London 2012 blog

36 degree heat, unbelievable humidity, overlooking the Indian Ocean, wearing a kilt, caked in sun block with the Union Jack tied around my London 2012 T-Shirt – I was standing amongst a crowd of well over 50,000 spectators.

Last week I swapped my spreadsheets and sums at LOCOG Finance for sunshine and shades as I along with 10 other members of East Kilbride Athletic Club made our annual trip to the World Cross Country Championships.

Cross Country usually conjures images of wet, windy and muddy conditions but with the 35th IAAF World Cross Country Championships being held in Mombasa, Kenya on Saturday the 24th of March – it was inevitably hot and sweaty.

It has become a much looked forward to tradition that members of East Kilbride AC travel to support Team GB and experience the World Cross Country event in different parts of the globe over the years.

The significance of the event being held in Kenya was as per their promotional slogan as seen on billboards around Mombasa 'Cross Country Comes Home', which reflects the Kenyan success in the history of this event and its reputation as an endurance running mecca.

More significant from a domestic point of view however is that Edinburgh won the rights to be the host venue for the 2008 event – and it was therefore an honour that we were asked to help promote and support next year's Edinburgh event and Glasgow’s 2014 Commonwealth Games bid during our stay in Mombasa.

This led to the group of us being IAAF accredited thanks to Scottish Athletics and attending a lunch the day before the race organised by the Edinburgh Organsing Committee where in the presence of Lamine Diack (IAAF President), and Olympic and Athletic Greats- Ingrid Kristiansen, David Bedford, Rob De Castella, Kip Keino – when Geoff Whiteman (Chief Executive of Scottish Athletics and part of the Edinburgh Organsing Committee) during his opening speech announced us as the 'best traveling cross country supporters in the world' – a surreal moment!

Race day, 24 March 2007, was predictably hot and would prove a challenge for all the athletes. But the race course set on Mombasa Golf Course on overlooking the Indian Ocean under clear blue skies was a very picturesque and beautiful setting for some very exciting competition.

There was a sea of people crowded round the course with capacity exceeded – in what must have been one of the biggest crowds in the history of the event.

It was so refreshing to see so much enthusiasm, spirit and animation from the Kenyan people who made it an atmosphere I will never forget. This was compounded by the crowds euphoric reaction when the favourite, five-times winner and the big Kenyan rival Kenesia Bekele, dropped out.

GB sent a full team to the championships in both the senior and junior races and produced some very encouraging performances came amidst all the heat and humidity led by Mo Farah 10th, Hatti Dean 15th, Hayley Yelling 16th, Charlotte Purdue 15th in the junior women (aged only 15!).

It was a very young GB team which demonstrated promise for the future. Even though GB did not win any medals in Mombasa, with the Kenyan athletes dominating the medals, it also shows the advantage of competing on home soil and hopefully this bodes well for 2012.

Even though the championships had some infrastructure problems with the transport system in the developing city of Mombasa – I will remember it for some classic exciting races, the picturesque setting and the unbelievable atmosphere.

Other highlights:

• Bringing Seb and Wilson Kipketer together for a picture as the ex and current world 800m world record holders (below)
  

• The Kenyan enthusiasm and permanent smile even when many of them exist in extreme poverty.
  
• Singing happy birthday to GB athlete Mo Farah, European Cross Country Champion, below

• Witnessing the benefits of a home crowd – bring on Edinburgh 08 and London 2012!
  
• After many late nights – still managing to plod round the daily 7:30am club run – even at this hour the heat was still a challenge.
  
• Being thanked by the GB athletes for their support.
  
• Fitting in a two day wild safari.
  
• Oh, and Seb being a fab sport and posing with one of our ‘hey you jimmy’ hats – priceless!

I am already looking forward to a shorter commute to the championships next year in Edinburgh in the shadow of Arthur Seat on the grounds of Holyrood Park – at least it will be cooler kilt-wearing conditions!!

The EKAC traveling supporters were:- Mark Smith, Kenny & Mary Clements, Davi