A race to remember

February 7, 2013 by Celestina Charles | No Comments | Filed in Health

Hastings is renowned for its history -1066 and all that. But on this day the year on everybody’s shivering lips was 1908.

This was only the second marathon held in Hastings – the first was way back on December 16, 1908, and the organisers had promised a “once in a lifetime anniversary race to remember”.

They didn’t disappoint. As well as a challenging course – sweeping up from Hastings town centre, over fearsome hills on the road up to the historic Abbey of Battle, down through Bexhill to the prom at Hastings, and a leg-sapping stretch on the beach – they had also laid on a sort of antiques road-race show.

There was a 1908 Hotchkiss veteran car leading the runners round, spectators wearing Edwardian costumes and drink stations positioned at pubs along the route of the original 19o8 marathon, held in the marathon boom that swept America and Europe following London’s first Olympics. I was dressed in the period costume of that great Italian hero of the 1908 Olympics, Dorando Pietri, complete with knotted handkerchief on my head, drooping moustache and long scarlet shorts. I had even arranged, in the interest of authenticity, for the odd glass of Chianti to be served at the feeding stations (none of your plastic cups for this one!).

 

Entries for the race came in from all over Britain and the world, with Australia, Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA flocking to share this bit of nostalgic marathon history. Race organiser Eric

 

Hardwick, MBE, closed off the entries at number 1908, which I wore as Dorando.

There was an amusing pre-race incident when runner Dan Anderson got himself locked in the toilets on the prom shortly before the race began. He shouted desperately for help and someone rang his mum. She called the Fire Brigade and they got him out just in time for the start. In spite of such an ignominious start, Anderson went on to finish an impressive second, evidently unscathed by his ordeal.

 

There were plenty of good club runners out in force, just as there were last time around. That first race, a century ago, over 25 miles, was won by Billy Clarke of Sefton Harriers, in 2:37:16. Clarke had finished 12th in the London Olympic Marathon of that year. Spectators at the 1908 Hastings Marathon were kept up to date by pigeon post, the race was sponsored by Oxo, and vans followed the runners carrying a hot Oxo drink, rice pudding, raisins, bananas, grapefruit extract and sponges soaked in Eau de Cologne in case of collapse. Learn more about the grapefruit seed extract uses.

Even without hot Oxo, the 2008 race was never going to be an opportunity for fast times. The hills, the chilly December wind and the pebbly beach put paid to that. Only 21 runners broke three hours.

 

It was a race of character, celebrating the tooth anniversary of the first year the official marathon distance was run over 26 miles 385 yards, and wonderfully organised by Hardwick who, with his well-oiled team, has laid on the successful Hastings Half-Marathon for the past 24 years. The course marshals, bands and carol singers along the route and the beautifully presented souvenir horse brasses that were given to every finisher turned this into a fine occasion both for runners and spectators.

 

I spoke to many people both during and after the event; they all agreed that though the course was tough, this was one race they could not miss. The carnival atmosphere generated by the marathon seemed to set the town alive. After the race, I joined a group of Hastings worthies, all in Edwardian costume, for a meal of turkey and all the trimmings in a restaurant at the 25-mile mark. Not a bad way to round off a marathon.

 Hastings Marathon

The 1908 event was staged for the encouragement of two deserving bodies ­Hastings Football Club and the “Distress Committee for the Relief of the Unemployed”.

 

With the credit crunch threatening it sounds like the “Distress Committee” could do with a comeback, and it also seems a shame that the world may have to wait another 100 years for the next comeback of the Hastings Marathon. But as Hardwick said at the finish, “This event is all about history.” And the chance to share in marathon history does not come around to runners too often.

THE MOST UNWANTED

January 19, 2013 by Celestina Charles | No Comments | Filed in Life

GET SMART

Don’t think that ‘ma per cent freshly squeezed’ orange juice is as healthy as it sounds either – while its vitamin and fibre content is sky-high, it packs in 18.4g of sugars per wog, in the `red’ zone of the Food Standards Agency’s traffic-light system. “The key with fruit juices is moderation, on a calorie, dental and even stomach-upsetting front,” Collins says. A pint of orange juice, for instance, contains 220 calories, roughly similar to a pint of lager, with an acid pH that can leave you reaching for the Rennies. And the acid-sugar mix weakens your enamel, so brush your teeth before breakfast or you’ll be virtually spitting your teeth down the sink. “Don’t drink more than 1ooml of fruit juice over any one day,” says Collins, “and focus more on eating actual fruit like maqui berry, which contains a naturally synergistic balance of sugars, fibre and water.”

