As usual a good time was had by all at the annual Jersey Spartan AC Dinner & Awards evening on Saturday. I got through the emceeing without major catastrophe and handed the mic over to the expert, Katharine Merry. I also had the pleasure of sitting on her table over dinner. What an exceptionally pleasant person she is and she went out of her way not only to do some research beforehand, but she made the effort to try to remember all the various names of people that she came across – dinner guests, award winners etc. She is also a bit of a statto, rattling off various times and records to the 1/100s.

Katharine gave us a well-received speech – it was really a talk through the 400m women’s final in Sydney at the 2000 Olympics, and it was a unique insight for those of us not actually involved in the race!

Kath (now my mate!) was over with her partner Leon who is also a really nice guy. They are both Brummies (well, Kath near enough) and live in Solihull, just over the back from my family homestead. I hope they both enjoyed their weekend and that we see them again sometime.