Olympic Bid for some everyday people

That's it for another 4 years. The olympics is over and it actually turned out to be very good. Of course it was good to see Team GB get a load of medals, but if I have any complaints it is that they seemed to do well in sports that are elite and really for those who have a financial start in life. Who do you know who has a yacht, or a rowing boat? I've got an inflatable dinghy... will that do? The cycling and the swimming were perhaps the more accessible sports. Swimming saw lots of Stockport Metro's do well and I got the impression that the winners were from fairly humble origins...one of them even came from Mansfield, poor child. In Scotland Chris Hoy is getting a big pat on the back, and for a while I was under the impression he was an every day bloke who done well in a sport. But then I discovered Chris Hoy was educated at George Watsons.. a big private school in Edinburgh. Boo! He's not normal, he's elite...how disappointing. Not as disappointed as Emma was when she discovered Mark Foster is rumoured to be Colin Jacksons 'partner'. I had to laugh at Matthew Mitcham, the Australian diver who got gold. Watch this video of him and there is no clues he is gay until right at the end of the clip when he gives a really gay wave to the camera. He may as well have shouted 'I'm free!'.

As for the athletics. I help out with the junior section of our running club. Some kids have talent, but what do you do with it? The opportunities to develop it are not there and it is left to people like me who don't even know how to do the sports we are supposed to teach. If there were medals to be won for doing Basil Fawlty impressions in the 100m, or getting as close to the marshall with the javelin, then we would be clear winners.

Athletic Support Needed

Back from Cambuslang with mixed fortunes in my results.

100 meters = 3rd place in my category but 5th out of 6 in the race. Midway through the race I looked ahead at the winners whose thighs were twice as wide as mine and thought to myself 'this is not my strong distance'.

Long Jump = 1st place...out of 2 competitors. Only one foul jump too. The eye of the tiger was beginning to open!

400 meters = 5th place out of 6. Once the gun went off, and all the runners whizzed passed me, I thought to myself 'this is not my strong distance'. However I did manage to beat the Cambuslang runner who looked like one of those circus strong men, you know the sort with bald heads and twirly moustaches.

Javelin = 2nd place out of 3 in my category. However having never thrown a javelin it was only when I got half way through the run run up that it crossed my mind I was holding a lethal weapon and there were two marshals in the line of my fire. I threw it but forgot to stop running and ran on to the grass. For the second one I decided to slow down and use my dart throwing skill over speed. 26 meters, but then only to be disappointed to discover the record there is 64 meters. The 3rd one never happened. Because i was in the 400 m race, that was started late because the organisers were the biggest bunch of anally retentive knobs ever had fussed over trivial details, I missed the first round. The official refused to budge and I pointed out to her that it was her inefficiency and that her tone was not in the spirit of the games, but the old bag would not back down. I wish I had got her earlier with my missthrow.

High Jump = To qualify you have to clear 1 meter 50. Having never done high jump before this was a tall order as by now my legs were feeling very heavy, and I had no idea what technique you are supposed to use. I was all fro running up and doing a forward dive, but that's not allowed. You have to take off on one foot...but which one I don't know. Needless to say I only cleared 1m 30 and did not qualify.

4 x 100 meters relay = I don't know what position we came but I was delighted to have exchanged the baton without any hiccups and run a good race leaving the strong man and his team far behind.

Unfortunately we did not win promotion. For me the half marathon the day before was taking its toll as was the lack of any idea of how to do half the events I was in hindered my performance. Andrew & Isabelle did well, with him winning long jump and Isabelle getting 3rd in shot put and long jump. Today my legs are stiff as a board, I think I will have a rest.

Olympics

Daly Thompson, a true Olympian


The Olympics are here. I never intended to watch them but I enjoy the fact that for many of the athletes, getting there is reward enough and they get a few weeks off work, get the chance of becoming a local hero and get to go on a jolly. I also find myself watching sport I would never normally look at, like the equestrian event I am watching now. I have even gone one step further and actually started to participate in events new to me. Tomorrow I head off to Cambuslang with the kids and the running club for the final day of the athletics season, with promotion to division 2 to be played for. Because we are equal to the Cambuslang, we need to field as many athletes as possible in as many events to notch up extra points and win the promotion place. Just by entering an event, we get a point for the club. So guess who is doing the 100m, 400 m, 800m, javelin, shot put, long jump and 110m hurdles tomorrow? I've Googled how to do them so I will be fine (except all the instructions are for right handed people and I'm a lefty). I'm working on my grip and thrust and I have grown a bushy moustache so I can look like Daly Thompson

Flood Alert

Things are desperate when all we can write about is the weather, but unusual waether gets a mention. It rained for 36 hours on Wed/Thursday and there was some localised flooding here in Dunbar. The road was closed as it flooded under the railway bridge, in another incident my car was stranded in the car park that also flooded and required wading through...well paddling through 2 inches of water. But the main crisis was in the guinea pig hutch. Several inches (and rising) was dangerously close to swamping out the little critters. Since the execution...(sorry accidental death of Splat) we are all very protective of the others. I'm sure one was called Splash, and so concerned was Isabelle, that she actually got out of her bed before 11am. Not only that, she rescued them from the rising flood waters.

Today was the Haddington Half Marathon. The torrential rain was back and for me good running conditions. We decided an hour before to do it, which was a mistake as neither of us were in the zone, or really prepared. But then the rain stopped and the sun put his hat on and it went all humid. Crap running conditions. I pulled up at 11.5 miles with cramp, again at 12.5 miles, not enough fluid taken on and the price you pay for a staple diet of banoffee pie whilst at Wensleydale. Worst still we both have red sun burn in the pattern of our running vests. Emma showed hers off at the churches pool and pizza party tonight. More rain forecast tomorrow, and we are hoping for more flooding so we can get the dinghy out on park.

Herriot Country

20 minutes earlier thou were up that big t'hill behind thee.


We've just got back from 9 days in Wensleydale, home of Wallace & Gromitts Wensleydale Cheese, and the location for the books and tv series 'All Creatures Great & Small'. It's a nice place to visit and quite traditional and unspoilt given its close proximity to Newcastle.
Whilst there I managed to get a race in. TheHerriot Country Trail Run 14 km . It started at Castle Bolton in Redmire where we stayed, the same location for a pirate reinactment group. The day before I actually bumped into Captain Jack Sparrow who kindly offered to come and talk to the 30 kids we had with us from camp. Stuart talked to him for 30 minutes about his sword. A strange mix of swashbuckling blokes in pirates outfits, and bollock swishing athletes wearing running shorts!
The race clashed with the hottest day so far, and it got hotter as we climbed. Not a breeze to be found and at 8 miles I was feeling a little peculiar and broke my own rule of walking on a flat bit during a hill run. I managed to press on and got a respectable 67 minutes,putting me 35th out of 267. As far as I know I was the only Scottish Club runner, but overshadowed by someone from Dubai (i bet the heat didn't bother them) I can't complain at that as I have been eating yet more cakes and seconds and third helpings of everything on the camp and feeling a little bit clogged up.
Anyway, if you are ever hungry in the Dales, then you can only go to one place for fast food. Check it out for yourself. click here