Beverley’s Golden Girl

Ten year old Roisin wanted to run but could only commit to every other weekend and her local athletic club demanded every weekend so she joined Beverley Barracudas Swimming club. But running was something she wanted, so her mum took her to the local Parkrun on some Saturdays but why would a ten-year-old little girl want to run 5k with a bunch of adults? A question I posed to my running partner and Roisin’s mum and you know what she told me? “Fun.”

Roisin established herself as a talented runner and swimmer from the start. Running her first 5k in August 2013 at the Peter Pan Parkrun with a time of 24:16 she was soon running up front with the men and held the Junior Women’s record for 6 years, her last PB was 21:07. It was Mark Walby of Humber Tri-Athletes who suggested she may like to take up the Biathle, a continuous run, swim, run. Roisin, relentless in her persuasion, convinced her mum and dad that this wasn’t just a fad and they decided to invest the time and expense required to transport Roisin to training and competitions and so she joined the Humber Triathletes Junior training sessions.

Flick to 2018 and Roisin had the required time to compete in the National Championships at Salford Keys. Her mum thought that the water possibly resembled a swamp and the kids could have used an upturned shopping trolley instead of a buoy, but Roisin was determined and her mum thought, ‘at least we have a decent National Health Service. and Roisin can drink an can of coke afterwards.’ Apparently coke can get rid of germs. So, Roisin took up the challenge and in July of that same year aged fifteen, found herself in Egypt as part of Team GB. She cleared one and a half minutes off her previous time, finished 8th in the world, 2nd girl in the team and helped the team secure a Silver Medal.

A scare came this year when Roisin developed knee problems and visited the physio. He was amazed that she had reached Championship level, but on a positive note said if she carried out all the exercises he had prescribed there was no reason why she shouldn’t be a Champion. This year Roisin has already qualified for the World Championships in Florida in 2020 and the future looks bright. Like all our top female athletes, Roisin has had excellent grades in her GCSE’s, she trains hard, eats well, gets her rest and is committed. But she is going nowhere until the eyebrows are just right. 🙂

Jodie Williams Team GB 100m and 200 Sprinter

Jessica Ennis-Hill Heptathlon 2012 Olympic Champion

Imani Lansiquot Team GB 100m Sprinter

 

 

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Parkrun Princess

So last year the Princess having never run in her life decided to start running, but kept it a secret as she worked her way through the Couch to 5k program, she never told a soul. I guess she was probably wary that I may try to take over and ‘coach’ her. Well, I call it coaching and she calls it bullying, I didn’t know there was a difference; having been coached by the Master many years ago 😉 So today was her very first 5k Parkrun and guess what she wants to do more 😂 Just goes to show what you can achieve if you really want, proud of her 😀

I’m Ready, Let’s Hope They Are 🤨

I’m always a bit lapsed in August, like that bloody White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, there’s never enough time. Although next week I have an exciting post to write so watch this space haha, anyaways back to now, or should I say the last two weeks.The workshop in which I teach was a dump. You know when people haven’t had a system? This was them. “Hey, where’s the small roofing square, buddy?”

“On the shelf in the cupboard,” he replies.

“Nope” say I.

I then spent the next half hour looking for it. I can’t work without a system it makes the job ten times harder. So entering my second full year at this college I decided to take it to task. Two weeks later we have a Workshop that is workable. My bricklaying tutor colleague and I dare I say friend? Well, he joined in and came up with a brilliant idea to brighten up the corridor where students can now start their journey by Hopscotching their way to lessons 😂 Yes, shock horror we’re trying ‘fun’ as a teaching technique.

So that’s why I have been lapsed recently, but this isn’t Peaky Blinders, so I doubt you were sitting on the edge of your chaise longue in eager anticipation 😉 Of course I say the revamped workshop looks fab but we have to wait and see what our students reaction will be yet 😂

A Trip to London and a Bucket of Atheletes

A pack of dogs and a gaggle of geese, not sure if it’s a bucket of athletes, but you know sometimes I just get fed up of Googling everything and go with my gut. So here we are in the smoke as they say, although the smoke, along with Queen Victoria has long gone. The first thing I noticed was how majestic the stadium looked but after all it is in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, remember 2012? I think I lost my voice on Super Saturday 😂Three Golds in 45 minutes!

