Fareham Crusaders Tour To Benidorm, Spain, November 2009

At the end of the third Promenade 5K series race in August of 2009, we were all standing around having our traditional after race Crusaders’ photograph taken, when we were approached by Malcolm Hargreaves from Running Crazy Ltd. "You look like you could all do with a run abroad", he said, "and there's a good one in Benidorm in November". Liz McEnri took a flyer off of him, and offered to start organising our trip. And there started the first Fareham Crusaders European Tour. Many Crusaders have run in races all over the world, from Jim in the New York Marathon, to Jenny doing the Marathon in Berlin. More recently Jonathan had run in Nice. Even I was tempted to enter the race in San Diego in June of 2007, whilst I was on holiday in America, until I realised that it was a marathon. A distance that is too far for me. But, this was the first time that the club has been represented in a large number abroad at one event.

Despite the best efforts by Easyjet to throw our plans into disarray by cancelling the 17:45 outward flight on the Friday, three weeks before our departure, twelve of us spent the last weekend of November 2009 in Benidorm, for the Half Marathon and 10K races. Helen, Jonathan, Kirsty, Rak, Tracey, and myself, leaving from Gatwick on Friday 27th, and Debbie and her sister Kate, with Keith, leaving from Southampton, also on Friday. Finally, Karen, Liz, and Mick joined us on the Saturday.

Finally, the eagerly awaited Friday morning came. Helen, Kirsty, Rak, Tracey, and myself arranged to meet at Fareham railway station to catch the 07:58. As the train pulled out of the station, I announced that the first Fareham Crusaders tour had “officially” started. Technically, I was wrong, as unknown to us at the time Jonathan was on the 06:50 Easyjet flight to Alicante, and so was around 5 hours ahead of us. We changed at Havant, for our onward connection to Gatwick, which gave us ample time to buy refreshments from the small cafe on the station platform. Spirits were high, as we were looking forward to the weekend ahead.

As the train passed Arundel, and headed up the Arun Valley, we received a text message from Karen, who was still at work, asking us not to drink the hotel dry, so there was something left her on Saturday ! As if we would ! I also rang Debbie to see how the Southampton trip was going. She said that she was at home having a cup of tea, and hadn’t left yet.

We arrived at Gatwick bang on time, made our way to the South Terminal, and the Ryanair bag drop off zone. We decided to move on through the airport security, and into the terminal mall, where there were shops and restaurants. First up, the free tasting at the Baileys stand. Very pleasant, but it was a bit too early in the morning for drinking. So, we decided to pick up a few bits and pieces from Boots, then into a cafe for some food.

Whilst in the cafe, I received a call from Debbie to say that she was at the terminal in Southampton Airport with Kate and Keith, waiting to be called to their departure gate. After a quick bite to eat we made our way to our departure gate, boarded the plane, and taxied along to the end of the runway. The plane took off, and we were on our way.

The flight was very pleasant. I sat next to Helen, behind Kirsty and Tracey. Meanwhile opposite us, on the otherside of the plane was Rak. He had his sweat shirt hood up, and snoozed all the way from the first push off at Gatwick to just before landing at Alicante. As we flew over Benidorm, and we could see the high raised hotel buildings and the beaches.

As the plane came in for its final approach, losing altitude, ready for landing, the pilot decided to suddenly make a bank to the right. The sea seemed to be awfully close. Then as we approached the runway, I could see a ground worker on a tractor, part of the construction team building the new runway, looking at us as we were coming into land. I

thought this odd, as he must see hundreds of planes land, why take an interest in us. As the wheels touched down, the pilot hit reverse thrust to slow the plane down. This is normal. But then, he increased the reverse thrust even more. It was a bit like an emergency stop in a car. I turned to Helen and said "I think he's mucked this up". We then veered to the right and shot down a taxi way. It was then, that we realised that we were very close to the end of the runway.

We disembarked from the aircraft, down the steps, and onto a bus on the concrete concourse, waiting to take us to the terminal building. As we passed through customs and waited for our bags, we saw a Flybe plane land. It turned out to be the flight from Southampton. After collecting our bags we were met by Malcolm from Running Crazy, and were directed onto our bus. Shortly after, we were joined by Debbie, Kate, and Keith. Then we were on our way, a 45 minute or so trip to our hotel in Benidorm.

