Obelisk Beer Mile
A fun and crazy charity event at the Obelisk Centre!
Beer Miles are becoming popular nowadays with the world record standing at around four and a half minutes, it shows that perhaps running and drinking can mix. Of course, it isn’t something that is recommended, in fact it is probably advised against by 99/100 medical professionals.
However, partners in crime Chris Lamb and Mark Kennedy decided to host an event for charity at the Obelisk Centre on Friday 30thSeptember.
As the competitors lined up and beer appeared in jugs from behind the bar, volunteers filled half pint glasses with a choice of lager or bitter. The rules were explained by Chris – you must drink a beer or lager before setting off on your first quarter mile lap and basically repeat this three more time. That’s right, four beers and four laps. There was a ten meter drinking zone and if anyone was sick or spilt their beer, the penalty was an extra lap.
The thirteen strong field lined up with a different kind of race nerves as we were all about to enter the unknown. Nobody had attempted drinking on the run and one lady had actually been teetotal for fifteen years.
The start was signalled and the first drink was downed. Mark opted for bitter and said, “It went down quite well and I set off tentatively on lap one. I wasn’t sure who was in front of me at first but decided that I better not push it too soon as throwing up didn’t sound enjoyable.”
The second drink was hard. With your heart racing and your breathing heavy, trying to drink it quickly was tough. By the halfway point, the pace started to settle and so did everyone’s nerves.
There was a sprint finish between Chris and Grant at the end with two of them crossing the line together. Darren Baldwin came a credible fourth ahead of Mark in fifth. The ladies enjoyed a good battle too with them both neck and neck whilst necking their last drink but Liz came home first.
It was all smiles and laughter at the end. Amazingly nobody was sick which was a result and a couple of hundred pounds was raised for charity too.
Huge thanks to Dave at The Obelisk Centre for letting us host the event and providing us with some beer too.
Well done to the NRR finishers, Darren Baldwin, Mark Kennedy, Matt Bushell, Mark Rose, Steve Heighway, John Fleming, Dave Knowles and Liz Dabell.
The next event will be Sunday 4th December.
