Race Day

The Mickleover Greenway was transformed this morning for the Great Northern Run organised by Huub Events.  Well over 400 runners competed in the three races, a Half Marathon a 10 km Run and a short Fun Run.
From first light several vans arrived at Mickleover Station with all the paraphernalia for the finish area. Fortunately the start area and HQ were elsewhere, off Station Road.

An unusual view of Mickleover Station through the enormous inflatable finish gantry.

From 9am the runners set off and the leaders later passed through the Greenway gates where Nick and I were marshalling.......

........................led by cyclist Mark Smith of Cycle Derby.

After the sterling work by the Community Payback Teams over recent months, the path was in perfect condition, except perhaps here at Bearwardcote Gate where it had been infilled with earth, which had been frozen hard by the overnight frost. 

 However the passage of 400 pairs of hot feet soon thawed it out and ironed it flat.

For the marshals (left) it was pretty cold standing there for a couple of hours, but we had taken flasks of hot coffee. However, a small bonfire would have been nice.

The organisation was good but imperfect, since the finish area was congested as runners came in.

We are suggesting that, for future events, the finish line should be further away from the Mickleover Gate as there is plenty of space on the large area of good tarmac and adjacent grass. This would give more room for the runners to get over to Mickleover Sports Ground where the awards, tee shirts and bacon butties awaited them.