We arrived at our hotel late afternoon, early evening. Jonathan was there to meet us. As we were in Spain, it was warmer than at home, and some of us decided to go for a run. Personally, I was saving myself for Sunday, as I haven't run a half marathon for 10 and a half years. Debbie and Kate agreed, and wanted to go for something to eat, along with Kirsty. So, I decided to join them. I got call from Rak in my hotel room. "Captain, we're waiting for you downstairs". "Sorry mate", I said, "I've decided to go for a beer instead". Short pause, then, "OK", he replied, "I'm going to join you". We waited for him, but he didn’t materialise. Apparently, the runners suggested that as he was wearing his running kit, he just as well go with them, so he did.

After visiting the chemist across the street, so Kirsty could pick up some bits for her contact lens, we walked up the street to the first fast food joint we could find for a snack. It was at least three hours before dinner, and something to fill a gap was required. We made our way to a place called “Dudas”. We knew this because all the cups and plates had this written on them. It was here that I had my first beer of the weekend.

We all met up in the hotel bar, and had a couple of drinks before eating. Dinner was served from 7:30pm. We all sat together on a long table in the corner. Keith and I bought a very nice bottle of local red wine. Dinner was buffet service, with a very varied choice. There was no limit to the number of times we could go up and have some more.

After dinner we decided to go out and explore the town. We walked along the promenade of the northern beach, and saw some superb carvings in the sand. One of a castle, and another of a Cowboy and a horse resting. We moved on and soon found a good bar known as “Route 66” where we sat and chatted, with a few drinks, and listened to a very good live rock band. We decided to retire back to the hotel. After all, it had been a long first day.

Morning came, and one by one we met downstairs in the restaurant for breakfast. As before with dinner, there was a large selection to choose from. Cereal, continental, cooked continental, toast, and fruit were all available. We met up to explore the old town shops, and made our way onto the southern promenade, where the older generation were being put through their paces with a morning aerobics session on the beach. We carried on, making our way onto the sandy beach in the bright warm sunshine. Taking off our footwear, we went into the sea for a paddle to test out the temperature. Pictures were taken to prove that we had been in the water.

Time was moving on, and we all wanted to be back at the hotel complex to meet up with Karen, Liz and Mick when they arrived. We believed that they would be at the hotel around lunchtime. We settled around the pool situated between the two hotels of the complex. I decided to go in the water, but after climbing into the deep end using the pool ladder, it was so cold that I soon climbed back out again. It was colder than the sea. Jonathan and Keith were much braver, and got straight in, and swam about.

Soon Karen, Liz and Mick arrived, and sat with us around the pool. We chatted in the warm sunshine. As it was lunchtime, food was in order. Again we walked down to the old town, and along the northern beach promenade.

Karen had a problem with her return flight details. The Easyjet representative at Gatwick Airport had taken her piece of paper with her flight details on, but had not given it back. So, Karen didn't have a any details for her return flight to give in at Alicante Airport. She asked for assistance from the hotel, and they pointed her in the direction of an Internet Cafe. As I had a map of Benidorm, Karen asked for my help.

But first lunch. We walked back into the old town, and found our way back onto the promenade where we were the night before. The bars and restaurants were open, so we decided to go to the Irish Bar for a light lunch. It was the first time that we were all together. As we sat in the shade looking across the

mediterrain, it seemed strange looking at a Christmas tree with tinsel and ball balls.

After lunch, we walked into the old town. Karen and I decided to visit the Internet Café, but suggested the others go onto the beach via the shops, whilst we sorted out Karen's reservation. Helen and Tracey also came with us. Karen logged on and found the email with her reservation, and hit the print button. Nothing happened. Tried again. Still nothing

happened. I saw chap who appeared work there walk past. So, I caught his attention. He couldn't speak English, and I can't speak Spanish, so he shook his head, waved his hands, and walked off. I spotted a lady who worked behind the bar, and went over to her. See came over with me, and pointed at the previous guy. He came over, shock his head and waved his hands again. From this we deduced that their printer was knackered, and we had wasted our time. We decided that it would have been fruitless to ask for our Euro back, so left to join the others.

