Training In Historic Surroundings

In previous posts I’ve talked about locations of great sporting historical significance my marathon training has taken in. Hurst Park for cricket and horse racing, Hampton Court with its ancient indoor tennis court, the pub on the edge of Richmond Park where the idea of the London Marathon was dreamt up. I can now add Brooklands to this list.

The world’s first purpose-built motor racing circuit, constructed at Weybridge, Surrey in 1907, was,
as the website for the Brooklands Museum states, more than a great sporting arena: it was the birthplace of British motorsport.

Before the first race was even run, Brooklands was the venue for a dramatic record attempt. A few days after the ceremonial opening of the track in June 1907, the motor-racing pioneer, Selwyn Francis Edge, used the venue for establishing the record for distance covered and speed driven at, during a non-stop 24 hour challenge. He covered 1,581 miles at an average speed of almost 66 miles an hour, something which wouldn’t be beaten for seventeen years.

Brooklands entered the record books once again On the morning of 15th February 1913. In front of a large crowd of press and public, Percy Lambert achieved 103.84 mph. Tragically, while trying to improve his own record a few months later, after promising his fiancée that he would attempt no more, he crashed and was killed on the Track.

Some say his ghost regularly walks at Brooklands in full racing attire, all we know is, this ghost and
The Stig have never been seen in the same room together.

The first official motor race was staged on July 6th 1907, with its ability to attract the great and the good from the world of fashionable types, Brooklands soon gained the name of the Ascot of motor sport. At its peak in the 1930s, Brooklands was considered an important society hang out alongside Ascot, Henley and Wimbledon.

In September of the same year, with competitive cycling not approved of on regular roads, Brooklands hosted the first of many bike races. Motorbikes joined the fun a year later, with the
British Motorcycle Racing Club being founded here in 1909.

For many the most important year in Brooklands’ history is 1926, for this was the date of the first British Grand Prix.

Also a notable airfield, at the outbreak of World War 2, Brooklands became a site devoted to the production of Vickers and Hawker aircraft including Hurricane fighters and Wellington bombers. Once peace returned in 1945, it was hoped Brooklands could be returned to the world of motor racing, but the scars of war were too expensive to repair. Vicars-Armstrong LTD bought the site in 1946.

Although Brooklands is the location for the development and building of many iconic aircrafts, the one which naturally receives the most interest is some little known plane, I shouldn’t imagine you’ve heard of it, called Concorde.

The first to be produced in the UK, the second ever, was built at Brooklands and Toulouse. You can read all about it
here.

Living near Heathrow, I always knew when it was Concorde taking off or landing. Its distinctive sound meant you could always tell when it was approaching, and on a clear day you could look up into the sky and watch it disappear into the distance. I’m no plane enthusiast, but I went into Bushy Park to watch it leave London for the last time.

It’s still possible to cycle on a track at Brooklands today, and it was for this reason that I ventured their this morning. Not to cycle myself, but to run with one of my regular guides, Jim who I raced Tadworth with, while his son trained with the
Thames Turbo Triathlon club.

The plan had been to leave Brookland, and follow the River Way north to the Thames. After steady running of about half an hour it was decided the path was too narrow and muddy, we had a lot of rain over night and this morning. We returned to Brooklands and did a decent quality interval session, my first since the issue with a tight calf I had before Wokingham. 10 300 metre tempo runs with a minute recovery between each.

While I’ve been writing this blog I was also watching
Mo Farah set a new British and European indoor 5000 metre record at the British Indoor Championships in Birmingham, and look very impressive in doing so. We won’t be seeing much of him in Bushy Park for a while, as he announced yesterday he was relocating to the US as he aims to move from the best in Europe to the best in the world. By the looks of what I’ve just seen we can expect a great summer from him, all building towards his attempts to be a major part of another chapter of London sporting history in 2012.