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The 16th Halstead & Essex Marathon is sponsored by:
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» Keith Scrivener |
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19 Apr 2008 - 3:48 PM - by Nathan
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Updated 9-May-2009
Roger Bannister cured my epilepsy.
“Roger Bannister cured my epilepsy” makes a great headline. True, too, because the man who broke the four-minute mile 53 years ago is also one of the top neurologists in the world, and something of an expert on epilepsy.
In 1981 Keith Scrivener met him. Keith, currently one of Great Bentley Running Club's most ardent runners, suffers from epilepsy. Today he keeps it at bay - "cured" for all intents and purposes - but before he met Bannister he was suffering big time.
"I had had yet another huge fit and my doctor - who was friendly with Sir Roger - referred me to him," he declared. "I travelled to London and went through hell while Sir Roger assessed me - I was spun round and round and had to stare at flickering lights, that kind of thing. I had about a dozen fits in an hour."
But that was nothing compared to Bannister's solution. "He told me he wanted me to try a new radical treatment, which had never been attempted before," he said. "Actually, he did say this radical treatment' was off the top of his head. I was more or less a guinea pig."
Keith, now 65, was told he could either be reliant on drugs for the rest of his life or start running every day. "If not running then some similar energetic sport," he explained. "The idea is to each day make my heart beat very fast. Sir Roger hoped this would stop the electrical connections in my brain from creating the massive seizures which had, up until then, blighted my life."
It wasn't only running. Keith would have to eat very differently, too. "No alcohol, tea or coffee - just water. I was told I would not be able to have meat, but to eat far more vegetables, rice and pasta." Keith admits he was scared. There was no guarantee this would work, but the epilepsy had become so bad he was desperate. "I had been accepted to train as an officer with the RAF, but the seizures put an end to that career," he said. "Just before I met Sir Roger the seizures had become so bad there were several times when I had to be revived. "With a large mortgage and my wife, Meryl, and three young children to support, it was crisis time."
Keith has always had epilepsy. At his local primary school - he was born in Hatfield Peverel - and at secondary school in Witham, he was conscious that those seizures controlled his life. "To completely change how I had lived for 39 years was daunting. But I had no choice. It was far better to try a new athletic, healthy way of life than to be an invalid - because that is what I was - for the rest of my days, and quite likely die young."
He opted to run. His son, Aaron, then 15, had just broken the local schools' cross-country record. Keith decided if his son could run, so could he. His first foray into this new world was a brave one. He opted to run the six miles from the family home in Maylandsea to Aaron's school, St Peters Burnham on Crouch, and to run home, too. Aaron thought he was "nuts".
"After one-and-a-half miles I was sick," he laughed. "I couldn't run any more so I walked to the school and then walked back home. I could not walk for three days after that. I felt awful." But he knew it could only get better. He was sticking to his new diet and he was going to stick to running. He began keeping a record of how he felt for his GP and for Bannister. Then, a couple of weeks later, it hit him. He hadn't had a seizure. In fact, the last seizures he has had were those induced in Bannister's clinic.”
A few weeks after I began running I completed a half-marathon (13.1 miles) to raise money for St Peter's School Burnham on Crouch," he said. "My son was running, too, and I was determined to beat him. A friend set the pace and kept me in front of Aaron. I crossed the line ahead of him - just. Then I collapsed!"
Three months later he ran and completed his first marathon. To date, he has completed 90 marathons and wants to reach the magical 100. But as he gets older it becomes harder. "The fastest marathon I ever ran was the London Marathon when I was 48. I clocked three hours 20 minutes. Now it takes more than four hours. But I'm pig-headed and want to reach my 100 which I hope to run at the Halstead Marathon on the 11th of May 2008".
Keith joined Great Bentley Running Club six years ago, and it was one of his fellow-runners who suggested the 100 target. Marathon running has taken him across the UK and the world. But he doesn't only run marathons. He has completed 12-hour track races (running as many circuits of the track in 12 hours) and the Grizzly, the Cornwall Adventure Race.
"I am still sticking to Sir Roger's radical treatment'. At 65 I am fit and healthy - cure me? Of course, he did!"
Keith Scrivener on track in a 12-hour race...
...and at the Midnight Sun race.
In 2008 Keith was due to go into hospital for an operation two days before the Halstead Marathon. He had chosen it as his hundredth marathon. This was because it was his local one and one of his favourite courses.
The surgeon said he didn’t look happy about that date. So he explained how he had to run the Halstead as his hundredth and the surgeon agreed to put it off till two days after the race.
