Ha ha ha Blog, very funny.
So it wasn’t the Midland Masters Cross Country Relays this morning. Someone was pulling my leg! It was a straight race, well not straight, but you know what I mean Blog; it was the Midland Masters Cross Country Championships. I think the Godiva Masters lady’s team came second. Or should that read the Godiva Lady’s Master’s team came second? You know what I mean Blog. But it was more of a closed club event (which it was) rather than the expected open competition of many runners taking part. It was a bit naughty of the Midland Masters to move in at short notice and pinch the established date of the monthly Centurion 5 mile race date just because the snow caused the cancellation of the Masters event two weeks ago. What seems strange to me is that one of the prime movers for choosing the amended date was a long time Centurion member. Where was club loyalty?? A couple of thing you do not do in athletics, or at least, didn’t used to do, was to drop your own club in the brown and smelly. Another was to promote your event on the traditional date of another event organised in the interests of a local club by a local club. All these commercially promoted events, Coventry Half Marathon etc., have no manners or consideration and have run roughshod across long established local races promoted by athletic clubs; local races promoted for local people to raise funds for the local club to interest local kids in athletics. For the commercial ventures to be rude and disruptive is bad enough, but if clubs start doing it to each other, what chance is there for athletic clubs in the future. We will all be in the gym on a treadmill at the local Hotel with our personal trainer in attendance.
A mini trudge by me in the freezing cold this morning whilst my granddaughter ran in the Centurion two kilometre (one and a half miles to you Colin) Fun Run. As her mum was competing in the afore mentioned Midland Masters Cross Country Championships [not relay … pull the other leg], her aunty, my other daughter, ran around with her as my granddaughter deemed me not fit enough to have the honour of trudging with her as she had not witness me running sub eight minutes on the track for two kilometres (one and a half miles to you Colin) and neither had I produced a certificate signed by a qualified timekeeper to that effect. Aunty ran home when the Fun Run duty was completed.
Me, misunderstanding the relay for the championship, reminds me of the time some few years ago when one of my daughters was at Infants School; it was considered important for reasons I will not go into just now, that she have an English assessment done by an educational psychologist from the local authority. This gentleman was from north of the border with a broad Scottish accent. Now Blog, I kid you not. His first instruction to my child was to spell the word ‘whoose’, which she was unable to do to his satisfaction. So he followed up the single word and asked her to write down the sentence he dictated to her. ‘Noothen, write doon, the wee moose lived in the wee whoose’. Blog I kid you not. Question => Did I sit there Blog and say noowt?
Talking of misinterpretation … as you know Blog, I spend some little time researching ‘The History of Coventry Godiva Harriers and Other Athletic Clubs in the City.’ In the last three weeks I have had four different enquiries from members of the public asking for information about relatives who used to compete for Godiva. Many relations seeking information about an 'athletic' family member do not realise that there were several clubs in Coventry, not just Godiva. Many make the mistake of accepting family stories as completely accurate, not giving any credence to the passage of time where facts tend to change. Rose tinted spectacles are a big seller amongst family researchers. But the worse problem I face is that family stories which were accurate in the first instance but have since been given a modern interpretation by relatives who have no connection with, or understanding of, the sport; and of course, this then gives a totally distorted view ..... A true story Blog, I kid you not. If you do not believe me, look up the appropriate articles in the local archives. ….'the runners ran in multi coloured jerseys' [a simple Victorian accurate comment] became 'the runners ran in woolly, coloured striped jumpers to keep warm in the wintery conditions'. This is a quote from 'Historian' who wrote a weekly history column for the Midland Daily Telegraph!!!!
Colin
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