My First London Marathon
C and I akways said that one day we’d go and see the London Marathon. But we never did!
So today, I took the East London Line from Dalston Junction to Shadwell and walked through to The Highway to see the leaders of the men’s race and a lot of the other runners pass. Interesting I talked to a couple of people, who were using the line for the first time. They were impressed. I should also say that the line was crowded, but it appeared to be coping wioth probably the busiest Sunday of the year.
It was a very good atmosphere and I enjoyed it. Quite a few of the pictures were taken by standing on the wall outside St. George’s Gardens. At least my balance must be getting quite good.
I also took this video standing on the wall, as the elite flashed by and the others jogged towards Canary Wharf.
I always said that one day, I’d do the marathon. But I suspect after the stroke and with my dodgy heart valve, it’s now out of the question. Unless of course, I can persuade a good cardiologist to run, or more likely walk, with me.
Part of the reason was always that Chris Brasher was one of my heroes. In this post, I explain why and also say a bit more about the London Marathon.
You’re Not Too Old at 37
Congratulations to Helen Clitheroe, who at the young age of 37 has won gold in the Indoor European Athletics Championships in Paris.
With Ryan Giggs playing on at a similar age, does it say that we’re getting physiotherapy, diet and other important disciplines better?
If so then we’re all going to benefit.
West Ham Appear to Have Got the Use of the Olympic Stadium
But the arguments will continue, as I indicated here. I said this in an e-mail to BBC Breakfast.
I’ve watched football in Moscow and it didn’t work there.
But as we have some of the best architects in the world and engineering and methods are getting better all the time, I’m sure that we can come up with a well-executed British compromise, of which we can all be proud.
Every difficulty should be looked upon as an opportunity, not a defeat.
What Do We Do With the Olympic Stadium?
The row about what to do with the Olympic Stadium in Stratford after the Olympics rumbles on apace.
The original plan to turn it into a smaller 25,000 seat stadium might be a wonderful legacy for athletics, but would it be the best use of it after the Olympics. There are perhaps a couple of meetings a year that could fill such a stadium, unless the World or European Championships are held in London. And knowing London and Londoners like I do, 25,000 seats would probably be too small. So we might have a white elephant that would require lots of continuing funding.
To have a dual-use stadium as West Ham propose may not be a good idea. Fans don’t like watching football over an athletics track and I can understand why. I watched Ipswich play in the old Olympic Stadium in Moscow and the view was atrocious. Especially, as I had forgotten my binoculars. I also went to Stamford Bridge, when it still had the dog track in place and that wasn’t good either. So I can understand the views of fans and Harry Redknapp, when they say football and athletics don’t mix.
But there is a more fundamental problem and that is that football (and cricket and rugby for that matter) rely heavily on providing a lot of corporate entertainment with boxes, restaurants and fast food bars. Athletics crowds are different, probably more knowledgeable and have different and conflicting needs. They also stay longer making a whole day of the trip.
There is probably only one mixed use stadium that works and that is the Stade de France in Paris. In some ways this illustrates the problems, in that the French stage football, rugby and athletics, whereas, in England, rugby has Twickenham and football has Wembley.
The question has also to be asked if athletics wants a spiritual home like football, rugby and cricket.
It probably does, but a 75,000 seater stadium would be a white elephant, costly to fund.
It could also be argued that it has a spiritual home at Crystal Palace, which has been the scene of some great days of athletics. But it needs to be knocked down and rebuilt, preferably to a size of 30,000 seats that could be temporarily expanded to stage World or European Championships. One of the other problems of the stadium, was that it didn’t have good transport links direct from North and East London. But this has been partly solved by the new East London Line.
In fact, it would be good for South London if the whole Crystal Palace site was properly developed as a sport and leisure park, to compliment Stratford. Very little has been done since the original palace burned down before the Second World War. And if Crystal Palace is properly redeveloped, why not do the same at Alexandra Palace? The famous race course is still there.
What we need is a proper strategy for London, that is properly thought through. In fact this is the main problem with the Olympic stadium in that it was built to a cost for a limited life, rather as part of a whole strategy.
I have just Karen Brady, the West Ham, Vice Chairman, on BBC Breakfast and she put a convincing case for their mixed-use plans, which would include cricket. So is this just one part of a strategy, which should include plans for North, South and West London as well.
