Co-lympics

Jeffrey Burgin · Post by **Jeffrey Burgin** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:03 pm

I'm 18 years old and in pretty good physical shape; I'll give you some times sometime during the next few days.

Phil Makepeace · Post by **Phil Makepeace** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:48 pm

Ian Dent wrote:I ran the Windsor Half last year with no training Phil. It nearly killed me, the hottest day of the year as well.

I got dehydration cramps going up the epic hill around the 9 mile point. Not fun. It's a shame you can't see my mile splits; I went through halfway in about 45 minutes and then went to pieces. Bear in mind that my target time was 1:45 and the stick was no alcohol until my 20th birthday (May this year); I'd given it up for the 5 months of training. Just as well I made it really, I was getting sick of J2O.

Ian Dent · Post by **Ian Dent** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 12:00 am

I can't remember the hill. Whereabouts on the course was it?

I remember doing the first lap in an okay time and then just collapsing on the second, longer lap. I barely ran most of the time.

Phil Makepeace · Post by **Phil Makepeace** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 12:10 am

It wound through the woods from about mile 8-10. It wasn't particularly steep, but a steady enough incline over a long enough distance to test weary legs. I know it's held in late September, but to start a long-distance race at 1pm is insanity.

Jimmy Gough · Post by **Jimmy Gough** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 12:21 am

Sounds good

Richard Brittain · Post by **Richard Brittain** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 2:52 pm

Well, it looks like we have a semi-pro athlete here in the form of Phil Makepeace. I can't wait to see him in action. He's immediately installed as the bookies' favourite to win everything. And if he doesn't win anything, we'll know that it was probably only because he couldn't be bothered to train.

Phil - Seeing as you're not even 21, and have ruptured your knee ligaments twice and broken your leg, blighting your career, but have still run the 100m in 11 seconds, why not train up seriously as an athlete? You'd probably get down to sub-10 second times in no time.

Kai - sorry to hear that. I've withdrawn you from all the events.

MW - I'm quite curious. What would happen to your eyes if you tried running?

Jeffrey Burgin · Post by **Jeffrey Burgin** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:37 pm

Richard Brittain wrote:
Phil - Seeing as you're not even 21, and have ruptured your knee ligaments twice and broken your leg, blighting your career, but have still run the 100m in 11 seconds, why not train up seriously as an athlete? You'd probably get down to sub-10 second times in no time.

Maybe he ran the 100m in 11 seconds before he got injured, and now he can't do it that quick anymore.

And by 'now', I actually mean 'I hope'.

Phil Makepeace · Post by **Phil Makepeace** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:39 pm

Ohhh stop it. I ran that 100m 2 years ago during rugby training, my 'career' in athletics stopped when I was 15 when I tore quads during a 4x400. And those times I mooted were mere estimates. I'd have to take steroids to get below 11s for the 100.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:56 pm

Richard Brittain wrote:MW - I'm quite curious. What would happen to your eyes if you tried running?

One of the aspects of my genetic fuckuppery is that I have weak retinas. The upshot being that I try to minimise any sort of trauma to my head - this includes not running any more than I have to. (There's also a fairly non-negligible risk of me falling over.)

Sue Sanders · Post by **Sue Sanders** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:56 pm

Phil Makepeace wrote:Ohhh stop it. I ran that 100m 2 years ago during rugby training, my 'career' in athletics stopped when I was 15 when I tore quads during a 4x400. And those times I mooted were mere estimates. I'd have to take steroids to get below 11s for the 100.

Oh, well if we're allowed to take steroids, I'll be able to make sandwiches for the whole town, not just you lot!!

Sue Sanders · Post by **Sue Sanders** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:58 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:
Richard Brittain wrote:MW - I'm quite curious. What would happen to your eyes if you tried running?
One of the aspects of my genetic fuckuppery is that I have weak retinas. The upshot being that I try to minimise any sort of trauma to my head - this includes not running any more than I have to. (There's also a fairly non-negligible risk of me falling over.)

Having worked for years in an opticians my money was on detached retinas. No bungee jumping for you either! (Are you a high minus Rx?)

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:59 pm

Sue Sanders wrote:Having worked for years in an opticians my money was on detached retinas. No bungee jumping for you either! (Are you a high minus Rx?)

