Officially official.

Photograph Quiz:

Photo no. 149:- Which is the Godiva runner? What is she called? Which runner is married to a Games Marathon medallist? What is she called? What is so sad about the winner? Which four countries do the runners represent?

Well Blog,

           There goes another weekend full of excitement!!! I suppose Coventry typifies any other city of comparable size with its athletic activity. Saturday morning saw the usual local 5 kilometre (three miles Colin, three miles. Get a grip) Park Run … with 500 runners. Blog I kid you not, 500 hundred and counting. What I find amazing is the way the Park Run can so easily operate outside the usual constraints for race promoting imposed on athletic club for their promotions by UKA (UK Athletics, Blog). I could be wrong.

      First Aid? None too visible but I could be wrong. An athletic club would not be given a licence aka insurance, without a confirmed visible qualified recognised First Aid organisation in attendance. No First Aid = no race.

      Permission certificate has to be prominently displayed or an athletic club would not be given a licence aka insurance. No licence = no race. Certificate at the Park Run? None too visible but I could be wrong.

       A certificate issued by an official Course Measurer is a requirement for a club promotion over an advertised distance, which of course has to be displayed at the event. The Park Run is a Fun Run so an accurate statement of distance is not a necessity. But Park Run records are kept. I could be wrong??

     And what is really, really sad is the fact that athletic clubs struggle to produce results and times as soon after the event has finished as they possibly can, often having to pay many quids for help. The Park Run have such facilities in place. Wouldn’t it be nice if they generously offered the loan of their timing / placing facility to the next local athletic club promotion???? A sign that the Park Run Organisers have the best interests of athletic clubs at heart!!!!

     And Sunday saw the local Godiva Harriers stretched to the limit … many children turn up for training at 11am at the Coventry Track on the Warwick University Campus. The ‘Godiva Kids’, require many helpers to keep the groups of youngsters down to a manageable size. By 12 noon, there was a series of race walks including a 20 kilometre (12 miles Colin, twelve miles. Get a grip) Trial race for selection for the National team. The main race was supplemented by three races for youngsters from athletic clubs from around the country. The Race Walks were on the Warwick University Campus across the road from the track where the Godiva Kids were training. Many officials were needed for marshalling as well as marking and time keeping etc.. The races were spread over four hour so a commitment to standing around was required. (OK Blog, so I take a fold up chair to snatch a sit down between events!!!!!!!!!!) The clubhouse had to be manned from 10:30 to 4:30 to provide refreshments, and many helpers are required. And also at 11am, there was a Young Athletes Track League in Leicester which was spread out over seven hours. Again many officials from the Godiva Harriers were required. My wife elected to field judge and although it only involved three events, each event was a lengthy proceedings with not too much time space between each. Believe you me Blog, rake a sand pit to get the sand nice and flat and even for nearly two hours is hard work with a capital ‘H’ and a capital ‘W’. Try it Blog, we are always grateful for help, a fact which most parents seem to be totally oblivious to. I think many parents regard a morning of athletics training or a day of athletic competition as a cheapo baby-sitting service thank you very much.

     Remember Blog, all the officials are volunteers with a capital ‘V’. Volunteering is time consuming. The Olympic Legacy hasn’t stretch to the common or garden club official at the grass roots who spend many hours and hours propping up the sport. Wouldn’t it be nice if something like a uniform was GIVEN to all officials who volunteer ………………

                                 Colin

Money, money, money, it's a richman's world ...

Photograph Quiz:

Photo no. 148:- Where is this stall? …. A clue => not at the London Marathon Expo! What is it all about???? Could this be the start of a rival to SportsDirect???

So Blog,

        After all the excitement of London, it is back to local competition …. Track starts tomorrow with the youngsters at Leicester and there is a Championship 20 kilometre (12 miles to you Colin) on the Warwick University Campus course. It always surprises me that the walkers are quite happy to walk a kilometre (0ne thousand yards Colin) straight lap with a sharp turn at both ends; surely it must cause hip injury problems. No such difficulties with this week’s trudging I am pleased to report Blog. But. Hold your breath, some background first. …. I and other have observed that that nice Mr Cameroon’s close friend, Ollie Osbourne, is helping to solve the economic plight of this country by issuing all those different designs for the 50p pieces (ten bob, Colin but metal not paper) with Olympic sports on the Queen’s obverse. Different designs so the plebs will collect a full set, thereby locking up millions of unused quids, relieving the Exchequer of an estimated £0.5 billion (half a billion Colin) deficit reduction. Clever or what??? I bet this new Churchill fiver is another ploy along the same lines??? Then he will start on the quids, ten pees, five peas and so on and so fourth and fifth. So that’s the debt crisis solved which leaves Ollie with lots of spare time to help out Simon Burk with his holy road problem.

   You have got to smile at Ollie’s success with this 50 peeing lark though. Not only has he got most of the plebs stacking their 50 pease in their piggy banks never to be used, but he is also advertising on the e-bay gum thing, offering different designs to help complete people’s’ collections. And the really clever thing is that he is charging one quids each, plus postage for each one. So, don’t get in touch with me next week Blog, because I will be out, down at Coventry Market selling 50 please for a quid, quids for a fiver, Churchill fivers for a tenner …don’t stop me now, I’m having a good time, I’m having a ball and making lots of quids for the Charity for disabled Children, Tiny Tims Children’s Centre. Can I interest you Blog in a few coins?????

