Charlie Morgan runs the BMW Berlin Marathon
Charlie Morgan (Two Company 1992-1997, and seen on the left of the photo below) is another gallant ex WG to take up the challenge of WG100 and participate in a major marathon.
The Berlin Marathon took place on 27th September in fine, calm weather, and with 41,224 runners. Berlin has the distinction of the course over which the fastest marathon time ever has been run. This happened last year and was achieved by Dennis Kimetto from Kenya in 2:02.57 (interesting aside – the top ten marathon times are held by Kenyans and Ethiopians, and Berlin is the place where 7 of these records were made. Paula Radcliffe is still the fastest woman marathon runner, with a time of 2:15.25 in London in 2003).
The Welsh Guards are no strangers to Berlin, having been posted there, most recently from 1977-79. They were stationed at Wavell Barracks, close to Spandau Prison, which was where Rudolf Hess was incarcerated until his death in 1987, after which it was demolished. Sadly, the route of the marathon was on the other side of the city so Charlie was not able to visit the now empty barracks.
The marathon this year was won by another Kenyan, 30 year-old Eliud Kipchoge, with a time of 2:04:00 – less than two seconds slower than the record. The fastest woman was also Kenyan, Gladys Cherono who smashed the 2:20 barrier in only her second marathon, and ran the fastest woman’s time of the year with 2:19:25.
Charlie, who achieved 3:26 in spite of a muscle injury eight miles from the finish, had done his training on his home turf near Shrivenham and along the upper Thames near Kempsford. He chose the Berlin marathon because it takes place in September, which means that the requisite training can be done during the summer months.
Back home now and focusing on running his business (www.hisitorit.co.uk – a company which specialises in the storage and guardianship of historic and classic vehicles), Charlie is very pleased that he has managed to collect nearly £1500 in sponsorship from his marathon effort
