Marathon Effort

19 March 2006

Z and I went in to the city to have a look at the Women’s and Men’s Marathon held here for the 2006 Commonwealth Games. The city was buzzing, the crowds friendly, and it was great to get a glimpse of the lead runners: especially Kerryn McCann and Hellen Cherono Koskei who raced neck-and-neck right into the stadium. No matter how you cut it, 42+ kilometres is a long way to run. I suppose the task is quite literally, a marathon effort.

C arrived with lunch when the marathon had finished, and our afternoon was wrapped up with some great live music from Ravi Bandhu Vidyapathy and friends from Sri Lanka, at the Festival site down at Alexandra Gardens. Even for people who have a middling interest in sport, like me, the Commonweath Games has brought its own kind of spark into the city.

Watch out for Friday night, when Z and I head down to the athletics at the MCG.