The Dartmouth and Brown track teams returned to the U.S. on Sunday
after a wonderful two weeks abroad. Despite a 4:30 a.m. departure time from the
dorms at the University of London, we still almost ended up missing our flight
to Dublin Sunday morning. Steeled with the reserve that had served us so well
at all those HEPS championships, the athletes took it in stride and appeared
relatively unfazed (the zombie-like state that accompanies a severe lack of
sleep might also have had something to do with it…). The same cannot be said
for the coaches, more than a few of whom were close to losing it as we rushed
through Gatwick Airport and its futuristic eye-scanning technology. Everyone
made it back to Boston present and accounted for, however, except for the estimable
Kevin Cooper, who remained in his native Ireland. Miss ya, Coop! From Boston,
the athletes shared some sad goodbyes as everyone went their separate ways:
some to Hanover, some to Providence and some back home for the summer. For me,
those goodbyes were particularly poignant as I have now graduated and won’t be
seeing most of those guys for quite some time. Still, the memories I’ve shared
– not only from an unforgettable two weeks in Europe, but from four fantastic
years in Hanover – will make it that much sweeter when our paths do cross
again.
When last I left you, we had just arrived at St. Mary’s
University College in Twickenham, England. Tuesday started with a morning
practice, during which some of the St. Mary’s athletes took us to Bushy Park
for a run. Being a big football fan myself (real
football), I decided to check out if the St. Mary’s guys were too. Their
response was pretty typical, in retrospect: “Are you mad? We’re English, aren’t
we?” Happy to find some fans of the beautiful game, fellow football nut Erik
Berg and I spent the rest of the run talking about our favorite teams. After
practice, most of the Dartmouth team participated in a game of handball –
basically ultimate Frisbee with a volleyball – which I’m still bitter about
losing (if only my team had switched fields more often…). We spent the
afternoon getting some food supplies in Twickenham, which included a trip to
Poundland, a place Will thought had missed out on a golden naming opportunity.
We then put our meager football juggling skills on display outside the track
and were promptly outclassed by every member of the St. Mary’s team. The
juggling concluded with a couple games of S-P-O-T, where the penalty for losing
saw the loser face a wall while the other players kicked the ball at him. Steve
and Will ended up as literal sore losers, though it could have been a lot worse
if we were more accurate. That night, Brown headed to an alumni reception in
London, leaving Dartmouth to battle it out in trivia with the help of some St.
Mary’s athletes. Henry and I gained some sweet revenge on Barry (who defeated
us in Trivial Pursuit at the Grant in August), as Bob Loblaw’s Law Blog (also
featuring assistant coach Scott Phelps) emerged victorious thanks to a
dominating performance in the sports and Olympics rounds.
We spent Wednesday at the University of Oxford, and though
most of the colleges charged admission to get in (what?), the parts of the
university that we did visit, such as the Bodleian Library, were very
impressive. We also enjoyed a nice nap under some trees, which would have been
nicer if the German tourists next to us could have been a bit quieter. The
highlight of the day was definitely the Iffley Road Track, where Roger
Bannister became the first human to break 4:00 in the mile. We had dinner that
night at a local fish and chips joint, where we got a lot of very good, very
greasy food for not much money. My God, it was greasy. Steve was surprised that
their whole chicken was just that – an actual whole chicken – and though he put
up a valiant fight, he couldn’t quite finish all of it. We concluded the night
by plowing through several episodes of Parks and Recreation, a familiar pastime
on this trip.
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| At Iffley Rd. Track. |
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| The similarities are striking |
Thursday was race day, which saw some fantastic performances
from the Dartmouth squad. Henry and I submitted modest performances in the
3000, as Henry held me off after I closed hard over the last 150m (Will says
he’s never seen me move faster; Henry edged me by .03 seconds as we both ran
8:30). Silas stepped things up a notch by winning the 800 in 1:51.2 before Will
capped the night with a 3:44.8 1500, a massive seven-second PR, and his second
of the trip! We saw a couple PRs in the field events, too as the combined team
of Dartmouth and Brown took its second win in two contests. Perhaps Barry
should take us to a fish and chips restaurant before HEPS next year?
After the meet was over, we sallied forth to a reception
where we got to hear a few words from St. Mary’s vice principal. More
importantly, said vice principal was a Brighton fan, allowing me to prove to
everyone that they do indeed exist outside of my family! The athletes
reconvened shortly thereafter and headed out to a pub in Twickenham in a
massive mob that gave everyone flashbacks to their freshman fall. Silas failed
in his goal to limit himself to two pints in England and I decided that a shirt
wasn’t necessary for the walk back home to the dorms. Back at St. Mary’s, a few
of us decided to take one more lap around the track before closing the book on
an exhausting day.
With two busfulls of tired, possibly hungover (okay,
probably hungover) athletes, no one said much on the ride from St. Mary’s to
the University of London the next day. After arriving at the dorms, we grabbed
some food and headed to the Russell Square tube stop to journey to Olympic
Park. Well apparently it costs money to go on the tube, and at £8 (and with a free
day travelcard coming the next day courtesy of Barry), we decided to stay local
and check out the British Museum. The building itself was magnificent, and many
of the artifacts we saw on display were thousands of years old. Highlights
there included the Rosetta Stone and sculptures from the Parthenon.
Unfortunately, our visit was curtailed when the wave of tiredness that hit
Silas (he slept in the dorms for four hours instead of coming to the museum)
caught up to Steve and me. We decided to head home and thanks to some poor
navigation on our part, ended up seeing more of the city than we intended to.
Taking full advantage of the greatest city on the face of the Earth, we spent
Friday night eating takeout at the dorms and watching more Parks and
Recreation.
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| Rosetta Stone |
We began our final day in London at Olympic Park, where to
our dismay, we couldn’t actually go in since everything was closed off. We
still managed some pretty sweet views of the Olympic Stadium (site of Mo
Farah’s double-gold last year, in case you forgot) from the shopping center
across the street, but we left a little subdued. From there, I traveled to the
suburbs to visit my relatives (not much to report there) while the rest of the
boys took in some of the major attractions: Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar
Square, Big Ben, etc. After arriving back at Russell Square, I wasn’t sure how
to reconnect with everybody, though I had a lingering suspicion that they might
have gone to one of a few nearby restaurants for dinner. Scanning the windows
of the local eateries with hawk-like precision, I suddenly found myself lost in
a pair of brown eyes. After freeing myself from the magical stare of Will
Geoghegan, I headed inside the aptly-named Burger and Shake (I should have
known) and found the Dartmouth and Brown distance crews inside. We ended the
night sampling a few beers and some famed Pimm’s (we couldn’t tell if the
bartender actually put alcohol in those since they all tasted like Sprite) and
reflecting on the past fortnight.
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| Close enough. |
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| Buckingham Palace |
Overall, the trip was – to use my favorite word – awesome. I
knew I would have a great time in Ireland and England with my friends, but it
was a pleasure getting to meet so many incredible people from the other schools
we competed with – especially the athletes from Brown, who I hope to see again
at future HEPS. I’m sure the rest of the Dartmouth guys would say the same. Now
it’s on to different things. Grad school for me, summer training for most of
the boys. The last two weeks kinda made me forget that I won’t be coming back
to Hanover in August, and that all our traditions will go on without me and the
rest of the ’13s. I will miss the team terribly, but I know that DXC is in
great hands behind the leadership of the Class of 2014.
Lest the old traditions fail…
-Jon
