As part of our 15th Anniversary celebrations, The Footbed Clinic has asked its clients to submit articles highlighting personal feats achieved with the professional help of the Clinic to remain physically active and reach personal goals. This detailed article is provided by a well-respected veteran distance runner, Mick McGeogh of Barry. Read how his meticulous approach to race planning yields personal satisfaction and how running this particular race, featuring a special stage named in tribute to a late member of Les Croupiers running club in Cardif, enabled him to pay a personal tribute. To contribute your own story please contact us.
As you're probably aware, Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France on seven successive occasions 1999-2005. He also polarised public opinion in a way in which few other sporting icons have. Depending on your point of view, you are likely to view Lance as either the most inspirational race cyclist to have ever lived, or the biggest drug cheat never to have got caught. You could, of course, think both statements are true. One of the biggest reasons for Lance's success was his meticulous preparation. Whilst his main rival Jan Ullrich was busy piling on the pounds in the off-season, Lance would examine every mile of every stage of the upcoming race, it is precisely that preparation which determines the difference between success and failure.
I would be kidding myself if I were to suggest that I am in any way comparable with Lance Armstrong, except to say that, at my own modest livel, I am a meticulous planner. I have on occasions (many years ago) won races because I'd considered something beforehand that my opposition hadn't.
As some of you may have heard after this year's Castles Relay at the Race Presentation, my participation on Stage 13 was one which meant a lot to me personally, and was an opportunity to employ that same meticulous planning. When Jeff Wood died in 1998, we felt shattered as a club. The staging of a Jeff Wood Memorial leg gave all of us Over 50s the opportunity to both represent the club in something special and to pay a personal tribute.
My personal issue was that Leg 13 contains an element which as anyone who knows me closely will know is my personal weakness as a runner. The run in Builth Wells contains a steep downhill section for approximately one mile. I knew that the finish would be fairly soon after the bottom of this hill, followed by sprinting immediately afterward. This was done on Fishpond Hill (the descent into Porthkery Park, Barry) and on Romilly Park Hill. I did some of these with Scotty, and the fact that I couldn't hold him on the descent merely confirmed my suspicions.
My next element of planning involved finding out about the opposition. I knew that the likeliest competition would be provided by Steve Hollier (Clevedon) and Godfrey Rhimes (Eastleigh), who had finished first and second on the Memorial Leg last year. Godfrey I met at Sutton Park at the Masters Relays when he confirmed that he would be running. So did my old friend Huw Roberts for Bridgend, who turned 50 earlier this year. Two other potential challengers were Alex Rowe (Wesham) and Mike Weedall (Vale Royal), who I figured would both have beaten me handily on current form. Two personal phone calls a week prior to the race ruled them out of contention. So at least I went into the race knowing the opposition.
The next thing I needed was a race strategy. Although I had a fair idea of what to expect (I'd never previously contested this leg), there were certain features I wanted to examine in more detail. My downhill training and subsequent sprinting should give you an idea of what those features were. On my journey up on the Friday, I asked Ken Bray if I could look over the final three miles of the course. I already knew where the final climbs were and how long there the finish was, but other things I paid special attention to were a) the chamber of the road (steep chambers give my problems) and b) how soon after the turn into the gate at the end of the course the finish was. That final piece of information did indeed turn out to be critical to the race outcome.
Huw Roberts has run 51 minutes for 10 miles in his younger days, so he does have endurance. However, once I knew what the weather was going to be like (hot and humid) I knew Huw would not be a factor. My research on Steve Hollier and Godfrey Rhimes, however, told me that both would be very tough opposition. Godfrey beat me by seven minutes in the heat of London, though I subsequently beat him ny five seconds over three miles at Sutton Park. So my strategy against Godfrey was obvious.
Steve Hollier was, to my way of thinking, always going to be tougher. He was faster than me over 5 km and 5 miles on current form. He had beaten me 4-nil on the previous Gwent League season. And, although many years ago, he'd finished 9th in the 1986 Comrades Ultramarathon in South Africa (88.8km in 5:46:48 - that's 55.2 miles of undulating terrain in hot weather in 6:17 miling). You may think that because that's 21 years ago it can't be relevant. The experience and mental toughness derived from such a performance never leaves you. So what chance did I have? Well, there's always a chance. For a start - I'm 51, Godfrey is 54 and Steve is 57. My main hopes lay in the following:
a) Given that it was hot, athletes can misjudge things particularly in fierce competition.
b) If I was anywhere close, I would hit them on the last incline before the descent.
c) I knew exactly the lie of the land over the last 400 metres. If I still had a chance, I was prepared to jump whoever was left, by which I mean kick really hard from a distance - because my leg speed over a final 100 metres isn't brilliant.
