Flora London Marathon

Walk the Walk would like to say a massive thank you to our fantastic team who took part in the 2009 Flora London Marathon! Read on to find out what happened...

From a supporters point of view!

Its 9:45 and there’s three of us packed into a crowded corridor on the train to London Waterloo ready to meet two more of our fantastic supporter team under the clock at 10:30.  We then cram ourselves into an equally packed underground train to travel to Canada Water to set up camp somewhere around the mile 10 marker.  We arrive at Canada Water and follow the crowd towards the sound of a brass band cheering on the runners as they wiz by.  We manage to get ourselves right to the barrier and there was brief concern that we would not be heard over the band.  After picking a few random runners to scream our support at, we quickly realised that our worries weren’t justified as we were probably loud enough to be heard at the finish line!  After about an hour and half of constant cheering, spotted our first walkers come around the corner.  Our noise levels somehow managed to increase even more and the walkers definitely didn’t fail to spot us!  They gave us a cheery wave and continued on their quest to the finish line.  Soon after, the rest of our team came into sight and once again, the noise became deafening as we spurred on our walkers.

It’s now about 12:45 and we are back on the Jubilee Line heading for Canary Wharf on thankfully a much quieter train.  We come out of the station into the wonderful sunshine to be greeting by huge crowds at the mile 18 marker cheering on friends, family and anyone who went past.  We somehow manage to once again set up camp right up against the barriers.  Here, the runners are much closer to us so there was definitely no chance that they wouldn’t be able to hear us!  Soon the first of many celebrities went by and it was none other than Barack Obama, closely followed by Batman and Superman!  Not long after came the first of our walkers and everyone in the near vicinity of them turned to find out what the ruckus was all about!  Then down the line we could hear some extra loud cheering and soon Katie and Peter came round the corner with their entourage and a few cameras.  One of which went right past us, so we will have to look out on their show if we can be spotted!  Then came the last of our walkers closely followed by the Queen of England who we gave a completely harmonious rendition of God Save the Queen.  It’s now about 3:00 and it’s time for a much needed lunch and loo break before we need to move on to Westminster to mile 25.

We are now at mile 25, the field has spread out and everyone looks like they need some encouragement.  By now our throats are hoarse, but we were still able to get the attention of our walkers and congratulate them on being so close to completing their challenge.  This was first time supporting and I have to say that the atmosphere was electric, the weather was perfect and it was the best fun I have had in a long time!  I hope our cheers and words of encouragement helped made what is a huge challenge that little bit easier for our walkers and for all the other participants we chose to cheer along the way.