London beats the rain - and 21 rivals.
London runners don't know how to take things easy. So it's no surprise that when the weather gods conspired to drop a month's-worth of rain in one hour on the London race it was greeted with more grinning than whinging - and we still beat 21 of our fair-weather friends.
We said it before the race - now it goes double: no one does 10K like London does 10K. Within minutes of the doors opening the atmosphere was already soaring higher than Wembley's iconic arch. So when the first live act, Pendulum, took to the Nike+ Human Race stage it only took a couple of chords of their signature punk and bass fusion to get the whole crowd jumping and their blood pumping for the start of an awesome music-fuelled warm-up. 20 minutes later it was the turn of the headline act, Moby. The veteran US maestro scaled the side of the stage as he delivered a roll-call of classic floor-fillers to the delight of the now thoroughly-prepped crowd.
Almost as the last notes faded the eager wave one competitors were surging towards the start, where running legends Sebastian Coe and Paula Radcliffe waited to offer some final words of pre-race advice. Their recommendation: ‘plenty of water' - and just a few minutes later, the skies opened and we had it in bucketloads.
It's at moments like this that London runners come into their own, and the 20,000 competitors didn't disappoint. A river of red shirts brightened up the twilight, elite athletes ran alongside 10K newbies, shouting support if anyone flagged. Everyone focussed on doing their best. Everyone helping the rest do the same. On 31.08.08 Europe's running capital gave itself yet another reason to be proud - and it's nothing to do with the respectable 5th position globally (although we're mighty proud of that too) - it's about the feeling that every runner left Wembley with that night. To everyone that ran, congratulations; to every one of the 10,000 supporters, thank you; to everyone else: see you next time.
We said it before the race - now it goes double: no one does 10K like London does 10K. Within minutes of the doors opening the atmosphere was already soaring higher than Wembley's iconic arch. So when the first live act, Pendulum, took to the Nike+ Human Race stage it only took a couple of chords of their signature punk and bass fusion to get the whole crowd jumping and their blood pumping for the start of an awesome music-fuelled warm-up. 20 minutes later it was the turn of the headline act, Moby. The veteran US maestro scaled the side of the stage as he delivered a roll-call of classic floor-fillers to the delight of the now thoroughly-prepped crowd.
Almost as the last notes faded the eager wave one competitors were surging towards the start, where running legends Sebastian Coe and Paula Radcliffe waited to offer some final words of pre-race advice. Their recommendation: ‘plenty of water' - and just a few minutes later, the skies opened and we had it in bucketloads.
It's at moments like this that London runners come into their own, and the 20,000 competitors didn't disappoint. A river of red shirts brightened up the twilight, elite athletes ran alongside 10K newbies, shouting support if anyone flagged. Everyone focussed on doing their best. Everyone helping the rest do the same. On 31.08.08 Europe's running capital gave itself yet another reason to be proud - and it's nothing to do with the respectable 5th position globally (although we're mighty proud of that too) - it's about the feeling that every runner left Wembley with that night. To everyone that ran, congratulations; to every one of the 10,000 supporters, thank you; to everyone else: see you next time.
