Karen Walks 77 Miles to Win Hard Earned Bronze Medal
Irina Poutinseva (RUSSIA) - Sylviane Varin (FRANCE) - Karen Davies (GREAT BRITAIN)
Race walker Karen Davies bravely fought her way through fatigue and the pain barrier to walk 123.5 kilometres (or 77.2 miles) to accomplish the first podium place in many years for Great Britain at the prestigious International 28 Hour Race Walk in Roubaix, near Lille in France.
The 45-year old from Erdington who works as a Customer and Logistics Executive for Beiersdorf UK in Witton was one of four race walkers from Birchfield Harriers who between them remarkably completed over thirteen marathons in just over a day.
An exhausted but delighted Karen who is remission from cancer reflected on her achievement, " I was not expecting to do the full race but I thought that if I got to half way without feeling too bad, I stood a chance of finishing the event. I had been off work a fortnight before with acute tonsillitis which had prevented me from doing proper training as such and I had lost much of what I had built up in through the summer." She continued, "It took a very great deal of mental strength and the support of the Great Britain team helpers to encourage me and to keep me going. I am particularly indebted to Dave Fall who walked me for the first 45 kilometres (just over the normal marathon distance) and John Constandinou for the remaining 78 kilometres (49 miles)."
The gruelling event attracts many of the leading endurance race walkers athletes from all over Europe each September. This year's event had 68 entries from fourteen countries. Not surprisingly only about half of the entrants normally complete the race, and rarely on their first attempt.
The race started at 1pm on Saturday in temperatures of 28 degrees with the walkers pacing themselves and planning their strategies for the first few hours. Marching bands, pop concerts, and several other events were put on to attempt to maintain the spirits of the walkers.
The heat of the day was replaced with the cold of the night, and walkers progressively started to drop out from either injury or exhaustion.
The Birchfield walkers used team morale to keep each other going and paced each other. Having never walked beyond 50km before, Karen was bravely determined to struggle on for the full distance despite several physical problems becoming apparent.
As dawn approached, the 100km mark was passed and a cheer went up.
A photograph of the Birchfield Harriers walking together during the night appeared in the French newspapers describing them as 'ghosts who battle on'.
The final few hours on Sunday saw a renewed effort and at five o'clock in the late afternoon all four exhausted Birchfield Harriers crossed the finishing line successfully. Tony Collins, who has competed in Roubaix on numerous occasions previously, completed a magnificent 177.5 kilometres (111 miles) whilst Dave Fall reached 126 kilometres. John Constandinou matched Karen's distance.
Karen was third female behind top internationals Irina Poutintseva of Russia and Sylviane Varin of France. After walking 123.5 km, climbing up the stage steps and then onto the podium proved a difficult but happy task as Karen was presented with a big bouquet of flowers in front of the press and television cameras.
The quartet each was received trophies and prizes.
This Sunday Karen Davies returns to her native North East to compete in her twelfth Great North Run.