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Sunday 31 August 2014

Being a vet should not make much difference

Just over 30 years ago a friend was taking the entries for Boundary Harriers’ cross country race at Ballachrink Farm in East Baldwin. A man gave his name, paid his entry fee and announced “I’m a vet”. The recorder was a little bemused because she didn’t realise that she had to record the occupation of each entrant but because he was insistent she wrote “vet” next to his name.

He was of course a man over the age of 40 and it seems perverse that, as veteran standards have improved, the age at which a man was classed as a veteran, or master in American parlance, should be reduced to 35. There need not be too big a decline in performances by that age - look at sprinter Kim Collins.

In the days when athletics was wholly amateur there was a quirk in the rules. Organisers of open events had to place a value on the prizes awarded and publish a programme with the total value of prizes and indicate who was qualified for each award. It was a pretty good system and the basis for the “one award per person” system.

If the prize values for the first, second and third positions were £40, £30 and £25, and the prize for the first veteran was £20, then if a veteran finished third he would claim the third prize and the veteran’s award would be taken by the second veteran.

One of the frequently misunderstood points was that, in the scenario above, the third placed runner still won the veteran’s section it was just that he forfeited the prize as he accepted one of greater value. In the days when there was a veterans’ race to Peel in the Parish Walk, if the winner then proceeded to win the whole 85 mile event he was still the veteran winner even though he gave up the right to the prize when he lifted a more significant one.

In those days the veterans were in a minority but in some cases they now form a majority. In my view, it is nonsense to award a prize to the first under 35 runner in a road race if he or she finished fifth. They should not receive anything if the open awards are taken by veterans.

In that case, I come down on the side of veteran athletes. In other cases I am less sympathetic to them. Although I work closely with the Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club to publicise some of their events, and I have some good friends who are members, I did not support the establishment of a separate club. In a perfect world athletes from the same area, and I would say the area should be the whole of the Isle of Man, should coach, organise and compete in a single entity.  I have only ever been a member of one Manx club at a time.

One criticism when fewer athletes retired in their 20s and 30s was that they no longer offered their services as coaches. You could hardly apply such a criticism in the Isle of Man, where some of the top coaches still compete, but the closer aligned the athletes of all ages are the better it should be.

I was staggered once to hear, after a race, a veteran athlete announce that he hadn’t really tried to hold off a senior runner as he was only interesting in winning the veteran’s prize. I admit that I found motivation in chasing Manx records when I turned 40 but the overall performance must surely be the priority.

I have only just read about Anthony Whiteman setting a world over 40 record for 800 metres and his post-race comments were quite telling. He only expected to run 1.49 rather than the record breaking 1.48.05. He concentrated on his race craft and the record took care of itself.

It is right that people should get recognised for their performances as they get older but surely it has to be acknowledged that the higher the age profile the lower the number of entrants. Sometimes I think there are too many awards for veterans. One well known athlete said to me, at a rather long winded prize presentation, “it is like a child’s party – everyone is going home with something.”

With a few exceptions, winning an age group trophy means nothing to me. It is performance, time, distance or height, that counts. We should judge our own performances as we judge others. How well did we train and how close to our potential were we in the event? That applies whether the word “vet” is written alongside your name or not.





Friday 29 August 2014

Long live the blog

I am almost half way through a lovely holiday in Wengen (Switzerland) to coincide with Marie and my 30th wedding anniversary. On 27 August 1984 we were married at Ebenezer Methodist Chapel in Kirk Michael where family friends Rex Kissack and Ann Crowe conducted the service  and played the organ. They and their spouses and just nine family members attended our reception at the Carmodil Cafe in Ballaugh Glen.


On our anniversary we had lunch at the summit of the Schilthorn where Roger Moore appeared as James Bond in Her Majesty's Secret Service.


Life changes quite quickly sometimes. My plan only a couple of years earlier had been to take part in the Olympics in the Summer of 1984 and not to get married!

After representing Great Britain as a race walker at 20km, 35km (twice) and 50km in 1981 and 1982, and the Isle of Man at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 1982, I made the decision to change my training, move up another gear and have stab at the Olympics.

I failed for two reasons. When I started to work on my weaknesses instead of my strengths it became apparent that they were too great to overcome. My upper body strength is pathetic. Secondly, but it is linked to the first, the additional training brought to a head the damage I had done to my back at school messing with weights (unsupervised). Even during the period of my best results I had been sleeping on the floor to overcome the back pain.

I retired from race walking in November 1983 after consulting with a back specialist in Manchester. It was never  a case that I could no longer take part in race walking, indeed I made a few appearances in the 10 years that followed, but rather that I would be ill advised to continue putting my back under such pressure and the words "wheelchair and old age" were used.

It was only a few weeks later that I met Marie and we chose to marry within eight months of meeting.

At that time I was treasurer of Boundary Harriers and I also took on the role of treasurer of the IOMAA before passing over both roles to stand as chairman of the IOMAA on a point of principle. I had many other roles including newsletter editor and coached a few athletes, or at least mentored them. Running was introduced merely to avoid getting unfit.

I never imagined that 30 years later I would be worried about missing a day of training tomorrow because of a cold (two years ago I also retired from marathon running because of a knee injury and concerns about my hip).

And so, if you are interested enough to read this, don't write off this blog yet.

I have encountered a problem accessing my home computer whilst on holiday and so at this stage I can't update the website.

When I first wrote the blog it was intended to provide context to the website. During the last 10 months I have principally used Facebook to announce updates and post extra news.

During the next few weeks I intend to publish a series of blog entries about issues I have observed in athletics during the past 30 years.

After that my plans may change as suddenly as they did in 1984. I may retire it or I might be writing here in 30 years time that I planned to!