Southend 10K Classic 2006 (8th Oct)

red coloured mid-section picture of a runner

Southend 10K time again. This was one of the first races I ever did; back then it went up Pier Hill for one loop and so was a little more strenuous. This time it wasn’t even remotely wearing as I was unable to enter due to the foot. Still I wanted to come and support the club effort and take a few pics.

Start line

I got there a hour before the off and decided to park a little way from the main race car parks as, depending on when you leave, they can get congested.

The morning was lovely, bright and warm — hardly a cloud in the sky — perfect for a stroll along the prom! Southchurch Park (the start / meeting area) was starting to fill nicely and there was already a decent sized queue for the portaloos.

My club (Benfleet Running Club) had a large turnout for this popular local race (about 50 entrants) and so I quickly found some friendly faces in the stand area. As the start time got nearer the nerves/adrenaline started to show on some of the club. It was at this point I decided it best to take a group shot in typical ‘football team’ pose.

As the runners made their way to the start I hobbled my way to the first stretch of the sea–front route. I thought it would be a good idea to stand on a pedestrian island in the middle of the (closed off) road as I’d get a interesting view as the runners came towards me. This proved quite good except for a few runners who weren’t expecting to see an island in the road. One man almost ran straight into the bollard in front of me (he was looking at the sea) and was saved by my panic–stricken shout. I proved to be as useful as a bollard marshal as I did as a photographer! At one point I had a couple of hundred people running each side of me; it was quite an experience.

Halfway mark

After I had walked back to the finishing area I had about 20 minutes before the front runners would get there and so I got a decent position and waited. When you’re a spectator peoples weird running styles become more obvious. One runner in the top ten finishers had a style that was reminiscent of the Ministry of Funny Walks. How can this be? As a runner with a pretty normal, semi–efficent running style seeing someone doing under 40 minutes but looking he was doing an impression of Basil Fawty just doesn’t make sense.

Unfortunately there was one other runner that looked in trouble, because he was; he had ‘hit the wall’ or ‘bonked’ as cyclists call it. He had run beyond his body’s ability to process anymore energy and it was slowly shutting down. It is a horrible thing to see and probably not much fun to experience either. Luckily First Aid was available and I think he was seen to quickly. It also (much to the persons continued embarrassment, no doubt) had the effect of blocking the finishing funnels. This meant that a quite large group of runners’ times were inaccurate as they bunched up along the finishing straight. Happily the man in question had no long term problems and will no doubt be racing (a little more knowingly) in the near future.

Finishing straight

I happily snapped away at anyone wearing the club red and white hoping that I’d get them in the shot. My digital camera is quite old and has the habit of pausing before taking the picture you think you have taken. This isn’t usually that much of a problem — until you want to take something that is moving fast! Luckily, with a bit of help from the rather impressive photo editing package I use, Gimp, I managed to get a reasonable selection of shots.

As I needed to be at a wedding in the afternoon I had to leave swiftly about an hour after the start time so that I could see to the necessary preening.

I'm pretty sure the majority of runners had a good race and I expect to be doing the 2007 10K and queuing up for my t–shirt like everyone else.

Posted on 13/10/2006 11:56 pm by Jack Large

Commenting is closed for this article.