I don't know what Rx means, but I presume you're talking about my prescription, which is about -21.

Sue Sanders · Post by **Sue Sanders** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 4:14 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:
Sue Sanders wrote:Having worked for years in an opticians my money was on detached retinas. No bungee jumping for you either! (Are you a high minus Rx?)
I don't know what Rx means, but I presume you're talking about my prescription, which is about -21.

Yeah, sorry...Rx is prescription (used because Px is taken up by 'Patient').
Minus 21 - that's a hum-dinger, mate. But are you reasonable with correction ? - which I hope for your sake is contact lenses.

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 4:26 pm

Sue Sanders wrote:
Michael Wallace wrote:I presume you're talking about my prescription, which is about -21.
Minus 21 - that's a hum-dinger, mate. But are you reasonable with correction ? - which I hope for your sake is contact lenses.

They don't make contact lenses this thick.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 4:54 pm

Sue Sanders wrote:Yeah, sorry...Rx is prescription (used because Px is taken up by 'Patient').
Minus 21 - that's a hum-dinger, mate. But are you reasonable with correction ? - which I hope for your sake is contact lenses.

6/18 with correction, I think. I'm borderline visually impaired. I tried a contact lens once, but because of my prescription they have to hard (as opposed to soft, but you'll know that), which meant I could only wear it for up to 8 hours a day, which ended up being more hassle than it was worth.

Sue Sanders · Post by **Sue Sanders** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 5:13 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:
Sue Sanders wrote:Yeah, sorry...Rx is prescription (used because Px is taken up by 'Patient').
Minus 21 - that's a hum-dinger, mate. But are you reasonable with correction ? - which I hope for your sake is contact lenses.
6/18 with correction, I think. I'm borderline visually impaired. I tried a contact lens once, but because of my prescription they have to hard (as opposed to soft, but you'll know that), which meant I could only wear it for up to 8 hours a day, which ended up being more hassle than it was worth.

Funnily enough , as someone who went into hard, then their supercedant, gas permeables, at the age of 14 and wore them for 28 years, I would say a competantly fitted gas permeable ('GP') contact lens is far more comfortable than softs. Not at first, admittedly the first two weeks take a bit of working at, but once the tolerance is built up, very comfortable and much better quality of vision than softs. A couple of years ago, I got out of the habit of wearing them as I rather liked my glasses and my eye shape changed, messing up the fit of my GPs (GPs hold your eye 'in shape' which is why going into them at 14 was recommended - I seriously believe they halted the progression of my shortsightedness) so for non glasses wearing occasions I wear softs and in my experience, although the much vaunted comfort of a soft lens IS true is a dusty atmosphere but for normal, daily wear GPs won hands down for me. I could wear them from waking to sleeping day after day (and cat-nap in them with no problems) When I wear softs these days, if is for the evening time, I put them in as late as possible. 8 hours and I want to rip them out - they dry my eyes out and feel stuck on. The thing is - opticians have their work cut out to fit GPs competantly and many shy away from it and bung everyone in softs. More profit in softs and easier to fit = GP lenses getting bad press. Sorry - this is long, but I'm a bit of a fan of the old GP and seriously would suggest you give them a try.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 5:26 pm

Thanks for the advice, but I don't really have the inclination to try contacts again at the moment. I was never particularly convinced by them when I did give them a go - bit too much fiddling and effort for what was ostensibly not much reward. Plus it doesn't help that hospitals are generally a bit nervy of doing anything when you've only got one eye to begin with - they'd much rather I just stick with what I know works, and I'm inclined to agree, for the time being at least (plus I've got a cataract, so my sight is going to be doing silly things too).

Sue Sanders · Post by **Sue Sanders** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 5:50 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:Thanks for the advice, but I don't really have the inclination to try contacts again at the moment. I was never particularly convinced by them when I did give them a go - bit too much fiddling and effort for what was ostensibly not much reward. Plus it doesn't help that hospitals are generally a bit nervy of doing anything when you've only got one eye to begin with - they'd much rather I just stick with what I know works, and I'm inclined to agree, for the time being at least (plus I've got a cataract, so my sight is going to be doing silly things too).

