I set out from home on Saturday, 28th. July to travel to Heathrow in order to fly to Dusseldorf, allowing plenty of time for any delays. At North Greenwich was able to watch the Red Bull air challenge practicing for the Sunday..great fun.
All went well until I went to enter Terminal 2 at Heathrow; one of my holdalls got stuck in the Underground gate setting off various alarms and closing all the other gates, gave a young Muslim boy my travel pass to swipe the Oyster and waited; finally the gate opened again and I was through, thought that I might have started an incident I hurriedly got rid of my luggage and lost myself in the crowds.
Arrived at Dusseldorf and was met by Cornelia Bullig (Conny), who drove me to the hotel that I was staying at for the night before the race, left my bags there and went to track to look around and meet old friends. Awoke the next morning to the sound of steady rain, just like England, I thought; carried bags over to the track which was now flooded as two years ago, saw Siegfried Bullig (Sigi) and suggested that I could have a bike to do a Triathlon, he agreed to a bike but only to be used indoors! The rain continued until the Start at 1500 hours but the drainage of the Track had been vastly improved and one would be able to tiptoe through the puddles!
All the contestants were introduced and stood behind their National flags, it was very colourful. The start arrived and everybody set off in an anticlockwise direction at their own pace, soon I was lapped and this occurred with regular monotony for much of the next six days! The thoughts going through my mind at the time was the first event held here in 2004 when we finished as one Happy Family: now there were many of the old Family but many new faces who would soon become a part of this Family. Folk often ask why do you do this? The answer is that very soon everybody helps one another through bad patches with advice on how to overcome the problem. Perhaps at this point I could mention the happy band of helpers, just ordinary people with other lives who put themselves out for runners day and night, never once were the refreshment tables left unmanned and during the night the offering of hot soup was more than welcome.
Then there were the handlers who looked after individual runners and their needs keeping an eye on how far they had gone, what they wanted and fetching and carrying for hour after hour always with a cheerful smile. In order to record how far any runner had gone everybody wore an electronic chip and a new innovation this year was the use of constant cctv recording every lap; this earned the Gold Label from the International Association of Ultrarunners. Within a few minutes after any hour a list was provided for every participant giving all details of distance covered, other positions and prospective finishing distance and this was done for the full 144 hours!! Hats off to the IT Team!
That is the introduction, now I must introduce the Family, using Christian names only to begin with; here they are in any order!
Claude, Peter, Christian, Edit, Elke, Mattias, Martin, Kjell-Ove, Friedemanne, Hans-Jurgen, Seigi, Peter, Christian, Lucio, Jens, Andreas, Achim, Bertil, Rune, Manfred, Bjorn, Carsten, Wolfgang, Hans, Michael, Costas, Ubel, Jorg, Peter, Geir, Jorg, Rheinhold, Theo, Martina, Jutta, Hans-Peter, Ruud, Walter, Tom, Barbara and me.five women, 36 men,
Twelve nations, a global family indeed!
Day 1. cloudy with outbreaks of rain, not cold; reminds me of England! The day was broken up by mealtimes which were much appreciated; food was of an excellent nature varied and plentiful throughout the six days; congratulations to Paul, his son Patrick and many helpers. At the start at 3PM I was at the back as usual watching the progress of all the others; it seemed to me that some runners were late for a train or connection due to the speed they were travelling at! By the end of the day a pattern was beginning to emerge with Claude Hardel (France) leading with Wolfgang Schwerk (Germany 2nd. and Hans-Jurgen Schlotter (Germany) 3rd. 1st. Lady was Edit Berces of Hungary closely followed by Elke Streicher (Germany) in fact there was little to separate them at that point.
Day 2. cloudy with a little rain. Still like England and now only five days to go!With four hours to go to the day there were major changes taking place, some of the earlier leaders were losing ground and Wolfgang had taken over a definite lead of 18kms. over Claude; Hans-Jurgen was a further 17 kms.adrift wth the Japanese runner Seigi Arita closing in! Elke had taken over the lead in the Ladies race with 187 kms. and Edit less than a km. behind!
Day 3. warmer and sunny after a cold night
Achim, a local runner representing the first male Erkrath runner named Achim Herberg, not Achim Heukeman, a great German runner had a great responsibility on his shoulders with many friends and fans turning up at the track to see how he was progressing; remember that a lot of these runners were new to six day racing and just beginning to wonder what lay in front of them! It was during this day that I was aware of the Masseurs who turned up to offer free service to runners which was very gratefully received; these folk were invaluable to the race and I was very grateful for their services on more than one occasion. A bg thank you to them! Also there were visits of press reporters who interviewed many of the runners.
With an hour to go for day three the positions were as follows:
Wolfgang had moved on to 447 kms. and Hans-Jurgen had moved into 2nd. place with 371 kms. Claude had slipped to 3rd. on 366 kms. and Seigi had moved closer with 335 kms.
Day 4. The day was cloudy and much cooler than day Three and everybody was thinking that the halfway point had now been passed.
