1984

Oh dear me Blog, dear me. Is there no honesty in the press? Does the Leverson Enquiry need to look at the local as well as national papers as a part of their remit?

I know I’ve gone at you for some time about the near total lack of local athletic coverage in the local paper about local events unless it is supplied by the sponsors of the UKAthletics. For about eighteen months, since there was a shakeup of the local paper and a few redundancies were made including the athletics reporter who had done such an excellent job for very many years, the coverage of the local athletic scene has been dismal in the extreme. Despite the supply of reports and pictures to the local rag, there has been a dearth of reports. In the last couple of months the athletic calendar has included two sets of league races with three divisions in each race incorporating all the local clubs within the circulation area of the paper, we have had the Warwickshire County Cross Country Championships with several hundred competitors of all ages and both sexes, we have had a plethora of local club seasonal races, with have had a ‘5’ mile road race, and individual runners have competed in various races of their own choice  ….. and the coverage??? Not a lot. In fact, even less than that. So what is my complaint besides the obvious one, you ask me Blog. Why the sour grapes, you ask me Blog?? You may well ask Blog. Last week we got approximately a third of a page with a splash of five photographs and a written up report about a jog in the park – a fun run – on Christmas Day for about 50 or 60 runners. Ho Ho Ho! Yes the photos did contain a host of father Christmases warming up for the Fun Run on Christmas Day jog, Ho Ho! Yes it conveyed a Christmas spirit for those that wanted a blow out on the Christmas morning. Ho! No problem there then. The report was a cheery piece, Ho! Ho no ….no, no no, not a single Ho! At the end of the newspaper report, at the very end of the newspaper report, the editor slipped in as an afterthought that all the pictures were not taken on Christmas Day as the article implied!!!!!!!!!!!! They were taken in various events in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Can you believe that, Blog. Come back Winston all is forgiven. Big Brother is here in Coventry alive and well. We need your help with a spot of revisionism. And while you are at it, remember to report on the world age best for 10km which I achieved when I ran next week, and a few lines on the fantastic marathon I am not going to run in April.

                                                      Colin