Fair enough. Well, I hope things stay as good as possible for as long as possible.

Sue Sanders · Post by **Sue Sanders** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 5:58 pm

Phil Reynolds wrote:
Sue Sanders wrote:
Michael Wallace wrote:I presume you're talking about my prescription, which is about -21.
Minus 21 - that's a hum-dinger, mate. But are you reasonable with correction ? - which I hope for your sake is contact lenses.
They don't make contact lenses this thick.

Well...they do - but that aside ...Great photos, Phil, and exceptionally fine captions!

Richard Brittain · Post by **Richard Brittain** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 6:02 pm

I cycled to university today, and I saw the most amazing car. It was speeding past all the other cars and I could hear it from a mile off. When it went past me, it literally churned up the tarmac and left a haze of dust and smoking embers behind it. Cars were spinning off everywhere and I nearly died.

Then I realised it was just Phil Makepeace going for a jog.

Jeffrey Burgin · Post by **Jeffrey Burgin** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 11:05 am

Is this still a goer?

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 12:19 pm

I ran 3k on Wednesday to test myself out and I'm still in pain.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 12:25 pm

Maybe if this doesn't end up happening we can just all get International Track and Field. I'd be able to take a much more active part then, too.

David Williams · Post by **David Williams** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 1:11 pm

http://ukresults.net/2008/seaside.html

Scroll down to 95th place.

Richard Brittain · Post by **Richard Brittain** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 3:57 pm

This is definitely still happening, although the official logo seems to have disappeared from Photobucket.

I'm thinking of changing the location, because Phil Makepeace has voiced some concerns over the state of the track in Enfield. Personally, I believe the Co-lympics would be well suited to a slightly decrepid old track overlooked by a sizeable and completely empty, delapidated old stadium, but I can also see why it might be nice to use a better track. It would obviously be easiest for me to host it in Belgium, and I know of two decent athletics tracks nearby, but I can't really expect people to come out here, can I?

Richard Brittain · Post by **Richard Brittain** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 4:17 pm

Incidentally, I just found a site (http://hoppysnaps.blogspot.com/2008/10/ ... field.html) which has a number of good photos of the current stadium and track. Though, this was a year ago, so it's probably in even worse state by now.

Richard Brittain · Post by **Richard Brittain** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 4:48 pm

There is also the official website here with a link to more pictures, and an interesting article here. Dwain Chambers trained there last year.

Clearly, the track is officially closed. The last time I used it was in the summer of 2008, after it had been closed, and there was a 4 foot gate you had to hop over. It's possible that they have now erected a 20 foot gate with spikes, but I find this unlikely. What would be useful would be if someone fairly local (such as MW?) could check the track out for us sometime soon. Because, I don't intend to come to England before the 5th November; It would be a 6 hour, £70 return trip for me, to the track.

Also, I'm thinking now that 6pm is too late a start, because the floodlights probably won't be operational. If I changed it to 4.30 pm on the same day, would anyone drop out? If so we can change it to a weekend.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 5:04 pm

Richard Brittain wrote:There is also the official website here with a link to more pictures, and an interesting article here. Dwain Chambers trained there last year.

Clearly, the track is officially closed. The last time I used it was in the summer of 2008, after it had been closed, and there was a 4 foot gate you had to hop over. It's possible that they have now erected a 20 foot gate with spikes, but I find this unlikely. What would be useful would be if someone fairly local (such as MW?) could check the track out for us sometime soon. Because, I don't intend to come to England before the 5th November; It would be a 6 hour, £70 return trip for me, to the track.

Also, I'm thinking now that 6pm is too late a start, because the floodlights probably won't be operational. If I changed it to 4.30 pm on the same day, would anyone drop out? If so we can change it to a weekend.

Now get off c4c and get back on apterous to finish the game you just quit after losing 100-20 using the excuse of "your tournament partner is here, bye" despite saying before we started that it would take seconds to finish.

