Crowds from the local community and parish church turned out on the Pershore Road through Selly Park on the morning of Sunday 23rd October to watch the 15,000 runners in the BUPA Great Birmingham Run half marathon pass by both on their way out of the city centre, from where the race started near the NIA, and on the return stage towards the finish in Broad Street.
The front steps of Christ Church Selly Park and stretch of pavement along Pershore Road outside the church were full of enthusiastic spectators for the BUPA Great Birmingham Run 2011. Ahead of the race a spokesperson for Christ Church said ‘We won't be holding a conventional Sunday service at Christ Church that day. Instead, we're serving the community in a different way.’ The church provided a live band to entertain the runners as they passed by and the spectators from the local community as they cheered them on, as well as giving out free refreshments.Christ Church had several of its own members taking part in the race and many race entrants, from Christ Church and other churches, signed up to the Bishop of Birmingham’s fundraising challenge in support of Christian Aid and other charities.
Further reporting and photographs can be found on the photo link to the top right of this Features page. Birmingham Mail website readers will need to go to
http://sellyparksouth.org.uk/features/
Further reporting and photos can also be seen on the Christ Church website at:
http://www.christ-church-selly-park.org.uk/birmingham_half_marathon.html
There was a field of 41 elite runners and wheel chair athletes leading the race ahead of the many thousands of other runners - club runners, regular running enthusiasts and those who trained up specially for the event, a number of them wearing fancy dress and all raising money for a wide range of charities through sponsorship. The Men’s Elite Race was won by former World and Olympic Champion Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia in 1 hour 1 minute and 29 seconds, the Women’s Elite Race by Gemma Steel of the UK in 1h 12m 21s, and the Wheel Chair race was won by Phil Hogg, also of the UK, in 59m. The whole event was televised live on Channel 5. The race organisation was very efficient with a rapid clear-up operation following the last runners to go through and Pershore Road through Selly Park being open to traffic again during the afternoon.
