'BUPA GREAT NORTH RUN'

CCCCCCCCCCCCC

ON 18TH SEPTEMBER 2005 MICKEY AND PETER HILL BOTH RAN THE BUPA GREAT NORTH RUN. THE RUN WAS 13.1 MILES LONG AND TOOK PLACE IN NEWCASTLE. THE RUN WAS DONE TO RAISE MONEY FOR MICKEYS CHOSEN CHARITY "GREAT ORMOND STREET HOSPITAL" HERE'S THE STORY:-

DAY 1 - SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17TH

     The group which consisted of Mickey Hill, Peter Hill, Becky Edwards, Adam Thoroughgood and Caroline Simpson left the costa del Tonbridge in the very early hours on saturday morning. Heading up on a train to London then a megabus to Newcastle. Dave Bowes arrived later by car. Mickey purchased a copy of nuts magazine for the journey, inside the mag was a poster of a womens body with the head cut out. This kept the gang amused on the long journey, one of the photos below actually made it into a later edition of Nuts magazine. Randomly they also passed a burning lorry on the other side of the motorway. When the team arrived in Newcastle they visited a few pubs and got some food while they waited for dave to show up. Mickey and Peter had to stick to the cokes. When Dave arrived they headed to the hotel and got some rest.

(click image for larger photo)

DAY 2 - THE RUN

        The day had finally come Sunday 18th September 2005, Mickey and Peter had been preparing for this day for quite a few months, well they knew about it for that long but they still wasn't very prepared for it. The boys got up very early to dye their hair bright blue before going down for breakfast. (Some toast). Then all the talking was over it was time to go and prove a lot of people wrong. Dave Bowes drove the boys to the start line, where things started to sink in and the nerves were building especially when all around them all they could see was some very serious runners who looked very prepared. They even thought about things like wearing bin liners to stop them getting cold before the start of the race. Then there was Mickey and Pete with silly hair! They soon started getting settled though and joined in the with the good atmosphere. They got a few laughs when they had their picture taken beneath a sign saying "Fast Pace Runners" So after the boys did their stretches and both had a nice mars bar, Dave left them and went to join the others who wouldn't be seen again until the finish line. At 10:40am the race started. Well it started at about 10:56 for the boys, as it took that long to reach the start line due to the mass of people. The day was a lot hotter than expected and soon Pete's blue hair dye started running down his face so he washed it off after about 4 miles. Despite the heat both Hills managed to cross the finish line with a time of 2 hours 20 mins where they collected their medals and met up with the others. The first pint in the hotel that night was one of the nicest they will ever have but it was the only one for the night. The boys were tired so after driving around Darlington looking for a fish and chip shop they went to bed. Today’s job was done. Tomorrow’s job is to get drunk.

DAY 3- THE PISS UP

       Both the boys woke up very achy on Monday 19th September but they new they had to soldier on and go out and get drunk. That was today’s agenda. During the day Adam Thoroughgood and Peter Hill went to a pub called Bob Trollops, just because of the name really. The pub had a free juke box (a little bit dodgy though) so it was well worth it. It was in this pub that the longest and most exciting ever game of top trumps began. It lasted over lunch but when it was done they met up with the other boys in a pub in Gateshead and all of them carried on drinking while the girls got ready. When the team was ready they went and hit Newcastle centre very hard indeed. Things got a little bit silly as they usually do after a few drink. A foam glove managed to keep them amused for some of the night but when they was bored of that, Mickey and Pete thought it would be funny to put their boxers on the outside of their jeans. This then lead to other things and Adam Thoroughgood got involved. They decided to swap clothes with each other. There was a few concerning looks from some members of the public when the saw three boys walk out of the same cubical but the boys were too drunk to care. Then things got even more bazaar when Adam decided to swap his clothes with Becky. Think we should move on from here quickly, it wasn't a good look. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

DAY 4 - SITE SEEING

          Still suffering from the previous night the team didn't leave the hotel very early on the tuesday. Todays plan was a bit of site seeing. The group went to St Jame's Park to see Caroline Simpsons grandad (Bill Simpson) name on a slate outside the ground. They had a Newcastle brown ale in Shearer's bar, Adam Mickey and Caroline went on a big wheel, had lunch in spoons where we created a football team out of the sauces, (Each sauce had a reason for its position) and the whole team had a drink in Bob Trollops before retiring back to the hotel for their final night. Team headed home on Wenesday 21st September.

BRIDGES OF NEWCASTLE

        For those of you that like bridges here are a few photos of the Millenium bridge, Tyne bridge and chollerford Bridge most (if not all) photos take by Adam Thoroughgood.

BACK