Saturday afternoon was great fun. We decided to go and sit on the beach, and enjoy the sun, with a number of us going in the sea for a swim. As many of you know, the first steps are the worst, with the water temperature being lower than that on the beach. But, after a few minutes of acclimatising, it really was very pleasant. Kirsty and Rak took photographs, just to prove that we were in the water, in case people at home didn't believe us. Especially, as we knew that there were heavy downpours there.

Tracey decided to go off and buy a small volley ball for us the mess about with. First up were Keith and myself. We started off kicking it about, but after a few times of kicking the sand instead of the ball, it was decided to play volleyball to avoid any foot injuries. It seem a bit pointless flying the best part of a thousand miles to run a race, just to get injured the day before, fooling about on the beach. One by one, more of the gang joined in, until seven of us were playing with a net already provided on the beach. It was a good laugh, and despite all the stretching and diving around, no one got injured. I don't think we will be entering the Beach Volley at The Olympics in 2012, though.

It was approaching 5pm, the sun was beginning to loose its power, and some of our number had been up since before the crack of dawn, so an hour’s snooze was in order. Back at the hotel, I put the TV on, and couldn't believe it. The Spanish TV had the Pompey game on. I rang around all those whose number I could remember, who I thought would be interested, then watched. It was the usual tale of woe, so I won't go into it. The only satisfying thing was that there we were, all on the beach in the afternoon, in glorious sunshine, meanwhile, in Portsmouth, there was wind and driving rain.

We all needed to attend a race briefing given by Malcolm of Running Crazy to collect our race numbers. The briefing room was not big enough for everyone, so first up the ladies. Meanwhile us chaps met in the bar. Mick was moaning that he had been drawn away from the Bath v London Irish Rugby match being shown on Spanish TV. As a rugby fan myself, I didn’t want to miss it either, so I invited my friends to my room to watch it. It was belting down with rain in Bath too. So much so that it was difficult to tell the difference between the two teams as the players we plastered in mud.

An hour later, it was our turn. However this time, as it was a bit more streamlined, the meeting was finished in just 20 minutes. Back to the bar to join the girls. Karen and I went and saw the hotel receptionist, to see if we could sort out her Easyjet booking. Fortunately, we managed to log onto at their Internet Café, which had no printing facility, and forward Karen’s email to the hotel’s reservations email address, and they kindly printed it off. Problem over.

We went back to the restaurant, to join the others for dinner. A lady called Edith had flown in on her own from Glasgow to run the race the next day. So, rather than sitting on her own, not knowing anyone, we invited her to sit at our table to join us for dinner. After we had eaten, I said a few words, and presented Liz with a Beanie Bear in the club’s colours, to say thank you from everyone for organizing our trip. Liz collects Beanie Bears, and I believe she has over 100 at home.  One of my friends, Angie, who is a whizz with needle work, provided him with a yellow band, and stitched in the club’s name. She did a superb job.

The rest of Saturday evening was relatiely quite, as everyone wanted to get themselves ready for the race the next day.

Sunday was race day. Kirsty and Karen came and knocked on my door at 08:30, and we walked down to breakfast. As we sat and ate, more of the gang arrived, and we all started chatting. The day was ideal for running, the hot sun from yesterday had been replaced by cloud, but even so the temperature was still around a comfortable 12C to 14C. We were lucky with the weather. If the days were reversed, Saturday would have been cloudy, and it is unlikely that we would have gone swimming in the sea, or played volleyball on the beach. Running the Half Marathon in 24C warm sunshine would have been tough going.

I decided to go back to my room put my number on my running vest, and grab half an hour kip. It was only just coming up to 09:00, and we weren't going to meet up until five to 10, for a race start of 10:30. I had a room to myself on Friday and Saturday night. But, on the Sunday, I was to share with Mick, as Liz was going home on Sunday evening. The hotel complex was made up with two hotels, and as luck would have it, I was in one hotel, and Mick and Liz were in the other. So, as far as my hotel was concerned, Saturday night was my last night, and I would be checking out by noon on Sunday. Not very good really, considering at noon I would still be running the race. I spoke to the reception on Saturday evening, and thought I had agreed to prolong my stay to 2pm, which would give me time to finish the race, meet up with everyone, and get back to the hotel for a shower, before moving.