And then there is the elephant in the room; Chelski. Arsenal have a 60,000 seat stadium and Tottenham will have one, whether they move to Stratford or not. They wouldn’t be able to develop at Stamford Bridge, but what about a new stadium, where HS2 connects to Heathrow at Old Oak Common?
So the problem is a lot bigger than just what you do with Stratford.
If You Think There Are Cheats in Sport, Remember the Nazis
There is a wonderfully inspiring interview with a lady of 90 called Dorothy Tyler in The Times today. She would have won the gold medal in the high jump in the Berlin Olympics, but for the count-back rule at the time. And that despite the Germans entering a man, Dora Ratjen, to replace their best female high-jumper, who was Jewish. She then went on to win another silver at the London Olympics of 1948. This time it was all fair and square and she was beaten by the first black female Olympic gold medallist, Alice Coachman. She said this of her defeat.
“She was from a very poor family,” Tyler says. “She used to have to pick corn and walk through the fields to school. We exchanged addresses after the competition and I kissed her when she won, which seemed to amaze everyone. One of the reporters asked: ‘How did I like being beaten by a black woman?’ I said: ‘As far as I was concerned, she was a competitor representing her country.’ ”
She eventually competed in the 1956 Games in Melbourne, but she never got the gold she deserved and would have certainly got under modern rules.
Now come 2012, she is an obvious candidate to present the medals in the women’s high jump in London. But I doubt she’ll be asked to do it, as someone from the the so-called great and good, will be called upon, because it is his turn.
This article alone made the purchase of The Times worthwhile.
Eleanor Oldroyd Solves the Aussies Problems
Eleanor Oldroyd is the First Lady of Fighting Talk and on today’s show she gave her learned opinion on how to improve the dreadful performance of the Australian’s so-called cricket team. She actually made two suggestions.
- We persuade the ICC to let the Aussies have a third innings.
- The English team play French cricket, which would mean they had to face the bowler directly.
The latter is a really serious suggestion, as it would probably mean that the likes of Strauss, Pietersen, Bell and Collingwood would rise to the challenge with superb stroke-play.
If you’ve never listened to Fighting Talk, it is one of the best programs on Radio 5 and is also available as a podcast.
Today’s was a particularly good edition, with the program finishing with Eleanor explaining how athletes fail drug tests for too much testosterone and/or Viagra.
Sir Christopher Achieves His Goal
In the Great North Run yesterday, Sir Christopher Chataway achieved his goal of a time of under one hour fifty-two minutes, to beat eighty percent of the other runners in the half-marathon. Here’s the report in The Independent. Apparently, he’s giving up competing.
“It will be my last half-marathon,” he announced afterwards. “In future I shall be concentrating on the only sport in which I’m improving – bridge.”
I suspect he might recind that statement. After all, he did nothing for many years and then came back a star!
Jimmy “No Bellies” Gardner
Today one of the competitors in the Great North Run is Paul Gascoigne’s old drinking mate Jimmy “Five Bellies” Gardner.
Except that he’s slimmed from twenty-one stone to thirteen and now goes by the nickname of “No Bellies” according to The Sun.
Let’s hope he keeps to his new lifestyle!
Cycle Race’s £1.5m Boost for County
Yesterday, this was the front page headline in yesterday’s East Anglian Daily Times. It was a good day out and shows that if you put on a show in Suffolk, people will attend.
As we have the Great North Run, today, would it be an idea to have Great East Run!
An Inspiration to All of Us
It has just been announced on Radio Five that Sir Christopher Chataway will be running the Great North Run tomorrow, aiming to beat a time of one hour fifty two minutes. He is nearly 80 and it is also reported in The Independent. This article also gives details about the water project, he’s set up in Ethopia with his son, Adam, in memory of Adam’s fiance, who died in 2006. He also discloses in the article, that he used to smoke.
I can remember as a seven-year-old watching on television as Sir Christopher bear the unbeatable Russian, Vladimir Kuts, over 5,000 metres at the old White City and also claim the world record. Kuts sadly died at just 48!
Sir Christopher has been one of my heroes, since that night in October 1954.
The Anonymous Widower 