More Athletics and socializing

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Geo: 39.9165, 116.391

On Tuesday night, walking back from the stadium we witnessed an hilarious sight. As we exited we saw a long line of the security volunteers doing a sweep of the grounds around the track to ensure there was no one there. They tried to get us to move quickly but Fletcher pointed to his knee and said he couldn't move any faster. Then we heard an unmistakeable laugh. It was Yvonne accompanied by John, Cherry and Lars coming up behind us. Yvonne then played up to the crowd. She pretended to conduct them, then marched along with them and was on her knees before them. It was very funny. Fortunately they found it funny too and they eventually "swept" us right from the grounds.

We had not intended to go to the track on Wednesday morning. We woke late but I had a message from Debbie to meet her there as she was leaving on Thursday. We dressed quickly and caught the 10am bus. I watched the women's Hammer Throw qualifying rounds and the women's 800 heats while Fletcher went off to find Debbie to say goodbye. After the morning session we met Peter and Penny and walked back to our hotel. Peter Thompson met us there and we then went to the Italian restaurant where we had a great lunch. It was nice to be relaxed, sitting down to a proper meal rather than eating at the track. Good to catch up with the Deanes as well.

We then walked down to the local shopping centre where Athletics Australia was hosting drinks for the Australian athletes, families, supporters and various hangers-on. This was in the Bella Vista where we had lunched last week. It was a great gathering with many past and present athletes and officials there. Dave and Sam Culbert had a tour group and they were there. I spoke to Ray and Denise Boyd about Alanna's chances in the Pole Vault and also saw Geoff and Anna Frayne. Their son Henry has been injured so is not competing here. David Grace, President of AA welcomed every one and then Fabrice La Pierre arrived and spoke to the crowd. All in all a good afternoon with plenty of beers at the right price.

We returned to the track for the night session. This was an excellent evening of athletics. The Women's Pole Vault was an amazing contest with 12 women still in contention at 4-70, unprecedented! Unfortunately. Alanna missed the 4-70 and ended up 11th. At previous champs her 4-60 would have put her in the top 4 or 5. It was eventually won by Silva of Cuba after a hard fought battle with Murer from Brazil. The Men's Javelin was also an amazing contest with Yego from Kenya pulling out an enormous throw of 92-72 in the third round to challenge the rest of the field. El Sayed from Egypt was second in 88-99 with Pittkamaki from Finland third with 87-64. This is truly the World sport! Kenya is having a sensational Championships while the USA is down on its usual achievements and Russia has only won one medal! The night ended with an amazing run in the 400metres from the South African Van Nierkerk with a World Leading performance for this year of 43-48 beating the favourites, La Shawn Merrit (USA) and Kirani James (Grenada) all under 44 seconds.

Peter Thompson walked back to the hotel with us and we shared a bottle of Henry's Drive Shiraz which we had brought precisely for that reason. I updated my blog while Peter caught up on emails and Fletcher worked on his statistics, companionable silence interspersed with reminiscing and conversation. Great.
This morning we were up early and over to the track on the 9am bus. 8 Australians were in action in the qualifying rounds and heats. Some were successful, others not. Both Men's Discus throwers, Wruck and Harradine got through to the final as did Eleanor Patterson in the High Jump and Michelle Jenneke in the 100m hurdles. Eloise Wellings ran a great 5,000 heat to go through as one of the first five in her race. Brooke Stratton in the Long Jump and Ryan Gregson in the 1500 both missed out. However there are still more opportunities to come.

At 12-30pm we attended the Oceania Area lunch in the Quianjude Roast Duck restaurant not far from the Olympic Precinct. We shared a table with Peter and Penny, Peter Thompson, Elio Locatelli and Phil Jones from AA as well as a couple from Masters Athletics. The food was bounteous though not always to Aussie tastes. The cuttlefish and Duck tongue soup was not consumed by everyone though I found it quite OK. I passed up on the whelks but enjoyed the Kong Pao chicken and the braised beef with black pepper. The shrimps were crunchy and the whole turbot fantastic. The best part though was the duck pancake. Plenty of beautifully cooked duck wrapped into the thinnest pancakes with a delicious sauce. They served a German white wine which was too sweet so we drank the very fine Montapulciano red from Italy. Sebastian Coe came later and had some food with us. He spoke to the group, thanking Oceania for their support and promising to work as a team in the future. He is an eloquent speaker and impressed all in the room. He was presented with a shell stole from the Solomon Islands, a very valuable token in their culture. It was an excellent lunch and I doubt I will need any dinner!

Back at the hotel our lift attendant Barry, was in fine fettle. He is great, a man who loves his job and never ceases to make me laugh with his enthusiasm, I noticed his name badge a couple of days ago so called him Barry. He smiled and said "My name is Barry!!" and is delighted when we say thank you to him in Mandarin. He is a real character.

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