THE Running Machine - THE Treadmill

Dear Blog,

  Are you a child of the eighties or what? You certainly can’t blame flower power, that’s for sure!!!!!!! To answer your question …. the jogging machine, or the “Running Machine” as you would have it, doesn’t have a switch to turn it on because there is nothing to turn on, except the jogger, ooopps, sorry, “Runner”. It doesn’t have an electric motor! We are not talking i-pods here, you know. When this “Running Machine” was created, man had just descended from the trees! We are not talking high top spec treadmills here. No, but seriously Blog. The machine is powered by the footfall of the trudger driving the very many spindles on the floor which are free to rotate … and only rotate when the foot drives off. This often necessitates grabbing hold of the supports so you don’t fall arse over tit. You can see why this machine never sold in millions; it manufactured as a stop gap while the production line waited for the completion of a new model to come on stream. Question Blog:- What product am I talking about???? Clue Blog:- Quality Japanese imports decimated this British Industry and came to dominate a particular sport. This “Running Machine” typifies so much of the ‘60s. Archaic design. Industrial relations soured. Strife and strikes abounded. The poor design and poor quality production dissuaded the general public from ‘Buying British’. How was Godiva involved? From a personal point of view I came down to Coventry to join Godiva. I found a rich, vibrant city awash with money …. After four years at the Pink Panther University with a degree and a year’s postgraduate training, I was being paid less than a toolmaker in the car industry was paying in tax. Blog, I kid you not. That was FACT. I was told, rather crudely, that there was more money peed up the side of a wall in Coventry on a Saturday night than most Brummies earned in a week!!! Godiva members were involved in the industrial troubles of the motor industry on both sides. Members in the club were in management and on the shop floor. We had Union officials advocating one policy towards the industrial conflicts and other members on the picket line advocating the opposite. Red Robbo hardly got a look in. One Godiva member on night shift, worked in a gang of six on the production line, he told me. Only five ever clocked in, the sixth being ghosted in by one of the others. They took it in turns to have a week off. The six operated a milk round between them, the worker having the week off did the milk round, doing Saturday as well (no delivery on a Sunday). Whoever did the round kept the money from ‘the milk’ for that week as a bonus. True or not, that was what I was told, Blog. I knew the person very well, so I have no reason to doubt his word …. Boy did he run crap when it was his turn ‘for the milk’! Another story I was told, this time by management, was that the annual summer problems in the motor industry which resulted in industrial conflict and often official or unofficial strike action, was engineered by management when annual sales were down and production was over running targets resulting in cars having to be stock piled. A strike and therefore a stoppage of the production line was an economic way of reducing stocks. No extra costs to the company. It was suggested by this management person that some of the more militant agitators were secretly being rewarded by the company to stir up unrest amongst the workers when a situation arose whereby a stoppage would be of financial benefit to the Company. True or not, that was what I was told, Blog. I knew the person very well, so I have no reason to doubt his word …. Boy did he run well when it was the time of a shut down!

So Blog, back to this “Running Machine”. It was meant to help a particular section of the automotive industry out of a tight spot. Which Company? What happened?

What sort of reserve do I put on the “Running Machine” if I sell it on e-bay? Remember all monies raised if I sell it will go to the charity for disable children, TINY TIMS CHILDREN’S CENTRE. It must have a rarity value. It’s worth a few quids in scrap alone; it weighs a ton (Tonne to you Blog). I could do a deal with the Brownlee brothers, we have a mutual friend … and they do come from God’s own county. Or. It would be a prize exhibit in any collection of athletic memorabilia … or industrial memorabilia … or Union memorabilia … or the History of Coventry memorabilia … or the History of Coventry Godiva Harriers and Other Athletic Clubs in the City with Particular Reference to the Influences of Education, Politics, Industry and Social Change memorabilia. That’s sounds interesting …. I think I will keep the “Running Machine”. Period.

                                              Colin

PS Back to this Midland Relay cancellation thing Blog. It wouldn’t have happened years ago when I wur a lad. Interesting how the sport coped in the winter of 1967 when the whole of the English country side went into total lock down because of the terrible wide spread outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease. Races were NOT cancelled. Lateral thinking took place; the overriding concern was the provision of races for athletes. Races and venues were modified and the sport continued as usual. OK the whole country smelled of disinfectant. And running in soggy socks did nothing to help performance. Sales of tin baths rocketed as every race had a mandatory disinfectant bath which every runner dutifully waded through, to and from a race. As the country side was a ‘No Go’ area, parks were pressed into service. So were school fields. So were some Commons. The consequence was that races often consisted of a high number of laps, the backmarkers being passed before the end of a race. Sometimes the backmarkers were passed twice before the end of a race. So what? We coped. The officials got things sorted with no fuss or bother. The situation demanded it. From a personal point of view, instead of my six mile trudge to and from work, I was suddenly faced with an eleven mile plod to and from work. Knackering or what??? It did mean that, in the December, with such a high mileage bank in my legs, I was able to win my first County Cross Country title, beating a European gold medallist into second place. True Blog. Would I lie to you? Mind you Blog, I was doing a similar mileage in my final year at university …. It was a long way from the Pink Panther University to Sunderland … and back. Each and every day.