     It is really getting out of hand. Even my dear wife is infected, though I have to question where she is getting the quids from to buy these 50 please. Case in point… this morning I come back form my burn up trudge, having stopped after a couple of miles (three kilometres to you Blog) to pick up a 50p I had spotted lying on the pavement. When I staggered through the tradesman’s entrance when I got back home, I gave the said 50P to my dear wife who was busying herself with preparing my recovery drink, running my hot bath and putting out fresh clothes on the bed for me to change into. ‘Hear you are darling’ I said (I use these terms of endearment to encourage her when she is working, cleaning, digging the garden, washing the car, sluicing the cess pit etc.) ‘I have a present for you’. You should have seen her little face, beaming for hair curler to hair curler. Bless. But then she suddenly changed and had a right paddy (no offence meant to my many friends across the water in the Emerald Isle). She chucked the said coin at me and yelled at me …. What did I think I was doing etc. etc. etc.. I was taken aback I can tell you Blog. This was not the Mrs Kirkham I have come to love and care for. When I had repaired the stool she had thrown at me, I sat her down on it and calmed her down. Apparently she was so upset because she had ‘got’ that particular design of 50p coin. She had expected a 50p coin to add to her collection, not one that she had already got. I did suggest that she might advertise it on that e-bay gum thing and make a quid. I said I was sorry and asked what I could do to make amends for the disappointment she had so obviously suffered. She said nothing but gave me a fresh set of kit and pushed me out of the tradesman’s entrance with the implied threat that I should not come back home until I trudged a few extra miles (kilometres Blog) and found a 50p coin which would sit proudly with her other coins. So Blog, I am just going outside and may be some time. Because finding a 50p which my dear wife hasn’t got, may take some time, to sustain me, I grabbed a few oat cakes before she threw me out of the kitchen.

                                            Colin    

Virgin london Marathon 2013 results

Photograph Quiz:

Photo no. 147:- This is another of my Installations, Blog. There is a valuable prize for guessing the title!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was one of my first Kinetic Installations on my Estate. Each year the local village has a fete, one event included in the week long activities is to have a garden walk. The local yokels are allowed to salivate at the gardens of their superiors. Good experience for them. Let’s them see what they are missing. I allow them briefly onto the Estate so that they can admire what I have and they haven’t. I feel it incumbent on me that, as one of the village’s dignitaries, I should support the Garden Open Day Invitational Visit of Allesley residents, or Godivas as it is known in the City of Coventry. I allow them to gaze in envy around some of my Estate. And the highlight of their visit is my Kinetic Mobile which I turn into an Interactive Eexperience for them, i.e. I employ one of the estate gardeners to dismantle and re-erect the Installation as appropriate during the afternoon. I charged the local yokels one quid to view. Last year I got more quids from the Local Yokels than I paid my gardener to do the Inter Acting Installation stuff. With the excess quids, I filled the green bottles for my wife as a small celebration of that nice Mr Cameroon’s small business scheme which gave me the idea. It also meant I had fresh bottles for this years Installation. Clever or what Blog? 

         Back from London yet Blog??  Did you run in the ‘London’? No? So did you watch it on television? No? Neither did I!! I went for a trudge. Tell me Blog, why oh why don’t the British runners run any faster??? It is so depressing. And what are our great leaders and coaches with arms full of badges doing about it??? Sod all??? Do they care?? It seems so obvious to me what they should do. But being badgerless, what do I know? I had little or no talent. Period. All I did was run hard. All by myself except for Sundays when I first moved to Coventry. I ran to and from work, partly out of necessity. And when I had managed to save up enough quids to buy a mini-van, I did supplementary sessions on grass in the various parks around Coventry. But I was organised. Well organised. And what I did was carefully planned. When I met my future wife, who also ran, planning our training had to be even more carefully organised. Clothes had to be left at various places on particular days during the week to facilitate training. Each day we met at different locations around the city to enable us both to arrive there after work at about the same time as our training was ending. With meticulous detailed planning out first second or third session of the day would have been finished by 6.30pm at night, leaving us a whole night to live a ‘normal’ Life, with a capital ‘L’!!! So. She was able to win the Midland 800m title, win a gold National cross country team medal etc, doing this routine, I was able to gain selection for the three major Games doing this routine. Neither of us had much talent but we were organised … we didn’t go down the running club wasting a whole evening, we didn’t train with other runners doing what they wanted to do for a session, we certainly didn’t train together and we were not obsessed by thinking, eating, drinking, breathing running 24 / 7 as they say!!! Perhaps a few ideas for the armful of badges brigade?? Perhaps more about this later Blog, if you are interested.

       If you have finished this year’s London Marathon in one piece Blog, what you should do in the next few days, the sooner the better, is to think about your race and preparation and write down five things that you did wrong in the run up to the race to enable you to improve next time. The last time I trudged London, I noted down … remember this was a run with the sole purpose of raising money for the two children’s charities for disabled children, NEWLIFE and TINY TIMS CHILDREN’S CENTRE, (1) should have done a couple of short preparatory races rather than no races at all. (2) I should have tried to have experienced a race with other people around; remember Blog, most of my races prior to this were at or near the sharp end of races where the number of runners around me were thinnish on the ground. Running the ‘London’ within a crowd was upsetting ... bumping, cutting up, runners streaming passed were newish experiences. (3) try to avoid the long time spent prior to the start stuck in a crowd of runners freezing my goolies off …difficult one this to solve!!! (4) Stick to a pre-race plan ie pace, and ignore what was going on around. It was so long since I had raced a distance race that I had forgotten this basic principle!!!!! (5). Sweat on raw skin is uncomfortable and irritating so don’t shave on the morning of a race … and that includes the lady runners!!!