Richard Brittain · Post by **Richard Brittain** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 6:50 pm

Kirk, please, calm down. Your logic is, once again, somewhat incoherent and I do not take kindly to your constant harassing of me whenever I come online. I initially challenged you to a Conundrum Attack, and you refused, stating that you are 'awaiting Richard Priest for your tournament game'. I then said, 'this Conundrum Attack will only last less than 30 seconds as you'll probably get them all in under 1 second'. You therefore accepted my challenge on the basis of this logic. Then, as the game progressed, it became apparent that, while you were exhibiting your quick touch-typing skills by impressively getting some conundrums in under 1 second, many of them you were not, and in some cases the clock was dragging on to 20 seconds or more. Richard Priest then entered the room, and you started playing him, as you had said that that game took priority. I therefore left the room out of politeness. Everything I have just said is proved by the chat logs. I am now sitting and waiting for you in the Apterous room, even though I have better things to do. I really do not know what to expect from you anymore.

JimBentley · Post by **JimBentley** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 8:47 pm

Sounds like a lovers' tiff to me.

Phil Makepeace · Post by **Phil Makepeace** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 12:55 am

Richard Brittain wrote:I'm thinking of changing the location, because Phil Makepeace has voiced some concerns over the state of the track in Enfield. Personally, I believe the Co-lympics would be well suited to a slightly decrepid old track overlooked by a sizeable and completely empty, delapidated old stadium, but I can also see why it might be nice to use a better track.

To be honest, I'd be very happy using it as long as we weren't trespassing. Holding it in a dump like that would add to the beautiful amateurishness of the occasion. In addition, there wouldn't be many people around. I voiced my concern because if we all turn up and there's no way of getting in, that would be less than ideal. Basically, someone needs to do a recce - if that someone needs to be me, I'll try to pop along one weekend.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 4:15 pm

Richard Brittain wrote: as you had said that that game took priority. I therefore left the room out of politeness. Everything I have just said is proved by the chat logs. I am now sitting and waiting for you in the Apterous room, even though I have better things to do. I really do not know what to expect from you anymore.

I didn't say it took priority at all - and I told Priest that I was playing a CA with you and I'd be 5 minutes. You then left instantly. Many of the conundrums were slowed down by you buzzing in like 0.8 seconds and then spending 15 seconds fudging it.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 2:04 pm

Richard Brittain wrote:There is also the official website here with a link to more pictures, and an interesting article here. Dwain Chambers trained there last year.

Clearly, the track is officially closed. The last time I used it was in the summer of 2008, after it had been closed, and there was a 4 foot gate you had to hop over. It's possible that they have now erected a 20 foot gate with spikes, but I find this unlikely. What would be useful would be if someone fairly local (such as MW?) could check the track out for us sometime soon. Because, I don't intend to come to England before the 5th November; It would be a 6 hour, £70 return trip for me, to the track.

Also, I'm thinking now that 6pm is too late a start, because the floodlights probably won't be operational. If I changed it to 4.30 pm on the same day, would anyone drop out? If so we can change it to a weekend.

I'd rather leave work and get there for 4.30 than do a weekend. So I'm happy with 4.30.

Richard Brittain · Post by **Richard Brittain** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 11:34 am

Phil - Where do you live? We definitely need someone to do a reconaissance and if you would be willing, that would be great. What we need to find out is:

a) Is it easy to get in?

Because once we're in, the place is likely to be desolate, and the stadium is sort of in the middle of nowhere anyway, so it's incredibly unlikely anyone will kick us out. There is a tall main gate, which will probably be locked, but there are many other ways of getting in as it's quite a vast area, specifically there should be a short gate and fence to the left of the building as you approach it, and this is incredibly easy to step over.

b) Have they done anything drastic like tear up the track?

Because that would obviously not be good, but I'm quite confident the place will be in the same state it has been for the last 5 years or so; desolate, unmaintained, slightly derelict but still useable. What with the economic crisis and all of that money being poured into the London Olympics, I highly doubt they have chosen to do anything with the stadium yet.

So whoever will honourably do this scouting task for us, email or MSN messenger me on rbrittain@gmail.com, and I can discuss further details to help make your mission successful.

Richard Brittain · Post by **Richard Brittain** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 5:13 am

Alright, this is happening pretty soon now. Can I ask everyone to update me on their status; Who will definitely be coming, who will probably be coming, who is doubtful and who will no longer be coming?

New additions are still, obviously, welcome.

