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.
Showing posts with label Mo Farah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mo Farah. Show all posts
Saturday, 19 February 2011
Saturday, 25 December 2010
Nothing Says Merry Christmas Like A 5K Race in the Freezing Cold
Nothing says Merry Christmas like a 5K race in sub-zero temperatures.
Actually, the
Bushy Park Parkrun has become as much a part of my Christmas Day rutine as eating lots, opening presents and avoiding the Queen’s speech.
Although I don’t watch the Queen, I think the subject matter of her 2010 message is very important, especially with Parkrun in mind.
"In the parks of towns and cities, and on village greens up and down the country, countless thousands of people every week give up their time to participate in sport and exercise of all sorts, or simply encourage others to do so.” Parkrun, take your bow!
This morning, 530 ran the original course, supporting each other, and in turn given the opportunity to do so by a team of volunteers who will have been far colder than us.
Although there will have been personal best performances, including
the day’s winner, for me this was never going to be anything other than a leg stretcher/apitite builder. Running on left over snow is one thing, trying to avoid significant ice patches on the paths is another, I can think of lots of things I’d rather do with Christmas Day than sit in A and E. We gave up and ran on the grass most of the way.
I’m pleased to report I didn’t land on my arse at any stage of the run. Father Christmas went over in the snow at one point, but really, all that sherry and a long night travelling round the world, the man done well to be in South West London for 9.
Including the mile or so there and back, the five mile run set me up nicely for a day spent eating my own body weight. The beauty of the Parkrun is it’s 9 AM start means it doesn’t write off your morning – I was home, showered and eating breakfast before 11.
When I’ve mentioned to people I was planning on running on Christmas Day, and have done before, the reaction I get often suggests people think I’m mad! This is something I don’t really understand. Why should it be any different from any other day? Especially considering I love my running. It’s not as if I’ve had to spend Christmas Day doing a twelve hour shift in hospital, treating idiots who fell over on the ice when running.
Training on Christmas Day is something countless professional sports people do. Last year, while out for the family post lunch walk in the park, we saw
Mo Farah run past.
“That’s commitment, training on Christmas Day,” someone commented. Naturally I pointed out I’d already been for my run earlier.
Articles about the dedication shown by one of Britain’s all time greats, decathlete
Daley Thompson, often make reference to the fact that December 25th was never a rest day for him.
“I train every single day, and I think the reason why I had to train every day is because I never wanted to leave any stone unturned. I can actually take not being the best, but what I couldn't do is take not having tried as hard as I possibly could. I think that whenever you go into anything, and you're serious about it and you're committed to it, you do those kinds of things because you have to do the hard yards and you have to go the extra mile.”
Quote from an article on the
BBC Wales website.
If an athlete and their coach are doing their jobs properly, then the athlete will want to train on Christmas Day. If they, not unreasonably, might want to be somewhere else, then the training session should be structured to make the athlete want to be there: alter the time to fit in with family commitments, design the session to make it more fun than usual or, if this is what motivates them, make sure the athlete believes this will be the day that will make the difference in achieving their goals.
Although you can’t compare Daley Thompson’s level with me doing a Parkrun, the same principals apply. The atmosphere at Bushy is always great, but especially so on Christmas Day. It’s an opportunity for some fresh air and exercise before the festive asult on the digestive system begins. Plus, with recent illness and injury in mind, it’s was a good way to get back into running while the pressure’s off. I plan to do a four mile race in Twickenham on Boxing Day, meaning a total of nine miles over this weekend, exactly the test I need to see where the bodies at ahead of Tadworth Ten next Sunday.
It’s also far more civilised than a trip to our local open air pool which has been done in previous years, I resisted the invite to go for a dip post run. If you think my few miles was madness, check out
this picture gallery from the Metro’s website sshowing the Christmas Day tradition of a dip in the Serpentine in Hyde Park. At least we just ran round ice patches rather than swam between them!
Actually, the
Bushy Park Parkrun has become as much a part of my Christmas Day rutine as eating lots, opening presents and avoiding the Queen’s speech.
Although I don’t watch the Queen, I think the subject matter of her 2010 message is very important, especially with Parkrun in mind.
"In the parks of towns and cities, and on village greens up and down the country, countless thousands of people every week give up their time to participate in sport and exercise of all sorts, or simply encourage others to do so.” Parkrun, take your bow!
This morning, 530 ran the original course, supporting each other, and in turn given the opportunity to do so by a team of volunteers who will have been far colder than us.
Although there will have been personal best performances, including
the day’s winner, for me this was never going to be anything other than a leg stretcher/apitite builder. Running on left over snow is one thing, trying to avoid significant ice patches on the paths is another, I can think of lots of things I’d rather do with Christmas Day than sit in A and E. We gave up and ran on the grass most of the way.
I’m pleased to report I didn’t land on my arse at any stage of the run. Father Christmas went over in the snow at one point, but really, all that sherry and a long night travelling round the world, the man done well to be in South West London for 9.