                                                                         Colin

LONDON MARATHON 2013

Photograph Quiz:

Photo no. 145:- Which team is this? What athletic event did they compete in? When? What was the result? And who is the marathon runner? In which games did he compete? What was his time and placing?

Dear Blog,

    As I mentioned to you yesterday Blog, the  London obsession is upon us once again … with that horrible expression ‘Are you doing London’. And I suppose at the Expo where you sign in, sorry, at the market stalls where the traders will be flogging all kind of wondrous merchandise to the gullible joggers, there will be other horrible expressions like ‘These shoes are on offer’ or ‘This year’s Specials’. I suppose the really enterprising Rodney will have ‘Special offer’ indeed, all terms which make the hairs on the back of my neck rise uncomfortably. Are you with me on this Blog or are you not. I think the oldest hair raising expression has to be ‘for free’. What is wrong with the good old fashioned ‘free’. And thankyou to the USA.

    It is interesting, is it not, to contrast a couple of marathons which had small starts (clever that Blog?) and contrasting finishes (even cleverer that Blog?). The London Marathon has grown into a mega money making monolith for companies and individuals …. No more need to be said. You are either on the band wagon banging the drum or you are not.

  On the other hand you have probably the first acknowledged ‘People’s marathon’ in this country doing much to herald in the jogging boom. The organiser, John Walker, ploughed his faith and his own quids into a project which at best was a curiosity for most local athletes and at worst, a financial disaster for Walker. A large field and a well organised race radically changed attitudes, some seeing the seed of a huge commercial killing not far over the horizon. Walker continued to work for the next thirty odd years at grass roots. On one occasion, a relay was held in Sutton Park for youngsters. In those days not many teams entered and was very low key compared to today’s relay championships held here, there and everywhere. The kids relay race was held on a Saturday morning but for some reason, there was a breakdown in communications and a couple of clubs turned up in the afternoon as Walker was dismantling the minimal start / finish area. Despite the few numbers involved, Walker arranged for a relay to take place to save disappointing the kids and then went to the trouble of finding some unused race t-shirts from several past running events and gave each participant, a t-shirt each. This was nearly thirty years ago but it is still remembered with affection by at least one of the girls who talks about winning her first ever t-shirt which she wore with pride for months afterwards! John Walker made her day / month / year!!! Can you imagine the London organisers making an equivalent gesture without mega publicity???? John Walker still is instrumental in helping the athletics grass roots with the winter monthly Centurion 5 mile races (eight kilometres to you Blog) and the 2 kilomtres Fun Run (one and a half miles to you Colin) at Chelmsley Wood. So remember Blog, on Sunday morning as you scream around the streets of London thinking what a wonderful job the organisers have done again, try to think about the many quids they are making and contrast that to the grass roots club races and the many quids those volunteer helpers are not making. All good fun????

       As you wander round the mega money making monolith Expo for companies and individuals before you collect your number Blog, play the popular game of ‘Spot the Next Con’; what is the product which will revolutionise your performance by this time tomorrow? Or you could play ‘Listen out for the Next Scientific Breakthrough’ which will enhance the efficiency of your training and transform you from a lowly club scrubber to a highly effective athletic superstar by this time tomorrow. Am I correct in believing that H.I.T. emerged at this time last year as the new training panacea??? All these fads are cyclical, so the third game to play as you wander around the market stalls at Excel, is to guess how long each of the items you spotted in the first two games, will last the longest!!!

                               Colin   

London Marathon 2013 final countdown

Dear Blog,

       It is that time of year again, the reason we met ….. the London Marathon. More tomorrow, perhaps. If you are competing just remember, that despite of what you might read in all those magazines, those articles written by the experts who know more than I do, and despite what your coach might tell you with all his / her armful of badges, it is NOT what you eat in the meal before the race, but it is the meal before the meal you eat before the race that is so vital. Think about that!!! So all the best if you are running.

                          Colin

Warwickshire Cross Country League R.I.P.

Dear Blog,

            I have mentioned to you before on more than one occasion that I spend some time researching the ‘History of Coventry Godiva Harriers and Other Clubs in ther City’. Often topics crop up which open a brand new vista for investigation. Following such threads offers a deal of satisfaction. One such thread that surfaced recently was the Warwickshire Cross Country League. Although I have a deal of information on the subject, the article below, quite a severe precis as it happens, has been put on the Birmingham and District Invitation Cross Country League web site thing. I have reproduced it for you Blog, because although I know you will be unable to help, I thought you might find it of interest!!!

The Warwickshire Cross Country League

      On October 31^st 1925, the Birmingham and District Invitation Cross Country League, as it became known eventually, held its first fixture. Or rather fixtures, as the founding six clubs (Wednesbury, Dudley, Lozells, Smethwick, West Bromwich and Small Heath Harriers which replaced Harbourne Harriers who had been  invited to the initial exploritary meeting on April 9^th of the same year) held three races on that date. The League’s first season involved ten separate races during the winter,  each club racing every other club twice with a home and an away fixture.

