when i was 14 i was among the top cross country runners for my age in the country. i was accustomed to winning at school and in norfolk trials and felt unbeatable. when i did national trials aged 14 i went off too fast and got caught and passed easily with just a few hundred metres to go. i'm ashamed to say that i didn't finish that race - i quit and walked off. to this day it is the single thing in my life that i regret the most and every time i see or hear paula radcliffe moaning and crying, i think of that little boy whinging and giving up, simply because i was losing. i hate myself for that moment but i was told to grow up and i'm happy to say i learnt from it and became a stronger person for it. its about time someone told her she's being a dick and grew up too. true story
Apparently the person who was abusing Daley on twitter has been arrested. No matter what you think of Daley the abuse he was receiving was horrible and he didn't deserve it. I once attempted to jump off a 3m diving board and I was crapping myself so for anbody to dive from 10m, do loads of flips and turns, and not end with a belly flop deserves a lot of credit!
Shame you didn't keep it up. We need some good middle and long distance guys right now. Too late to reconsider?
I also ran for my County, never saw you Superman? 12 miles Cross country at Caister, muddy fields, ditchs, roads, up and down sand dunes then at least 3 miles along the beach, **** it was hard, no it was really really hard, loads of kids crying and dropping out, out of 80 starters 12 finished. I was one of the finishers along with a team mate, I still have my medal, Yes I won it, and hell I'm proud of it. It never once crossed my mind to stop, you see it was drilled into us not to give up, don't let the side down, carry on regardless. I'm up for it Redruth, long distance if your short one weekend! ILD OTBC
My best day in cross country came a couple of years a go. It was my first competitive cross country where I came second to last but I couldn't be prouder! Competed in the 800m a few weeks later where the rest of the field ended up 200m away. My very dodgey leg nearly have in but my teammates cheered me over the line! So glad my time wasn't announced over the PA system as it was awful. In fact thinking of this has made me even more pissed off with Paula Radcliffe!
i think you might have a few years on me ILD! i used to love cross country but my poor old knee can't take it anymore, though i do still run most evenings, just to keep the beer-belly at a minimum. our county trials used to be somewhere near thetford - it was such a tough course over 10+ miles. did anyone ever compete in the norfolk relay which was run around the norfolk border and coast? that used to be a lot of fun! is now a good time to point out that i once won a blue peter fun run...?
I'll have to invite you lads down for a run. We have the third and fifth hardest marathon courses in Britain down here and one of our club races is a 10 mile beach and cliff jobbie. I reckon we could get a good team out here.
There always has to be one so let it be me with a few personal observations 1) I very reluctantly watched the opening ceremony fully convinced that it would be awful and ending have way through by the lights going out due to somebody forgetting to put a 50p in the meter. In fact I thought it was brilliant. 2) Us inhabitants are used to the British way of doing things - muddle through and hope for the best - but even by our standards the cock ups over tickets and security are pretty special. 3) I have been hearing all week that participants have been unable to get tickets for their families. One girl only got one ticket and had to choose between her Mum and Dad. Another had to choose between his parents and his wife and there have been suggestions that they were poorly sighted seats as well. Zara Phillips family didn't seem to have any of these problems. 4) I have no interest in wrestling, weightlifting, badminton, ping pong, judo, synchronised nose picking, upside down canoeing or any other minority sport. If Athletics or swimming etc is on Sky Sports I switch over. When the Tour de France was on TV I didn't watch it - why would I want to watch Tour de London Streets? I don't care if they are doing it for fun, money or an oversized medal - I have no interest and resent having to help pay for it. 5) When you reach an age where it is difficult to get an erection then even beach volleyball has no interest. 6) The media coverage is over the top. The BBC is showing nothing else and the 24 hour news channels are no better. 24 hour Olympics Channels more like. If Israel attacked Iran or the Eurozone collapsed the main story would still be a 20 min analysis as to how GB won a bronze medal in the jock strap hurling competion. Sky Sports news - Football and other major sports don't exist for this fortnight. 7) Football and Tennis should not be in the Olympics unless they revert to their previous amateur format. The Olympics if a four yearly event for minority sports. 8) Our security at Manchester Airport couldn't stop an 11 year old boy travelling to Rome without a ticket, passport or boarding card. Am I going within 20 miles of an olympic venue - not likely. I seriously and genuinely hope I am wrong but.... No - I don't want to talk any thing up. 9) The Olympic flame - Why would I want to make a 30 mile round trip in order to see someone I didn't know run past me with something in their hand. If that something was Nick Cleggs balls then I might have gone. I could go on but I will end my rant there.
1950, though you make good points about security and the ticketing fiasco, i think you've missed the whole point of the olympics, the reason why it is called 'the greatest show one earth'. that is why it gets such high billing, and quite rightly, because it is a phenomenal 17 days of wall to wall sport in numerous disciplines where the athletes have trained non-stop, passionately for four solid years. that takes mammoth effort and dedication, the like of which i can barely imagine, and just cos you aren't interested in their particular sports doesn't mean they should be disrespected. i think you need to stop viewing it as 'something you have to pay for' and view it just like the opening ceremony... a grand spectacle which can ignite and bring together a whole nation as one
Supers, you're right to point out the time and effort the competitors put in, but, unfortunately, 99% of events are of no interest to me whatsoever, I don't mind others being interested and wanting to watch, but as midway says, they monopolise ALL the BBC channels ALL of the time, meaning if I don't watch something I'm not interested in, then I can't watch ANYTHING!
dave, i have no interest in most of the sports on offer either but i'm still watching the gymnastics and cheering our team on and still watching the handball etc etc, because its a great spectacle and something we can all enjoy as a nation. i'm also finding myself excited by a few new events. might try my hand at archery - looks good fun. i've drawn the line at dressage but i mean, its only a couple of weeks every four years - its hardly the end of the world! you could always watch itv! jeez, just occurred to me... imagine adrian chiles presenting the olympics... AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!
I took part in archery when I was 17/18 in the Met Police Cadets! All we had were bows and arrows and arm guards, none of this fancy modern technological aid! If you forgot your arm guard though, you soon knew about it, the string, when released, rides down your lower, inner arm and it feels like someone holding a red-hot poker on you!
Archery without a guard is bloody painful! Agree with you there Dave! Don't like that football is an olymic sort as well as basketball and tennis. Annoyed that golf is being introduced at the next olympics. These sports certainly don't belong at the olympics. Quite like that they are introducing rugby 7s though and not proper rugby. Really enjoy the track and field, cycling and swimming though. They're always great to watch and I like dipping in and out of other sports. Have enjoyed some of the gymnastics though. They are incredibly skilled athleyes!
Dead impressive stat this - and well played tonight girls The FA WSL ‏@FAWSL Att: 70,584 The biggest attendance for #WomensFootball since 1921! Tonight people of @wembleystadium you've made history...THANK YOU!
Really good performance last night by Team GB Ladies football. The Brazil team were very physical,but our girls coped brilliantly. The crowd were fantastic,over 70k I believe. Next game at Ricoh on Friday against Canada (I think) Tune in and watch,you will be surprised at the standard.
