British University Sports Federation Athletic Championships 2013

Photograph Quiz:

Photo no. 150: This is the Unwin Cup. Which club does it belong to and why did it concern Godiva? What were the profound consequences for another Coventry Club of one of the train journeys to compete for the cup??

Dear Blog,

             Done it again this morning Blog! Not a bad fall mind you, more of a sliding tumble, if you know what I mean. That was the bad news. The good news is that, no sooner had I got through the servants side entrance and made myself a cup of very strong black coffee to help heal my damaged ego, than the telephone rang. Not mine, but the one in the servant’s quarters. Being mid-morning, most of the staff were out on the skive so I had to answer the telephone myself. It was ever such a nice man on the other end; well-spoken and well mannered. He asked me ever so politely if I was having a nice day and then enquired if I had an accident or an injury recently. Now I must confess that when I fell over I was out in the country on a quiet lane. I was not aware that there was anyone about in the immediate vicinity. Clearly the pleasant gentleman on the telephone must have been somewhere close and had witnessed my misfortune. I suspected that he must have felt guilty about not offering to help me when my fall occurred and was making the telephone call to not only see if I was not too shaken up but also to ease his own conscience. I told him he was a little tease and that he must have known that I had just had a nasty fall. Of course it was not a bad tumble but I thought I would prick his feelings of guilt so that next time he should witness someone toppling over, he would help at once and not wait an hour to make an enquiry as to the state of their wellbeing. He seemed sympathetic and asked if I thought it was my fault and I said certainly not. I blamed the Coventry City Council for not filling in the pot holes in the road. Well its fashionable to blame them isn’t it Blog? I didn’t like to confess that I had probably tripped myself up as he seemed so worried about the seriousness of the fall and the state of the road. It seemed churlish of me not to salve his pangs of guilt. He asked if the injury was likely to keep me off work and would I lose my wage? I said it certainly would incapacitate me somewhat and that I would probably be confined to a chair for some time. I will use any excuse to avoid Mrs. Kirkham extensive list of chores she gives me to do each day; but I didn’t tell him that. Why should I make public the little tensions in my marriage? He did seem lonely though and I felt that he was trying to keep me on the phone for a little bit of friendly comfort for himself. Bless. But, I had to get rid of him as my coffee was getting cold and I was getting quite chilled after my trudge. In the end I told him I was feeling rather faint from the blood gushing out of my wound. He started to panic and said was I insured and did I want a private ambulance to take me to a private clinic he could recommend. Bless. He did sound upset. I said to him that I thought that was very considerate of him to be so concerned. I thanked him for calling and he said he would ring me back when he felt I had had time to recover a little from my ordeal. My coffee was cold. I made myself another as there was still no sign of any of the servants. My wife was at the Bingo by the way Blog. Regular as clockwork she goes, every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning, Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening. Gets her out the mansion and the exercise she gets doing the two mile walk to the bus stop in the village keeps her fit. As does the two mile walk back although on a Wednesday, it is three miles back as the local omnibus company has had to stop the afternoon return service as part of that nice Mr Cameroon’s cut backs. I blame his mate Vince actually for all these cuts. I put the phone down. It was only while I was bathing in the tin tub in front of the range that I realised that I did not know the nice gentleman’s name. I was thinking that a little thank you card from me would not come amiss as he had been so concerned about me and my welfare. It would have been a nice gesture on my part after all the trouble he had gone to in telephoning me. It was the least I could have done in the circumstances, I feel.

    It is the British Universities Championships this weekend Blog. I shall write to you tomorrow to tell you all about my experiences at the British Universities Championships in Cardiff, fifty years ago, Blog. Something for you to look forward to???

                                               Colin     

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