This weekend it was the county championships. I’ve done the
counties many times before, mostly in Surrey, sometimes in the East District of
Scotland and for the last two years in Cheshire. I’ve been reasonably
successful in all of them but this year I decided I wasn’t interested.
The main reason was that I was concerned that running too
much on mud would be detrimental to my achilles and, whilst it’s pretty much
fixed, I have been training hard lately and it has started to ache a little.
Had there been a Salford team in Cheshire or were my origins Greater Manc or
Lanc then there would have been pretty much nothing that would have stopped me
turning out but as the lone Salford Harrier in the Cheshire champs it’s a
lonely place to be when you’re in pain. Too many years of running as the sole
Herne Hill Harrier in Scotland and the North West meant I had very little
interest in the event this year. True, for the last couple of years I’ve had
good runs and been 2nd M45 in Cheshire, it’s possible I could have
made it three in a row or even gone one place higher, but we’ll never know now.
It was however good to see my colleagues and ex-colleagues
doing so well in their respective champs; Tom Cornthwaite and Gary Priestley
were 1st and 2nd in the Lancs, Joe Bailey took 2nd
in the Greater Mancs with Salford taking 1st team. Back in Surrey it
was good to see my old clubs doing well; Herne Hill Harriers took silver in the
mens event with Belgrave bronze, also getting bronze in the womens event.
I do enjoy the counties, hopefully I’ll be much stronger
next year and will feel more inclined to take part, especially if they move it
back past 16 Jan so I’ll be fresh in the M50s instead of hanging on the the
M45s, not that the M50s will be a pushover.
Talking of old clubs it was with some surprise and a great
deal of sadness that I heard, this week, of the death of one of the stalwarts
of Surrey athletics, Stan Allen. I was only with Herne Hill Harriers for about
seven years so I don’t feel qualified to say much about Stan’s athletic or club
activities but like any athlete of my era, I knew Stan and Stan knew me. When I
first met Stan I was a Belgrave Harrier and there was a bitter rivalry between
the teams. Despite my twenty three years shared between the clubs I never
really got to understand why this was and it almost stopped me from joining
Herne Hill when I did, for fear of upsetting people at Belgrave, in the end I
decided my future was more important than people getting upset over triviality.
Despite this rivalry I personally always had a good relationship with members
of Herne Hill Harriers, though it was a bit shaky with Geoff Jerwood for a
while when he pushed me off the track in a sprint finish – getting back on the
track and beating him that day was justice enough. With Stan I was for a while,
during the early days, on the back foot, partly because of the club rivalry and
partly because I didn’t fully appreciate his sense of humour, but over the
years we both showed our endurance for our respective clubs and I found myself
in races being cheered on by Stan, unless there was a Herne Hill Harrier
nearby. Mutual respect brought us closer together and when I decided it was
time to join Herne Hill, Stan was one of the first to welcome me onboard. Sadly
my move to Edinburgh meant my contact with Stan was more correspondent than
social, but he was a big man in a big club. All clubs can lay claim to people
who stand out in the club, but Stan was more than this and his influence on
athletics was evident by the many messages I’ve read on facebook. And that’s
all I’m going to say, other than, next Saturday’s Surrey League match is set to
mark the 125th anniversary of Herne Hill Harriers, but it’s now a
poignant reminder to one of Herne Hill’s greatest. I wish I could be there to
help remember him but my thoughts will fly with you.
 |
| One of my favourite photos of Stan by Ray O'Donaghue, shows his loyalty to both club and family. |
So because I told Carole I wasn’t racing this weekend she
seized her opportunity and booked us in to see a pantomime in Liverpool. Yes
pantomime that’s right. I used to love pantomimes, but we’re talking 40 odd
years ago, I’ve kind of grown out of them a little since then, but Carole did
explain it was a Rock n Roll panto, so I happily went along. To make it more
worthwhile we decided to make a weekend of it and stay over. Naturally it was
training first and I was flying in my run on Saturday morning, made me wonder
if I should’ve entered the Cheshires afterall, but luckily I can carry that
form over to something else. Then it was off to Liverpool to book into the
hotel and wander. We visited the Liverpool museum, which was fascinating, a
quick look at Liverpool 1 and back to the hotel to change for an early dinner
at Alma de Cuba. The restaurant, along with the panto were recommended by some
of Carole’s colleagues, and they were spot on. The food was great and the
service matched it, mind you we were in at 17:00 so hardly busy. Then it was
off to the theatre to pick up the tickets and enjoy, unfortunately not having
the tickets in our hands meant Carole forgot which theatre we were due at, so
we found ourselves at a theatre the other end of Liverpool. Luckily Liverpool
isn’t that big and we made it back to the correct theatre (thank goodness for
mobile phones) in time to get a drink in before the curtain went up. It was
Aladdin at the Liverpool Playhouse and straight away I could tell I was going
to enjoy myself, rock music, though some was a little suspect, childish jokes
and a cast that was having so much fun it made me wish I was an actor. I even
got up from my seat, waved my hands in the air when asked and sang along to
some classic rock. What a great night. The next morning we were up and out for
a run along the Mersey, not the most exhilarating run but at least I was
running along a promenade rather than limping like last time we went away. It
was a dry run but after breakfast we were in the Tate gallery as the rain
started to come down, it was horrible cold drizzle so we decided it was time to
head home instead and watch Nottingham Forest play West Ham in the FA cup.
The weather has been particularly bad in the UK these past
weeks, but we’ve been sheltered from the worst of it in Cheshire, the grounds
soggy and it’s as windy as anywhere else but the flooding hasn’t affected us.
It’s not stopped me running, in fact I’ve done some good sessions in the wind,
just means I have more kit to wash each week as I layer up.
I’m still deciding on my next course of action, from a
running perspective, I think I might venture back onto a cross country course
for my next race but after that I’m going to work out what’s best for me long
term.
Written by Roger Alsop
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