Photograph Quiz:
Photo no. 54:- I cannot believe that you think this cartoon is anything like me Blog. Firstly, I have much more hair, I am not bald. Secondly, I don’t have fat folds for a stomach and I am much taller. Thidly, I may move slowly but to imply that I trudge like a tortoise is a bit of an insult. So the question: Who is the bloke in the cartoon wearing 118118?
Blog,
Can I tell you anything? Anything? Anything at all?? Do you have to go repeating our correspondence? When I told you about my worries about the short long leg at the National Road Relays, I thought I made it clear that I thought the athletics’ authorities would not be best pleased to know that their road relay records were in disarray and the aura about some superb performances on the long leg in the past would cloud a little and that all the myths were a little short of the mark (geddit?). I would certainly not be voted Personality of the Year by the athletes affected either. To be told your results are incorrect after building your persona about a misperformance could be enough to tip some athletes over the edge of reason. I told you that I thought that some form of reprisal against my person would be taken if I pursued the matter; hence my dilemma about what action to take. It is bad enough having to worry about any possible official sanctions without the very real threat that might come from a deranged distance runner. Why is my observation and photographic evidence of said short long leg in the public domain any way? You have obviously been chirping your mates Blog. You have obviously been facing booking with some officials that you know. Not fair. Confidentiality Mate??? Heard of it? Yesterday I went down to Abingdon to watch my younger daughter compete in the Marathon. I met one of the England Officials whom I have known for years. ‘Hope you are O.K Colin?’ Before I could reply, the conversation was joined by another official with the same greeting. The officials nodded to each other and I am sure I detected a wink. I wondered. Scary. Did the first official, a very important man in the England Athletics organisation mean ‘I hope you are O.K. Colin but you won’t be if you pursue this matter about the short long leg at the National Road Relays any further’. Scary or what? If that suggestion was barely disguised what about the subliminal threat during the race itself from another important UK Athletics type; referring to my daughter at about 20 miles, ‘Do you think she’ll have the measure of the girl in front by the turn, Colin?’ The was a definite emphasis on the words ‘MEASURE’ and ‘TURN’, I kid you not. Another member of the Athletics Mafioso asked me if I’d turned out in the previous day’s relays for my club or had I taken my turn at being an official. ‘TURNED’, ‘TURN’. All this innuendo was too much of a coincidence. Worried I am Blog. I think it is time I went on holiday for a week until all this business blows over, don’t you Blog??
Waiting around after my daughter had finished her race, another sub 3 hour clocking may I say, I overheard a moan about the lack of prizes from one of the male front runners ... something about only cups. I nearly related my fourth or maybe fifth marathon experience to him, but I thought he looked a bit too tired to stand around long enough for me to finish my tale. His projectile vomiting finally persuaded me that perhaps this was not the best time to tell him that I had run a marathon, been placed and not been given an award. The Northern Marathon Championships used to be held annually at Beverely in Yorkshire in the month of April Easter Monday. In the early sixties it was. I turned up for the race, held on the Bank Holiday, after spending an eternity travelling by train and bus from Keighley to get to the Cathedral town in the Vale of York. ‘Sorry Can’t run.’ ‘Can’t run?’ ‘No, your entry was late.’ ‘Late?’ ‘Yes, Late’ ‘But it was posted in good time.’ ‘Sorry it was late.’ It wasn’t as if there were thousands of runners in the field for the officials to cope with, about fifty I’d say. I kid you not. I’d trained pretty hard for this race and I was not happy. Not happy at all. ‘It can’t have been late. Did you check the postmark?’ ‘No.’ ‘Did you look at the date on the postal order?’ A postal order Blog, is like a cheque issued at the post office to send money through the postal delivery service. A post office Blog, is like a grocery shop, but it sold stamps to put on letters when you write to someone like I do to you. A grocery shop Blog, is like Tescos but a lot, lot, lot smaller with one person serving you; not only did they take your money but they also collected the items you wanted from behind the counter, none of this trailing up and down isles business you know. The grocer did the lot. Anyhows, a famous runner who was also running overheard the conversation and intervened; probably saw me crying into my handkerchief and must have felt that my unhappy situation would put him off his run. Spoil his victory. ‘OK you can run. But only as a guest, not eligible for any Northern Counties medal or any of the prizes.’ Oh isn’t life wonderful. ‘If I don’t count, can I have my postal order back please? I was a student and just spent a whopping chunk of my grant getting to the race. ‘No you can’t. Under AAA rules, it is to be regarded as a contribution to Northern Counties Funds.’!!!!!!!!!! I kid you not, Blog. Would I lie to you? How did I get on you ask? Well. I was placed, but I do not know which position or what the final time was ... low 2:20s I suspect. And I didn’t get a Northern Counties medal. And I didn’t get a prize. And I wasn’t included in the results although I seem to think I made the ‘Athletics Weekly’ results. While I was thinking about this, the moaner had collapsed in a heap and was receiving First Aid attention. So I think it was a very wise decision on my part to not take up his time. Very unselfish of me to allow those young First Aiders the opportunity to practice the recovery position and the use of the emergency phone. With the benefit of hind sight, I tend to think that in his state, he would not have been too concerned about an event that happened years before he was born.
Colin
P.S. What a difference two weeks makes in athletics. Two weeks ago the Coventry Half Marathon left a great deal to be desired about organisation etc as I detailed to you in my message of the 5th October inst. The Company have not been Big enough to admit their short comings and seem unconcerned about the growing Queue of complaints. They should have sent their team of organisers down to Abingdon to see how organising a race is done efficiently. They should ask themselves why runners and joggers clamour for a race place at Abingdon and why the maximum field size is reached four months before the race gun is fired. Mind you, if the Coventry field continues to shrink, the council will pull the plug and call time after the present contract expires? Oh yes, and we still haven’t been informed about that special prize the organisers were offering to the best athletic performance in both the Kenilworth Half Marathon and the Coventry Half Marathon have we? What it was. Who won it. What was the criterion used to determine the winner? Probably the organising company couldn’t be arsed about that either ... just one more thing to add to the long list of their short comings. Someone from another club in Coventry told me yesterday that the Company are taking some stick in the surf about the standard of their promotion. Now there is a surprise!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment