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An audacious challenge from The University of Sydney; who were in Paris to support some of their countries newly adopted Russian athletes competing in the World Athletic Championships, to some sort of competition, was eagerly greeted by the Achilles Club who immediately set about organising some sort of shindig, to be carried out on Friday the 29th August 2003.
After a great deal of procrastination and argument about the logistical nightmare of getting a team to Paris from all over Europe, it was decided that all participants would get their own lazy carcasses to Paris in whatever way they could manage, and would meet at the appointed hour. Initially, what seemed an excellent suggestion, was flawlessand surely it couldn't possibly go wrong???!
After something akin to an Ealing Comedy, or a scene from the Whacky Races, including Planes, Trains, Automobiles and the enormously 'helpful' incidence of a complete electrical blackout of London for 45 minutes, that had such precise timing as to coincide exactly with the 18.33 Eurostar departure from Waterloo it was comical, all the various members of the Achilles touring party descended; eventually, on the beautiful city of Paris.
To the worst storm of the summer ?
2003 will long be remembered for a beautiful
summer of long hot days and beautiful sunshine not for this correspondent and his Eurostar travelling chums !
For us the summer will be remembered for being trapped, as the heavens opened, under an awning only 15 doors from our hotel at 1.00 in the morning, and looking despondently at the white water river pass us, with canoeists being swept along uncontrollably into the face of the salmon leaping up current, clearly lost, thinking the top of the hill and the Gare Du Nord splendid spawning grounds (how wrong could they be !!), and hoping the rain/waterfall/torrent/breached dam would abate for long enough for us to reach safety not 50 yards away !! A less pleasant way to arrive in Paris I could not think of!
But after an exciting Parisian dinner at an open air café in the shallow end, between 2 and 3 in the morning the Team was finally assembled !
Matchday started with laughter and typical British resolve and an impromptu al fresco team breakfast of croissants and coffee, in the now completely accepted downpour, with excited conversation only halting to allow for the claps of thunder. Provisions were gathered from the local 'Alimentations' for the long day ahead and the enthusiastic team raced to the RER station.
Remarkably, after the short rail journey to Le Vesinet , a most beautiful suburb of Paris, of large villa style houses in spacious grounds and quiet roads, it appeared that the gods of competition would smile on us as the rain slowed, and a faint glimpse of blue sky was claimed by one very optimistic member of the team.
In a bizarre coincidence, some may call it misfortune, the Australian contingent had arrived sporting an exciting array of middle distance athletes whilst the Achilles gathered consisted almost entirely of sprinter / jumper types. Who were for the record, only once (in the dim and distant past) sprinter / jumper types, but were now in fact, for the most part, shuffling / dribbling types.
And so the match began, with the select spectators gathering in excited huddled bunches discussing at some length the ins and outs of International Competition and its ramifications, some became quite animated and little snippets of conversation could be overheard, questions of electronic timekeeping, wind gauges and records and of course, the million dollar question; would there in fact be a single event in which The University of Sydney and The Achilles Club would both be represented, such was the disparity in two teams !!
After several hours of happily non rain-affected competition including HJ, LJ, 100, 200, 400, SP, 1500m, 110mH and 5k it was decided that the match was to be a draw, as Sydney University had won virtually all the Track events and most in the Field , but had 'cheated' (a harsh term, and maybe undeserved in this case) by fielding Ringers (By which we mean some of their athletes had clearly been in training !)
There were some notable performances from Mary Coghlan who won both the 200m and 400m, Alice Beverley who turned up just in time to win the 1500m and Matt Weaver who seemed from nowhere to grab a new 100m personal best with a quite unbelievable time, which was sadly left unrecorded. (but later re-recorded by himself as 11.2s !!)
The extraordinary sight of Paul Willcox once again striking fear in to men half his age in the sprints was only surpassed by that of Roger Thorn in the 1500m.
Roger, our host and match organiser, now retired and living in Paris was resplendent in his Gold Trimmed Achilles Shorts and Vest. An example to us all of how to conduct oneself in life as much as at a sporting occasion. His post match speech of thanks to the French host team, who joined in the afternoons fun and competition, was superbly received and his hospitality unbounded as he invited all to his Club for drinks in the evening.
A most enjoyable evening was to be had at the Club, and even greater generosity to be found as John Boulter (the former European 800m record holder) found himself with a few too many Saturday tickets for the World Championships being held just down the road and so he passed them amongst a very grateful team.
The evening was drawn to a close at a local restaurant until several members of the party including the illustrious Tour Captain Weaver had to leave and return to blighty and the considerably tougher competition of the British League the following morning
Saturday was deemed sightseeing day as the remaining members of the party wandered around the beautiful Notre Dame, Musee du Louvre through the Jardin des Tuileries, Place de la Concorde to the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe a gentle walk before lunch and then travelling out to St Denis and the Parc de France to watch the afternoons finals.
The gratefully received tickets placed the team 5 rows from the front of the stand on the back straight and afforded an excellent view of the first changeovers in the imminent Mens 4x100m relay heats however all other competition was somewhat frustratingly lost in the fantastic but vast stadium.
After ˝ an hour of depressed sulking and sniffling
the most intelligent member of the party, by about half a parish,
pointed out the possibility of using the hospitality wrist bands which
had accompanied the tickets. After thirty seconds of sprinting to the
home straight and several minutes of discussion with the authorities,
it became obvious they knew even less about the wrist bands and what
they entitled the holders to, than the holders. However, after looks
of desperation and some pleading, the security buckled and decided
that it was probably for the best if the strange English folk sat in
the seats next to the time keepers where they were less likely to
cause any problems !!!
It was from these seats that the team were forced,
quite literally, to watch the 110mH final, all the relays, and the
very exciting Womens Long Jump Final, again, as is often the case, the most extraordinary things happen on Achilles tours.
On leaving St Denis various other renegade
Achilles athletes were sighted. They had been in Paris for the World
Championships but had disappointingly chosen, for whatever reason, not
to compete in the match - apparently it had something to do with their
tent flooding (unfortunately) in the storms of the Thursday night,
otherwise they 'definitely' would have been there.. etc etc - a likely story !!... it was only a shower from what I remember ?. so no names will be mentioned.
Especially Helen Zenner who seemed to be the ring leader !
A night of eating, drinking and dancing til very nearly the dawn finished what was a fantastic weekend in Paris for all concerned , there will be no mention of the strife certain members got into in the nightclub, nor the quantities of scotch drunk by one individual ..nor the latino dancing .. nor what appeared to be Anglo-Franco unrest, suitably and swiftly quelled by more latino dancing and a round of drinks !!
Absolutely nothing will be mentioned of the missing of the train home or the things you might have to do in order to avoid paying a full fare Eurostar ticket once you have missed your train !
Many Thanks must be given to Roger Thorn for such superb organisation and his hospitality, to Matt Weaver the coordinator and Tour Captain, and of course to Paul Willcox for his tireless efforts for the club and launching such a great idea.
Yours
A Special Correspondent
Team Members :- Matt Weaver, Jerry Barton, Alice Beverley, Steve Booth, Mary Coghlan, Andy Hodge, Alan James, Jon Parker, Alexandra Rusman, Caroline Sanderson, Roger Thorn, Ailsa Wallace, Paul Willcox .
Spectators :- Bruce Tulloh, Keith Marsden, John Herries, and John Boulter
Spectators missing :- local residents, Allison O'Neill and Dave Benton deserve castigation for non-appearance, offering the excuse that they were 'working'.
And apologies were received from Peter Crawshaw, Robert Stinson, and Tim Berrett, who had earlier in the week, placed 19th in the 50k walk at the Championships.
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