Gold Coast Marathon ... anything but Gold.

The 2016 Gold Coast Marathon really lived up to its name and reputation.
A beautiful winter's morning welcomed Australia's only Gold rated IAAF marathon, but did it live up to its gold label standard?  Sure did.

Did my effort?  What was an attempt at a PB ended up being my worst marathon result rather than my best!  But that's illness - and it will fuel another blog post one day.....

Here's my event ranking of a great event.  In short, I'm labeling it deserving of the title "best marathon in Australia".

#GCAM16
#thisisqueensland

My event ranking:

Organisation	9	Overall, excellent. Hard to fault. World class indeed. Deserving of that gold class. Its not 1 outstanding thing, its lots and lots of little things all combined. Its easy (free transport); its user friendly (lots of space, signs, etc); its runner friendly (huge drink stations and a dedicated runners area after the finish line).  Compared to Melbourne and Sydney it really is a notch above.
Course	7	Great start and great through 30km. Nice and flat throughout and alongside the beach is cool and definitely the highlight. All the pretty stuff is missing from the last 10km. Great finish shute.
Atmosphere	8	Best in Australia. Four elite runners under 2:10 gets a gold standard and also gets the story pumping and the crowds excited. Who doesn't love hearing Deeks cheer for you personally over the PA? Who doesn't love watching Kurt Fearnley fly past to win his event? Who doesn't love the "motivators" who come alongside and help you with 10km to go? Outstanding.
Crowds	7	Again, best in Australia. Crowds alongside all the main areas and even those having bacon & eggs in street-side cafes get into the spirit of it.
Expo	7	Best in Australia again.
Medal	6	Pretty good.
Runner’s pack	7	Good tshirt
Injuries	6	One massive blister and one black toe nail!

"Gee those Incas were smart"... A lesson in water from Machu Picchu

"GEE THOSE INCAS WERE SMART..."

Over and over I kept saying this to myself as I marveled at the creative spirit of the Inca people as I wandered their engineering marvel: Machu Picchu.

What great engineers, designers and builders they were. They sure knew a thing or two about water.

How else does a community of 500 people living atop a mountain survive with a healthy flow of clean drinking water for 50 years? How else do you design an irrigation system back in the year 1450 to counter a 50% slope and landslides?

These are not new problems. They are problems facing communities and people everywhere today. However I was really surprised to learn in Peru today 35% of people in rural places - like those I traveled through to get to Machu Picchu - lack access to clean water. 

Water, Machu Picchu and a Peru-inspired Janji tshirt perfect for the days hiking and exploring.

One company is doing something about it: Janji.  And I'm very happy to support them.
Janji means 'promise' and that's exactly what they do. They deliver on their promise that every sale of Janji apparel provides one year's clean water for someone in one of their Peru projects (through Living Water International). 

Back in 1991 When Hiram Bingham found the ruins of Machu Picchu he found intact their "remarkable system of highways and irrigation ditches, which ran for scores of miles in the Central Andes."

The original plan for an Inca estate required - what we would term today - town planning. But this was in 1450 of course! A stream, fed by rains from the humid basin of the Amazon, at at altitude of 2,500m fed a canal built straight into the city walls. 16 fountains, the first reserved for the Emperor, ensured the design for the entire city. These fountains remain. 

Water runs still through Machu Picchu on the Inca's original buildings

Despite the fascinating expertise of the Incas Peru remains a country with great need for water supply for so many of its people. Janji chose Peru as one of the countries to benefit from its mission of providing water projects funded through sales of its apparel. Runners, who have a great appreciation for fresh water, choose their apparel with designs based on the themes and inspiration of the country. 

Check out all their awesome Peru designs on great apparel here: http://runjanji.com/collections/peru
 

 
We can learn a lot from the Incas. We can contribute a lot through Janji.

Find out more about Janji's great work in Peru here: http://runjanji.com/pages/peru

Wearing my favourite Janji llama design tshirt whilst hiking along the Inca Trail 

References:
- 'City of the Incas - The story of Machu Picchu and its builders' by Hiram Bingham, Phoenix House Publishing, London.
- 'Water supply and draining at Machu Picchu' by Jeff L. Borwn, Waterhistory.org

A LITTLE CRAZY, A LOTTA PEOPLE AND HEAPS OF FUN …. TOKYO MARATHON 2016

One of the world’s Major Marathons was calling …. and I couldn’t say no.

Japan’s long-distance running history is impressive and this was their 10^th Anniversary Tokyo Marathon so it was time to join 37,000 of my nearest and dearest friends for an adventure. 
And what an adventure it turned out to be!

Here’s my top memories:

At the Expo. More a cultural experience than a running show

1. The size of the event

Not as big as New York’s Marathon but right up there. The 37,000 were the lucky ones from over 300,000 who applied. Running is alive and well in Japan!