Unfortunately, the word hadn't got to the cleaners. I had knock on the door, and a cleaning lady was there waiting for me to leave, so she could clean the room. It was only 9am. I tried to explain the situation, but I can't speak Spanish, and the cleaning lady couldn't speak English. So, I resorted to the time honoured method of communicating with people who can't speak English, by drawing pictures of matchstick men and aeroplanes, with arrows and times etc on the back of an envelope. This seemed to confuse her even more, because she called her friend over, who could speak a little English. I decided to go down to reception. A different lady was there, who knew nothing about this, and said that if I wanted to stay a couple of hours longer I would have to pay. Sod that ! I went to see Kirsty and Karen, who were on the same floor, and asked if I could leave my bag with them, whilst I sort myself out. By the time that I had got my room, it had been ripped apart, with the bed pulled out, and sheets all over the floor. It was now obvious that I would not be going back there. Kirsty and Karen kindly let me stay in their room and sort myself out for the race.

We all met up outside of the Poseidon Palace hotel with all the other runners from Running Crazy for the photo shot at 09:55. Then onto the local council building for the race start at 10:30. It was a busy race with around 2,500 runners, so it took me a couple of minutes to reach the start, which was signaled with the usual gun going off. However, this time there was also a very impressive firework display, surprising since this was in broad daylight.

The first mile or two was very congested, despite running along one side of a closed dual carriageway heading in a northerly direction towards the top of the north beach. Benidorm has two main beaches basically running north to south, separated by the old town. The course was made up of two loops, one loop making up the 10K race. Once reaching the top of the north beach, competitors changed direction and headed south along the promenade, passing the bars, cafes, restaurants, and shops, filled with spectators that lined the route. Into the old town through pedeastrianised cobbled streets, some very narrow, and along the road and promenade of the south beach. Down to the far southern end, around a collection of traffic cones and back north again, passing other runners coming in the opposite direction. Into the old town again, and at around the 10K mark, back onto the dual carriageway for a second lap.

To me, it was only really at this stage that the race opened up. I spotted a Spanish lady who was running slightly faster than me. I decided to keep up with her, as she would then be pulling me along. Her English was very good. We got to the end of the dual carriageway section, and turned onto the northern beach promenade. I could see the end of the southern beach, in the distance, beyond the old town, and knew how far away it was, as I was now well into my second and final lap. I had now picked up a bit of pace and was passing runners that were slower than me. I was feeling comfortable. The Spanish lady was pulling me along at a pace of almost 5 minute per kilometer.

Whilst running along the southern beach section, I saw other Crusaders running ahead of me, coming in the other direction. First, Jonathan, then Keith, Kirsty, Helen, Tracey, Debbie, and Karen. As I turned around the cones for the last time, I saw Rak and Mick behind me. I also saw Kate, Debbie's sister sporting her white with blue band, Chippenham Harriers club vest.

By this time, I had passed the 17Km mark. I was running the race like a 10 Mile race, and 10 miles is just over 16.5Km. I was starting to run out of steam, and finding it difficult keeping up with the Spanish lady. This was a distance that I had not run for many years. When I got to 18Km, I decided to let her go on. But, she would not have any of it "No, no, you must keep going". Unfortunately, the distance was telling.

The last 3.1Km I averaged 7Km per minute. But despite this, I came in with a time of 1 hour 56 minutes, 2 minutes faster than my first and only Half Marathon in Portsmouth in March 1999. After all 12 of us had finished, we had our team photo, in which some of us were wearing our yellow T-Shirts that were part of the goody bag.

We went back to the hotel to get showered and changed. I went down to the bar for a cup of tea, leaving Karen and Kirsty to have their room to themselves to get changed. I went back, and showered and changed myself, using the girls’ bathroom. It was very good of them to make me feel welcome. We met up and went to an Italian for a meal, and celebrated our day running with some jugs of sangria, some wearing our bright yellow T-Shirts. Then it rained for the first time on the weekend.

Back at the hotel, we relaxed. I made my way across the hotel complex, to join Mick, whose room I would be sharing when Liz went home with Karen that evening. Some of us agreed to meet in the hotel's swimming pool, and shared the Jacuzzi. Others went off shopping, and some relaxed in their hotel rooms.

