Berlin Marathon
25th September 2011

 

Official Results

Jerry Pullinger 3.04.22 pb
Tony Cormano 3.22.46
Neil Lovesey 3.33.51
Stuart Trevallion 3.37.07
Gillian Brodie 5.01.43

Berlin Marathon 2011

A very warm September morning saw Neil Lovesey, Jerry Pullinger , Tony Cormano and Stuart Trevallion lined up with approximately 30,000 others to run the Berlin Marathon. We were later to find out that Gillian Brodie was also in the race. The expo at the old Tempelhof airport was like stepping back in time, with the check in desks and baggage belts still there. On 25th September, with me out through injury and on spectating / photo taking duty, the others went up to the start in the Tiergarten. Apparently, a lack of loos and non policing of entry to the start pens made it difficult to get a good early start to this race. I went to the halfway point and managed to capture some of the Harriers on photos here.  If you ever decide to spectate, a five minute walk then brings you to 37km, then a walk to the finish area following most of the course is a good idea. I saw Jerry again at 40km and it was getting extremely warm by this point. The finish takes you under the Brandenburg Gate then a further 200m before the actual finish line. The course takes in some of the sights of the city, is pretty much flat all the way round and most of the course is well supported. Beware of the supporters though as barriers, except near the finish, meant nothing as people spilled onto the roads.

Met up at the finish to find that Jerry had recorded a time of 3.04. 22, a PB of 22 seconds. Apparently it would have been under 3.04 if he hadn’t had a loo stop! Tony was in next in 3.22 and Neil shortly after in 3.33. Stuart then came in with a time of 3.37. Gillian recorded 5.01.

Oh, and there were a couple of Harriers who decided that there should really be a ‘half marathon’ too, as Marianne and Dave, for very valid reasons, ran half of the race then spectated the rest.

It was a weekend of t-shirt buying, eating, walking (probably a bit too much on Sunday evening!), eating, bus riding, eating...did I mention eating? Dunkin’ Donuts had to be paid a visit and Tony and Dave didn’t quite wipe the hotel out of breakfast food. Lots of mocking by the chef at Va Piano of Neil’s pronunciation when ordering a Bolognese.  Marianne had some difficulty obtaining gluten free food, except at the excellent Entrecote restaurant where we ate Sunday evening.

The race has a good atmosphere but perhaps lacks some of the organisation you might expect at, for example, London.

Jenny Lovesey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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