Tired of Benidorm? Try Battersea!
Terry Eakin
Over the past 20 years I've come to spend an awful lot of time in London's
Battersea Park, an area more famous for its Dogs Home and an unusual holiday
destination if there ever was one. Although the Park is quite near Victoria
Station, it is an oasis of unusual recreational activities -softball,
American football, volleyball and roller-skating are all popular but what
brings me there is the multitude of vets races.
I was first attracted to the Park by an Athletics Weekly advert for a
Sri Chimnoy race. Bet you've never heard of him. He's apparently some
sort of guru who is trying to achieve world peace through organising races.
The idea is that if everybody is totally knackered we will all have no
energy left to fight each other - has the NT Secretary of State thought
of that one yet? Sri Chimnoy's policy appears to be working well; at Battersea
races are held almost every Monday night during the summer and I've not
seen a riot yet!
Most of the field seem to be vets and these events are always extremely
friendly affairs. It's a new experience to see a businessman in a pin
stripe suit walk hurriedly towards a park bench and then proceed to change
into his running gear which he removes from his briefcase. Many of the
runners seem arrive by bicycle - have they all heard of Desi McHenry's
training techniques?
Race distances vary from 2 miles to a full marathon and all are run over
the same absolutely flat one-mile loop. For the 26-mile marathon, each
runner has an official lap counter. One unexpected hazard is grey squirrels
dashing across the paths; I was told that with a bit of practice it's
possible to boot the little buggers back into the undergrowth without
breaking stride.
A great attraction on Mondays during the summer is that the entry list
can include just about anybody who happens to be passing through London,
hi one race the top six finishers were all from Eastern Europe -when did
that last happen at Ballyclare?
If you have any energy left after Monday, Tuesday at Battersea often brings
a Vets AC event. Only open to runners over 40 years old and only members
can win prizes. These races mostly seem to be nm over the strange distance
of 5.1 miles and, even more unusually, a large proportion of the field
elect to compete as race walkers. So it's not that hard to impress your
friends by sending them a holiday postcard with tales of a top ten finish
in a London race. Last year, Liam O'Hare (from Dublin) and I just managed
to hold off a super-fast walker and a motley crew of M60 runners for a
rare Irish one-two victory on English soil. Something which, I'm told,
hasn't happened since the 1951 Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Wednesday and Thursday nights at Battersea often bring vets track races
at the stadium where Seb Coe used to train. One night I ran as a guest
in a 1500 metre Southern Vets League race in a field of about 50 starters
and managed to bring down three leading club runners on the last lap.
After that, I've not had the nerve to go back near the place but these
events are also great fun -just don't wear a Lagan Valley AC vest and
you will be made very welcome!

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