Birmingham CWG - Day 0

[Grassmarket]

Marathons! OK, set your alarms for the wheelchairs.

07:00 Athletics Men Marathon T53 / T54
07:03 Athletics Women Marathon T53 / T54
09:00 Athletics Men Marathon
10:30 Athletics Women Marathon

[Occasional Hope]

Why day 0?

[Chafford1]

Yes they do but given the two day gap between the marathons and the rest of the athletics programme, from an athletics perspective it makes sense to classify tomorrow as day 0 and Tuesday as day 1.

[Occasional Hope]

OK, I guess that makes sense

[Grassmarket]

OK, was being a bit self indulgent, but when did we ever see all the marathons before any stadium action?

[Grassmarket]

David Weir punctures in the marathon! Was in the lead, has to give up.

[Occasional Hope]

Props to him for still finishing.

The winner pays tribute to Weir saying he should have won.

[Ladyloz]

Really unfortunate for Weir.

[Occasional Hope]

Such a small field, shame they couldn’t have given poor Chris Thompson a last minute extra slot.

[MR_ME]

There should be at least 3 runners from each home nation to bulk it out a bit.

[Occasional Hope]

But no, we had to leave enough space on the team for lawn bowls.

[Grassmarket]

Men’s race is underway.

[Ladyloz]

Fairly challenging course

[Grassmarket]

How many in the women’s? 16 or 17? These numerical restrictions are killing events.

[Occasional Hope]

Coupled with all the entirely predictable last minute withdrawals.

[Grassmarket]

Men’s leader goes the wrong way! Luckily his lead is big enough.

[LuckySpikes]

Good win for Jacob Kiplimo's big brother, Victor Kiplangat.

None of the home nations men covered themselves in glory.

I had to chuckle when Crammy said, "There's the hotel that you and I know so well Paula, having spent so much time here."

Women's race live online in case you're wondering where its' gone - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/com...games/60740119

A lead group of 12 at halfway in 1:15:06.

[felix51]

'I had to chuckle when Crammy said, "There's the hotel that you and I know so well Paula, having spent so much time here." '

I had selfies taken with Steve and Paula in that Holiday Inn at breakfast a few years ago before the British Championships :-)

[trickstat]

That's news to Alison Curbishley and Gary Lough!

Thanks to athletics I have stayed in more hotels in Birmingham than any other place.

[LuckySpikes]

Irish Aussie Sinead Diver is falling off a lead group of 5 around 25km.

Surprised there's no Stephen Mokoka, Gerda Steyn or Irvette Van Zyl here for South Africa. None of them were in Eugene either. Must be targeting big city marathons?

[LuckySpikes]

After two Comm Games bronze medals, Jess Stenson upgrades to Gold! 1:12:25 for the second half on a hilly course.

Australia's 3 best women all made the right choice in choosing this event over Eugene. I'm still puzzled why our best (Piasecki & Purdue) didn't do the same or choose Munich. There might have been a Jessica 1-2 here ...

[marra]

I've been pondering that about Jess P especially. I know you want to test yourself against the best, but surely you also want to give yourself the best chance of winning something?