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From Last to First: A long-distance runner's journey from failure to success

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The London men's winner of 1984 is confident that Paula Radcliffe will emerge as a British winner in the women's race of 2005, though he is not so sure about the impact of a third marathon in eight months upon the long-term future of the world record-holder. "You can only go to the well so many times, and running the marathon really is going to the well," Spedding pondered. "Even if you are the best in the world, it takes an awful lot out of you. And I just worry that running another one now is maybe just diminishing Paula's chances of making sure she wins gold in a major championship." The reason therefore why so many old people have died is because people are living longer and they are the ones with the old-age related diseases. The virus is not selecting according to age, but medical condition. These included Foster, who he helped win European and Commonwealth 5000m titles. Dunn was born in Richmond in North Yorkshire but moved to Leeds and shared a flat with Foster and the pair became training partners and lifelong friends. Bristol staged the World Half Marathon Championships two years ago and they were a great success. However, last year was a damp squib and, in an effort to create more interest and publicity, the organisers decided to bring in eight former stars to run their own race within the body of the main event. Treacy was beside me. I glanced behind and Joseph Nzau was fading away. I just had that moment where it hit me. I’m going to win a medal. Then immediately, I thought: “Only if I can keep this going for three miles.” I just put it out of my mind completely and it was just a matter of getting to the finish as fast as I could. I just concentrated on that.

The rest of Jones's career contained more ups and downs. In 1987 he came second in the Boston Marathon, but was annoyed with himself for letting Japan's Toshihiko Seko get away from him. In 1988 JOnes won the New York Marathon and in 1992 the Toronto Marathon, the latter as a 37-year-old; major championship success would continue to allude him though, his fourth-place finish in the 1990 Commonwealth Games marathon proving his last chance, although Jones was still good enough to finish 13th in the 1993 World Championships, even though his best years were behind him. I've often wished I was a bit fitter and now I have an incentive. I'm actually getting out more often because I have the motivation." A time of nostalgia, to bathe in an era of great local success on the world scene? Or a ridiculous challenge for Spedding, now 51 and out of serious training for the last 12 years? Probably both if the truth were faced.It was actually my best chance and I had to persuade myself that something I had never imagined was actually happening – that I’d get to past 20 miles and think: “We’re not going fast enough.” I pushed the pace for a while and really reduced that group. That's how it was with athletics though Lindsay Dunn, a lifelong pal, had the most significant influence on me. I still work with Lindsay today talking with some of his athletes about motivation." He has definitely been (and may still be) in the pay of archenemy Gates and is a rather too keen proponent of unnecessary vaccines. I have the policy at home and I'm glad to say it hasn't been cashed," he smiled. "I'm still alive so there's no money. Presumably someone else will eventually benefit!

Jones's first main marathon experience did not have a happy ending. Having twisted his ankle the night before the 1983 Chicago Marathon, Jones could have been forgiven for sitting the race out, but bravely battled on for 17 miles, until the ligament damage he had suffered forced him to pull out. Undeterred, Jones returned to Chicago a year later and, just a few weeks after the Los Angeles Olympics, won the event, setting a new world record time of 2:08:05. It has been known for many years that high levels of Vitamin D greatly reduce the severity of respiratory infections and is a vital component of our innate immunity. Because Vitamin D is produced by sunshine on the skin, our levels are invariably lowest during winter, which explains why influenza is so much more prevalent in the darkest months. Researchers around the world, who are aware of this, have tested hospitalised Covid-19 patients for Vitamin D. An Indonesian study found a death rate of only 4% among people with normal levels. People with insufficient levels of Vitamin D died at a rate of 87.8% and those who were deemed deficient in Vitamin D died from the virus at the extraordinary rate of 98.9%. An American study by Dr Eric Hermstad showed that death or serious illness invariably occurred among those with Vitamin D levels below 25 nanograms per ml, which is 5ng/ml below the national average. Nobody who was admitted to hospital, in his study, had a Vitamin D level above 40ng/ml, suggesting that this prevented hospitalisation. Indeed, even in his final few weeks he was heard to be following news from the English National Cross Country Championships on social media from his hospital bed. You can have your fitness and your talent but, quite often, it comes down to being in a pressure situation and you have to decide what to do at that moment. Those were the two moments that made that race as successful as it was for me.

It was 1985, in London. Spedding and world record-holder Steve Jones were side by side, clear of the field. Jones (now 54) who ran yesterday in New York, told Spedding he needed to answer a call of nature. “What should I do?” Presumably, the overhead helicopter made matters rather public.

Jones was a special athlete, but it is worrying that he still holds the best four times by a British runner in the marathon. He admit as much himself: "There is a certain amount of pride in still holding the British record but there is also sadness that nobody has broken it before now." The man who does eventually break Jones's record will have to be as committed, dedicated, talented and tough as Ebbw Vale's finest, not an easy feat.

That was Charlie Spedding's first ever marathon race in the space city of Houston, America. His second brought another glorious victory in the London Marathon. And his third an Olympic bronze medal finally confirmed before 92,000 folk in the Los Angeles Coliseum Stadium and a worldwide television audience of two billion.

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