The Halstead organisers kindly gave him running number 100 to celebrate the event.
He ran with the help of Paul his younger club mate pacing him. (Quite a sacrifice as he can run far faster.) Other club mates cycled round and another ran with him for the last mile. That support was added to by more of the Great Bentley R.C. club members on a drink station and wife and daughter cheering him on.
He finished in his slowest time nearly an hour and a half longer than his last run on the course. But he’d reached his hundred and he was presented with a special award and his colours by the 100 marathon club. Plus a magnification engraved plate by the Great Bentley running club.
On the Tuesday after the Halstead his operation was successful but because of the skin grafts he was forbidden to run for months.
However Keith will be on the start line for the 2009 race for his 104 marathon. This year he will wear his 100 marathon shirt and number 409.
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» Pam White |
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11 Apr 2008 - 12:23 PM - by Nathan
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When you wander into your local hospital A&E in the early hours of the morning with unbearable stomach pains, and confess to them that you ran 22 miles earlier that day “just training” it’s to be expected that you’ll be sent home with a bottle of Gaviscon and told not to be such a big girl’s blouse!
Fortunately, (or unfortunately), that was not Pam’s experience on Easter Monday. A scan swiftly followed, and the specialist told her that her small intestine had decided to go “walkabouts” and was wrapped around not only pre-existing scar tissue from a previous peritonitis operation, but also several other internal organs as well. She was told it would not get better and surgery would need to be swift – right along the previous scar, which had nicely healed up over the years.
Obviously, this is not the best news for a dedicated runner, and she has had to withdraw from the FLM, which she has run for past five years, Edinburgh, which she has run several times, and, her favourite Halstead.
Pam says ‘Halstead is my absolute favourite event. After running it for the first time in 2005, I was completely hooked. It is a cross between a marathon and a village fete, with tea and cakes in the school hall afterwards, and sometimes a brass band playing. I’ll really miss it this year, with the rape fields in full bloom, pretty clapperboard villages, man-eating flies, and excellent cheerful support and marshalling. The venue has a leisure centre right next door where you can have a swim and a shower afterwards. It certainly deserves its place in the Top Ten.”
Pam hopes to be back at Halstead in May 2009 and wishes everyone a terrific day.
We hope you will be back too Pam and wish you a speedy recovery [The Marathon Committee]
Pam (right) at the 2007 Halstead & Essex Marathon, when she took her 3rd Female 50-54 category win. |
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» Pete Burns |
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04 Apr 2008 - 9:27 PM - by Nathan
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Halstead’s Ever Present
Peter Burns completed his 200th marathon in Antalya, Turkey on 2nd March and, if he successfully negotiates the Bungay Black Dog Marathon on 6th April, this year’s Halstead Marathon will be his 202nd marathon.
Peter started running at age 43 when he was coming to the end of his football playing days and he was looking round for a more leisurely pursuit. His wife Mary had already joined the local Witham Running Club so he decided to give running a try. He was a little apprehensive. He hadn’t been all that quick when he was young and hadn’t heard of anyone getting faster the older they got!
He managed a creditable 1:30 Half Marathon time and was persuaded to send off a London Marathon entry form. As luck would have it, he was successful in the ballot and completed the 1991 event in 3:26.
Flushed with success he decided to run his second marathon the following February at Romney Marsh in Kent. Despite having to walk the last couple of miles in agony because of failure to apply adequate lubrication in a sensitive area, he achieved what was to become his p.b. of 3:18. As he came over the line that day, Peter ran under a banner that proclaimed. “Well Done Don on Your 100th”. Olympic Gold medallist, the late Don Thompson, happened to be running his 100th marathon that day and Peter was able to applaud the great man as he crossed the line.
Peter decided he had found the ideal therapy to replace his beloved football - something that would occupy him for at least a couple of years, running a marathon each week!!! Of course things were a bit more complicated than that. Eight and a bit years later, and having travelled thousands of miles in the process, Peter had his own moment of glory when he crossed the marathon finish line for the 100th time at Halstead in May 1999.
There then came the problem of what to do next. First came the challenge of completing every road race marathon currently organised in the UK and the Irish Republic. This was accomplished, but of course this remains a moving target with each new event that comes on the calendar.
The next goals were to complete 100 different marathons and to meet the 100 Marathon Club Challenge of running in 50 different counties in the British Isles. By the time these targets were realised the 200-marathon tally was in sight. Just for good measure, Peter has managed to run in 33 different countries.
