I had a great day yesterday spectating at the London Marathon. Karen and family, BarnsleyRunner and myself made up the 'Team Gratton' support, as we tried to follow our 'Hard training' group around the streets.
First spot was the ladies championship start, watched from Vanburgh Terrace, to the north of the course 100m after the start. We watched Hilly and the elite ladies past and then we headed off at a brisk walk up Maze Hill, over the red route, and on to the 6 mile point.
At the 6 mile point there was plenty of time to see the ladies past again, followed by the wheelchairs and the elite men. We stayed to see the faster men: Vamps, JEJ, RB amongst others - I didn't manage to spot too many, but Karen had better luck.
It was then a jog down to the river and along the embankment to Cutty Sark and the Greenwich Foot Tunnel. I was surprised how easy it was to miss all the congestion by heading straight for the river from mile 6 - much easier than I expected.
From the foot tunnel it was left onto East Ferry Road, and a perfect supporters point free from crowds. We just missed the elite ladies, but saw Hilly no problem. You unfortunately have to make choices if you want to follow one group to the finish. To see the elite ladies through, we would have had to leave mile 6 as soon as the elite men had gone through.
Again choices: we now split, with BR heading off to Parliament Square, while we waited to see the elite men through. I finally got to see Haile whom I'd failed to spot at mile 6 (!), and Karen's son got 'lobbed' Huw Lobb's cap - it made his day!
No time to wait for the fast men, we caught the DLR at Mudchute, changed at Canary Wharf for the Jubilee Line, and off at Westminster for a good view at Parliament Square. We just missed Hilly and her amazing sub-3 run, and we missed the leading men by a whisker, hence the need for some choices and haste if you are following a faster group. We did get the chance to see the rest though, and finally I spotted my club mates, Neil, James, Dave and Steve - tricky though when they wear charity vests!
An hour in the pub with the Serpies, and then back to the repatriation zone to meet the group for the coach.
A good day and a good plan for spectating - thanks Karen!
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