     It is questionable whether the exploratroy meeting in September of 1926 at ‘The Rising Sun’ in Spon End, Coventry to explore the possibility of a Warwickshire Cross Country League was a reaction to events in Birmingham because evidence of the leagues activities is scant. Firm facts are hard to come by and help is needed to enable me to expand our knowledge about the League . The first fixture was held on October 26^th 1926 with six of the founding seven clubs (Godiva, Nuneaton, Leamington, Coventry Birchfield, Humber, B.T.H., and Nelson) racing from the Humber Works Recreational Pavilion (demolished in 2012!). The inaugural race was a radical departure from the previous winter activities of pack runs, occasional paper chases, inter clubs friendlies and the three championship races, the Junior and Senior Midland and the National Championship; not that many of the founding clubs competed in all three championship races every year. It was reported in the ‘Fleetfoot’ column of the Midland Daily Telegraph that the formation of the League Association had ‘aroused additional interest in cross country running in the county, and will encourage the clubs in their efforts to win honours for the Warwickshire county in this class of sport’. 

           The League had a slow lingering demise in the early years of the 1950s, finally succombing to the counter attraction of the Birmingham League . In the last sixty years, evidence of the leagues activities have all but disappeared. Clubs came to compete in the league races, they lasted a few seasons and withdrew. Some clubs joined, resigned and rejoined. Other clubs treated the league with ambivalence.  The strength of the county clubs ebbed and flowed over the years and this affected the quality of league competition although it did produce international cross country runners of quality. Expulsion from the Inter County Championships competition did little to enhance the attraction for potential new applicants to become members.

             One legacy which the Cross Country League left was the Warwickshire Road Relay which existed in various guises over the years, but even this ceased to function a couple of years ago.

             I have not been able to locate any minutes, formal official records or results or similar paperwork. Indeed, after so long a time lapse, do any still exist?. Does any person or organisation retain or have information about the league’s activities. I wonder if other member club minutes contain relavant information; Godiva minutes are far from complete and non existant in the early years of the League. And the likes of Demon, Humber, Coventry Birchfield, Arley, Small Heath, Nelson, Birmingham Atlanta and  Coventry Harriers are no longer in existance. Does anyone have any ideas about the different methods of handicapping employed by the League to help redress the imbalance in the inherent strengths of the participating clubs; the various systems used were a constant bone of contention. If minutes and information of the surviving  clubs is sparse, the chances of finding solid details from the defunct organisations has to be remote? I would appreciate any guidence, pointers or solid information which would enable me trace the events of the Warwickshire Cross Country League more fully and to add to the facts I have already gathered.

    It will take some time to throw up anything of interest but I will keep you informed Blog if you wish. Don’t want to bore you!!!

                                     Colin

National Road Relay Result at Sutton Park, Birmingham April 13th 2013

Photographic Quiz:

Photo no. 149:- ….. so what did her dad do and what did her daughter do and what did she do ……????

Blog, you will be pleased to know that I was NOT called upon to do my duty to Godiva, Peeping Tom, Dick or Harry. It was a good job. It saved a great deal of embarrassment … search as I might, I could not find my Club vest. I was in real state on Friday night, couldn’t sleep for worry in case I had to run bare chested. In fact I was so tired when I got up yesterday morning to begin the search all over again that I doubted whether I would have ever managed to get round … even the short relay leg. Then when the call didn’t come by the time we left home for the Sutton Park, Birmingham venue, I was concerned that it would be a very last minute call up. I tried to look cool when I joined my club mates at the club tent, but my agitation must have shown by the way the club captain went immediately to fetch the First Aiders as soon as he saw me. Bless. He said later that he thought that I was going to take up too much of the medical staff’s time as I was in such a state. Bless him. And down the club, I have to confess that we often do.

               So I was able to trundle around the relay course doing the verbals with friends old and very old. I do have to confess that half way through the afternoon I was really getting angry. Consider Blog, the extremes of being a member of any type of club or being a member of society in general, there are a given set of rules and regulation which make both function to a degree of efficiency. It does matter if you agree or disagree with the set up, you implicitly accept you have to conform or anarchy ensues. (but see below!!!). At the National Road Relay, there was a large sign near the start that declared that pacing the runners on bikes was not acceptable. Athletes were verbally reminded of this on the start line before the gun was fired for the first leg to set off. Fair enough you say Blog. By leg six of the twelve leg men’s relay, I was aware that a certain northern club runner was being ‘assisted’ by a gentleman on a bike. The biker was either behind, alongside talking, or in front of the said runner sheltering him from the rather stiff wind which had begun to blow. I gave the man on the bike a stare or two to suggest that what he was doing was questionable under the rules of relay engagement. He took no notice. Next leg, out on the long lonely five mile loop (eight kilometres to you Blog), he was still at it. I gave him a bit of advice but to no avail. I was getting irate because if you are a member of any type of club or a member of society in general, there are a given set of rules and regulations which make both function fairly efficiency. It does matter if you agree or disagree with the set up, you implicitly accept that you have to conform or you have anarchy. (but see below!!!). I complained to an official. He would let the referee know, I was assured. Oh yah?? I complained to a marshal when the pacing continued on the next leg and was told I would need photographic evidence. ‘I’ would need to provide photographic evidence. Me??? It was bleeding evident to all and sundry what was going on. And unfortunately I had left my trusty Kodak instamatic camera on the garage shelf twenty five years ago, and I had inadvertently forgot to pack in this morning’s rush to set out for the National Road Relay Race in Sutton Park, Birmingham. So I dobbed in the northern team’s antics to the race referee. He was very sympathetic. I do wonder what the outcome was. I shall let you know Blog.

