Ace: Les Croupiers Running Club

The Flora 1000 Mile Challenge is turning out to be a damp squib, the precisely targetted missile that failed to explode.

On the day of the Barry 40, Dave Walsh, former member of Les Croups, one of the founders, and erstwhile official, told me that the start of the 1000 Mile Challenge would be broadcast during the afternoon's athletics on BBC2. As far as I can tell, it wasn't. There has been no televised coverage, despite the presence of Walshie as a referee (a natural for the Simon Cowell role). There is just too little drama.

The papers either resort to non-stories or vaccous rubbish — the former hoping for a visit from Elle MacPherson, the latter on "ultra-distance running grow[ing] more popular by the day."

The London Marathon changed the nature of athletics in Britain. Before it started, a race like Ballycotton attracted 31 runners, and most of those ran under the hour. London made running slowly acceptable. In doing so, it made the sport popular (and I can think of several members of the club who wouldn't be if that weren't true), but may have started a slide in quality. (There may be other factors in this: children exercise less, and fewer walk to school, other sports offer greater rewards for far less suffering, etc.) However, the race, like any business, is trying to grow. There was the London Half Marathon at Silverstone (nowhere near London, but never mind). And there is the 1000 mile race, inspired by Peter Radford's book on Captain Robert Barclay.

Sadly, the 1000 Mile Challenge doesn't look like an experiment worth repeating. The coverage on the website is anaemic, even resentful, as if it were a superhuman test of endurance to produce a thousand words of copy or an interview every day. You get the impression that even the people doing it aren't very interested. Yet the brief is a writer's dream: whatever happens, does so beneath the surface. We all know that they can each walk a mile in less than an hour.

I'm starting to think, that now it's coming down to publicity stunts, that distance running as a sport is in retreat. If it weren't for Paula Radcliffe, public interest would be close to nil, nada, nothing. It will probably survive in continental Europe, but all the new races I see in the UK are gimmicky. While we as a club may be doing well, the sport is definitely in trouble.

Replies: 4 comments

Dave - many thanks for such a considered reply. Good points..

Re. "charity runs are about doing something distasteful.." etc,

Douglas Adams said something similar in "The Salmon of Doubt" whilst describing a bizarre fund-raising trip up Kimanjaro (which mandated the wearing a Rhino suit !).

I was v.lucky (1000:1 shot ?!) to get a FLM place thru the ballot and have only recently learnt how entries are dished-out, with only a fraction go to qualifiers, good for age runners, clubs, the ballot etc.

I can't imagine many sports tolerating this, let alone something like the 'golden bond scheme'. There again, I also can't imagine anyone doing anything with the LM credit card "offer" other than binning it !

Posted by Tim O -AT-REMOVE_THIS- 26/3/2003 11:35 pm GMT

Hi Tim,

thanks for the comments, and anyone is welcome to post.

Not for the first time, I've failed to make myself clear. Particularly down to my habit of reading over what I've written, and striking out the less satisfactory passages.

I don't consider the LM itself to be a gimmick. I consider their attempts to expand to be gimmicky. I still get offers to take out an LM credit card. The Silverstone race seemed to take the brand name to an unreasonable length. The name may be their property, but it ought to mean a marathon in London.

Yes, I didn't argue the point that standards have fallen at all well. I admit that I don't know how to gather evidence for any kind of cause-and-effect, and as you say, the decline may have been more marked without the LM.

What I do know, is that standards have declined in recent years. If we could field a fit Les Croups first team in the LM, we'd have a chance in the club championship. This year, our best runner may be able to break 2:30, and the rest would be scattered around 2:35-6. Only five years ago, Bridgend won when their last man ran 2:36, their first was inside 2:12, and the others were inside 2:30. Automatic entry has fallen from 2:40 to 2:45 to 3:15.

I think that the ethos has moved from achievement to participation. In many ways, that's a good thing, I wouldn't be a runner without that, nor would several others in the club.

So yes, my conclusion didn't follow from the premises. I can't think of any reason why charity runs should 'have a negative impact of the performance of club runners', only that they seem. Post hoc ergo propter hoc, I hear you snort.

I suppose that my reason comes down to this: charity runs are about doing something distasteful for another (higher) cause. I think running should be an end in itself.

I think the 1000 mile thing has been a wasted opportunity. The broadsheets all have daily pull-out sport sections which they have to fill, but their interest wasn't tickled. It could have made a slice of reality TV, but it didn't. And it's not really about running, but about sleep, and the two centuries since Captain Barclay have seen polar expeditions, submarine exploration, space travel, as well as wars and psychological experimentation which have told us all we need to know about that.

Posted by Dave -AT-REMOVE_THIS- 26/3/2003 10:20 am GMT

Dear Les Croups

Excellent web site. Hope its OK for non-club members to post comments.. apols if not !

From the onset, even I "did'nt get" the 1000 mile challenge idea - at best, more an experiment in sleep deprivation (not running) ?

Equally though, I don't understand the logic that mass events such as London may have "started the slide in quality". In fairness, you did say "may"..

Could'nt the converse be argued ? ie that in the face of competing 'sports', more sessile behavioural patterns etc etc, standards might have declined even further had Brasher et al not injected interest in, and attracted newcomers and sponsors to, running via 'gimmics' such as the FLM ?

Even if this is not the case, why should mass 'charity fun runs' have a negative impact of the performance of club runners ?

Apols if I've completely mis-understood your point. Needless to say, I'm one of those who's probably dragging down the stats !!

Tim

Posted by Tim O -AT-REMOVE_THIS- 25/3/2003 11:17 pm GMT

Ace

C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas un marathon

Replies: 4 comments