Olympic Marathon Trial

Photograph Quiz:

Photo no. 52:- This pub in Coventry might be closing down. In the late nineteenth century, what were the two brothers called who ran it? What was their contributions to the success of more than one athletic club in Coventry? What connection did the pub have to the invention of a new sport in the late 1920s … and what was the significance of an Angel?

Dear Blog,

Sorry I have been out of touch this week, I hope you were not too worried Blog. The problem is that I do not have the internetty thing and as a result, I have to rely on the use of my daughter’s laptopping. Well this week this arrangement has not been convenient as she has been cat sitting for a couple of her friends who have been away on holiday. Yes Blog, I did say cat sitting. CAT, as in  MOGGY, MOGGY, MOGGY! And she took her laptopping with her. Not so much as ‘Do you mind, dad?’ Oh no. ‘Blow you if your mate Blog is worried’ … and off she went, milk, cat food, litter tray and all.

‘A week is a long time in politics’ was a quote of Wilson’s (before your time Blog?) which had the equivalent in athletics; to paraphrase … ‘If the latest fad in a training schedule is not enough to improve your performance by your next session, then it will at least be showing dividends by next Saturday’s race’, attributable to either Hyman or Tulloch (before your time Blog?), I cannot remember which. Well we have just had a week, haven’t we? Firstly me having to make do without a laptopping and secondly, the weather; trudging in shorts and t-shirt last weekend whilst getting a suntan, trudging in full tracksuit and wet suit top this weekend whilst getting frost bite … well nearly. Doing efforts at the University of Warwick playing fields yesterday morning, I just about kept warm. At least my two hours over the country this morning was OK as I wore excessive kit, so I sweated a little .... and it was milder. It reminded me about the time I used to wear a bin liner while training, but that’s another story*. It looks as if winter is on its way. Do you know what I really hate about winter Blog? Not the six months of cold. Not the weeks of snow and frost. Not the dark nights and dark mornings. Not the slippery roads in a morning. Not having to miss out trudging on grass. No. The thing I hate most about the British winter is the cold toilet seat. First thing on a cold morning you get a frozen bottom. That is not nice. The only solution seems to be to invent an electrically warmed seat or to emigrate to a warmer clime, the latter option being a bit drastic because it might be a little tiresome to keep to bringing all my dirty washing home for my wife to do. Carting a suitcase of smelly clothes through customs each week would become a bit of a drag and the postage would be prohibitive. And what would I say at passport control if they wanted to inspect what I was bringing into the country? So it looks as if I’ll have to go to B. & Q. to see if there is such an item as a warm toilet seat. A little embarrassing really. Still it is that or trudging with a cold bottom for another six months.

My elder daughter who ran in the Coventry Half Marathon last Sunday might have raised in excess of 500 quids for the children’s charity Tiny Tims Children’s Centre. Did you cough up Blog???

                                    Colin.

PS * Another story. Bin liner as in black plastic bag for waste disposal …. In 1967, thinking I had an outside chance of getting to the Mexico Olympics for the marathon race as the GB selectors had announced that there would be no doubling up in distance events at the Games because of the altitude, which effectively meant that there would be six distance places up for grabs, three places at 10k and three places at the marathon. Of course I could do nothing about altitude training but I thought I could get used to the heat problem. I used to wear a black plastic bag for all training sessions to make me sweat. The bag was worn next to the skin, underneath my clothing. Putting a cold bag on first thing in a morning was not nice so I used to sleep with it in bed so it was warm when I got up to get ready to run to work. The liner was dried on the pipes at work, so it was warm for the dinner time session and warm for the run home after work!! Even in winter I used to finish a session with my socks and feet wet through from all the sweat that had trickled down my legs into my trainers!! Any way I ran the trials in Wales. I spent all my spare cash travelling down to Cwmbran by train the previous day, found unsuitable lodgings and suffered in the race from a pair of Puma shoes which were severely cut away on the instep, causing me painful adductor problems. I got a lift back to Coventry with Pam and Bob Turney who were in the same running club as me, Coventry Godiva Harriers. I mention this because the following year, the trials for the European Games were held in Manchester at the Maxol Marathon. I was injured quite badly with my adductors still, but they offered to take me up to Manchester to watch the race as Billy Adcocks from our club was a hot favourite to win. I sat in the front of the car with Bob for the drive up North and a girl whom Pam coached sat in the back with her. The girl had been on a coaching weekend which the club had held at Methyr Mawr, in Wales, the previous year … she was a sprinter and all I remember about her was that she had moaned for two full days about her legs aching from the mileage she was expected to do. We saw the race, travelled back to Coventry and stopped at a service station on the way home. After a drink of tea, Pam being Pam, hot footed it back to the car first before anyone else so she could occupy the front seat with Bob, leaving me in the back with the girl she coached. …. Forty two years later, the girl sprinter in the back of the car is still a bit of a back seat driver; she is now called Mrs Kirkham!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!