Home  News Thomas & Lincoln GP Weekend
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Thomas & Lincoln GP Weekend |
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Written by James Johnson
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Monday, 02 June 2008 |
Thomas the Tank Engine and friends....
On the Wednesday evening a couple of weeks ago, after having checked the weather forecast, I hatched a plan. I’d always wanted to go and watch the Lincoln Grand Prix – probably the biggest one day cycle race in the UK at the moment and certainly the best to watch as it runs several times right through Lincoln city centre – but I knew the wife would not be keen on the idea unless I was a bit cunning. After doing some research I thus proposed that we have a ‘weekend away’ taking my son Donovan to see Thomas the Tank Engine and staying in a nice hotel somewhere. I promised good weather and Mariskha, always a sucker for treats, took the bait!
Having packed our bags and prepared a picnic on the morning of Saturday 10th May my family and I - Mariskha, Donovan, ‘Meek’ (my daughter Dominique) and ‘Babes’ (that’s me) - set off in blistering sunshine to see Thomas the Tank Engine at Shackleton railway in Leicestershire. We drove through the beautiful lush green English countryside to arrive at our venue about two hours later and found ourselves greeted by Sir Topham Hat himself and the nostalgic sound of steam engine whistles. We also found ourselves surrounded by other families with lots of other “Thomas mad” three and four year old sons.
The engines are in fact restored machines run by enthusiasts and are magnificent beasts in superb and highly polished condition. The whole atmosphere at the station is very nostalgic and takes you back in time to the late-Victorian/Edwardian era, just like in the film/book ‘The Railway Children’. All they have to do to create the Thomas themed day is put plastic faces on the front of the engines, hang Thomas bunting everywhere and play the Thomas theme in the background. Simple but effective as the engines do really look like the characters in the books.
After a couple of trips up and down the railway, some ice creams and lots of photos with Thomas, Duck, Percy and co we managed to persuade a screaming Donovan into the car (he would have stayed there all night if he had had a choice) and we set off for Lincoln.
I had booked a self-catering cottage at the Bailhouse Hotel which is right in the historic city centre and actually on the race course. The cottage was very nice with a small swimming pool in front of it and generally the wife gave it the thumbs up. We whiled away the evening sipping glasses of wine by the pool with a beautiful view of a floodlit Lincoln cathedral in the background. It was so warm Mariskha thought she was home in South Africa. So far so good….!
The next morning we rose earlyish so as not to miss anything. As we were staying right on the course I went out with Donovan to have a walk around whilst Mariskha got washed and dressed. There were already a lot of people around at 9.30am and the atmosphere was like what you might expect at a proper race. There was a commentary box and press box, various stalls, a big British Cycling banner and lots of steel railings lining the course with sponsors advertisements on them. Mariskha soon joined us just after the race had gone through for the first of eleven laps. It was at this point that we bumped into Simon Barnes, MD of Plowman Craven and a former Welwyn Wheeler. Friendly as ever, Simon and I had a bit of a chat and Simon then gave us two pink PCA caps. We now had a team to support and thus became PCA groupies for the day. In fact the peaked caps were really quite useful because by mid-morning it was already very hot and sunny.
 
We watched the next few laps on Michaelgate where you had to suck your tummy in to avoid the riders touching as they tended to ride along the smooth gutter sections, rather than on the cobbles in the middle of the road. It seemed just a little bit like the Tour of Flanders which I had gone to watch in March. There were even lots of following cars just like in a proper race!
We then settled down on the finish line area to watch the rest of the race and soak up the rays. The Downings, Tom Southam and Simon Richardson looked particularly strong. Simon Gaywood was also doing well but despite a great effort he didn’t quite manage to get across to the break. As each lap passed the crowd got bigger and louder and we had to make sure we didn’t lose our spot at the railings to see the finish. Every time the riders came through Donovan was shouting with the best of them, ‘Come on boys!!!’. The atmosphere was really hotting up. Coming through for the bell lap Russell Downing made a huge effort up Michaelgate and as he came past us he was absolutely flying. Of the three at the head of the field he was looking the most likely victor and sure enough as they came through to finish he took the victory, his second in this race.
After the prize presentation we went back to our hotel, packed our things and set off back down south. After such a wonderful weekend, who knows maybe we will come back next year! |
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