Teenage kicks all through the night.
Some of us travelled to Manchester for the marathon and the road cycling in the Commonwealth Games. Everything we saw was superbly organised, despite the mens' marathon starting 20 minutes late - a good thing for us because our hotel wouldn't serve breakfast any earlier. Rob and Wendy Evans, being tougher than the rest of us, went without. Terry Caveney had the enormous good sense to get tickets for the Sunday morning athletics session, when the marathon finished. There could have been an official or some tape present at the finish for the winner, who ran an extra lap, jinking between hurdles, but every other finisher knew where to stop. Sprint finishes in a marathon are always good to see (although I doubt Paula Radcliffe will ever view it that way),though it was a bit of a pity that in both cases where runners from the home nations were involved, they lost.
Wherever you went, there were volunteers in those T-shirts you'll recognise from the TV coverage. These weren't quite as foul as the strip the baton runners had to wear, but they came close. Most were in purple, but some were greenish, and some red. I never found out what the distinctions were supposed to be. I tried checking the Games' site, which didn't help at all. It does have some useful background on every athlete, though you can only find it when looking up specific events. The FAQ does contain this gem about their mascot: "Further information about Kit can be obtained from our website."
Phil Hexter was of our founder members and he held the unofficial course record for the old summer run (from the Civil Sevice Club, which went through Ely), although he gave up running altogether in the late 80s.
He is a Full Healer Member of the National Federation of Spiritual Healers, Reiki master, and quaified crystal healer, and will do treatments free or for a voluntary donation. He can be contacted on 2054 9927.
You may have noticed that race attendances are shrinking again. When the club was formed in 1980, road races were a minority pursuit, and one with a hundred runners was a major attraction. The Ballycotton 10 started in 1978 with 26 runners. This year it attracted over a thousand. Other major races, like the Great North Run, continue to grow, but the grass-roots events are in retreat.
There are several reasons for this. Some are external to sport. The rise of Sunday shopping has made closing roads more difficult, and has placed temptations in the way of the more casual runner. Races are getting more expensive: the British Golden Jubilee 10K in central London costs £29:40 for a guaranteed place. Their publicity says "The race route is unmatched by any other road race in the UK." I gather that real estate prices round there are remarkably high, so there may be some attraction. And all very well if you want the considerably-richer-than-you to lean out their windows and rattle their jewelry as you puff past, but hardly value for money. Thirty quid is a lot for half an hour in which you do all the work.
Running is cheap - and that may be a factor in its decline. There's no opportunity for ostentatious spending in the manner of golf, tennis, or cycling. Running will always be the sport of Abebe Bikila. Golf will always be the sport where it's hard to tell where technology stops and Tiger Woods starts. Low-tech is the point of running: it is about going naked (or a nearly so as society permits) into the conference chamber. Few other sports (boxing and swimming are exceptions) are so about the person, as opposed to what is merely purchased.
Then there's the rise the charity ethic. Run your first race and raising money is easy. Do it again, and the novelty has gone, by the third race, you're a pest, but you still get called selfish if you're not raising money. So the stakes have changed somewhat, charities now want mimimum pledges - which frequently run to four figures. There's always one hard-headed person who scrapes every copper off everyone they've ever known. Not everyone can do this; there is a finite compassion budget out there; the funds raised don't double every time the number of charity runners doubles.
Something does seem to have shifted in the national culture since the days of the running boom. There certainly seems to be more of an attitiude of "you're not raising money, and you're not going to win, so why do it?" In a football game or tennis match, the worst that can happen is that you come second, but a race sorts out athletes the way a whole tournament does in other sports.
I saw the film about Steve Prefontaine on TV last week, and, apart from being among the dullest 90 minutes of my life, it did remind me that the press being quick to condemn any local hero who doesn't repeat his success in the global arena isn't new, and isn't just British.