    This morning was the final fixture of the Centurion Running Club’s winter series at Chelmsley Wood. My elder daughter ran in the five miles (see ditto above Blog) and was awarded with third place overall, her daughter repeating the award for the series of 2 kilometre fun runs. (one and a half mile to you Colin); Another example of an unheralded  local athletics’ club doing a grand job for the sport at grass roots level. If only these give us the quids commercial races did half as much good …

             About forty years ago, when everything was being computerised, I happened to meet, at a National Road Relay at Sutton Park, an old friend from the Pink Pather University. We spent some time chatting. I asked him what he was doing for a job and he said he couldn’t tell me but wink, wink, wink. Over the years we have often met at various athletic happenings. Soon after that first meeting he confided that the government’s drive to computerise the whole world was not going well. Not going well at all. Indeed, it was causing his section of the civil service huge problems. HUGE problems with a capital ‘H’, Blog. It appeared that there was a gap in a security procedure which they were unable to plug. Because of the security worries many quids were being spent on researching techniques to cope with the difficulty if it was eventually found that the problem proved to be unsolvable. Now of course he would not reveal the nature of this government department’s worry. No not now, nohow, never. But from time to time I have to confess that I have been a little bit naughty and played the system just for a bit of a laugh …. Well this week, it seems that the hole was never plugged!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe that Blog. A forty year old problem still exists. How do I know you ask Blog. Good question that. Well I had a communication from a certain government department to say that they had done an electronic search on me and could not be satisfied that I existed … or words to that effect!!!! Over the years, I have had similar problems, some simple, some not so simple. But it is a bit worrying if I can crack the system, what if ………………Enough said!!!!!!!!!!!!

       Would I supply my passport, driving licence and utility bills, all counter signed by an important person. So you can see Blog that it was heavy; HEAVY with a capital ‘H’. Now I was left with a dilemma …. How many people hold two valid passports???? This official government body wanted one passport. I’ll tell you Blog, I had to be a bit careful ….. I will let you know if it’s an open prison and what the visiting hours are!!!! And of course, the big worry is ‘will I be allowed to trudge, here, there, and everywhere … or will it be just THERE’???

                                 Colin

On the proverbial horns, Blog.

Dear Blog,

           Got to be quick as I have a problem … a very real dilemma. Tomorrow is the National Road Relay in Sutton Park Birmingham and my club, Coventry Godiva Harriers are having a little difficulty finding twelve willing athletes to run the six long and the six short legs   …… my dilemma??? Will the call come??? And so ...To trudge or not to trudge today, that is the question. Whether it is better in the mind to rest down in case I am needed or suffer the barb comments if I run and am tired? The club needing me, you question Blog. Yes, I told you they were desperate with a capital ‘D’. Won’t type more now as I need to save energy.

                                           Colin

P.S. Will ask one of my daughters to pop down to the post box with this letter to post it to you.

The Grand National winner 2013

Photograph Quiz:

Photo no. 147:- Which is the former show jumper Harvey Smith? Which is the horse and what is the horse called?

Dear Blog,

   I have no interest in horse racing, period. The Grand National last Saturday did attract my attention however. Why you ask? Blog, I am glad you asked that question. The trainer  was pictured with her husband and the horse .. which is what caught my attention. And the pub featured in some papers also drew my interest. Let me explain to you Blog…...

   Many years ago when I had just started running, my club at the time, Bingley Harriers, was asked to provide ‘marshals’ for a cross country event. I had just started running and knew nothing of the sport and assumed that cross country was what we did. We ran, they marshalled!!! But being wet, very wet, behind the ears I was happy to volunteer with a couple of other youths from the club … in fact there was only a couple of other youths in the club. We were a small club at that time in those days, the glory years were yet to come. We did not have many members, our strength in quality being the fact that we seemed to attract all the good runners from the local grammar schools around the small village of Bingley, Bradford Grammar, Salts, Keighley … So I turned up on this freezing afternoon at the allotted time on this farm on the top of Marley Hill which happened to look down on the cinder running track at Keighley; presumably it was a Sunday. I think I was the only one to use the track at the time, but more of that some other time Blog. The point is that I turned up to marshal at this cross country event and it turns out to be a HORSE cross country event. So what? Life is all about doing different things. I was stationed by nasty high sandstone wall with a fearsome drop on the opposite side to the one used by the horses on their approach the obstacle. My duties were unclear. Horse after horse refused and I didn’t blame them one little bit. In a change of circumstances, if they had been marshalling and I had been doing the cross country course, I would have refused at that wall, packed my kit and gone home.  Many of the riders took a couple of half-hearted attempts then gave up, presumably acknowledging that the wall jump was too risky to endanger their expensive horses and risk injury to the animal and or themselves. Then along comes this big brute of an animal and the horse was pretty large as well! First trial ... refuses. Second attempt .. refuses. Then the horse gets a real whipping from the rider, but the third attempt is still unsuccessful. More whipping and the horse decides it is better to die honourably doing his duty for God and the Harvey rather than die in agony from the beating the rider was giving it. Now I knew nothing about horses then and I know nothing about horses now. So the treatment meated out to the poor animal might have been normal practice and to the untrained young eye, the beating might have appeared far, far worse than it actually was. Enquires later revealed that the rider was Harvey Smith. The Harvey Smtih but this was years before his notoriety. Years before his personalised number plate. Years before his medals. I was given to understand he was well known locally but not nationally. That was all to come later. The following Saturday, Bingley Harriers had a normal winter pack run over the country and the lead runners took us over the moors up behind the school we used for headquarters past the farm where Harvey Smith had his base. It looked different in set up from the other farms around even then. We went past Dick Hudsons pub and out onto the moorland.

