Photograph Quiz:
Photo no. 91:- Who is the 'Australian' leading the race who used to be a Godiva Harrier? Where is the race taking place, on which track? When? What team event is it?
Dear Blog,
As I noted in my message to you on Sunday, it was the annual 12 stage Midland Road Relay at Sutton Park, Birmingham. Each stage alternates between a 5.5 mile and two 3.5 mile legs, repeated four times during the course of the afternoon’s racing. The Midland Masters’ Relay Race starts at the same time as the men but only repeats the format twice. The Midland Women’s 6 Stage Road Relay starts 20 minutes after the men and each identical leg replicate the men’s short stage. As usual, the relay was accompanied by tales of woe about the lack of quality amongst the competitors, the lack of excitement and the fall in spectator numbers. No doubt with the changing face of road running over the last couple of decades, issues do need to be addressed. A late appeal for volunteers for marshalling highlights the commitment to the sport as does the fact that it is Notts AC who layout the course and collect in all the paraphernalia after the event; a club who’s headquarters is 45 miles away up the motorway! Suggestions of altering the relay format by running all four long legs first to assist the problem of marshalling were mooted by more than one official. In an athletic age where participation rather than competition is de rigour, the relay format per sec is looking tired. The quick fix of an early Saturday morning Park Run seems to satisfy very many leisure runners, some twenty minutes being more convenient than four hours when the end result is regarded as not too important by most participants. Many club athletes hold similar opinions. I must confess that as someone who was raised on fell competition, I could not quite understand the importance placed on the relay scene when I first immigrated to the Midlands. The idea of team success over individual performance was anathema to me. Although I ran in most relays when I joined Coventry Godiva Harriers, I regarded a relay leg as a convenient means to an end rather than an end in itself. I would not have been fazed by a lack of relay competition; a relay was simply a quality session laid on for me gratis. Indeed, the introduction of the autumn version of the multi-legged road relay championship race is something I have never quite got my head around. And of course, the poor Midland athlete has the added boredom of the possibility of having to run the same leg distance and to see the same Sutton Park scenery four times each year. You really can have too much of a good thing! Perhaps that might be the reason why there is the twice annual moan about the lack of quality amongst the competitors, the lack of excitement and the fall in spectator numbers. However, further analysis might question the validity of such whinging. Twenty years ago, the Midland Road Relay Championships at Sutton Park consisted of a twelve stage relay for MEN between local clubs. No Vets, no women, period. The incorporation of the Veteran (now Masters) Road Relay Championships over six legs was introduced in the 1990s? Immediately well over two hundred runners were removed at a stroke from the 12 stage team Championships. Soon to be followed by the Midland Women’s Road Relay Championships, which, although not diminishing the men’s team numbers, did physically reduce the running activity on the course after six legs by more than 50% when coupled with the Masters’ Race. Visually, the course became deserted in a matter of thirty minutes or less, the remaining competitors being well spread out by this time. Psychologically, the impression given to those spectators or runners out and about on the Sutton Park course was a feeling of isolation, which spilled over to convey an impression of rapidly disappearing enthusiasm. The frenetic activity in the take-over zone after half a dozen legs similarly reflected the diminished activity out on the course. And so the seeds for the moaning brotherhood were successfully sown!!
The difficulty in obtaining marshals year on year for the road relays is symptomatic of some of the on-going problems within the sport. It has to be said that there must be concern for the sport in the post-Olympic legacy strategy. Money and attention has flooded into athletics targeting the specific events which do not enjoy a high wide spread standard worldwide; presumably the thinking being that there is far more chance of winning a heptathlon medal than a marathon medal. The hopes and continuing enthusiasm of competitors, officials and spectators will be sorely tested in October. The anti-climax, the let-down could lead to a malaise in the sport, already is seen by some athletic insiders to be ailing. Prior to the Games, one is left with a feeling of unease following the less than efficient distribution of Olympic Games tickets and the lack of satisfaction by the general public concerning the Olympic Torch Relay arrangements. Also, some of the Trail Events seemed to lack realism. In any activity, there comes a point where the critical mass of activity radically alters the outcome. Sometimes it is difficult to model mathematically the end product even when the variables appear to be small and obvious. A simple example:- Consider the modelling of traffic flow along a section of three lane motor way. Variables are traffic volume, traffic speed, differential speed of traffic in individual lanes and weather. The different variables can be fed in to a computer and the various outcomes examined. The tyre blow out, the high speed shunt scenarios are two examples of extreme behaviours which can be partially built into a model and accounted for. However, a bundle of lorries happily trundling along side by side in two lanes for miles at a time, is a more difficult imponderable to consider. Such a simple everyday occurrence can cause severe bunching, leading to stop start conditions with all the inherent dangers. When this ‘critical mass’ of lorry activity is reached, predicting knock on effects become impossible. And so it would seem when ones observes the behaviour of partially filled stadia which is what might occur for example in the Universities Championships at the Olympic Stadium which is being targeted for the athletics trial. Even a 40, 000 crowd at an evening pop concert cannot be compared to an 80,000 sell out at the Olympics proper.
Never mind the marshal problem, in many other areas we are still a sport which hasn’t quite made the 20th century, never mind the 21st. Look at what size advertising is allowed on club vests; compare it to the adorned cycling kit or the single bold football shirt. Observe the conditions imposed on an athlete who might wish to change clubs. Consider the athletic authority stance on the use of drugs, its detection and sanction imposition; how many times have I observed to you Blog, that I have difficulty distinguishing the differences of press attitude to a big black bloke who once took drugs (pill, syringe or whatever) and a pretty blond haired white girl who can afford to train and live at altitude; both are presumably trying to level the playing field or gain an advantage on their respective rivals? Look at the problems posed by allowing advertising within athletic arena, look at the scramble to cover hoarding for the forthcoming football competition. The poor local athletic club has no chance with the sport authority’s arcane attitude. Promoting road races are the financial life support mechanism employed by some athletic clubs to raise much needed cash to survive, never mind to thrive. Do they get much needed help from the powers that be, to provide assistance with their problems posed by road closures? Or council restrictions? Or police objections? We have some crazy rules in the sport; the rule banning i-pods is either totally unworkable or completely ignored. And do the powers that be, impose meaningful sanctions? Or give credible help to the clubs who have to try to implement the banning rule? And do the clubs gain much benefit from all the commercial organisations which are financially powerful enough to organise mass participation races, and which have enough clout to run a coach and horses through whatever might stand in their way? We have stacks of kids coming down regularly to our clubs to train. We have stacks of seniors, men and women, working hard to improve. And what do we do in our competitive structure? ………… ‘Sod off you lot, we only need two of you on the track and in the field to represent the club in League competition. The rest of you can push off and go shopping or something; you are not needed’. What a way to maintain the youngster’s interest?? Or the seniors’? Or foster club spirit.
Of course Blog, all the above is a day dream of someone who is clearly suffering from delusions and who is clearly out of touch with athletic reality, none of the statements having much foundation in fact. It is all fantasy, of course. If it wasn’t, there would be a ground swell calling for reform and modernisation????
Yawn. Must try to get out for a trudge more often, go places, meet people. Yawn.
Colin
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