'... a festive road race or four...'

So that’s it Blog. All over for another year. After all the anticipation, the hype, the expectation, the build-up during the week before, the increasing tension as the day approached, the long wait the night before, the early morning rising for the final preparation …. And then what? ‘… it is the journey, not the arrival …’ as the great philosopher said. So be it. With all the rain, part of the course was flooded and a hastily rearranged substitute route around the park in Warwick and along the High Street was instigated; four laps with, luckily, few pedestrians to witness the suffering! The advantage of the ad hoc course was that supporters could sit in the pub H.Q. and watch the race unfold, it passing the frontage four times; the groupies leaving their vantage point only for the purpose of refilling their glasses. About sixty souls braved the weather this year to complete the annual Christmas Day Run from ‘The Bowling Green’ pub in Warwick sited beneath the imposing walls of the castle. All very informal, no entry fee and no prizes. I have no problem with that Blog. All very pleasant and civilised as was the 10k road race at Newport two days later.

I may have mentioned to you before Blog that the annual Christmas Day Run had a peculiar history. Briefly => It started life, or had its roots, in 1909! Godiva had always had financial difficulties since it’s foundation in 1879. The first fiscal emergency meant the club was nearly still born. Lack of member support for a specific event, ‘a stay out’, in the first months of Godiva’s existence created a significant monetary loss, causing the secretary to hand in his resignation and forcing a serious rethink about how the club was to be financed in future. Things were no better in the early years of the 20^th century when local industrialist, founder of the Triumph bike, motor bike and finally motor car company, Siegfried Bettmann came to the rescue on the condition that the Godiva club membership matched his sponsorship …. Part of his help to the Harriers was the creation of a club winter handicap competition which became known colloquially as ‘the Bettmann’. One of the newly organised handicap races took place on Christmas morning, most members using the popular local innovative transport of cycling to get to the race. By the 1960s, the Christmas morning handicap race was losing its appeal and was abandoned. Long-time member Bernard Carpenter was less than happy with this decision and compensated by organising an informal race in Warwick from the Emscote Tavern. When the Carpenters emigrated to South Africa, local Denis O’Rouke, whose son competed, took on the responsibility of the organisation for a number of years. The race gradually metamorphosed through a variety of incarnations into this year’s race. If the weather necessitated a rearranged course at Warwick, the weather had an impact at Newport for the 10 kilometre event. Driving rain on the motorway journey gave way to a pleasant morning by the time of the race start. The puddles, pools, flooded roads, knee deep streams flowing across the lanes did nothing to help anyone to a personal best. Presumably, because of their lack of experience, the organisers did not cancel the event and several hundred runners of varying ability went for an unscheduled swim around Shropshire. An established club organising such a race, given the prevailing depths of surface water would have cancelled the race on ‘Health and Safety’ grounds!!!! Chip timing enabled the local club officials to give out prizes as finishers crossed the line, including age group winners. I had not seen such a system in operation before; I was impressed Blog.

 And so to the Godiva club’s New Year ‘5’, which, as I bemoaned last week, takes place not on January 1^st.

And so to Peak District for the New Year race to take place on New Year’s Day!!?

                         Colin