Beaumont sur Oise to St Denis

The Stade de France – the end of a journey.                      

A good Italian meal with plenty of pizza and pasta set the guys up for the last day of their amazing journey. It was after 10am when they surfaced and we drove back to our starting point where Valerie and Stephen were waiting for us. A different mood for marathon number 10 – the prospect of one more push and then it’s done!

The first 6 miles were through countryside and small villages and the boys sang pop songs for an hour and skipped along happily. After crossing the Oise again, the scenery changed and the 3 runners, Dave usually at the front passed a large retail centre at L’Isle Adam where Sandra and I had been shopping. They ran alongside the river and then turned left and climbed up on the D928 for the final 10 mile approach to St. Denis. The route for the boys was straightforward but badly signed route barrée caused fun for the support vehicles and after waiting for the Saab to negotiate the deviation, Sandra and I headed for the stadium in the camper van.

It had been a cool and grey morning with a hint of drizzle but the sky brightened and the temperature lifted as the runners neared their destination. We arrived at the stadium to find that I had miscalculated the distance and the run would finish short of the stadium and so we turned back to meet the boys at their finish. It turned out to be just short of an Auchen supermarket and we celebrated with bubbly and the compulsory after-run food before driving the last 2 miles along the busy roads to the stadium.

Along the way I had a brief exchange with a charming Parisian motor cyclist but we soon made it to the home of French Rugby and the venue for the Opening Ceremony and the Final of the RWC 2007. More photos and video footage and a brief look at the surrounding area with final arrangements for what will be a great festival atmosphere.

A moment to reflect on their achievement before Dan and Rob said goodbye to Dave who is staying in a hotel in Paris for 2 nights – the guys and Faye will meet up with him tomorrow for a drink of the black stuff. Then off to our accommodation for 2 nights in the very posh suburb of Maison Lafitte.

Dan and Rob have thought about this moment for so long and got on with so much to achieve their goal, there seems to be a sense of ‘well we decided to do it and have just got on with it – no big deal’. I guess that the scale of what they have achieved will take some time to sink in. I just hope they both realise how proud we all are of them.  As Vince Lombardi said, they really have shown ‘the unrelenting human spirit and their capacity to overcome the intolerable’ – remember those moments, guys!

The time for their tenth marathon was 4 hours 29 minutes – a wonderful effort to finish with and the eighth marathon in a very consistent sequence of times between 4 hours 18 minutes and 4 hours 54 minutes.

Tomorrow is a day to relax and then we’re off to Lens and England v USA.