Sallying Forth

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.

At Iffley Rd. Track.

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. 

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. 

Close enough.

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