Barnsley 10km result 2014

Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 250:- As part of my extended comparative study on ‘The History of Coventry Godiva Harriers and other clubs in the city during the last 140 years’ this medal and the person who won it are quite important. Know where the medal is from Blog??

So Blog, I have just returned from God’s Own Country where my younger daughter ran in the Barnsley 10 kilometres (6¼ miles to you Colin). Chip timing was used, the race started at 10:00 but the results didn’t emerge until 12:20 and then with scant apology for the lateness. Stacks of runners, plenty of capable marshals, well-marked course, country route with road closure but only half the highway was shut allowing traffic to flow on the other half …. The Coventry Half Marathon organisers and the Coventry Leisure Services should have been present to witness what an ordinary running club can do efficiently with no fuss or bother … and they then could have gone away and called a meeting of local athletic clubs in Coventry to promote a race which would not be the usual embarrassment to which we have become accustomed.

Interesting as well, was the water feature in the centre of the town. Coventry has its water feature near Shelton Square which is a dribbling joke on the rare occasions that it works. Coventry has its water feature at the War Memorial Park which is a joke, or would be, if it ever worked. In Barnsley, the feature consists of rows of fountains on a slope to allow the water to flow downhill to be recycled. Each fountain of water is a different height which grows from minimal flow to about 8 foot (2.5 metres Blog) in a parabolic arc but each fountain in the row is of a different height, each row being independent but slowly rising from the top one giving the impression of a wave flow from the top of the hill … and the kiddies can run under the arcs if they so wish and if they are able to judge all the changing flows without getting a soaking … great fun.

And what was so sad was the fact that I could use all the archives for my history search, use my camera to photo what I wanted, copy automatically onto my computer stick what I wished and the charge was precisely NO quids. Compare to Coventry … £5 to use a camera for 5 pickies from the microfiche, an arm and a leg for retrievals, and a bank loan to use the Transport Museum Archives. And funnily enough, Barnsley and the other town whose archives facilities I was using, have no wholesale plans to close all their libraries … unlike Coventry!!

                                         Colin