    Now that was the pub featured in the publicity blurb surrounding the Smiths, it was the one nearest their farm. It is called Dick Hudsons. And the significance for me was that there was an annual whit race walk from Bradford to there and then back to Bradford. Godiva were very successful at the event pre-war and immediately after WW11. I’ll dig out a photo or two for you Blog, if I can remember. Or you remind me if I forget. Coincidentally, the time before last when I was up in Keighley, the family went for a meal there. It was still a bit too much on the yuppish side for my taste. But then, each to his own! Next time I visit Gods Own County, I shall go for a long trudge up onto the moors around there for old time’s sake. The style in the wall behind the pub, goes out on to the open moorland, and if you follow the path for a mile or two, you come out at the top of Ilkley Moor buy gum. If you veer the run to the right, you can do a loop past the Cow and Calf rocks, swing down left towards the town of Ilkley then climb back up past the kids paddling pool, along the very rough stony bridle way to Keighley gate, where you have to option of running down the tarmac road to Keighley, or taking a left up to the Transmitter Masts before dropping back down to Dick Hudsons. The kiddies paddling pool you past as you start up the moorland climb was always the focal point of a family hike from our home in Ingrow. One very, very cold summer’s day, my parents allowed me and my sister to paddle in the freezing cold water. No one else had ventured out on that cold June day. My sister lasted a couple of strides but I was a man with a capital ‘M’. I was the only child in the water. THEN. I was the only child to slice the bottom of his right foot open on a piece of unseen glass in the water. I do claim credit for giving all these film makers and film directors the idea of the flowing blood in horror films, the scene of the blood in water used to heighten the tension before the shark ATTACKS. My cut was a very bad one. Very bad. We had to spend quids to catch a bus back home. And that was unheard of. And Blog, you will not believe me when I tell you that I still have the scar sixty years later, and more unbelievable, is the fact that the damn thing still plays me up. Must remember to get it seen to when I have time.

                                       Colin

the Regency 10km Run Results April 7th 2013

Dear Blog,

        Yesterday’s Coventry Way 40 mile event was blessed with excellent weather for walking / running. It started at 6am to allow time for walkers to complete the entire circuit on the way-marked footpaths in the country side around the city of Coventry. The Tiny Tims Children’s Centre relay team sprang into action from the start / finish pub, the Queen’s Head, about three hours later. Some of the legs were disjointed and not continuous so the end timing done by the officials did not let us appear in the final results as a bona fide relay team. We did not mind this as we knew what the conditions of entry were before the start of the event and were most grateful to the organisers to allow our participation. I had the pleasure of trudging from the Common in Kenilworth to the village of Bubbenhall via the oldie worlde village of Stoneleigh, skirting around the National Agricultural Centre en route. Having trudged by myself for a couple of years it came as a great shock to the system to be accompanied on the leg by another runner, who showed no mercy to my state of fitness, claiming after the event had finished, that I had to be waited for on more than one occasion as I was struggling to keep up. All lies Blog, all lies. That is the last time I offer to take my wife for a run in the country! There were many kissing gates on this section of the route and I was rather bold and suggested to my wife that I should receive a passionate embrace at each of the kissing gates. She said nothing and I thought I caught a sly coy glance from her. I could have been mistaken. It could have been wind as she did rather have a rather large breakfast. I made my advance at the first gate, lips apuckered, but she was through and off up the next field before I could scrape the cow pat off my trainers. Playing hard to get I thought. she leapt over the next kissing gate not bothering to open the thing. Then she started a session of fast-slow running. Fast when a gate came into sight, slow while I tried to catch up as she waited on the other side of the gate, ready to take off at a goodly pace to the next stile. And so I went unkissed.

           So, as the miles ticked by, I resigned myself, passion doused, to the thoughts of what might have been. Scuttling along in front of me, I let her think that she was making the pace. On several instances during our seven mile stint, I did a few moans and groans to lull her into thinking that she had the upper hand and I was suffering from the trudge. I threw in a few coughs and gasps to make the charade even more convincing. And my piece de resistance was to slump onto the ground feigning agony and exhaustion at the changeover check point. The act must have been an Oscar winning performance because the paramedics had me on a trolley and had my leg bandaged up and had put my arm in a sling before I could say that they had chosen the wrong arm and leg!!! We did have a good laugh about it as they unwrapped me. They said that they were grateful as it was good practice and that they had nothing to do all morning and were beginning to wish they had gone to the Regency 10 km Run instead (a charity type fun run in Leamington held on the same morning). I didn’t feel it was my place to tell them that I wished they had gone there as well. Their enthusiasm for the bandaging was a bit over the top I thought.

     For the rest of the day, it was a case ferrying runners to and from different check points. Then. We all trooped along the last two miles together. The route for that particular section consisted of narrow bridleways, mud, rutted footpaths, kissing gates and stiles. My grandson was in his specially built pushchair. Designed and built by my son in law with four wheel steering and suspension, the seating can be adapted to suit any age and most disabilities. The wheels allow the buggy to easily travel across country; mud, ruts, woodland, moorland, fields and pathways all come within its compass. A hand brake is incorporated into the design as an added safety feature. Technically it is impressive indeed. It is so versatile that it would satisfy any parental requirement.

   And so we finished at the Queens Head. What a day.

   Oh yes Blog, I almost forgot. It was my wife’s birthday. As you know, I always like to do something a little different for her and spend many hours thinking of suitable presents that she can love and cherish in many years to come.

   As you know Blog, I am a bit of a poet, so the card I designed for her this year incorporated a few poetic stanzas. So she could have fond memories of this year’s birthday celebrations, besides enjoying the endless trudge around the Coventry Way Trail, I thought I would give her a little puzzle in her birthday card so she had to solve the cryptic clues to locate her no expense spared presents, hidden tantalizingly around our property ...

