Dudley Ladies Singing in The Rain
Sunday 7th September saw
the streets of Wolverhampton overflowing with runners and cyclists
as hordes of Dudley Ladies joined over 2,000 people to splash their
way through the rain in the annual city half marathon.
Roads were closed and
motorists diverted during the annual event, which saw athletes of
all ages and abilities take on the gruelling city centre challenge.
Groups of spectators,
undeterred by the rain, huddled under a sea of umbrellas as they
cheered and clapped the cyclists, runners and fun-runners.
Events included a
full marathon, half marathon, half marathon relay, half marathon
wheelchair, cycle race, and children’s mini marathon.
Star of the day
was unquestionably Fem Omari who on a whim on the day just
took it on herself to run the full marathon. She had done no proper
marathon training and despite having a stop start couple of months
through injury she still managed to finish in 4hours 45minutes. What
a Star!!!
The Half
Marathon was well packed out with the main bulk of Dudley Ladies who
were led home by Carrie Creamer in 1hr:50, followed by Petra
Grigat-Bradley and Sally Doran.
Other people of
note were Melanie Hodges in what the officials say was 2hr:02:16, Kath Morgan 2hr:02:40, Rachel
Chapman 2hr 11.15, Sue Warner 2hr:11:51, Joanne Jones 2hr:11:57, Ann Pedley 2Hr:12:36, Jackie Green 2Hr:14:08, Amanda Dingley, Clare
Dolan, Rachel Harris, Helen Bloor, Lian Parker and all the others too
numerous to mention.
Both races were
marred by poor organisation. A chaotic start and a free for all
queue type finish procedure meant official finishing times
were almost meaningless but none the less, everyone enjoyed the
actual run except for the lack of organisation at the end.
