommodate the guests, especially Vicky, Russell and Emyr.

We enjoyed the company of 8 French visitors from Roissy en Brie this year, who were, Ernest Prinzivalli and his partner Yvette Fromenteau, Jean Marie and Francoise Amary, Jean Marc Brevet and his partner Sandrine Nicholas, Christiane Gaudrin and Annick Banik.

Seven of the 8 were set to run the race, but on the day, only 6 ran. The 2 who did not run were Yvette (on medication) and Sandrine (pregnant) – reasonable excuses I suppose.

Of those who ran, 2 collected age category prizes. Jean Marie, who is over 65 ran an incredible 66 mins 49 secs for 2^nd V65, while Christiane ran 77 mins 5 secs for 3^rd in the L50 class.

They proudly collected their trophies, along with a special commemorative gift, kindly donated by the race organisers, before a hurried departure to catch a plane home.

The weather was perfect. After weeks of wind and rain, they enjoyed bright sunshine and no wind.

The visitors arrived midday on Friday and were taken to Chester for the afternoon by the Colwyn Twinning Association. They were impressed with Chester. In the evening we took them to the community centre in upper Colwyn Bay for a social evening in the company of and guests of the CTA. Food, wine and beer were on offer and a quiz was organised by Marshall Morris. The flags of all 25 nations of the enlarged European Union were displayed on a wall and the quiz was to name each country whose flag was displayed. Jean Marc Brevet won the quiz with a full score of 25. Clever Boy.

Saturday was a day of heavy showers and windy, but we started the day in Conwy and after a walkabout and a coffee break, we took them for lunch in Betws y Coed, where they enjoyed their fish and chips on the riverbank. We then showed them the Miners Bridge and Swallow Falls, before moving on to Capel Curig. We had a photo stop by Plas y Brenin, but they took an interest in the outdoor centre and we let them have a look around. Next stop was Pen y Pass for some nice photos of the Llanberis Pass and Snowdon.

They started walking up the Miners Track and if we had not stopped them they would have reached the summit. We arrived in Llanberis as it was shutting down for the day and then headed home. Alan Taylor took his guests onto Anglesey for a very brief visit to Llanfair PG. We pointed out the smallest house in Britain, in Conwy, earlier in the day. Now it was the longest name in the world. All entertainment with little or no cost. It was nice to have John, Gary and Alan Lucas join us for the day to make up the numbers.

Saturday evening was spent in the Kinmel Arms in St George and it was a nice touch to see representatives from the CTA present, along with a few Harriers (John, Gary, Andy, Jeremy, Steve Salt and Eleanor), as well as hosts Meinir, Richie, and Alan.

Emyr couldn’t make it as he’s a bit of a party animal, but his contribution was valued.

Sunday was a glorious day, we took them round the course, witnessed the remembrance service and let them roam on top of the Great Orme. Then it was the race, and there at the 7 mile marker was Marshall with Vron and others waving a giant French Flag – nice one! The presentations followed and then it was a dash home for a shower and light meal, before a hurried departure to Liverpool Airport. Richie took 4 in the hired vehicle and Alan took 4 in his car. Traffic was horrendous at Deeside and we were concerned that we would miss check in. But we made it, just.

All in all it was a great week end, enjoyed enormously by the French and those who took part.

Alan Taylor, Richie Lee and hopefully Alan Lucas will be joining forces with the Roissy club next April for the Paris Marathon. The French Club are planning a return in May to coincide with the joint 20 year celebrations of the Abergele Harriers and the CTA. We are also planning a further “Twinning” foray in September for the Berlin Marathon, where we will be the guests of the Barmstedt running club along with visitors from Roissy. If any one is interested in this trip, please contact Alan Taylor.

Sincere thanks are due to the following, without whom, these visits could not take place and the club would be poorer for it.

The Abergele Harriers committee, for helping with the funding, the transport and attendance.

