DAVE Coales is making a habit of gate-crashing the farewell retirement runs of some of the world’s greatest runners.
In April the Team Bath AC chairman (pictured) managed to keep pace with Paula Radcliffe as she raced for the final time in the London Marathon and then on Sunday he joined in Haile Gebrsellasie’s final race in Addis Ababa.
“I managed to run with Paula in London but I got nowhere near Haile,” said Coales.
“He was at the very front with the elite runners while I was back in the pack with the 50,000 other runners and it took me half a minute to cross the start line!”
But Coales did get to meet Gebrsellasie the previous night in the Hilton Hotel in the Ethiopian capital.
“There was a pasta party for all the Europeans running the event and I had my photo taken with him along with the group of runners representing the Vision Aid Overseas charity,” added Coales.
“He was giving lots of interviews and talking to people and seemed a lovely gut. I felt very privileged to be in his final race.”