A POWERFUL GESTURE
Ran a 4:50 mile while holding hands
When I visited Australia recently, I did the St Peters parkrun in Sydney on May 4 and was seriously impressed with my experience. After the usual welcome by the race director, followed by details about the course, safety and ‘are there any visitors running today?’ announcements, we were asked to join the organisers in thanking the indigenous owners of the land that we were about to be running on. I've never had an experience like that at a run before – together honouring the local aboriginal people. For a few seconds no-one was thinking about PBS or that ankle niggle, and it felt so right. It was a powerful shared moment with my running brothers and sisters Down Under. Yvette Staelens, Taunton Running
Club, Somerset
That’s a great story, and it just goes to show that it doesn’t matter where you travel in the world, there’s always that special bond between runners, isn’t there? Impressive parkrun tourism by the way…
YOUR WORLD
I have just read the piece about the ‘dog runner’ in your July edition and feel I need to issue a few words of caution. I am a vet and a runner, and running in the woods with my dog Emmy is probably one of my greatest joys. However, Milo Royds’ comments about the pack behaviour of the dogs with whom he runs caused me great concern. There is no doubt that a dog’s behaviour changes when it is part of a pack, and I have seen how a usually mild-mannered hound can turn into a ferocious beast when it is in the pack.
The other point to make is that all dogs are not at all equal when it comes to running, even if they have the enthusiasm to do it. I once had to treat a French bulldog who had been out with a dog walker, and running for an hour with a Border collie. The collie was completely fine, but the bulldog collapsed when it got home and spent three weeks hospitalised with kidney damage caused by heat exhaustion. So, while I think running with your dog is an amazing and joyous thing, for both humans and dogs please, please be careful.
Anne Norton, by email
Running a mile in less than five minutes is a fine achievement. But imagine doing so while holding hands with someone. That’s exactly what Steph Twell and her husband, Joe Morwood, managed at this year’s Westminster Mile, setting a world record in the process. Twell, a twotime British Olympian, is no stranger to a fast mile, and Morwood is a top club runner. They finished in 4:50, beating the previous record by a whopping 34 seconds. For Twell, it was just a warm-up: the following day, she won the London 10,000m in 31:55. Give her a big hand.