He certainly wowed the crowd.  But I confess I also thoroughly enjoyed the more contemplative atmosphere of the poetry tent where very distringuished and learned men chanted rich rivers of verse.

I spent a large part of the afternoon with our mayor Iqbal Zia and it was great seeing the pleasure people took in seeing him wearing his chain.  We talked to many in the crowd – most were from St Albans but a lot had come to St Albans from elsewhere – some from Luton, London and Hatfield and a particularly large contingent from Hemel.

I hope this is the first of an annual series – it deserves to do well and grow.  Oh, and I should have written that it was all organised by the St Albans Youth Council with just a little help from their grown-up brother.   They should all be very proud of what they have achieved.

I did the Walking Race which has the great advantage of starting in the relative cool of 8 am – see atmospheric early morning picture (right).

The bizarrest moment was walking up Bedmond Lane and hearing a shrieking whistle ahead as a steam roller clanked, rattled and hissed past on its way to Redbourn. It seemed a metaphor for my own ancient machinery huffing and puffing round the 13.5 km course, which beats the bounds of the west of the constituency.

Going back down Bedmond Lane, we met a different kind of steamroller in the shape of the awesome phalanx of runners bearing down on us between the high verges like some wild infantry charge. All they lacked were the assegais.

I finished my stroll in just under three hours which meant I was there to see Dominic Easter triumph in the proper race in just over an hour. I first met Dominic when I spoke at St Albans School a year ago. He is on course to be a great running star, he made the race look so easy, and I will be able to tell people that I finished the Half Marathon ten minutes in front of him – shame I had to have a two-hour start…

It was a particular pleasure to be greeted at the finish line by Iqbal Zia, the new Deputy Mayor.

In the picture I have my race finisher’s medal. Iqbal has the much more significant badge of Deputy Mayor of the City and District of St Albans. He is the first representative of St Albans’s non-White communities to hold this office and he is proving to be a star.

Today he took off his badge and jacket and joined the children and their parents in the 1.5 km fun run round Verulamium Park. Great stuff.

One of the many best things about the St Albans Half Marathon is the way that so many different types of people are encouraged to participate – runners, joggers, walkers, veterans and children.

Schools compete against each other, and my oldest son’s first school St Alban & St Stephen retained the school trophy. Good to see their enthusiasm given all the snickiness about school sports.

I finish this post with pictures of the two kinds of steamroller on Bedmond Lane.