City saw off rivals United 1-0 on Saturday thanks to Yaya Toure’s 52nd-minute winner and Stoke thrashed Bolton 5-0 on Sunday with goals from Matthew Etherington, Robert Huth and Kenwyne Jones in the first 30 minutes and two second-half strikes by Jon Walters.

In the Premier League Arsenal missed the chance to close the gap on United to four points as Liverpool held them to a 1-1 draw at the Emirates. Following a second-half injury to Jamie Carragher, Robin van Persie put Arsenal ahead with a 98th-minute penalty but Dirk Kuyt equalised from the spot in the 102nd. Chelsea are only two points behind Arsenal after they won 3-1 at West Brom.

Blackpool replaced Wigan in the bottom three due to a 3-1 home defeat. West Ham are a point behind Blackpool following a 2-1 loss at home to Aston Villa. Blackburn are only two points above the drop zone after a 2-0 defeat at Everton and both Birmingham and Sunderland five clear thanks to the Blues’ 2-0 win.

Lewis Hamilton won the Chinese Grand Prix, the Englishman’s first victory of the season. Hamilton overtook world champion and championship leader Sebastien Vettel, who took the first two races of the year, with four laps to go. Mark Webber denied Jenson Button third place by overtaking him on the penultimate lap.

Leicester remain top of Rugby Union’s Premiership despite being held 41-41 at home to Gloucester, who equalised with a last-minute interception try from Eliota Fuimaono-Sapulo. Saracens are just two points behind the Tigers in second and nine clear of third-placed Gloucester with their seventh straight Premiership win – 33-12 at Exeter. Northampton occupy the last play-off spot courtesy of a 22-15 win at Newcastle, who climbed off bottom thanks to a losing bonus point. They were replaced by Leeds, who were thrashed 51-18 at Wasps. Elsewhere, London Irish and Bath strengthened their grasp on European Cup qualification with wins at Sale and at home to Harlequins respectively.

Huddersfield moved top of Rugby League’s Super League with a 38-6 win at Leeds while Castleford, who led last week, drew 26-26 at Harlequins. St Helens are second thanks to a 52-6 thrashing of Wakefield. Warrington are fourth courtesy of a 64-6 demolition of Crusaders and Wigan, who won 28-16 at Hull KR, are fifth. Catalan Dragons are next after a 28-10 win at home to Hull FC and Salford thumped Bradford 56-16.

In Cricket’s County Championship Warwickshire stunned Division One title favourites Somerset by an innings and 382 runs, defending champions Nottinghamshire beat Hampshire by nine wickets and Durham saw off Yorkshire by 146 runs. In Division Two Derbyshire and Northamptonshire enjoyed innings wins over Leicestershire and Kent respectively while Glamorgan beat Gloucestershire and Middlesex defeated Kent.

Finally, Emmanuel Mutai and Mary Keitany secured a Kenyan double in the London Marathon men’s and women’s races.

Phidippides was asked to run 26 miles to Athens to carry the news of the victory and the warning about the approaching Persian ships.  He had already run to Sparta and back (3 days) and had been fighting all day…but he went for it.  Taking 3 hours he got the message to those concerned and promptly dropped dead from exhaustion.  Out of that less than encouraging beginning, the marathon challenge was born!

You may or may not know, I am currently in training to run the London Marathon at the end of April.  To be honest with you, its been a bit of an ask to get out there in the freezing cold during winter and run for what seems like an endless period of time for no reason other than to be able to run further the next time I go out.  Further more, sometimes I’ve been wondering why on earth I’m doing it as in the real world I will never actually need to run 26.2 miles.  I mean, there are far more civilised ways to get about…

There have been some advantages: I’ve had lots of time to think, I’ve shed a few more pounds and I can eat whatever I like (sometimes)!   Furthermore, the parallels between running for hours and my life leading CVM have been profound.  It’s been tough to build up the mileage.  Its relentless effort for small gains.  Much of the time I’m in mild discomfort and it has felt like pushing a boulder up hill.  There has been no glamour in the training and much of what I have been doing has been unseen.  It’s even been unappreciated! One or two people who have picked up on what I am doing have decided to stop supporting CVM because they aren’t into marathons! (If only they knew!!!)

Building a movement is much the same.  Whether that is in your local community, church or across the UK.  Its tough work building something brick by brick.  Sometimes it feels like you have made little progress or have even gone backwards.  Furthermore, it often feels that if you don’t keep pushing the boulder it will just fall back on top of you and squash you!

I’ve realised in all of this how important to me encouragement is.  We really need to work on this as a national movement.  I’ve been wondering how we can better support one another or link up together.  Are there some core aims/values we need to all get behind as a band of brothers and put in front of all the CVM groups?  Do we need to find a way to facilitate support and help as we continue to get out there and push the boulder?  The thing is, just one word of encouragement from a mate when I’m training and I feel on top of the world.  It means so much doesn’t it when someone really gets behind you.

A couple of years ago I spoke about friendly fire and fostering an encouraging ethos at our annual conference (look out for a podcast).  I spoke then about honking geese … ask me more when you see me or google it!  Needless to say, my conclusion was that we all need to honk at each other a little bit more.

Keep going brothers.  Say strong, keep in touch, share the ups and downs with us and keep pushing that boulder …

Deo Optimo Maximo!

Carl

Carl Beech is running the 2010 Virgin London Marathon on 25th April! See him training on a cold wet day in the Peak District and find out why …

To sponsor Carl, go to justgiving.com/revbeechy

Over the last 2 years I’ve taken on an annual challenge to raise money for the work of The Kings Foundation. This year I’m raising money for CVM, the charity I lead, by running all 26.2 miles of the London Marathon.

CVM has some amazing opportunities over the next year, including getting our new world cup souvenir magazine “Scorchio” into nearly every prison cell in the UK!  We also continue to develop top quality resources for the church and will be running 12 Regional Days all over the UK and a big hit national conference. CVM has also just entered into a partnership with the fantastic Sorted Magazine! The diary for 2010 is already packed full of churches crying out to know how to reach out to blokes from Cornwall to Scotland.

So we find ourselves massively in demand but usually on the edge of financial meltdown! We only need another £8k to get Scorchio onto the streets and only £10k to produce the UK’s first ever men’s ministry manual we are calling “The Works” which will be packed full of hints, tips, resources, research, reviews and more …

Please sponsor me … which is really a sponsorship of CVM and a declaration that you are standing with us as we press ahead with what we believe we have been called to do.

Huge thanks!

Over the last 2 years I’ve taken on an annual challenge to raise money for the work of The Kings Foundation. This year I’m raising money for CVM, the charity I lead, by running all 26.2 miles of the London Marathon.

CVM has some amazing opportunities over the next year, including getting our new world cup souvenir magazine “Scorchio” into nearly every prison cell in the UK!  We also continue to develop top quality resources for the church and will be running 12 Regional Days all over the UK and a big hit national conference. CVM has also just entered into a partnership with the fantastic Sorted Magazine! The diary for 2010 is already packed full of churches crying out to know how to reach out to blokes from Cornwall to Scotland.

So we find ourselves massively in demand but usually on the edge of financial meltdown! We only need another £8k to get Scorchio onto the streets and only £10k to produce the UK’s first ever men’s ministry manual we are calling “The Works” which will be packed full of hints, tips, resources, research, reviews and more …

Please sponsor me … which is really a sponsorship of CVM and a declaration that you are standing with us as we press ahead with what we believe we have been called to do.

Huge thanks!