Watching the Castles is always exciting, and it's easy to become immersed and forget about your own circumstances. Being sat in a minibus all day on Saturday was, I knew, less than ideal preparation for a tough 10.6 mile race at 9.00am the next morning. You may think 9.00am is early so the heat/humidity won't have much influence. WRONG! I drank Leppin Carbo Lode all day (plain water is not enough) and mad a conscious effort to eat regularly. It does matter. I also (most unusually for me) didn't touch a drop of alcohol on Saturday night. Ken Bray kindly told me that's why I lost the race!
I haven't been so wound up before a race for years. When Paul Stillman called us and announced the significance of the stage with just two minutes to go I was shaking with anticipation.
BANG! I had an inkling of what would happen because Godfrey told me what he was going to do. Regardless of conditions, he was going to front run and try to blow everyone off the road, brave or stupid? It depends how well you know yourself and prepared. In Godfrey's case it was brave.
The first couple of minutes of any race tells you much about personal strategies. If I feel I've got any chance in a race whatsover I try to watch all my likely opponents before making up my mind what strategy to emply. Many athletes simply run reactively and try to follow any pace that is set. In these conditions, that is absolute suicide, and I'm glad to say I saw all the Croups athletes run proactively rather than reactively. I knew that within the first 100 metres that the pace was too fast. But Godfrey was running the right race for him and was dictating. Around eight athletes went with him but within a mile the group was down to four. Far from being fazed with this, I was delighted. I knew my best chance of success was for other athletes to collectively overcook it, and for me not to, even if that meant running 10.6 miles alone.
After twelve minutes I caught and passed Huw Roberts, he later said I looked very smooth as I pulled away, but there was still over eight miles to go! A few minutes later a Cheltenham runner went off the group. There was plenty of support on the side of the road with clearly knowledgeable onlookers who knew exactly what was happening. All this time I was looking for any signs of encouragement within the lead group. I knew that Godfrey and Steve really had to make serious misjudgement for me to have any chance. The third athlete was someone I knew well, Phil Crane of Neath (he's a MV45). Around 4 miles I got that encouragement. Phil Crane went to the front and put the boot in.
Now here was where Steve Hillier really was clever. He let Craney go. It was seeing that defensive gesture that I thought my chase was likely to be in vain. When the weather gets hot - you wait, it's as simple as that. Craney wasn't away for all that long, but long enough to rule himself out of any chance of the stage win. Phil Crane is a very fast track runner with excellent leg speed. Far from seizing the initiative by putting the boot in, he'd surrendered it.
All this time I still felt OK and was just trying to run controlled. Around seven miles, things started to get really interesting. I was now onto the section I'd rehearsed on Friday. Godfrey was really pressuring Steve and a small gap was opening. Meanwhile, Phil Crane was paying for his exertions and was coming back. Maybe my knowledge of the exact location of the last climb was going to pay dividends after all.
On the last hill approaching 9 miles, Godfrey was around 25 yards clear. He and Steve were perhaps 45 seconds up the road. Godfrey was doing to Steve exactly what I'd hoped to do, and I was doing to Phil what I'd rehearsed, but it was only for third or fourth place. All I did was overtake as hard as I could, and not look round. The final ten minutes were spent simply trying to run as hard as I could, not to give Craney encouragement. I need not have worried - he finished over half a minute behind.
The battle up front is only what I've heard from others, so the following is hearsay. With 400 metres to go, Godfrey was still around 25 metres clear. Last year the finish was about 20 metres inside the gate, this year is was around 70 metres and this change was critical. Godfrey was still clear at the gate but Steve came at him with a vengeance and caught his man just before the line. I may be biased, but in my humble opinion, that was the race of the weekend. It was an honour just to be part of it, and Iwas very pleased with third. Athletes always exchange stories after a race, particularly after such an epic. Godfrey is a very modest man, but admitted he wished he'd gone harder to kill Steve off, and hadn't realised about the change of finish.
I had more of a chance to chat with Steve at Cardiff Castle before his presentation. He's a modest man too, a man of few words who lets his running do the talking. In his twenties he was a footballer, his ultra career came later. He once ran 11.2 seconds for 100m, 51 seconds for 400 metres and 4:08 for the mile (my bests are 12.6 seconds, 54 seconds and 4:16). In his late thirties he ran 2:20:21 in the Port Elizabeth Marathon and 6:57:44 for the Stellenbosch 100 km. He came 11th. Natural talent, coupled with an experienced racing brain is a pretty fiercesome combination.
It's perhaps now a little more understandable that Clevedon were the outright winners of the race, for the first time in 17 attempts. If we had to lose to anyone, I'm glad it was to them. Steve Hollier is the Clevedon Senior Men's Captain. I think you can now see why he is such an inspiration to them.
More information on the race itself, please refer to www.lescroupiersrunningclub.org.uk.
