Petite Feet Runaway

Crewing for Kiwis in Katowice Last September I jumped on Matt Bixley’s crew at the last minute for the Commonwealth 24-hour Championships in Llandudno, Wales. And I loved it. See Matt’s report on my excellent crew skills here .  Matt wasn’t running in the IAU World 24-hour Championships in Katowice, Poland this year but we had the pleasure of supporting two other New Zealand runners; Amy Campbell and Brendon Keenan. Both were running their first 24-hour races and neither we had met before. I suspected the party wouldn’t quite be like Glenmore but I booked my annual leave and was pumped. Last year Matt finished (and I suspect started) with a bruise up his entire shin. We didn’t see it until he took his long socks off. So my theory was that if he could run for 24 hours with that injury I wasn’t accepting a runner stopping for anything less! The other members of the team were Vivian Cheng, Valerie Muskett, Alex McKenna, Wayne Botha and Bryan McCorkindale. We met the t...

Last year’s race at Glenmore was such a blast that I knew I would enter the 24-hour for this year. Unfortunately my alternative training methods meant that there was no chance of even doing justice to the 12-hour. I was still keen to head to Glenmore for the party though! Erm, I mean help-out / assist / be-of-use... After a wee stop at the Tiso sale on the way up we arrive to a flustered John Duncan about ten minutes before the starting horn. We’re given instructions to make purple drinks and egg mayo sandwiches.  Crewing is harder than I thought; Is that too much egg mayo? Which way does he want the rolls cut? What is the best way to wrap them in foil so that they are accessible? Did he say two bottles and two scoops? The powder is clumping in the bottle. It’s overflowing. Should I have poured some water out beforehand? This doesn’t bode well for my crewing position at the World 24-hour Championships next weekend. I should stick to running.   ...