Harriers, Joggers, Oddballs and Chuggers
It’s the Birmingham Half Marathon this weekend or the ‘Great Birmingham Run’ as we are obliged to call it under BUPA’s sponsorship.
Given that 15,000 runners will be lining up it seems reasonable that acquaintances who know I run have been asking if I am doing it. The answer is ‘no, I am not’. Instead I am toeing the line tomorrow in the Midlands Counties Cross Country Relays. I have been selected for the heady heights of Halesowen ‘C’ and will be slogging around 6k of grass, mud and woodland on Saturday as opposed to 13.1 miles of tarmac on Sunday.
Earlier this month I took part in the Worcestershire County 10k Championships at Stourport which was was run as part of the ‘Stourport Shuttle 10k’ race open to all-comers including ‘fun runners’ and joggers. Back in March I was fortunate enough to be part of the Gold Medal team in the Worcestershire Half Marathon Championships. Again this was run as part of a race open to all as the ‘Droitwich Half Marathon’.
At the two Championship races open to all, my club fielded 4 athletes in the first race and 2 in the 10k (not even enough for a team) In events such as the aforementioned Midland Counties relay and the Birmingham Cross Country League we regularly see 15/20 of our athletes turn up.
Following a conversation I recently had with a club mate it seems to me that the ‘fun runner’ and the ‘club runner’ inhabit completely different worlds.
The former enters primarily road races, seeks personal best opportunities and cherishes the myriad of medals and cotton t-shirts that appear in ‘goody bags’.
The latter runs for his/her team in league races over cross country courses and has no expectation of medals, though my experience tells me they sometimes wear race t-shirts 20 years after the event!
Club runners to some extent (and I am one of them) look down on mass participation races and refer to them as ‘commercial races’ and it has to be said that the entry fees are sometimes eye wateringly high (c.£30 for the Great Birmingham run) as opposed to free races or £5/6 for races affiliated to the local county association or league.
It just strikes me that the current situation does neither camp any favours. The club runner misses the chance to be part of a team in road races whilst the ‘fun’ runner is probably blissfully unaware of the chance to compete on the country or in smaller races.
Of course there are clubs that don’t adhere to the ‘Harrier tradition’ and styled as running clubs as opposed to athletics clubs they tend to compete in these commercial races but don’t emphasise cross country races.
I understand that governing bodies and county associations in athletics sit on rather big bank balances. Putting some of this into initiatives that bring together runners would be a very good idea.
Rob – that sums up exactly how I feel. I describe myself as someone who “runs to keep fit” opposed to “get fit to race”! Having said that I have been entering races for 25 years – at that time no desire to run for a club and only joined one 5 years ago. I’ve noticed changes in that time. In the late 80′s there was a running boom which began with the early London Marathons plus the success of Coe, Ovett and Cram. At that time I entered the Sutton Fun Run which was one of the big mass participation events. You were encouraged to raise money for charity but it wasn’t a prerequisite. If you wanted to you could enter a 1/2 marathon virtually every week during the summer. There was no problem finding a marathon to enter either. At any race you would pick up a handful of leaflets of races in the area over the next few months.
As you pointed out the big races have become very expensive to enter. I know someone who paid £2000 for a charity place for the London Marathon and ended funding most of it themselves. They have become very commercial only aimed at the middle classes. The leaflets for local races have been replaced invitations to Trek Across the Sahara, climb Kilimanjaro etc. As a result, races such as the Stourport Shuttle are getting fewer – remember the Black Country 1/2, Handsworth 1/2, Halesowen Hillock to name a few? The average age of competitors is rising, As your last paragraph alludes to – the governing bodies to take a long hard took at how well the grass roots level of the sport is working.
Simon Richards
November 1, 2011