Matt Bayfield · Post by **Matt Bayfield** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:03 am

This one's not for me, Richard - not this time, anyway. But I hope it's a good event.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 6:09 pm

I'll be there.

Oliver Garner · Post by **Oliver Garner** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 6:44 pm

I can't Richard, would be too hard to get there.

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 2:46 pm

Well did this happen or what?

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:42 pm

Marc Meakin wrote:Well did this happen or what?

Probably not, knowing RB's organisational skills.

Richard Brittain · Post by **Richard Brittain** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:56 pm

Had an amazing time. Congrats to Konstantin, and well done Jono on sprinting an amazing 100m. Final results:

1. Konstantin Rossokovsky
2. Chob Bolbrack
3. Richard Brittain
4. Jono
5. Friedrich Paulus
6. CF
7. 'Yamda'

Here are some photos from the event:

Konstantin, overall winner.

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:58 pm

So thats a no then.

Richard Brittain · Post by **Richard Brittain** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:02 pm

Thou sayeth it.

Sue Sanders · Post by **Sue Sanders** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 5:29 pm

A cancelled event - that's a shame. Still, I'm sure Derek's got some excitement planned for 'Gevins Bevins'.

Richard Brittain · Post by **Richard Brittain** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 5:38 pm

Actually, it wasn't cancelled; it's just that only Jono turned up.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 6:13 pm

Brilliant post, RB.

Oliver Garner · Post by **Oliver Garner** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 2:45 pm

At the Lord Mayor's Show, I competed in the Lord Mayor's Mile race and if you go onto the iPlayer, I am finishing the race in a black t-shirt on the left of the screen between 14:04 and 14:09.

Ralph Gillions · Post by **Ralph Gillions** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 5:10 pm

The guy with hands on hips? Then you raise your right hand?
Right, I get you.
Well done.

Oliver Garner · Post by **Oliver Garner** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 5:11 pm

Ralph Gillions wrote:The guy with hands on hips? Then you raise your right hand?
Right, I get you.
Well done.

Yup, no official results yet, but think I came in the top 10.

Ralph Gillions · Post by **Ralph Gillions** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 5:22 pm

Oliver Garner wrote:Yup, no official results yet, but think I came in the top 10.

Good for you! (You didn't look knackered either.)

Robert Baxter · Post by **Robert Baxter** » Sun Aug 29, 2010 4:39 pm

How did everyone do

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Sun Aug 29, 2010 4:52 pm

Robert Baxter wrote:How did everyone do

All of Richard's friends turned up, and he won Gold in every event.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 12:56 pm

When are we going to do "another" one of these?

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Sun Oct 09, 2022 6:23 pm

Matt Bayfield wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2009 8:06 am I'd be tempted by a 10k, as I've never run one on a track. Have got a decent-ish PB for the same distance on the roads so would hope to be competitive. However, if there's not going to be much competition (i.e. if everyone else is going to be either much faster, or much slower), then I'm less interested.

I'm not climbing over a tall or spiky gate though. I had a moderately unpleasant accident doing something similar many years ago, and have learned my lesson.

36:49 - nice. I got 36:35 today.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Sun Oct 09, 2022 6:41 pm

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Sun Jul 15, 2012 12:56 pm When are we going to do "another" one of these?

The CO-event parkruns can be seen as the evolution of this.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Sun Oct 09, 2022 7:56 pm

That's a real dick post, even for you Gevin.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Sun Oct 09, 2022 9:33 pm

David Williams wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2009 1:11 pm http://ukresults.net/2008/seaside.html

Scroll down to 95th place.

43:00 - nice. Oh hi Matt. I'll be on my way.

Dave Robjohns · Post by **Dave Robjohns** » Tue Nov 22, 2022 10:08 pm

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2009 7:00 pm This won't happen. Is this being taken as a serious suggestion? Why the fuck would anyone think "Let's get Countdowners to do running"?

Yeah never going to catch on

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Sun Nov 27, 2022 7:33 pm

Dave Robjohns wrote: ↑Tue Nov 22, 2022 10:08 pm
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2009 7:00 pm This won't happen. Is this being taken as a serious suggestion? Why the fuck would anyone think "Let's get Countdowners to do running"?
Yeah never going to catch on

I'm not sure I have a comeback to this.