The CTA for helping with the funding, transport, a social evening and attendance

The Abergele Harriers are organising a trip over the weekend of 7^th to 9^th April 2006 and are planning to stay with members of the Roissy Running Club and their families.

It costs 60 euros to enter before 30^th November 2005 – around £40 and 74 euros after that – around £50.

If you are interested in doing this race, please contact Alan Taylor on 01745-827167 or e-mail a.taylor@hogan-group.com

Please respond by middle of November 2005, as the entry fee and air fare increase after the end of November 2005.

The Roissy club are sending a team across for the Llandudno 10 in november. We don't know how many yet. They will be arriving Friday evening 11th November and returning Sunday evening 13th November 2005.

Sunday - All day in Llandudno, take them home after race/ shower/ change/ light meal/ return to Liverpool

This was our third trip to Roissy en Brie, on the outskirts of Paris. Roissy is a spacious suburb with the benefit of an adjoining forest, which is a maze, in which it is easy to get completely lost, as Alan Lucas can testify.

The Roissy club is large, with hundreds of members. It is also well resourced, with strong links to the town’s council. The town’s mayor runs the annual 10k race and personally presents the awards. The council provides transport throughout the weekend and a number of large halls for the purpose of banqueting in the evenings, race registration and post race presentations.

The club also has its own clubhouse within a comprehensive outdoor athletics centre with a running track and covered spectator balcony.

This year’s “Le Forestier” 10k Race incorporated the Seine and Marne District and French Championship qualification round. The standard was very high. The winning time was 30.34. Neighbouring club Pontault had 10 runners under 35 minutes. In 3 years we have seen the number of entries rise from around 400 to this year’s 800.

The race, however, is only a part of a much bigger weekend for overseas runners.

We flew into Paris CDG airport on Friday evening and were met by Christianne at 9.30 pm, who took us to Jean Marie and Francoise Amary’s home. Jean Marie is chairman of the Roissy Running Club and a very talented veteran runner. He was among the visiting team for last year’s Snowdonia marathon. We were greeted with 2 magnums of Champagne, nicely chilled in ice buckets and an array of delicacies. Very nice!

After an hour, we were driven to our hosts’ homes. Alison stayed with Christianne

Alan Lucas and myself stayed with Phillipe and Joelle. This couple stayed with me for the Snowdonia Marathon. Phillipe is 55 and was first home on the Snowdonia Marathon in 3 hours 24 minutes. He’s a mean runner. Joelle also finished the marathon.

It was around midnight when we got to their home and we expected to get straight off to bed. Joelle however, had prepared a four course dinner and we eventually got to bed at 3 am.

Next day we went on a daytrip to the nearby medieval town of Provins. We shared the German visitors’ coach. Provins is charming and quaint. There was a daily show of medieval horsemanship and a display of Falconry. From my own experience of falconry displays, the birds used are unsurprisingly falcons and hawks. The French, as you may have noticed, like to do things big style. So instead of Falcons they used Vultures (Yes Really) and American Bald Headed Eagles. It was an amazing display, with these massive birds trained to swoop at speed within inches of our heads from all directions. They even threw in a couple of wolves and a camel, no less, for added atmosphere. Great day.

That evening was spent in a town hall where a communal buffet was presented to hundreds of French, Germans and 3 from Wales. Wine flowed like water and a good time was had by all.

We got up early on race day. Sluggish could best describe how we felt. Too much food and wine and too little sleep. Our hosts had already left to get on with race preparations. They had left us a prepared breakfast and the keys to their home. What trust.

We only got to the start 10 minutes before the off, with no warm up. That’s how tired we were.

Race conditions were perfect. There was a thick mist, no wind and cool. The course was flat. Eight of the 10 kilometres were in the forest. And we were off. Flat out and hurting all the way, as you do in a 10k. Give me a marathon any day. I ran most of the race with Holger Ray from Barmstedt. He and Monika were my hosts for the Hamburg Marathon in March. As in Hamburg he eventually led the way, but it was close.