It grew steadily darker yet was only just coming up to midday with over three hours to go to the end of the day when the Heavens literally opened up and torrential ran fell. Was this a cloudburst sent from UK? Soon the track was totally flooded and some runners splashed through holding up umbrellas, others sought sanctuary including myself; it was at this point that Martin Jones, Toms handler came to my rescue, he saw me over to the tent that I was sleeping in and promised to bring hot food and hot tea after I had slept a while, this was salvation to me and I was able to get back on the track before the end of the day. The thought went through my mind that this was somewhat different to the first six day held here in 2004 when the temperature nudged 30 most days and the only rain fell soon after the Finish! This is what six day racing is all about. At noon on Day 4 Wolfgang passed 600 kms. Hans-Jurgen on 488 kms. Seigi on 450 kms. Claude had dropped out, also Lucio of Italy; it is always sad to see such great runners forced to abandon but there is always another day!
The ladies continued to make progress with Edit of Hungary now 4th. Overall wth 422 kms. and Martine Hausmann who never seemed to leave the track moving up to 8th. Overall and 2nd. in the Ladies with 411 kms.
On Mittwoch there was a visit of a singing group who livened up the proceedings followed by a guitar group, both very acceptable. I met Martina again whom I had met previously and she sang me a song which gave me a break from going round the track!
Day 5. The weather was definely warming up and I think that Television arrived and spent some time at the track, not absolutely certain as I was losing track of time! This happens when one is enjoying oneself! Do remember soaking my cap under water to keep cool and remembering to drink frequently. More massage today as my back s beginning to play up, it is as though somebody has taken away several vertebrae and replaced them with acute pain; still it will soon be the last day! With an hour to go to the end of the day Wolfgang seemed to be in an unassailable position but you can never tell!
He was now on 751 kms. Was 1000kms. possible? 2nd. Hans-Jurgen still stuck to his task on 613 kms. and 3rd. was Seigi with 580 kms. These positions seemed to be probables now!
Martina had now moved into the lead in the Ladies race now on 527 kms. with Edit in next spot on 524 kms. Elke, in her first 6 day was 3rd. on 488 kms.
Day 6. the final day arrived with many runners struggling to stay awake or to sleep or just to keep going; now there were only 24 hours to go, a mere sprint, if you did not think about it!Now the weather was set fair to become hot and cloudless, this required thought about sunburn, drinking, etc. Hour after hour passed . Meals taken and a final night to survive; at least there was the prospect of the highlight of the night, a beaker of the most gorgeous hot soup which gave extra energy to tired bodies, the thought in the mind was just to go round the track and achieve the minimum requirements to stay in the race! Counting off the number of laps still required, at one moment moving well then suddenly all energy had gone, should one sleep, did one have enough time?
The last Breakfast came and went, so did the last Dinner and still all the helpers had cheerful smiles. Crowds had begun to gather and were cheering every runner on; this reminded me of earlier times when the Summer Football School of small boys came onto the track to call out the names of runners and urge them on with some kind of Mexican wave!
Two great things happened on the last day. Helga Backhaus from Gifthorn came to the track to encourage everybody, also Renata Nierkens, a great German Six Day runner of former years also turned up, both made my day. There was now just over an hour to go and the word was out that Wolfgang would break the 1000km. point. I think that we all stopped at the 1000km. mark and waited for him to come round to cheer him into history.
Suddenly somebody at the Start indicated that I had another 7 laps to go to get to 400 kms. This spurred me on and every lap she counted down how many to go. Finally it was accomplished and a bottle of wine was thrust into my hands; not time to drink it then as only 20 minutes left but I felt that I was now King for the Day; then it was all over!!
Wolfgang did 1003 kms. Hans-Jurgen 2nd. and Seigi 3rd. What performances
End of day 6. At last it is all over, no more running, shuffling, walking, suffering or waiting for the end; there is a wonderful realisation that it is all over and everyone is a winner in their own right.Now begins the time of reflection and memory, logistics, a marvellous new word which really means getting it all together! How did Sigi And Conny and such a small club manage this? Not once, not twice but three times and each one better than the previous one.
How did they manage to obtain the Sponsors who are so essential to such an event and how did they manage to twist the arms of so many good people to give up their time so freely that we can enjoy our sport? I will probably never know the answer to this but extend a heartfelt gratitude that such people exist and if I wore a hat, would take it off to them all!
The title of this account is seeing is believing or once in a lifetime and that became to me very true when Wolfgang passed the magic 1000kms. with an hour to spare; this occurred at the beginning of the Home Straight and I think that every runner and a great many handlers and spectators congregated there to cheer him into history; a truly unforgettable moment and I was glad to be able to say that I was there!
Once again Martin Jones came to my rescue as he took my heavy bags back to the hotel and got me my room key! Many thanks Martin. Met up with Sigi, Conny and Michael on the Monday morning and did just under 6 kms. around the Unterbacher Sea to collect up the information posted all round the lake advertising the race, then on to Dusseldorf for a pleasant stay by the Rhine; temperature now about 30C, then on to the Airport for flight back to London and an attempt to recover!!
Final thoughts, there were many first timers in this race and they survived, congratulations to all; I was particularly impressed with Elke, she looked such a superb runner who looked to be in complete control all the time; also Tom Scrivens of Ireland who will soon be 75 years young and was still able to run well; a revelation for somebody who did not take up running until he was 55 years OLD!!
Dan Coffey.
The full list of results is obtainable on the Internet so look it up and consider whether you think that you might like to be included next time!