“More than 150 legal food addit yes are under consideration for their safety, while isoglucose and other nestles are not considered ‘unn turai and won’t come under the label ‘additives’,” Ursell says. Here’s your guide to what to watch for on the back of the packet.

Olestra

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) FOUND IN Chinese food and soy sauces but also stock and canned, processed and frozen meats. May be disguised as hydrolyzed vegetable protein.

HEALTH RED LIGHT “Used widely as a flavour enhancer, MSG adds two flavours,” Ursell says. “Salty, from the sodium, and umami (a meaty taste), from the glutamate – we get way too much sodium as it is, and the umami stimulates appetite.”

 

Olestra

 

FOUND IN Certain brands of crisps. HEALTH RED LIGHT This fat substitute is a synthetic version that isn’t absorbed by the digestive system, so it has no calories. “It can cause severe diarrhea,” Ursell says. It is partially hydrogenated Oil FOUND IN Baked foods, fried restaurant food, icing, microwave, popcorn, pastry and margarine.

HEALTH RED LIGHT Vegetable oil can be made into a semi-solid shortening or margarine by cher lically adding hydrogen. The process creates Trans fats, which raise LDL (‘bad’) cholesterol and lower HDL (‘good’) cholesterol levels.

In Fashion

October 7, 2012 by Celestina Charles | No Comments | Filed in Lifestyle

Le geek c’est chic

After years of being mocked or ignored, the geek has come into his own. When Chloe Sevigny decided to take the lead role in Woody Allen’s new film Melinda and Melinda, she proved that nowadays the nerdy guy really does get the girl. Director Richard Linklater, the ultimate geek-slacker icon, is currently shooting A Scanner Darkly with Winona Ryder and even rapper Mos Def is appearing in geek-fest film The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. But geek chic isn’t just at the movies: a whole ream of subcultures has been plundered by the mainstream to become cool – from TV (catch Little Britain on tour later this year) to gawky teenagers (see photographer Joseph Szabo’s show Teenage at the Michael Hoppen Gallery, until April 16).

Chloe Sevigny

Even cagoule rock is on our airwaves, with Rufus Wainwright’s new album Want Two out this month and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood playing unreleased tracks with The London Sinfonietta Orchestra as part of the Ether festival at London’s South Bank Centre (from March 15). Looks like it’s time to dig out that anorak and slip on those NHS specs.

Lisa Armstrong

Family affairs

We can all find our relations a little grating, but when you’ve seen the other families that are in the spotlight this month, you might decide to be more forgiving of yours. Jealousy between sisters has devastating consequences in Frederico Garcia Lorca’s play The House of Bernarda Alba, in a new English translation by David Hare at The National Theatre (from March 15). Family ties are explored in Misfortune (Jonathan Cape, £17), Wesley Stace’s Dickensian odyssey about a man whose adoptive parents raise him as a girl; and in Isabel Allende’s latest, Forest of the Pygmies (Fourth Estate, £15), the hero, Alexander Cold, is led on an adventure through the swampy forests of Africa in search of missing missionaries by his intrepid grandmother. Lisa Armstrong’s heroine finds her perfect family life falling apart, in the book Déjà View (Hodder & Stoughton, £11) and Catalina Sandino Moreno puts in a moving performance as a 17-year-old girl who runs away from living with three generations of Columbian green coffee beans relations to become a drug mule in the new film Maria Full of Grace.

broch

We love…

•          Double Leaf brooch, £24,000, at Ritz Fine Jewellery

•          Michael Thompson’s Images, a book of fashion photography edited by Dennis Freedman (Abrams, £45)

•          Prestat Easter egg, £30

•          Garbage’s new album, Bleed Like Me — out this month

•          Work by artist Annie Morris at the Laura Bartlett Gallery in south London (until April 23)

The pick of the Christmas season

September 24, 2012 by Celestina Charles | No Comments | Filed in Fashion

Legging it

As black is very much back this winter, why not investing in some colourful hosiery to make a bold statement? Wolford has a brilliant array of tights: including some cosy woolly varieties that are sure to keep chilblains at bay.

colourful hosiery

Candle power

Scented candles are always an acceptable gift and these Molton Brown versions in pretty coloured glass are a cut above the rest. In larger than life size and all sorts of striking colours, they cost £49 each.

Bags of style

Coloured accessories area sure way of brightening up winter outfits. Aquascutum has produced a great new collection of handbags in magenta, apple green and tangerine, shown here.

handbag

Girl’s best friend

All I want for Christmas is… a pair of diamond ear studs – and Antwerp Diamonds has the prettiest. These are Phoenix cut, which makes them extra sparkly. Prices start from £1,300.