At 9k I felt a sudden painful snap in my back. The adrenaline got me to the finish, but I was in bigger trouble than I thought. I’ve pulled something in my back, it is as painful as it gets and I am taking painkillers to cope. The pleasure of running. Why do we do it?

After the race, we collected a very nice tee shirt and went back to Phillipe’s place for a shower. We then went to the presentations, held in a massive dutch barn. Inside it is like a theatre with rows and rows of seating and a large elevated stage.

A fanfare greeted each prize winner and after all the prizes had been given out, the visiting teams from Germany (Barmstedt) and Wales (Abergele) are called onto the stage to be presented with a large “Twinning” Trophy. To put things in perspective, the Roissy club employed 85 of its members on race preparation and organisation, the German contingent was over 60 strong and there were, er, 3 from Wales.

After the presentations, it was back to food and wine, with another large buffet for hundreds. We spent the evening back at Phillipe’s place. Each house we visited had souvenirs and photos of the Snowdonia marathon on display, we obviously created an impression on them.

The organisation of the French Race is a massive undertaking. It is huge by our own race standards and I personally know how much hard work goes into organising our race.

With so much to do in preparing for their own race, the attention to detail given to us was humbling. We were given a packed meal for our Saturday outing and again for our trip home. Phillipe and Joelle both accompanied us to the airport. They, like us were knackered. Christianne had offered us a biscuit in her car when she picked us up on Friday evening, we commented how very nice it was and that we don’t get them in Britain. As we were leaving on Sunday, she gave us each a packet of the same biscuits. What can you say! On our first visit to Roissy, I commented that the French are famous for eating snails. Guess what they served up that evening! This is the standard of attention to detail we have to live up to when they visit us. I think we might get a visit for the Llandudno 10 and again for the Bird Rock half marathon next May bank holiday, as it coincides with an official Colwyn / Roissy celebration.

This great weekend and the two before it can be enjoyed for the price of a budget flight – around £70. The French will not let you put your hand in your pocket. They will not accept any payment for their hospitality. On our first visit, we were complete strangers, this time we felt like part of a big family. Long may it continue.

This event commemorates 25 years of twinning between Barmstedt and Roissy. The event will be held on 12th June 2005 and comprises a 10k race, a 5k race and a 1k race for children.

Return Fares are available from Manchester to Hamburg for around £55.

Travel & Accommodation will be taken care of by our German Hosts

These trips are an excellent opportunity to race abroad and do some sight seeing for around £60 all in.

Fares rise with time, if anyone is interested, contact Richie Lee or Alan Taylor

The weekend of the Snowdonia Marathon (31st October 2004) sees the club hosting 15 visiting French runners and supporters.

Friday 29th October, the Colwyn Twinning Association will bring our guests to Abergele for collection by our volunteer hosts.

We have a minibus for the Saturday and Sunday plus one or 2 hosts will use their cars. We have planned a day out on Saturday and on Saturday evening we will be having a buffet at the Bull Inn in Abergele. The evening will start at 7.00 p.m.

We have invited members of the Colwyn Twinning Association to join us and the evening is open to all members, their friends and families.

Tickets will cost £6.50 each which is good value. It is hoped that there will be a lot of interest to make this a memorable event for all 3 organisations concerned.

Tickets are available from John Humphries or Alan Taylor. If you want to join in please obtain a ticket and pay in full by Sunday 24th October 2004.

We have to create this deadline so that the Bull Inn can assess the numbers and requirements.

3 Harriers are travelling to Roissy en Brie on the weekend of 11/12 September for the “Forestier” 10k race.

11 Members of the Roissy club and 5 supporters are coming to Abergele to take part in the Snowdon Marathon on the 31^st October. The group will be in Abergele from the 29^th October to 1^st November. Club members are all invited to help with the arrangements. Help will be needed to collect and leave them to the Airport, to host the guests, to transport them over the weekend and with general “entertaining”. All members are encouraged to get involved in order to forge our overseas links with this club.

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