A marathon effort
Posted on 20/04/2010The world-famous London Marathon takes place on Sunday, but thanks to the travel chaos caused by the volcanic ash cloud, it could be a decidedly local affair, writes Simon Hart in The Telegraph
It is meant to be the ultimate endurance test over 26.2 miles but for many of the leading runners due to compete in Sunday's Virgin London Marathon, the race to the finish line could be thousands of gruelling miles long.The cloud of volcanic ash that has turned Britain into a no-fly zone has forced athletes from as far afield as Kenya, Ethiopia, Japan and the United States into a race against the clock just to make it to the start-line. Unless the flight ban ends and air travel returns swiftly to normality, they face punishing journeys on planes, trains and automobiles every bit as energy-sapping as the race from Blackheath to The Mall.
One athlete, Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede, who was runner-up in last year’s race, is booked on a nightmarish trip that begins in Addis Ababa on Tuesday and then takes him by air to Tel Aviv, followed by another flight to Madrid and then a gruelling overland trip to London, via Paris.
Kebede has had the added problem of having to obtain new visas for his re-routed journey. He will deserve a medal just for making it to the capital.
As other runners contemplate trips every bit as difficult, race organisers were on Monday drawing up emergency travel arrangements to smooth their passage to London and ensure a top-quality field for the world’s richest marathon.
Among the options being considered was chartering a jet to pick up athletes from Kenya and Ethiopia, who form the bedrock of the men’s elite field. Money would be appear to be no object to save a race that has been billed as the strongest men’s marathon in history.
On the women’s side, Mara Yamauchi, the Japan-based Briton who made a major breakthrough to finish second in last year’s race, has also been caught up in the travel meltdown. She flew into Madrid with her husband from Japan at the weekend and on Monday night the pair were in a hire car halfway between the Spanish capital and Paris with a reservation on Tuesday for the Eurostar to London.
With 3,449 overseas athletes entered for the mass participation race, the flight chaos could also have an impact on the number of fun runners who make it to the start-line, with possible knock-on consequences for the amount of money raised by charity.
On Monday night organisers were confident that the alternative travel plans being put in place would ensure that the cream of the world’s marathon runners would still be able to compete. But should the worst-case scenario happen and the race be stripped of its overseas stars, there will still be domestic interest.
Andrew Lemoncello, the United States-based Scot who will be making his marathon debut in London, beat the flight ban by two days when he flew in from his training base last week. He will be joined by Dan Robinson, who finished 11th in the 2007 World Championships in Osaka and whose journey to London involves a 90-mile drive from Stroud.
If it keeps pumping out its noxious gas cloud, the Eyjafjallajokull volcano could even deliver Britain’s first men’s winner since Eamonn Martin in 1993. Now that would be an act of God.
An unlikely role model
Let the record show that Brian Davis lost a sudden-death play-off to Jim Furyk at the Verizon Heritage Classic, writes Daily Mail's golf columnist Derek Lawrenson, because the act of sportsmanship has turned him into a hero overnight. But it is just another extraordinary episode in the life of Brian.
They say Americans are only interested in winners but what happened to the quiet Londoner Brian Davis following his selfless act of sportsmanship in the Verizon Heritage Classic in South Carolina on Sunday exposed that as bunk.Let the record show that Davis lost a sudden-death play-off for this prestigious US Tour title to Jim Furyk to leave him still awaiting his first American victory. But what it can't portray is the extraordinary outpouring of goodwill that followed his loss, nor the fact Middle America has now adopted him as its unlikeliest role model.
Typical of the emails sent was one from a 38-year-old single father, who wrote: 'I only started playing golf three weeks ago and I wanted to let you know that I was watching my second golf tournament with my 15-year-old son and your performance just compelled me to write. I have never seen such honour and sportsmanship and how wonderful to be able to have my son see how a true man acts during competition when most of what the media shows us is a well-known golfer acting poorly.'
There is no question that Davis could have moved on to his putt and no-one would have been any the wiser. At stake was not only a possible first American title but a difference in prize-money of £500,000. Never mind that it is a stupid rule when applied to his set of circumstances. It is still a rule and Davis did what he knew he had to do.
So it goes down as another extraordinary episode in the remarkable life of this particular Brian. What America doesn't know yet - but will learn soon enough - is that this is the least of it when it comes to the steadfast manner in which he has dealt with fortune's slings and arrows.
Over the past six years he has seen both his father and father-inlaw, former Liverpool and England goalkeeper Ray Clemence, diagnosed with cancer. His first child was rushed to hospital with pneumonia at the age of nine months while his second child was in and out of Arnold Palmer's Children's hospital in Orlando with kidney problems. Two years ago Davis, who has been treated for skin cancer himself, turned up at a tournament in Memphis and phoned home only to learn that his wife and kids were back in hospital following a carbon monoxide leak at their house.
In the merciless world of top-class sport it is hard enough to cope without any distractions, never mind when they are piled this high. As he showed on Sunday, Davis isn't most men.