Well here goes with political incorrectness and instant unpopularity. There's not much hope in holding off the rising tide of traffic, so, like it or not, small road races, unless the local police go against the national grain, are going to die out. The alternative is off-road races. Fine by me, I don't think a little cross country ever did anyone any harm. Saturdays may turn out to be more popular than Sundays, although that is an empirical matter, and I think a few races should test it to see what happens.
However, the main problem seems to be competitiveness. Road running has been overtaken by the ethic of the charity 'competitor' - just get round. Since raising money is supposed the purpose, does it matter if you run 26 miles or walk around the block? Does if matter if you shave you head or just cut off one lock? It needs to be sharp again. Jack Daniels, the American coach divides runners into four categories: those who don't have ability and don't care; those who don't have ability, but try; those who have ability but don't try; and those who have have ability and motivation. (Though I think the poet Burns phrased the same idea rather more neatly. And come to think of it I only bought Daniels' book because there was a picture on the front of Bob Kennedy, the US steeplechaser and 5000m runner - the first non-African to break 13 minutes for the distance. Although it seems that all Jack Daniels knows about Kennedy is that he was assassinated in 1968, and all Kennedy knows about Jack Daniels is that it ruins your training.) There are some with both ability and motivation, and they win things. There are lots with motivation but little ability. I count myself among them. What we need is to bring the unmotivated but potentially good back into the sport. Apart from notable exceptions like Keith Anderson and Martin Rees, who started in their 30s but still did very well, that means the young. Paul Evans didn't start competitive running until he was 26, so training through the teenage years isn't essential.
Motivation is essential, and that's not motivation to do well, but to win. Road races need prize money. There is a strange impasse here, because if the stakes are too high, the race is mobbed by Kenyans, who could find a use for some extra pocket money. So prize money needs to be around the level of an average week's wage. That would make a difference to a student, or anyone who could win a race a month. And prize money should fall sharply but still go down to 10th or 12th place. That makes the minor positions worth fighting out, which in turn will develop athletes. There should be at most three prizes for vets, based on outright position. Why? Because most vets running today are addicted: they'd do it if the price went up; they'd travel further if supply went down. Giving an award to the first woman between 40 and 44 is political correctness, not racing; everyone knows who will win each category before the gun goes off.
Mick wrote (in the current print Ace) "We're becoming increasing lazy... We eat the wrong food." The present 'inclusive' policy isn't making a difference. Go back to quality.
This is the moaning issue, and I'm going to moan some more. Phil Liggett was awarded a special plaque for covering 30 Tours de France. You could be forgiven for not knowing this since Channel 4 dropped its Tour coverage, and ITV only coughs up an hour a week early on Tuesday mornings. It's no way to follow the greatest sporting event on the planet. The only thing worse would be coverage on the BBC with Brendan Foster, something no sport, however unpopular, deserves.
Another week, and another glaring error is discovered on this site. My errant spelling (You don't use a spell checker do you? - Mick), and frequent deviations from the actualité are often gently corrected by Tina Rossiter and Matt Townsend. However, a departure from fact worthy of Alistair Campbell, which has lain dormant possibly since we went live, was spotted Guy Ellingham, of Kerikeri in New Zealand.
Eric who? He asked when I mentioned his country's celebrated distance coach, ArthurLydiard, on the training page, who I bizarrely rechristened Eric. I can't even plead the Johnsonian defence (Ignorance, Madam, pure ignorance) as I claimed to, and have, read his book. It's taken me a week to think that I was thinking at least partly of Eric Liddell - the Scot in Chariots of Fire. (He's the one who falls over in the 400m race, but picks himself up, as coincidentally, Vangelis starts plinking at his synthesiser, and, thanks to the grinding poverty and strict religious observance of the Scottish Lowlands obliging everyone to run in slow motion, goes on to win.) So I was wrong again, and won't give you any flannel about Homer sometimes nodding (as in falling asleep). These things don't happen at the New Yorker.
Last updated 13 April 2006
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