Annual
OAP's Day Out At Birmingham Adidas Run
It was that time of year
again for the Dudley Ladies OAPS ( alias Marion, Eileen & Ann) to use their
bus passes and have their annual big day out in Birmingham
It
all started off at 8.30.when their trusty chauffer Roger (Ann's Husband) rounded everybody up for the race (Ring a Ride still won't help out
crossing council boundaries)
They arrived in time to meet
up with some other club members Natalie Dellar, Roni Smith, Jane and Chelsey
Tibbetts, Annie Myatt and Lorren Winwood plus some others that they can't
remember the names of. (They've reached that age now, poor things)
With the weather overcast It
all started off with a rousing warm up by some aerobic ladies and then it
was off to the start. After winding their way through the field to nearly
the front and the the usual quick chat to fellow runners, the Claxton
sounded and they were off.
Despite the weather there
were plenty of people to line the route waving and cheering everyone on
along Broad Street then on to the Hagley Road via the underpass the same
as last year. "The lunatic fringe' (well all 2000 runners actually) -were
shouting and screaming as they ran through the underpass.
As
our OAP's pushed on towards the Hagley Road the elite runners were
returning on the other side and everyone gave them a clap...............and
carried on towards TGI Friday's (well what is left of it) this is the
halfway point then its homeward bound again to the underpass this time a
little quieter, then back along Broad Street. It's then that you need the crowds
and they didn't disappoint they waved and cheered everybody home
Our
trusty band all finished in respectable times. collected their medals and
again had a massive 'goody bag'.
The weather was just ideal
for running, the rain kept off and so did the sun (it's probably on a
month's holiday)
This is a good 5k run with
great atmosphere and a large goody bag at the end which the OPS thoroughly
recommend.............
Natalie Dellar who went
along with OAP's in order to be their carer and look after them also had a
good run finishing in a time of 27:34, knocking 3 minutes off her target.
She reports
"In a shock move I followed Marion almost to the front
of the starting pack – I’m glad I did because in previous years we’ve been
stuck behind people who run for 3 minutes and then walk the rest, (I know I
shouldn’t complain as it is a fun run). This time we had plenty of room to
run and it didn’t feel like we were getting in anyone else’s way. The
conditions were good, not too cold, threat of rain but it didn’t actually
happen. Really good goody bag as well.