Anytime you have to organise 37,000 people is going to require some precision - and the Japanese are great at that. They are far better at waiting in lines than us impatient Aussies. Lines for toilets, lines for arriving, lines for buses, lines for lines….

Seriously, this is 400 metres from the start and blokes are heading off to the toilets.                        No peeing in the bushes in Tokyo!

This explains why. The pre-race queues for the toilet were loooooooooooong.

Lines for security. A modern day reality for entering all events. 

Lines for lining up in lines. 

Because of the size of the field it was push and shove the whole way. Never a gap or an empty bit of road. But they are all so nice about it!

2. The city course

And we're off.  All 37,000 of us at once!

The old and the new.  Japan brilliantly on show. 

Imagine running down here at night with all this neon!

The course takes itself around Tokyo’s biggest sites. The loop course has a mix of old and new shown off beautifully. You go past the famous towers on a course rather flat (but a couple of sneaky bridges at the end).  Perfect weather (4 degrees early rising to about 12)

Tokyo Sky Tower - and see, I'm not the only one who runs with a camera!

Running down the famous Ginza shopping strip - but no time for souvenirs

I was so excited to see at least some early season blossom - a Tokyo icon. 

3.  The crazy crowds

The noise was fantastic!

Why don’t Australian’s embrace public running events like other countries?  We have a few family and friends at the finish line but this has over 1 million people on  the streets going crazy. Whether its in their corporate uniforms or dressing up to watch, they make an event of it and the city is turned over to the runners for the day.

The best costume I saw - by far!

4    4. The crazy runners

Forget what you think about bland, traditional corporate Japan, these runners wore costumes of all shapes and sizes and bought the city to life. They were going to have fun regardless of anything! Its contagious!

Mickey Mouse?

This was hysterical. The street-side band were playing the 'YMCA' song and runners were joining in the actions!  A bad photo because I am in the middle of the chorus.  "Y, M, C, A... it's fun to stay at the.."

Yep, anything goes!

Here's a link to a serious article on "the most spectacular outfits of this year's Tokyo Marathon":
 http://mashable.com/2016/02/29/tokyo-marathon-outfits/?sf21812067=1#lgWHNIao805N

5. The elites

This was the final race of the 2015-2016 Marathon Majors Series. It's the 'Grand Slam' of running events if you like.  US$1 million was on the line for the men and women. 

The elite really are just a blur when they go past me. The last guy in the orange singlet (Ethiopia's Feyisa Lilesa) was the men's winner. 

3 guys had a chance to win US$500,000. The result came down to the line ... literally.  Having led all day Kenya's Dickson Chumba dropped from 2nd to 3rd with just 20 metres to go, losing by 1 second ..... and blew half a million bucks as a result.  

Here's the video on You Tube. Watch it at the 1:00 minute mark and see an amazing sprint from Bernard Kipyego in 3rd to take 2nd on the line:  http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2016/02/29/general/tokyo-marathon-2016-a-great-day-at-the-races/#.VtfGofl94T9

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=tokyo+marathon+2016+finish+line&&view=detail&mid=08EA000A596F66B8B03E08EA000A596F66B8B03E&FORM=VRDGAR

It was also the Japanese Olympic qualifier so every top class Japanese athlete was out in force. That’s what gets live television all day!

Australia's own Kurt Fearnley won the men's wheelchair race for Australia. He also won in a final 100 metre sprint. 

I thought this was Aussie champ Kurt Fearnly. It wasn't, but I cheered for him anyway. 

6     6.  The volunteers

Apparently 1 million volunteers. They lined the course about every 5 metres. 

7.  The snacks

Bananas, and, wait for it ….. bread rolls and, wait for it again, ...... tomatos!

Yes, they really are tomatos!!

And we made it!

The post-race runner's area was the best I've ever seen. The Expo venue turned over to become a huge indoors runners fest, with snacks, photos, massages, bag collection etc.

And the post-race gift pack was special.  Another tomato, and even a can of non-alcoholic beer!

A beautiful medal.

An, uh- interesting, showbag!

Summary

Another Major for the bucket list.

Hard to go too fast too early because of the crowds but be prepared for them - it will challenge your time.

And lookout for the tomatos!

Thank you Tokyo!  You bewdy!

Thank you very much!

My event ranking:

Organisation	8	Overall, very good. Moving that number requires military-style operations – and it was certainly that
Course	6	Big city road races are my thing (even though the finish line is a bit of an anticlimax stuck down on the wharves)
Atmosphere	8	The Marathon owns this mega city for one day
Crowds	8	Excited fans everywhere lifts you the whole way
Expo	9	Again, amazing organisation and a super bib collection process. And a fun cultural experience as much as anything – even for non runners. The post-event experience was the best ever
Medal	7	Nice. Love the ribbon.
Runner’s pack	8	Great Asics tshirt and a really nice Finisher's towel
Injuries	9	No blisters and just one black toe nails!

February 28th, 2016.