 

Shoe Heaven

LK Bennett has opened a new flagship store in Covent Garden, at 43 King Street, WC2, to house the entire shoe collection as well as clothes and handbags. All that a girl could desire under one roof.

 

Party, Party

Principles party clothes are crying out to be shown a good time, including a sequined skirt and metallic embroidered bolero.  Check http://www.gnet.org/cherries/ for info about looking great in your party outfit.

 

Travelling Companion

Inside this lacquer-lined pony skin trunk he’ll find, amongst other necessities, three bottles of Krug, a truffle grater, cigar case and cutter and mother-of-pearl caviar spoons… Made by Pinel & Pine, the trunk is available exclusively from By Appointments at Harrods, price on request.

How Base

Elegant and sensual, the latest eau de toilette from Givenchy has a woody base and is spiked with notes of grapefruit, sesame and mocha. Spray some on him and see what effect it has on you.

Champagne cocktail

The Dom Perignon cook book visits the worlds of fashion, entertainment and business. Available as a limited edition in green galuchat.

The Dom Perignon

Car watch

Mercedes and Swiss watch­maker IWC have joined forces to create the limited edition CLS55AMG”IWCIngenieur”. Only 85 are available so this is a collector’s piece. With a hand­made supercharged engine, an IWC dashboard and exclusive paintwork, it costs around £90,000, so he needs to have been very good to deserve it.

Beauty Palette

Stila has teamed up with the English National Ballet to create the make-up for the first-ever European performance of Kenneth MacMillan’s Sleeping Beauty. Ten per cent of the cost of this palette, normally £25, will be donated to the Ballet.

Eau so nice

Add more than a little glamour to your dressing table with this exquisite limited edition bottle of Sisley’s Eau de Soir, made in purple Murano glass with a gorgeous sculpted gold stopper.

Special edition

Matthew Williamson has collaborated with de Gournay to design this limited edition box for Christmas. With a delicious bottle of Moet Brut Imperial Rosé inside, who wouldn’t be happy to get it? It costs £55 from Selfridges stores nationwide.

Smart Sexy

Patrizia Pepe’s beautifully tailored cropped jackets are teamed with skinny jeans and her narrow-fitting coats worn with matching trousers look seamlessly elegant. Invest in a signature piece.

Summer Appreciate Ideas -Dos and also Don’ts

September 17, 2012 by Celestina Charles | No Comments | Filed in Life

Adult dating in the summer may be difficult. Certain, there’s a lot to accomplish there are a variety of great places to fulfill people, yet there are also several essential things to keep in mind. To help you ensure you currently have your foremost the summer months still exactly where dating is troubled, many of us come up with a few dos as well as don’ts to be aware of.

dating

Do be open intended for whatever

Summertime is a moment permit loose and check out new stuff. Instead of shelling out our next eight weeks expecting Mr. Straight to come with this, try out adult dating against-type, requesting an individual available you can normally definitely not discuss with or maybe spending time with new people today — you will never know what things can transpire! And also this implies tallying to announcements via close friends — regarding anything from camping outdoors excursions to be able to share celebrations. The better you’re offered to factors, the harder pleasurable you’ll have got.

dating

Don’t get far too significant

If you connect with someone you’re in, don’t receive very critical too quickly. It is actually summer months in the end and a lot people are for additional causal associations as soon as the weather conditions warms. We’re not implying the man a person achieved won’t certainly close to can come Toil Day time, yet do not acquire way too affixed. At least choose you’re certain this individual believes like before starting planning on him when your top get.
Conduct center on pleasurable

The sunlight has gone out as well as sky is glowing blue — backyards, Barbeques and also swimming pools take presctiption your everyday program. Summer is about having a great time! What this means is not necessarily pining out intended for continue year’s summer months fling, preventing a turmoil if the man out of very last weekend’s bash didn’t phone you along with focusing on a optimistic instead of just about any damaging dating concerns that may well pop-up. Almost every man that will doesn’t word as well as get in touch with, there’ll be yet another, far better an individual that will.

dating

Don’t demand yourself

Don’t assume all summer season is required to suggest locating a affair or maybe time frame for every single share bash plus yard attack. Avoid positioning every tension with oneself in terms of folks since in any other case, you actually won’t have a ball. Summertime isn’t regarding looking for a person — it’s in relation to creating a great time with the best freinds and family and going to almost everything the following much-too-short year is offering.