RAOC Gazette - page 250
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1983 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | Yes |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1983 |
| Late date | 1983 |
| Transcription |
TWO MILLION STEPS By WOl (SSM) JOHN THOMPSON HOW FAR? How much for charity? How many runners? How much lead time for training? Admin /back-up? Sponsor- ship?—Those were some of the questions that presented them- selves when I mulled over the idea of entering a team for the 15th International one hundred kilometre run at Unna, near Dortmund. Eventually we settled on a team of twenty runners from 1 (BR) Corps. The exercise name was chosen as that is the approximate number of steps made by twenty men running one hundred kilometres each (twenty by one hundred thousand metres equals two million metres or steps). The initial aim was to raise DM3,000.00 for charity and we chose BLESMA, the German Red Cross and the Overley Hall School for Handicapped Children as our adopted charities. Twenty minutes prior to a live BFBS radio interview, I con- tacted Sam's Luxury Coach Travel Ltd, and Sam not only offered to sponsor us for the full amount but also print our publicity material and donate prizes for a raffle. With DM3,000.00 behind us and individual sponsorship mounting daily, a revised target of DM6,000.00 was duly set. The team formed up in convoy and left Bielefeld for Unna; the journey itself was relatively uneventful however the weather was rapidly deteriorating and all thoughts were concentrated on the effects of constant driving rain coupled with wind chill caused by a biting, cold wind. The Team's collective spirit was raised once we reached the Herderstadion in Unna as the general atmosphere and air of excitement became heightened by the crowds who lined the roads round the Stadium. At 8.00 pm the ' r u n ' commenced to shouts of encourage- ment from the townspeople, I had trained for four months for the event covering one hundred to two hundred kilometres per week and ten days prior to the race went over on my ankle (during a BFT!) tearing the ligaments. With the level of sponsorship at such a high level I decided to have a go at the one hundred kilometres in a wheelchair provided by the Red Cross! The runners rapidly left me behind as the kilo- metres piled up and darkness set in and both clothing and spirits were severely dampened by the elements. The weather conditions became atrocious and the Red Cross staff were kept busy as was our Admin/Back-up vehicle driven by Sergeant Pete Jones, assisted by WOl Cliff Lee. Photo Sergeant J. W. Shanks. Miss Deborah Manley (Manageress of Sam's Luxury Coach Travel Ltd.) handing over a giant cheque for D M 3 , . to W O l John Thomson. runners who were only five hours from the finish! With the loss of direcion I had an unscheduled detour of five kilo- metres into the countryside and asked the way from a German family in the village of Hengsen. They were, like many other families there, celebrating their Stadt fest and after a glass of beer and a bratwurst they eventually released me—back the way I came and eventually onto Holzwickede. At twenty five kilo- metres my gloves fell apart under the strain and I received minor burns on both hands trying to propel the chair. I lost a great deal of time over the next five kilometres and on reach- ing the thirty kilometres control point found they had gone; after ' some words' with the race officials I was compelled to call it a day as I had gone over the time limit of six and a half hours and at 3.00 am I returned to the start/finish line to await the arrival of the other members of the Team. Sadly, Corporal Steve Tyrell RMP had also succumbed at the thirty kilometres point with damaged tendons—another casualty to the very bad weather conditions. At the forty six kilometres point, Privates Woollatt and Houston competed for the close attention of a very attractive masseuse of the Red Cross and, on this occasion the former won by having his leg administered to first. Private Woollatt was forced to pull up at the fifty kilo- metres point in the early hours of Sunday morning and he was followed by Sergeant John Watson RMP who, with badly blistered feet, had to withdraw at the sixty five kilometres point. Lieutenant Petrie RCT was next to come to grief, at the sixty eight kilometres marker, suffering from exposure. By this time all the competitors (about one thousand in all) were suffering badly, however our remaining runners either achieved the medal distances of seventy five kilometres (silver) or one hundred kilometres (gold). Staff Sergeant Dave Flinn did particularly well in that he ran from the thirty kilometres to seventy five kilometres point with severely blistered feet (ie over a marathon with blisters!). All this in the most adverse weather conditions imaginable. Workloading in the five units involved meant that training for this one hundred kilometres event had to be accomplished as a spare time activity and the run was scheduled for a week- end enabling us to enter a full team. Aside from the fitness and character building aspects of such an event we were all impressed by the efficiency of the German administrator (even I lost my map in the course of going through a wood and on clearing that obstacle found that the race officials were actually removing the route signs directing me to the control points; this was at almost 10.00 pm and the signs were being turned round for the approach of the leading Sleeping beauty? Staff Sergeant Dave Flinn after running seventy five kilometres and drinking a pint of Tennent's to ease his thirst. — (Continued on page 226.) 207 — |
| Book number | R0406 |