Almería Half Marathon, 28 Jan 2007

[El Gordo]

Roll up! Roll up! Now in its 3rd great year!

It looks like we're all off to Almería (Southern Spain) again for our AGM at the end of January.

Reasons for going:

• It's a weekend in Spain during January

• Plenty of Guinness and cheap Rioja

• Decent enough race, two laps round the elegant town, always a good size field (about 1000?)

• Excellent finish in the new Almería stadium

• The race is fantastic value for money. For about £4, you get a 3 course pre-race pasta meal, teeshirt, and a whole load of good quality freebies, including, last year, a punnet of tomatoes

• Good company

• Plenty of Guinness and cheap Rioja

• Cheap hotels because it's the off-season (about £50 per night for a 4 star hotel)

• The ever-helpful and charming Antonio, always on hand, as well as his army of sociable friends

• Tapas

• Nice scenery (snow-capped mountains and sea)

• Er, what more do you want?

• Oh yeah, cheap flights. About £40 return from Gatwick at the moment, though this will go up as time goes on.

• Did I mention the Guinness and cheap Rioja?

At the moment it looks like Sweder, Nigel, Suzie, me are the definites with the strong possibility of a Mister Big throwing his hand in.

It would be good to get some fresh blood along this time.