We all met up before dinner in the bar to wish Karen and Liz a safe journey home. By now I was beginning to think that the weekend was coming to a close. We had to be up and ready to catch the bus to the airport at quarter to eight next morning. Running Crazy had organised an after race party that evening. I think some of us thought that we would turn up for a couple drinks, watch the presentations, and slide off for an early night after a long hard race. However, the night turned into an absolute cracker. It really was a good laugh.

Party Night In The Bar

When we walked in, we saw the Karaoke set up. Tracey was keen, but most of us thought of steering clear of it. But, after a few drinks it’s amazing what you’ll sing along to. Especially, when some of us had assistance from Captain Morgan. The pictures above and below will give you an idea of the evening. I got into bed at ten to four.

Eagle Eyed Pompey Fans Will Notice To The Left Of Tracey A Home Pompey Top From Season 2002-2003, The Clubs First Season In The Premier League.

Jonathan,above, Was The First One Of Our Group Up On The Karaoke. Fair Play To Him To Start Things Off Early In The Evening.

The Frog, Below, Which We Won, Thanks To Some Clever Thinking By The Girls.

The Girls Kiss Prince Michael, Left, And, Right End Up With A Frog !

Is That Right, Or Should It Be The Other Way Round ?

No Comment !

At just before seven, my alarm went off. I got straight up, and rang around those whose number I could remember, to check that they were up and running. Some of us managed to get down for some breakfast. I was in the hotel lobby, waiting for the bus. Fortunately, Mick was kind enough to grab a roll for me. The bus arrived and we piled in. Malcolm got on the bus and thanked us for coming, and we drove off back to Alicante airport. I tried to grab a few minutes shut eye, as we had 45 minutes journey time to the airport. We arrived and dropped our bags in at the Easyjet bag drop. Tracey had paid extra for the express bag drop. But, whilst waiting in a trolley for us, wondered why she had bothered.

Through the passport security area, and into the terminal building shopping and cafe area. Then, Jonathan appeared. We thought that he was going back on the Bristol flight, which had left 40 minutes earlier, as he works in Bath. He was on the same flight as us, but had caught a later bus to the airport. Tracey tried to use her speedy boarding facility, unfortunately, the Spanish Easyjet employee told her to go and join the normal queue. There’s a tip here, don’t waste your money on this in the future. However, the plane left on time, and we had a very pleasant flight back to Gatwick, where the weather was different to the bright sunshine of Alicante. Despite the windy cross winds, the plane made a

perfect soft landing. Something that the Captain didn’t miss, when he came over the comms system to congratulate his first officer who was flying the plane.

The plane taxied to the North Terminal, and to a gate that it seemed was furthest from the railway station as possible. We were into our second race of the weekend. We had half an hour to get to the railway station to catch our train. Once off the plane, we strided off towards passport control, where we were told to walk in a single line so a sniffer dog could check us over. Then onto bag collection. Fortunately, our bags came quickly, we said our goodbyes to Jonathan, and we were on our way to the South Terminal. Unfortunately, as the Northern Terminal is being refurbished, the little train connecting the two terminals was being was out of service, so we had to catch a bus, which seemed to take forever to get to the South Terminal. It arrived. We got off and moved quickly, and made it to the platform with five minutes to spare.

We had passed the Cornish Pasty stand, and smell wafting down onto the platform concourse was too much for Mick. He quickly rushed back, and bought one, just before our train arrived. We had a pleasant journey back to Fareham, looking at the photographs of the weekend on our cameras, and reliving the highlights. The train pulled in to Fareham Railway Station, and we made our way home. Helen called her partner Neil, who was kind enough to drop me off on their way home. We had left Debbie, Kate, and Keith in Benidorm. Their flight back to Southampton was late afternoon. The tour was now over.

It was a great weekend away. Would I do it again ? Definitely. Would I go to Benidorm again ? Certainly, providing it is out of season again. But I’m sure that there are other European destinations that will worth trying too. As long as it has a beach, and there is a good chance of some warm winter sunshine. It was a well organised trip, and I would go with Running Crazy again.

Finally, thank you Liz for organising it, and liaising with Malcolm Hargreaves, and to the other ten of you for making it such a memorable weekend.

Martin