My blistered feet, with the help of the casualty department at Raigmore Hospital on a quiet night, are finally on the mend after pounding the streets of New York for the eight hours 20 minutes it took Inverness restaurant owner Catriona Cameron and myself to walk the 26 mile route.
It was gruelling but an unforgettable experience, well worth flying the 6500 mile round trip from Edinburgh to the Big Apple to be among the 48,000 participants who raised a collective 34 million dollars for charitable causes.
When we arrived home, my feet were in pretty poor shape and I’ve had to walk gingerly for a few days - each ache and pain a reminder of tramping through the five boroughs of the city that never sleeps.
All the ARCHIE Inverness team did magnificently - the first home, running the route in a splendid three hours 56 minutes apiece were Valerie Matheson of the Breast Care Clinic and Northern Constabulary officer Tony Anderson.
Neil Cameron, husband of Catriona, hit the finish line in 4 hours 28 minutes, just ahead of Laura Mackintosh, my PA, who did superbly in her first marathon with a finish in 4 hours 30 minutes. Only two minutes behind her was Lorna Mackenzie, the nurse from Raigmore Hospital’s Ward 11.
Our Inverness septet raised a total of £40,000 towards Archie’s goal of a £1 million new state-of-the-art childrens facility for Raigmore. Added to that is £28,000 we raised at a Silent Auction at Drumossie Hotel a couple of nights before our departure. Next year, we hope to do a bit of recruiting and build on this year’s marathon success by fielding a larger Archie team. Anyone interested? Let us know.
On our flight over, the pilot called our attention to a spectacular sight - a completely ice free Greenland. What a sight, underpinning global warming statistics. And flying in to New York, with its 8.5 million people and spectacular skyline, gave our team a real lift and a reminder of our task.
There was a pre-race Parade of Nations in Central Park on the Friday night and while we were proud to be within the UK contingent, we did manage to create a 10ft gap and march behind the Saltire and the flag of the American Scottish Foundation who we had dinner with that evening. Its chairman Alan Bain has a Harris Tweed mill in Carloway, Lewis, and we remain hopeful that they can assist the ARCHIE Appeal. At the Parade we met Ron Hill, the well-known former British long distance runner who won the gold medal in the Commonwealth Games marathon in Edinburgh in 1970.
Getting up so early on Sunday morning to be at the race start by 6.30 am New York time was vastly different from my normal Sunday wake-up time. The best way to get to the start was to take the Staten Island ferry which passes very close to the Statue of Liberty, so that was a splendid view to set us on our way.
We walkers were allocated to our corral and the wait to get started enabled Catriona and I to grab sustenance in the form of a coffee and bagel. At 10.45 am sharp, a canon boomed, and that was us off, walking across the Verrazano Narrows Bridge which took us from Staten Island into the mainland of the city. We became friendly with a lady from Germany who was tackling the marathon as a gift to herself on her 60th birthday and she stayed with us most of the way and we were pleased that she also made it to the finish.
Two million spectators lined the route and gave terrific encouragement. We had our names, the charity and the Scottish flag on our T-shirts and quite a few shouted specific backing.That helped put a spring in our steps, particularly walking through Brooklyn where there was massive cheering from huge crowds.
Competitors took advantage of the refreshment stations where you could take on board water and energy gel. These were tubes of liquid food you squeezed down as you walked. I have to say that liquidised apple strudel doesn’t taste the same on the hoof!
Because the walkers were so far behind the runners, by the time we hit the Williamsburg Bridge, 10 miles out, the refreshment stations had stopped and the stations were being dismantled, which was a bit of a disappointment. But when we reached the halfway mark that cheered us up again as it meant our sponsorship would be paid. Catriona and I celebrated with a quick pit stop to a Dunkin Donuts for a jam doughnut and a coffee, consumed as we walked, and it was this wee caffeine lift which led to us discussing how we felt and deciding we would go for it and try for the finish.
When we crossed the Queensboro Bridge, the whole horror of what lay ahead met our eyes as we could see how far we had to go. That took us into The Bronx, a notoriously rough, tough borough - and here, things changed dramatically, with few spectators but a policeman every 30 yards. They were quite obviously there to prevent competitors from coming to harm or wandering down a dangerous street.
From The Bronx, we walked through Harlem and the support and encouragement from the sidelines returned. A musical group on the pavement played ‘Imagine’ and we sang the John Lennon anthem as we walked along. Yet another band played ‘These Boots Were Made for Walking’ and again we joined in lustily. Through Manhattan we trooped and a sign told us we’d covered 20 miles.
It was here, however, that the gathering chill took its effect on us. Coldness clicked in through our bodies and as we reached Fifth Avenue, I asked a policeman what the temperature was and he said four degrees.That was a difficult time for us as we shivered and wondered if we had pushed ourselves too far. But we plugged on and when the welcome sight of Central Park met our eyes we again chatted and decided to up the anti and go faster, on the basis that would give us more heat. So we mustered a small jog as we completed the lap of the famous park and kept that up all the way to the finish line.
I felt slightly delirious with the cold and when someone from the marathon support team handed me a blanket it was hugely welcome. Collecting my medal at the time took second priority to wrapping myself in that blanket. Laura Mackintosh and Neil Cameron had been able to get to their hotel and change and return to the finish line in time to greet us and that’s when we found that every one of us had completed the marathon, a magnificent team effort.
Once I warmed up, my own feeling was one of double relief - that I’d managed to go all the way and that it was all over. My feet were so sore that a kind helper took me on a golf buggy the quarter mile to the taxi rank and he even refused a tip I’d been very willing to pay.
Team ARCHIE Inverness may have triumphed but we certainly didn’t celebrate. There was no hitting the bright lights for us. In fact, we didn’t even eat dinner. I couldn’t face food. All I wanted - after my blisters were treated - was my bed which I exhaustedly struggled into at 9.30 pm. I didn’t need rocking.
Next morning, though, we were hale and hearty and starving and consumed a full breakfast with lashings of toast, coffee and orange juice. And no walking - bliss. Then, it was off for Team ARCHIE’s courtesy call on the UK Consul General to New York, Danny Lopez, who had also run in the marathon the day before. I passed on greetings from Jimmy Gray, Provost of Inverness,
My wife Anne didn’t know that I had gone the distance until I phoned her. But technology is wonderful these days and there is an iPhone app which enabled some supporters back in Inverness to track the Team Archie members in the marathon on a mile by mile basis. Amazing!
If it was not for Catriona’s companionship and constant cajoling, I don’t think I’d have gone the full 26 miles.Because I’d left it so late before deciding I’d compete, I simply hadn’t done sufficient preparation. At the age of 62 and carrying rather too much weight, that risked making it ‘Mission Impossible’ but I got there. If I do another marathon in 2012 then I realise I’ll have to have much more preparation than this time.
New York gained a huge economic boost from the race, with every hotel full, and the city did a magnificent job while the cheers from New Yorkers, and the chants of my name, are something that will stay with me.
I’m pleased my body stood up to the test, but the greatest pleasure is that our Magnificent Seven rode in to town and rode out with £40,000 in sponsorship strapped to our saddlebags. Superbly done to Catriona, Valerie, Tony, Laura, Neil and Lorna - I’m enormously proud of you all. My aim as chairman of the ARCHIE Appeal Highland is to reach our £1 million target by the end of 2012. We can then look back on our New York achievement and adventure and think: "We did our bit in the Big Apple".
* See today's Inverness Courier for more appeal news.