Including the mile or so there and back, the five mile run set me up nicely for a day spent eating my own body weight. The beauty of the Parkrun is it’s 9 AM start means it doesn’t write off your morning – I was home, showered and eating breakfast before 11.
When I’ve mentioned to people I was planning on running on Christmas Day, and have done before, the reaction I get often suggests people think I’m mad! This is something I don’t really understand. Why should it be any different from any other day? Especially considering I love my running. It’s not as if I’ve had to spend Christmas Day doing a twelve hour shift in hospital, treating idiots who fell over on the ice when running.
Training on Christmas Day is something countless professional sports people do. Last year, while out for the family post lunch walk in the park, we saw
Mo Farah run past.
“That’s commitment, training on Christmas Day,” someone commented. Naturally I pointed out I’d already been for my run earlier.
Articles about the dedication shown by one of Britain’s all time greats, decathlete
Daley Thompson, often make reference to the fact that December 25th was never a rest day for him.
“I train every single day, and I think the reason why I had to train every day is because I never wanted to leave any stone unturned. I can actually take not being the best, but what I couldn't do is take not having tried as hard as I possibly could. I think that whenever you go into anything, and you're serious about it and you're committed to it, you do those kinds of things because you have to do the hard yards and you have to go the extra mile.”
Quote from an article on the
BBC Wales website.
If an athlete and their coach are doing their jobs properly, then the athlete will want to train on Christmas Day. If they, not unreasonably, might want to be somewhere else, then the training session should be structured to make the athlete want to be there: alter the time to fit in with family commitments, design the session to make it more fun than usual or, if this is what motivates them, make sure the athlete believes this will be the day that will make the difference in achieving their goals.
Although you can’t compare Daley Thompson’s level with me doing a Parkrun, the same principals apply. The atmosphere at Bushy is always great, but especially so on Christmas Day. It’s an opportunity for some fresh air and exercise before the festive asult on the digestive system begins. Plus, with recent illness and injury in mind, it’s was a good way to get back into running while the pressure’s off. I plan to do a four mile race in Twickenham on Boxing Day, meaning a total of nine miles over this weekend, exactly the test I need to see where the bodies at ahead of Tadworth Ten next Sunday.
It’s also far more civilised than a trip to our local open air pool which has been done in previous years, I resisted the invite to go for a dip post run. If you think my few miles was madness, check out
this picture gallery from the Metro’s website sshowing the Christmas Day tradition of a dip in the Serpentine in Hyde Park. At least we just ran round ice patches rather than swam between them!
Friday, 17 December 2010
Mo Farah
Whilst being off work ill yesterday I saw an item on ITV London News about
Mo Farah.
ITV had sent a camera crew out to Kenya to report on his training, plus interview Mo and MRS Mo.
This morning thanks to
www.twitter.com/mo_farah I discovered he is to write a regular blog for ITV.
So, if you want to read how proper athletes train, go
here.
You can relive his fantastic 5K victory in Barcelona this summer at the European Championships
here. Brilliant commentary from
Steve Cram, if there’s a GB gold rush in 2012 I think he might explode!
When in London, Mo Farah and a load of the Kenyen’s train in my local park, it’s not uncommon to be overtaken by one or more of them.
Allow me to name drop for a moment. In the late nineties, Mo Farah spent a bit of time running in the same hill sessions group as me on a Sunday morning in Richmond Park, I confess I have no memory of this at all.
About a year ago he moved into a flat near my house and I was surprised to discover he not only recognised my dad, but remembered my name, at least ten years on from the Richmond Park days of which I have little recollection.
I did smile to myself when I heard him interviewed on Five Live after his victories in Barcelona, stunned that
Arsene Wenger (Mo is a Gunners fan), was aware of who he was and had sent a congratulations message.
Mo Farah.
ITV had sent a camera crew out to Kenya to report on his training, plus interview Mo and MRS Mo.
This morning thanks to
www.twitter.com/mo_farah I discovered he is to write a regular blog for ITV.
So, if you want to read how proper athletes train, go
here.
You can relive his fantastic 5K victory in Barcelona this summer at the European Championships
here. Brilliant commentary from
Steve Cram, if there’s a GB gold rush in 2012 I think he might explode!
When in London, Mo Farah and a load of the Kenyen’s train in my local park, it’s not uncommon to be overtaken by one or more of them.
Allow me to name drop for a moment. In the late nineties, Mo Farah spent a bit of time running in the same hill sessions group as me on a Sunday morning in Richmond Park, I confess I have no memory of this at all.
About a year ago he moved into a flat near my house and I was surprised to discover he not only recognised my dad, but remembered my name, at least ten years on from the Richmond Park days of which I have little recollection.
I did smile to myself when I heard him interviewed on Five Live after his victories in Barcelona, stunned that
Arsene Wenger (Mo is a Gunners fan), was aware of who he was and had sent a congratulations message.
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