A 2013 London Marathon place up for grabs.

Photograph Quiz:

Photo no. 137:- All the information about the medal is in the photograph, but when was the National Cross Country Championships first held at Leamington, and what was the problem that caused fighting to break out? And in a race at Leamington this season, the same problem occurred although the outcome was much more civilised – explain!!!!

Dear Blog,

           You might be interested to know that the club ballot for the single club place in the London Marathon has just taken place, but the Club Chairman will not tell which of the three club runners has been successful until the Club Dinner and Awards night in two weeks’ time. Of course the three athletes are a bit upset because they want to get on with their preparations. You probably know the three runners Blog, they are club stalwart Martin Gardner, that two faced Monty Hall and ‘flash your eye lashes’ Marylin vos Savant, the latter being a German mathematics exchange student at Warwick University. I have been talking to a couple of them separately because for some reason they each thought I had the ear of the Chairman and I knew which one was successful in the draw! It appears from what was said over my coffee tete a tetes with them, Martin confided to me that he actually went to see the Chairman in an attempt to find out if he had the London Marathon place. Martin begged the Chairman to at least tell him the name of one of the other two who hadn’t got a place so that he might know whether it was worth him starting his special training for the marathon event straight away rather than dithering around for a couple of weeks, not knowing what  schedule to adopt for the fourth-coming season. Apparently what he said to the Chairman was “If Monty has got the place, give me Marylin’s name. If Marylin has been successful in the ballot, give me Monty’s name. And if I have got the club place, flip a coin to decide whether to name Monty or Marylin.” The sheer nerve of the man!! From the way our conversation went, the Chairman told Martin that Monty had not been successful and had not got a club place. Martin was tickled pink because he believed that the chances of getting that coveted place in London had increased from one in three to fifty fifty, as the place was now between him and Marylin. Martin also told me in confidence that he had secretly told Marylin the news, who herself was happy because she thought that Martin’s chances were still one in three (but she didn’t tell him her thoughts, she said to me later over a couple of eye lashes, because she calculated that her chances had risen to two in three!!!!).

   Now Blog, clearly none of them did sums at the Pink Panther University like as what I did, so who will be pleased at the Godiva Club Dinner to find that they have got that London Marathon place?

                                                                    Colin