But all the while, Peter continued to support his local Halstead Marathon so that he is now the only person to have completed all 13 Halstead Marathons held so far. This has probably been his most difficult achievement. For the last four years he has had to “run” with a variety of illness/injury problems that would have prevented him running had he not been determined to maintain his 100% Halstead record. Training for the 2008 run has not got off the ground so it looks like another struggle to get round this year. He has certainly given up trying to better his best time for the Halstead course of 3:29.
Peter finishing his 200th marathon in Antalya Football stadium in Turkey on 2nd March in his 100 Marathon Club vest. He got round in 4:59 on the strength of 30 miles running since Christmas!!!
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» Dr. Maggie Cooper |
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03 Mar 2008 - 5:19 PM - by Nathan
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2005 Female Winner
Dr. Maggie Cooper ran her first race at the age of 7 when her father Trevor Joyce, an ultra distance runner, persuaded her to run a mile in a 100 mile relay race. Her mother was a leading cross-country runner and sub 5-minute miler. After the birth of 13-month-old Dominic, which she feels has gave her additional strength; her running has been improving with a time of 1.20.40 at the Stroud half marathon and being part of the winning Shaftsbury Barnet Ladies team at the Luton Marathon Relays.
Her intended first marathon was London but after all the training she contracted ‘flu’ on the Friday before and had to withdraw. Her next target was Edinburgh and she entered Belfast and Halstead as training runs to obtain experience of running a marathon. Belfast turned out to be further, because of a bomb the field was diverted and she probably ran nearly a mile extra so Halstead became her first race over the exact Marathon distance.
One thing she believes that she learnt from our run was the importance of proper carbo-loading beforehand. She had felt bad at 20 miles but had some orange, which made her feel much better, perhaps due to the sugar content.
She says that it was a lovely course, well marshalled and everyone was so friendly. She liked the two loops, which enabled her to gauge, her progress. She did think however that it seemed as if there was more uphill than down with one particularly long drag after 18 miles.
Maggie has a PhD in medicinal chemistry and is married to Peter, vicar of a local Church in Edgware.
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» Lester Smith |
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03 Mar 2008 - 1:35 PM - by UltraFlynn
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I first became interested in marathons in the mid 80’s and have completed at least one every year since then. Since turning 50, must have undergone some sort of metamorphosis, as I now average 6 Marathons per year.
If all goes well over the next 2 months, viz no injuries, I will be running my 93rd Marathon at Halstead. Your event will be an integral part of my attempt to complete 5 Marathons over a 28 day period, on three different continents. [Australia, North America,(Boston M) and the UK]. The emphasis is on the word “complete”. Hard to put an average time, one never knows what can happen on race day, (the good and not so good times will be there and definitely ‘the ugly’ will probably be ever present!). I managed to average under 3h 20m last year, with a 55-59 age group PB for me at 3:13.39, but I am not expecting to run too many, if any, at that sort of pace.
Your event will also help me achieve, some time in the next 12 months or so, my goal of running 100 Marathons.
The numbers of events available to us down in Oz, plus continual travel over large distances makes this target a bit tricky in Australia. There are currently less than 30 Australians, (living/running here), that belong to the Australian 100 M Club.
My club, South Road Runners Club, is the largest in my State with around 700 members. It was established in the early 80’s.
Brief summary of 20+ years as a Marathon runner,first M , 1985 (happened also to be my first running event over any distance)
PB, 10k, 37:34
PB, half M, 1:24:13
PB, M, 3:05:42
PB, age graded marathon, 2:45.28
just on 70,000 running km Just about to turn 57, and hope to ‘run’ the M’s until all my cogs seize completely!
Lester with his mother, Merle after the Adelaide Marathon, 26th August 2007
Lester at the 2008 Halstead & Essex Marathon.
Update Nov-2008:
I completed my 100th marathon on 12-Oct-2008 at Melbourne. Quite a memorable day, including the weather, over 30 degrees Celsius and 50km+ winds, just sensational for endurance running!!
2008 was quite a journey, to date have completed 17 marathons, which included 10 in 105 days and also 5 in a 28 day period. Now that last bit of info will always be highly significant for me as the 5th marathon was Halstead. I still rank your event in my ‘top 5’ overall and I believe it will always remain there.
Everything I like about a marathon is at Halstead. The course, not sure who selected the rolling hills, country lanes, great scenery, but they got that absolutely right. It is a very good road marathon, fair but still challenging, a course where good times can be run if in shape, but still totally enjoyable if you wish just to plod around for 4 hours or so.
Lester completing his 100th marathon at Melbourne - well done from all at HRR! |
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