The verse inside her card which I gave her when she brought me my cup of tea in bed  ....

No present yet ... it’s tough on you,

To find the pressie, just solve the clue.

The first you have to have a laugh,

Simple really – it’s in the bath.

The second is a simple clue,

To find the present, look in the Loo.

Number three is easy to see,

To find the third, look in the tree.

Just look down for number four,

You’ll find it standing on the floor.

Number five, the last I bought from Blog,

By the fire, it holds a log.

        So off she went on her little search, after she had cooked my breakfast. I said she could look for her five presents and then wash the breakfast dishes.

       The silly billy thought that the reference to bath in her first clue was a pointer to the bird bath down by the orchard. She got her slippers quite wet searching amongst the long grass. [I must remind her to cut that tomorrow, it is looking untidy]. She then tried searching the bathroom upstairs to no avail. It was a bit annoying her making all that noise as I was trying to catch a nap before I got up; her banging and thudding about didn’t help me to rest. Finally I was starting to get annoyed so I hinted that she should look in our double garage, in the new bath I have stored in there. She seemed a little disappointed with the bottle of bath cleaner I had so carefully wrapped in birthday paper for her. I suspect that I had boob boobed and not bought her favourite brand.

      Now the loo hint really put her off the scent. Again I had to point her in the direction of one of my pieces of art in the kitchen garden. An old Loo planted out with flowers. I don’t think that she thought I would been as clever as to have thought of a bottle of plant food for her second gift. Oh it was so exciting watching the expressions on her face. I must say, she tried to fool me by looking a little ungrateful at times. What a little tease she is.

   She spotted the bag of peanuts for the birds almost straight away suspended as it was from a branch. As I was getting a bit thirsty, I let her have a break from her search so she could make me a mug of coffee. I thought the break would add to the excitement for her final effort.

   She nearly tripped over her fourth present. I thought I was rather clever leaving the tin of floor polish on the floor. I thought it had a certain practical symmetry, the floor polish being stood on the floor; I didn’t make it too hard to find.

     I had to explain the fifth present too her. I thought a wooden box for the wood for the fire was a pretty smart present to buy, but she seemed a little down when she knew it was her last present. The anti climax of the search I suppose. She was very emotional after that fifth gift. She broke down in tears. She said she had so looked forward to receiving a special birthday present and the presents that she had received from me were not quite what she had expected. I was so pleased that my springing so many surprises had been so successful and unexpected. I had not seen her so overcome with such tearful pleasure since I bought her a set of step ladders the Christmas before last. Blog, I kid you not, they cost me many quids. But then, she is worth it I feel. You can tell she was so grateful for the steps, because she continues to mention them to all her friends every time they bring up the subject of their presents bought for them by their husbands and / or their partners. It is her way of deflating their attempts to make my wife jealous of their tails of expensive jewellery and exotic holidays. She is very clever in that way. When she goes on about the ladders her friends realise what a wonderful considerate and thoughtful husband she has. I can hardly wait to see their faces when she tells them that I have treated her to FIVE presents for this year’s birthday.

                            Colin

Coventry Way 40 mile result April 7th 2013

Blog,

         ....... today was the Coventry Way 40 mile event .... KNACKERED ... will write tomorrow.

                          Colin

The Coventry Way Sunday April 7th 2013

Dear Blog,

        I told you a couple of letters ago that this Sunday coming is the ‘Coventry Way’ event in Meriden in Warwickshire England, which is a 40 mile circular walk around the outskirts of the city of Coventry using footpaths; it is a walk or a run or a relay. All not too formal with ‘feed stations at regular intervals around the route to sustain the participants. Now it is renamed after Cyril Bean whose idea it was to establish the route. The field of participants is limited to a couple of hundred because the whole day is organised and administered by a faithful band of volunteers, members of ‘The Coventry Way Association’.

      ‘Tiny Tims Children’s Centre’, a charity which offers help to disabled children has a team of relay “runners”, using the event to raise a few quids for the charity; nothing very formal in the way of fund raising, but any quids raised will go to the Centre. And any quids is better than no quids. How are you fixed for a few quids Blog?? The walk starts from the Queens Head pub in Meriden and finishes there several hours later depending on the time each person, team takes to circumnavigate the footpaths around the city. In the Tiny Tims’ team we have a couple of the workers at the centre, also my son-in-law and daughter will be doing a section of the walk which is on a hard surface so that my grandson in his wheelchair can participate; my other daughter and another runner will be doing two or three fragmented sections covering upwards of 20 miles while me and my wife (sorry I know you are posh Blog, my wife and I) will be driving here, there and everywhere linking the relay together besides doing a couple of trudges ourselves. So get on your knees Blog and get the weather fixed up for us please. No messing – sun and a gentle warm breeze will do very nicely thank you very much. And of course, do come along and do a few miles if you wish Blog, you can easily be slotted in. No chance of getting lost. The relay starts about 9am by which time the walkers will be about a quarter of their way around the course, they having started at 6am.. The route is way marked with official symbols, the result of a Lottery Grant a few years back; there is also a route booklet and the paths are well trodden. We intend finishing the last half mile on the final stretch of road together, so, see you there, if not before, Blog.

