Martin Payne reports:

On Friday June 6, I flew to Eindhoven from Manchester uneventfully, in contrast to David Hoben who had taken the Eurostar from London only to be greeted in the Netherlands with an unexpected rail strike. Not to be deterred, David caught a taxi, at some expense, to his hotel in Eindhoven.

We woke up to rain on Saturday and made our way to the athletic stadium, a short walk away from the centre of Eindhoven..

The Dutch organisers were as friendly and helpful as ever. They had provided various events:
100 mile/24 hr ( 36 entrants ), 100K ( 2 ),
50 mile (31) and 50K (11).

Both David and I had entered for the 50K. Last year in Schiedam I had experienced an episode of ventricular tachycardia during the last 2 laps of the 50 mile event which ended my race. This year I thought a shorter distance might be more appropriate with a better chance of remaining vertical throughout.

We set off at the same time (12 noon) as the heroic 100 milers, and our mission was to complete 15
2 mile circuits on a paved area adjacent to a few roads around the stadium in quite a peaceful location, after having first done 3 or 4 laps of the track itself to make up the exact distance.

At the end of each lap we re-entered the athletic stadium and took advantage of a plentiful supply of snacks and drinks as we passed the support tent. There was some intermittent drizzle and then a thorough soaking during 1 lap which brought back damp memories of the 100 miler in Middlesbrough a while ago (Adrian and myself won’t forget that in a hurry ).

Given the conditions, we were happy with our finishing times and I was particularly pleased to get 2nd place and feel normal throughout. I would have needed a moped to catch the winner who finished with sufficient time to have a good hot shower and eat some dinner before sauntering back to greet my finish!

I gather that David had a better return journey whilst my return to Blighty was delayed whilst they waited for a new part for the plane which had to be flown in from Dublin in the afternoon.
All in all though, a great weekend and I can thoroughly recommend taking part in one of the annual Dutch events. If anyone is interested I’d be very happy to provide more information.

Heartiest congratulations to Martin and David for flying the flag in the home of long-distance walking.