Sunday 6 January 2013

Warwickshire Cross Country Championships 2013 results

Photograph Quiz:
Sorry Blog, the photo hasn't come back from the chemist's so I will try to find out what has happened when the shop opens in the morning!!!
Photo no. 129:- Appropriate to my letter to you Blog …. So who won this?
What about that then Blog …… county championship day and the sun is out, the sky is blue and not a cloud to spoil the view  … and it not raining nor snowing, frosting, colding or any other inging! The Warwickshire was at Newbold Comyn in Leamington Spa on the course previously used for the National Cross Country Championship on more than one occasion. When was the last time Blog? Quids that you don’t know!!! In the senior men’s race, the team came first with 5 in the first five!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In 1963, Godiva had 5 in the first five with plenty of four in the first four (’59, ‘64, ‘69) which leaves me with about thirty five years still to search to see if this year’s county championships can be emulated!!! Viz six in the first six!!!!! Toby Spencer took the race by the scruff of the neck after an initial burst by previous champion , Matt Lole. He stretched his lead further and further as the race progressed. Now I know that I do not have an armful of badges, and I don’t know what advice Toby gets, but once I hit the front, I nearly always tried to win as easily as possible, the theory being that I saw no point in having to recovery from an over exuberant race in which the result mattered, not the margin of victory. An easy win is a win, no quids given for the size of the gap! My younger daughter ran well considering she had had five races in twelve days culminating with the county which was the hardest and over the country. My elder daughter coped with the underfoot mud and the stream crossing to underline her improvement. My granddaughter asked me if she was old enough to run. Bless. It did highlight the fact to me how difficult it is for the youngsters at the bottom of their age group, giving as much as two years to the older runners. Any teacher will tell you Blog, that a birthdate in September gives a disproportionate advantage, physically and academically to those born in July or August. So a two year gap in a physical activity such as cross country is simply insurmountable!!! It must be so discouraging to the youngsters. It is a situation that should be addressed by the authorities. But of course, there are so many more important issues to be addressed; like who to invite to the next awards dinner or what the next initiative should be? My suggestion Blog => Perhaps age on the race day would make a small difference … and with all these new-fangled computer happy things, it should be easy enough to implement??
And today was the Centurion Runners Club promotion of first-Sunday-in-the-month-races. Granddaughter finished fourth in the 2 kilometre Fun Run but we didn’t wait to see mum finish third in the five mile race as we went back to the Headquarters in the local school for refreshments and homework. We easily dealt with factorising the twenty numbers which she had thought of and Theseus and the Minotaur offered no problem. With Ariadne and a maze to cope with, I have to question what most parents must make of the whole thing. As I said to my granddaughter, Ariadne obviously gave the ball of wool to Theseus not so much to find his way back out of the maze but to knit himself a warm jumper while he was waiting for the Minotaur to go vegetarian. And the challenge for me is that my granddaughter wants me to do the Fun Run with her next month, but to qualify, I have to run 2 kilometres in under 10 minutes! And my word that I have achieved that standard is not good enough; I have to have it witness by a trust worthy person! When are you free to meet me down the track Blog? Don’t forget your stop watch.
                                           Colin

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