Alex Vero - Road to Bejing

robbicosta

Has anyone heard of this documentary filmmaker? He went from being 16 stone and lazy to having a realistic chance of running London 2008 in sub 2:30 and has made a documentary about it.

http://www.theroadtobeijing.co.uk/roadtobeijing.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zwTz1JoYC0

Stupid_Private

The whole thing has gone tits up. In fairness too him he made some great improvements in the half marathon - down to 1h 13mins but he got beaten by the marathon every time. Injuries and heat on some courses got the better of him.

He changed the project recently to a human interest one - an ethiopian kid he met while training and himself both running the london marathon. He couldn't get the visa for the ethiopian, permission to film on the marathon course and now he's injured and pulled out of it. He won't be racing any marathons before Beijing so I think the documentary is dead and all.

thirtyfoot

This guy is the real deal - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055250567. He might actually qualify for Beijing.

Abhainn

Beat me to it robbicosta!.

Came across the article in Luton airport the other night and it seemed interesting.

At the start of the challenge he described himself as "averagely talented runner".
I think he downgraded his talent somewhat. He managed 68th out of 750 competitors in the Marathon des Sables a few years ago before taking up this test. That's hardly a result for an average runner. He has some talent, no question.
But still his improvements are great. He is putting in the miles and effort in.
According to his website his challenge is still on though.

--amadeus--

I've got really mixed feelings on this.

On the one hand you have to admire his determination and his achievements. A 1:13 HM and a sub 3 marathon are impressive times. You also have to feel sorry for him - he had bad luck with injuries and weather. For example he was up for a fast time in Paris last year but it was run in that hot spell that wrecked havoc on April marathons (he also pulled something in that race).

But...

He started the whole project with a big hoo-haa about how he was going to qualify for Beijing. I don't mind ambition but this came across as arrogant and quite disrespectful. Likewise his whole "16 stone slob" thing is a little disingenuous. Long before he started training for this project he had run the Marathon de Sables, so he's not a total novice on endurance racing.

About a year ago when he was in training for Paris I read through his training log online and he wasn't really doing the sort of elite level training that his aims of a sub 2:30 would have needed. Most people at that level train 100+ miles a week. He reported his distances in kms and he rarely topped 100kms a week.

I suppose in some ways it looked like a project doomed to failure from teh start but it does reinforce just how special / different / talented elite distance runners are to the rest of us.

Stupid_Private

This is an update from him this week

On tuesday I received the news that I had been dreading.

"I am afraid that you are not going to be running in the London Marathon." The doctor told me after looking at the MRI scan of my ankle.

As you might imagine dedicating two years of your life towards one race and then not even being able to even run is pretty gutting.

However I will be back on my feet and running in 4 weeks time with the revised target of the Amsterdam Marathon in October.

Due to visa problems for my Ethiopian friend and difficulties in obtaining filming rights for the London Marathon it will also enable me to hopefully visit Kenya during the summer.

I have two further human interest stories lined up for the documentary which is very exciting and the extra time will give myself a better chance of running under the 2:30 target, that judging from a recent physiological test I should have been able to achieve at London.

Looks like those drink in the summer might have to be put on hold a little longer!

Best wishes

Alex