You absolutely need to read Ian O’Riordan's latest column in the Irish Times:
You absolutely need to read Ian O’Riordan's latest column in the Irish Times:
It starts with this anecdote:
Ian wrote:
John Treacy tells a great story about waking up on the morning of the 1979 World Cross-Country in Limerick.
The rain had been lashing against his hotel window the evening before, right through the night, and it was still hammering down that morning.
“Christ above, that’s some rain out there,” said his older brother Ray, sleeping in the hotel bed opposite and also running for Ireland that day. “The course will be an absolute mud bath.”
“Perfect for me,” said John. “That’s going to scare off the softer runners. I’m definitely going to win today.”
I love the whole article. It also includes this in the middle/end.
Ian wrote:
What Treacy proved that day in Limerick is that we’re certainly not a soft nation when it comes to cross-country running. Never have been, never will be....
It’s no exaggeration to say the cancelling of any cross-country race in this country because of some rain is a bit of a running joke, even if the biblical rainfall amounts of the last few days might scare off some of the softer runners
If you want to follow Ian on twitter, here he is:
The woke mind virus has made people incredibly soft.
For fooksakes!
malmo wrote:
For fooksakes!
so now we have a mod going past the profanity filter?
Worth noting that it appears than neither of these decisions had anything to do with athletes or athletics organisations.
Both issues with the landowners to avoid damage.
There is a wider issue over finding venues for big races in UK (our national XC was cancelled a couple of years ago for similar reasons but athletes or athletics being soft is not the story.
