Lots of runners came along early, so there never seemed to be much of a queue for chip collection and the team under the gazebo managed things extremely well . .

 . . for some beforehand there was some stretching to be done . .

 . . or maybe a couple of miles or so to warm up . .

 . . but for most it seemed that the time before the race was an opportunity to catch up with old friends . .

. . and at about 9.45 I set off to the other end of the start straight to prepare to take some photos . .