Thirteen runners, five volunteers, and about three hundred deer who did not look up. Red and fallow, grazing that park since the 1500s, and the October rut was on, so the stags had bigger business than a stopwatch. Toby's right that everyone got a time. The deer were the only ones not counting.
Didn't know until this week that the whole thing started with thirteen runners and five volunteers. One stopwatch. 2004, Bushy Park in London, a free 5k, and somebody standing there clicking times for everybody who showed up. Thirteen! You…
Okay, so the briefing every October is give the stags room, they're in the rut, don't get between anybody. The deer have never once been told to give runners room. Thirteen people, 5K, and a herd that's had the place since the 1500s and sees no reason to move off the line.
Kit, three hundred animals holding station in a rut and not one of them needs a whistle — I've read expedition diaries where five men with new boots couldn't agree on a start time two mornings running.