Blog,
This morning I went over to the Centurions Grand Prix in Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham where both my daughters were racing in the ‘5’ mile race … and far more importantly, my 8 year old granddaughter was having her first run. She was running round in the 2 kilometre ‘Fun Run’ with her aunty. The cheeky little so-and-so [my granddaughter not my daughter] wouldn’t let me enter because I would slow her down!!!! Can you believe that Blog? At the Midland Women’s League yesterday, we [my granddaughter not my daughter] were having races between trees while the races were on. What a cheat she is [my granddaughter not my daughter]. Firstly she wouldn’t allow me to have a start then she did a rolling start while I wasn’t looking. Twister!!!! Mind you if she was a race horse, she would be worth a fortune with her pedigree. Just think:- Mother … Midlands Schools track champion, county club runner, Father county club runner. Aunt on one side, an English Schools Champion, and Midlands runner. Aunt on the other side, Midlands runner and good marathoner. Granddad, top class sprinter and probably the best uncapped rugby winger. Grandmother on the other side, Midland runner with a range of times from 25 sec for 220 to 2:56 for the marathon, granddad an Olympian. So, tomorrow, my first job is to get her a couple of bales of hay and a bag of oats and look for some digs for her down at Newmarket.
The Centurions ‘5’ was a typical race run for the benefit of runners by runners. No bugles, no drums. Just a quietly, well organised race, with showers, prizes, refreshments and a raffle thrown in, all for a fiver. We now have this dichotomy in our sport. The club races and the big city commercial events. What is the difference, you ask me, Blog. The answer is about £15 and no one gives a bugger about the runners. Now which category would the club race fall into and into which slot would the big city race fit? Answers on a postcard please Blog. And I wonder which races will still be serving the sport in ten years’ time when the London Olympic Games is a distant memory. When the jogging boom started in the late 70s, every charity and more besides, jumped on the bandwagon to make a few quids out of the sport, putting little or nothing back in. When the first boom fizzled out, how many races continued when they found that they were no longer making mega bucks?? And think on this Blog. The first ever Peoples Marathon in this country started from the same venue as this morning’s race and was organised by the same set of people!!!!!! I kid you not. When all these self-congratulatory fancy awards are dished out in our sport at this time of year, one should certainly head in the Chelmsley Wood direction for ‘services to our sport’. But because they don’t blow their own bugle or bang their own drum, no award will materialise for them. A great pity.
So it is back into four weeks of heavy trudging for me Blog, because my granddaughter ended the morning by telling me that I can run in the next Centurion’s ‘Fun Run’ in January if I get fit and can keep up with her!!!
Colin
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