The Old Blue Coat Girls' School, Coventry

        

        Talking of Lottery funding reminds me of the occasion when I had just started my research into ‘The History of Coventry Godiva Harriers and Other Clubs in the City”. The local newspaper carried an article about 5the city of Coventry being well under represented in the Lottery Funds application for grants with an historical interest; there being very few history bursaries given to this area of the country in the past. To stimulate interest, there would be a meeting of interested parties at the old Blue Coat School, an apt meeting venue as that had been the subject of expensive refurbishment and the completed job was most tasteful, a credit to the team responsible. As I said, the announcement of the funding meeting was at the time when I was into research and it was costing me a few quids for paper, photocopying, reproducing facsimiles of documents and photos, the usual sort of stuff. Not a big drain but with a few quids here and a few quids there and a few quids everywhere, my research could be done more efficiently and quicker. So I applied, got accepted and went along to the seminar hoping that a hundred quid or similar would tied me over .... and this is where things got a bit sticky, with a capital ‘S’. Each person or group at the start of the meeting was asked to stand up to give an outline of their project, how they saw it developed and what sort of grant would be needed. So, no problem there. However.....Talking of Lottery funding reminds me of the occasion when I had just started my research into ‘The History of Coventry Godiva Harriers and Other Clubs in the City”. The local newspaper carried an article about 5the city of Coventry being well under represented in the Lottery Funds application for grants with an historical interest; there being very few history bursaries given to this area of the country in the past. To stimulate interest, there would be a meeting of interested parties at the old Blue Coat School, an apt meeting venue as that had been the subject of expensive refurbishment and the completed job was most tasteful, a credit to the team responsible. As I said, the announcement of the funding meeting was at the time when I was into research and it was costing me a few quids for paper, photocopying, reproducing facsimiles of documents and photos, the usual sort of stuff. Not a big drain but with a few quids here and a few quids there and a few quids everywhere, my research could be done more efficiently and quicker. So I applied, got accepted and went along to the seminar hoping that a hundred quid or similar would tied me over .... and this is where things got a bit sticky, with a capital ‘S’. Each person or group at the start of the meeting was asked to stand up to give an outline of their project, how they saw it developed and what sort of grant would be needed. So, no problem there. However.....

      They started. Some ancient building needed gutting and so on and so forth and the need was for about half a million quids. The local Victorian garden needed renovating, needed gutting and so on and so forth and there was a desire for a couple of hundred thousand quids. This old forge needed saving with all its equipment and several hundred thousand quids would be the cost for the successful completion and so on and so forth. And so it went on .... ‘Colin, you have come to the wrong shop here my son’, I heard my brain shouting. It would soon be my turn to give forth!!! So no problem there except I seemed to be several  noughts short of a grant. Still, in for a penny (that’s about half a new pence to you Blog) in for a pound. I stood and outlined my desire to investigate the social, political, educational, industrial and historical influences on the development of a local running club because its survival and growth was a microcosm of the survival, development and growth of the city of Coventry, a reflection in miniature of how the city grew in the last 130 years and I felt that a hundred and fifty pounds would benefit my research greatly. Stifled sniggers from the multi million pound applicants did I hear? I have to confess that mine was the only application which did not run into a six figure sum!!! I was met with a polite thank you and the measured talks continued around the room. When the project outlines were completed, we broke for coffee whereupon, I was immediately approached by the important people running the seminar. Most interesting, give us details. Never heard of anything like this before, give us details. Just the sort of original research we are looking for, give us details. I was flabbergasted with a capital ‘FLABBER’ Blog. Forms were given out and an important meeting was arranged with Important Lottery Funding People from London. Forms were filled in and a meeting with Important Lottery Funding People from London was held. No you need to apply for a hundred quids, you need to apply for much more than that, after all, you will need top of the range cameras, video machinery, slide projectors for talks and so on and so forth. So the grant application went from a measly hundred quids to a different banding application of a few thousand quids. New forms were given out and an important meeting was arranged with Important Lottery Funding People from London. These new forms were filled in and a meeting with important Lottery Funding People from London was held. No you need to apply for a thousand quids, you need to apply for much more than a thousand quids, you need to employ researches to help research, a professional presentation company to help present etc. and so on and so forth. So even newer forms were given out and an important meeting was arranged with Important Lottery Funding People from London. The even newer forms were filled in and a meeting with Important Lottery Funding People from London was held. No you need to apply for thousands but you need to apply to the next banding so you can apply for tens of thousands of quids.

       Now Blog, I like a joke as much as the next precariat (ref * below Blog). But this was taking the Michael too far. I want to do the research as my hobby, my interest in my early retirement. I don’t want to set up a bleeding research foundation, based in the Herbert Art Gallery and Local Studies Department. I don’t want to employ and fund a couple of the Museum staff. So Blog, I made my excuses and left. It is hard to believe that I am telling you the truth Blog, but would I lie to you? Next time you buy your lottery ticket Blog, just think, you could have been employing me from the FUND!!!!

           Do you know Blog, not only have I never watched a soap, been to a mcDonald’s etc etc as I have told you before, but I have never bought a National Lottery ticket either. I simply do not like the odds on offer. That’s what happens when you do a few sums at the Pink Panther University.

           Off now for a trudge in the freezing cold. I was going to trudge this morning but we had another furry of snow .... April 5^th and it is snowing. Trudge on McBeth, trudge on to Verona.

                             Colin

P.S. (ref *) Don’t you think that in Mr. Cameroons’ brave new world, he has shown a remarkable degree of fortitude to announce that we now have seven social strata when even Aldous only managed five even though they were subdivided. So it’s goodbye from me as an alpha plus and its goodbye to you as a savage, Blog. And its hello from me as an elite and its hello from you as a precariat Blog, you proletarian pleb you!!!