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Mel James - Thanks and Congratulations!
October 03, 2004
It was a great day! Sure, the weather could have been a little kinder, but the wind wasn't too significant a factor and the temperature was ideal. The drizzle was not too heavy, though it did get much worse later on.
To Mel, I simply want to say many, many congratulations. I don't think any of us appreciate just how much pressure there is in organising a big city marathon, and everyone at the Croups is proud of you and the fantastic job you did. I thought the organisation and certainly the marshalling was significantly better than last year. I hope you and Jan had a few drinks to celebrate tonight! You certainly deserve it.
A great day too on the competitive front with decisive wins in the Marathons by Julian Baker (2:28) and Ruth Pickvance (2:53). It was quite a party in Wetherspoons afterwards. Wished I could have stayed longer but had to drive home. However, the first and last word should be about Mel James. Top Man!
Posted by Mick at October 3, 2004 11:04 PM
I'll second that. Thankyou Mel for everything you have done foe me.
I would reiterate all that's said above - great if you can just turn up and run but unbdoubtedly very stressful if you are the race organiser - hope you are starting to relax now Mel, you deserve a few glasses!
A big thank you to Mel & the rest of the organising team as well as the stewards etc, for an excellent race.
Also this must be one of the best Croups performances for a while, Not only winning both male & female events but also some terrific times to qualify for London.
Special congrats to Graeme & Alan.
PS Alan - what's your secret ingredient to do such a blistering marathon time? Is it all those Welsh cakes?
Denis Murphy
Many thanks to Mel and his events team for a well organised race. The marshalling was excellent and being able to use the National Sports Centre for showers was a plus. We were then nice and clean for the Les Croups post race party in The Gatekeeper! Most 'croups' seemed to be pleased with their running times especially those who had P.B.'s, such as Ian "the Jack" Derrick but then he should be used to running fast up Ninian Park Road!
... and my thanks too to Mel for a very well organized race. Even the weather wasn't too bad, at least for the early part of the day. Excellent idea to finish in the stadium; I'm sure many runners appreciated that. Well done to Julian and Ruth! Great publicity for the club. No doubt your work is not completely over yet Mel, but you certainly deserve a good rest. Thanks for all the work and support.
Well done to Mel and the organisers for what was a very successful day! Many congrats to Julian for winning - being favourite is one thing but to do it is the difficult bit, and very well done to each and everyone of the other entries from the Club (in the Half and Full),too many to mention, but it certainly made the Club even higher profile with the huge entry. Not seen any results, but Alan Mann and Graeme Donnan excelled - Alan, you looked as though you were on the track doing a 400m in the Stadium, you show -off! It was a great event to watch and marshall for a change!
And another thank you to Mel! It was a great race even for those of us at the tail end of the half marathon field - we got to see the best of the marathon competition entertaining us as we made our way round. Good to have a traffic free course with no problems encountered and it was a great course for seeing the different aspects of our city.
Well done Mel =it was all worth it.
I can only agree with the previous comments, except to add that a visitor I met in the Gatekeeper from Halifax running the marathon thought the course was great - cobbles and all.
Congratulations Mel, and lets hope the event is here to stay.
RESULTS ARE NOW UP ON THE MARATHON WEBSITE
http://www.cardiffmarathon.org/results.html
What more can be added to the above? What a fantastic job.
Mel gave me the great honour of leading the wheelchair athletes around the marathon on my bike (Paul Bennett looked after the half marathon athletes earlier in the day). I derived huge enjoyment and satisfaction from my marshalling activities and saw a side of the race I would not otherwise have appreciated. From my privileged position I witnessed all aspects of the race. The speed and tenacity of Julian and Ruth in full flight, the charity joggers grinding out their half marathons, the sheer volume of our club members in evidence and finally and most impressively, the resilience, toughness and fantastic spirit of the wheelchair athletes. I felt proud to be part of the race, part of the club and in particular associated with these amazing athletes.
Mel gave us an event to be proud of and deserves all the plaudits we read here.
It was great to see stalwarts like Mick McGeoch and Sandy Johnson still running so strongly after all these years, and also to see "Mad Max" running again. I hadn't seen him for 20 years, and he hasn't changed much. I expect he cycled madly to the start from Penarth, getting there just in time. Well done all Croups.
Many thanks to Mel and well done to Graham and Alan for doing a PB.
Thanks so much Mel and everyone else who made yesterday possible - "proud" by association the word on lots of our lips it seems. Difficult to add to what has already been said.....Also great to see those who have helped and encouraged newbies like me doing so well (eg Graham, Alan, Ben). Bit worried about the chemical content of my jelly babies though, especially the black ones...
Those marshalling/feeding us on such a damp day deserve special thanks. My highlights...
(i) the 'Croups Fan Club' ; our support on route was terrific, even for the earlier half. I tried hard to give up but they would'nt let me !
(ii) seeing Julian and Ruth as they came through at ~ 17m (so that's what "focussed" and "in the zone" means !!)....
(iii) Mel being visible, helpful, quickly sorting out a niggle at the start of the half, getting stuck, asking competitors after the ace for feedback etc (in short, showing how directors should direct and lead)...
(iv) Tracey Newman battling it out in terrible rain at ~ m24. Two words = tough + cookie...
(iv) Shaun trashing the course in 3:18. Not bad for a freshman ! That said, he did take 4 of my jelly babies at ~m18. The remainder have been sent to the lab for testing !
A minor typo ; "Mel getting stuck" should read "Mel getting stuck in"........ (I'll get my coat !!!!!!!!!!!!)
In reply to Denis. I awe it to two people first, Mel who has helped me from the day i joined the club. Second is someonenew to me and is making me a very happy chap that is my new girlfriend Loretta.
P.s. has anyone noticed what position i came again.for anyone who can't find it the first number is a 6
I feel that I can't really add to the above comments except to say ditto all that! My personal thanks to Mel for enabling me to fulfil a lifelong ambition to run the Cardiff Marathon - in its earlier days I was but a nipper and in its latter two years of ressurection I missed it for very good reasons. It was all worth it yesterday, since the event is clearly growing & improving. Well done to the winners, runners, marshals and again, to Mel.
Well me and Sandra goes to Yeovil for the weekend and it sounds we missed a cracking race. I am glad it was because Mel had put so much work in and it just goes to show how good a marathon can be when it is well organized.Well done Mel.
A Big Thank You for organizing such a fantastic day. My 1st experience of being part of an event of this scale and I was bowled over by the whole thing. I heard lots of positive comments from other runners. I'm sure many of them will be back next year.
Sorry I only managed a quick "Hi Mel!" at the finish I really wanted to say Thankyou very much for making Sunday so damn good !.Excelent race,good marshalling and a good atmosphere in the stadium.Well done !.Any chance of bringing the Olympics to Wales ??
Ditto the above.
Excellent course, even better than last year's. In fact I loved it so much, next year I hope to do the marathon!
Nice one Mel.
