Photograph Quiz:
Photo no. 60, I think! How many Games gold medals did the athlete on the right win? How many National titles? At what event? Where did he finish in the Olympic Games? Who is he?
Well now Blog,
Talk about running short of puff …. Sorry, that should read …. ‘Talk about trudging short of puff’. Got quite carried away there for a minute! I have just got back from a trudge and once more, shortage of breath was a real problem … so another slow trudge!!!! Went out to trudge down to the club last night, but by the time I had reached the street lighting, I was really gasping; and it wasn’t through effort I can assure you, Blog!! Was intending to do a 6 mile quality trudge, but it deteriorated into a gentle trundle. Mind you, in the evening it is getting so difficult to focus in these dull yellow street lights that I will have to go out during the daylight or revert to country roads where there are no street lights. It is much the safest option anyway, because, wearing a luminous bib, you stand out quite dramatically in the car headlights. Most drivers are very good in using dips when they see you, although, as in the rest of life, you do get the odd idiot who does or does not appreciate the blinding effect of a full beam. At least my last two shuffles have given some quality time to think. I told you Blog, that last week was the first Birmingham and District Cross Country League Race for men and the Midland Women’s Race at Leamington Spa. The course used is very similar to that which has been raced over for yonks. Talking in the showers last night with one of the Godiva men who had competed at Leamington, and was a little down the field, he was surprised that I didn’t know about the bottle neck which had developed soon after the start of the men’s race. The start was a flat straight of 400m with a gradual left hand sweep which took the runners on to the course proper. This soon took the runners through a narrow hedgerow gap … a recipe for disaster so soon after the gun; you would have expect experienced organisers to know better??? At dinner later in the evening, I mentioned this to my wife who said she had seen the crowded bottleneck but added that the runners were all quite good spirited about it with no real pushing or shoving, all very gentlemanly! How events have changed ‘sin wen I were a nobbut lad’, perhaps reflecting how the sport has altered from a purely intensive competitive sport with no prisoners taken, to a recreational pastime where friendly banter has taken over from cursing and swearing. Once in the Inter Counties Croo Country Championships, at Derby I think, a North Eastern Counties runner came up to me after about a mile and said ‘You pushed me’. Can you believe that Blog, ‘You pushed me’! In a crowded cross country championship race. ‘You pushed me’! I kid you not. He then gave me a bloody great shove which totally knocked me off balance. Now I know I am a nice kind bloke who would not normally say ‘Boo’ to a gosling, but there was no way was I going to take that. The adrenalin kicked in. It took me about half a mile [800 metres to you Blog] to catch him, where I bided my time for a few minutes. As we approached a narrowing of the course which passed along a short bridleway hedged with hawthorn, I felt a slight pang of guilt as I gentle leaned on him, enough to run him rather painfully into a mass of thorns. I must confess that I was surprised that he had so much breath to scream like he did. The adrenalin kicked in again. I failed to wait to see if he managed to extract all the thorns. I scooted off up the field; I didn’t fancy another confrontation during the race. And I was surprised I didn’t see him afterwards, although I had moved up a considerable number of places and he might have been way down the finishing funnel.
It is surprising that the officials at Leamington had made such an elementary mistake. The course has been used for years, very many years, for all standards of racing. It has been used for the National Cross Country Championships on at least half a dozen occasions. Co-incidentally, although I don’t actually remember, in 1929, the National used the same course with several thousand paying spectators watching and a plethora of bookies in unofficial attendance. A similar bottleneck occurred after about a mile when the field were funnelled through a farm gateway. On this occasion, fisticuffs were employed and events turned so nasty that the police were asked to attend to try to sort out the ensuing melee which involved runners, spectators and officials!! The chaos which reigned was caused mainly by dissatisfied punters who saw the disorganised field of competitors not fulfilling the pre-race speculation and failing to come up with the expected race result thereby making a mockery of the quoted betting odds, providing the bookies with a field day.
Colin
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