Dear Blog,
Having
mentioned the Harold Abrahams plaque last week, I thought you might like to see
the photo I took when I visited the site of the old Oakengates running track a
month ago. Not one of my best David Bailey shots, I will be the first to admit,
but you get the picture!!!!
This
is typical of an hidden gem that no one knows about. There must be many
specialist interests, and if people with these particular interests are totally
unaware of their existence, like I was with this, what chance is there of
getting the message across to Joe Public and his family?
Last
Saturday was with my running club, Coventry Godiva Harriers, at Tipton for a
senior Midlands Track League ... helped with the hammer ... shall we say that
the gentleman in charge left a lot to be desired in my opinion! A Lot with a
capital 'L'. It reminded me of an occasion last season or possibly the season
before => if you don't know the procedure for these events Blog, let me first
explain. For safety's sake, every time a hammer thrower is preparing to throw
their implement, the person in charge of the event blows a horn to warn all
judges that the hammer is being prepared to be thrown; each judge must raise
their hand in acknowledgement before the thrower may proceed. Once the horn is
blown, all attention must be given to the hammer and where it is in flight, as
it is extremely dangerous not to pay attention. I kid you not Blog when I say a
hammer can kill you. Back to the event I referred to ... a member of my own club
was in charge of the hammer throwing event and I was out in the field
retrieving the hammer and returning it to the cage for the next thrower.
Walking back to my position in the outfield, the person in charge of the event who
was from my club allowed to hammer thrower to release his hammer without
blowing the horn to warn all the judges. I was totally unaware of the hammer heading
in my direction until it buried itself into the ground about a yard away ( a metre
away to you Blog). That could have killed me. It was totally unforgivable for
the person in charge who was from my club to have not blown the warning
horn. UNFORGIVEABLE.
Last
Sunday at Coventry for a Young Athletes Development League ... was in charge of
the Hurdle races. For once the weather was hot and sunny.
Last Wednesday
at Coventry for a Coventry Schools Year 7 qualifying meeting .... was helping
in the Godiva clubhouse which is built at the top of the finishing straight at
the Coventry Track which is at the Warwick University Westwood Campus site. My
granddaughter was having her very first track race. She does not train nor is she
a member of a running club. Considering more than half the field are in clubs,
she did well to finish 6th. The other heat was faster so she may not be
selected for the finals in two weeks time as the pupils may be selected on
times rather than plcing .. schools have their own peculiar rules!!. She was
not very happy about that. It will be interesting to see if that spurs her into
taking a more active role in running in the future.
The
previous week, while the year 8 sports were taking place, I concreted the
telephone access cover into place to prevent vandalism. I have previously done the
same to all three sewer covers behind our clubhouse as some of the children
taking part in an earlier sports had been putting rubbish down the sewer and
causing a blockage. I unblocked the stoppage and did the concreting. Apparently
the smell was rather bad and was making spectators nauseous. It had no effect on me while I was removing the problem as I had
lost my sense of smell about fifteen years previous. I was told by our National Health experts at
the time that nothing could be done to restore my sense of smell as it was a
breakdown in a brain connection. That is a great shame.
Colin
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