So this was it, all the passion, sweat and tears were about to unfold before my very eyes. If you haven’t got it yet I am passionately in love with athletics, the Princess is always amazed how I can sit and cry over a young woman or man (but mainly woman) winning a race! But heyho we’re all different 😀 I won’t go into great detail of who was there and who won what, because if you’re not into athletics it could be tedious. But I have to mention three people because I love them, I know I never quite managed to get out of teenage mode 😘 Richard Kilty who had a rough time last year with injury ran like a god in the 4×100 Relay. That’s him shouting, “Hand!” 😀

Then of course there was our Scottish heroine Lynsey Sharp who just ran and ran to win the 800m💐

Now here’s where tears really flow Dina Asher-Smith. The sport’s ‘darling’ as a little girl she was a bag carrier at the 2012 Olympics. Now she is one of the fastest women in the world and just so lovely, but I’ll let you make up your own mind 😀 Dina being Dina

Photo: Andrew McClanahan@PhotoRun Victah1111@aol.com 631-291-3409 http://www.photorun.NET

 

 

Ordinary Days Can Be Special

We live in a time where phenomenon and greatness is all around. Last weekend I had the honour of attending the Anniversary Games at the London Olympic Stadium. But before then we visited friends. That was always going to be a nice couple of days, but you know what? It was very special. On the Friday it was their daughters 18th birthday. OMG! She was nearly one year-old when the Princess and I got wed 😂 Then on the Saturday we went to Leigh-on-Sea. Okay, never heard of it, but I was happy to tag along. What a great place, it’s not Monaco or Las Vegas, Harold didn’t lose an eye there and I don’t think there were any sermons on the mount.

You know me I’m a sucker for stories 🤪 And there was a very simple story in Leigh, a boat called Endeavour. Just a tiny little boat that was requisitioned by the admiralty to sail to Dunkirk and pick up stranded soldiers, they say great things come in small packages 😘

You know I’m a crap reviewer, so I’ll not bore you by going on too much, but Leigh does have great restaurants and lots of fresh seafood, yummy 😋 Oh! and a museum.

But spending a lovely weekend with lovely people (no I didn’t forget them 😘) was just fabulous. Next week I really need to bend your ears about the Anniversary Games 🤪

The Love of Ballet

What is it about Ballet? Someone once said, ‘men of a certain age love Ballet.’ Is that a little dark I wonder? Does Ballet have a dark side, apart from the eating disorders that it can cause, the loss of childhood for the dedicated, the sex discrimination in pay and of course the physical damage to their bodies –  it’s possible there is dark and light in everything, but is it erotic, sexy – dare we say that? I think so because – isn’t it supposed to be – in fact isn’t all dance? Surely that’s the point, take the Tango for instance.

 

 

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Photo by Shamraevsky Maksim on Pexels.com

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

But there is pure side to Ballet- apart from the beauty, the elegance and the sheer technique as I learned when I saw the Nutcracker in recently. Now, there’s not a lot of erotiscm in The Nutcracker – heartwarming fun would be a better description. The Northern Ballet were spectacular in their production and it’s definitely one you should take the kids to see, it’s a Christmas fantasy, it’s sparkly, funny and enchanting.

 

I’m not a reviewer, you’ve read my travel blog, the death threats from Barcelona continue to arrive at an alarming rate 🙂 So, if you want to know the story follow the link, but surprisingly there weren’t a lot of children there – surprisingly for a matinee and  thankfully there was a noted absence of men of a certain age’ in raincoats. 🙂

 

Wimbledon Final 2019 and Mrs Federer

“For God’s sake Roger! Poldark starts at nine o’clock and I haven’t set the VCR!!”😂😉😘

Passion, Tenacity and a Park Run

Sometimes this is what is required to complete a task. Eighteen months ago the idea of a Park Run on Beverley Pastures was conceived by Kay, Nick, Louise and Andy. They were flummoxed as to where, the Racecourse said no! Nick states that Andy began running up and down disused railway lines, Kay searched through the Doomsday Book and the Old Testament looking for ancient rights of way, but all the indicators pointed to Beverley Pastures.

They worked extensively with the Pasture Masters, Council, Park Run HQ and after all their hard work, today was the first official event. The Park Run is a community event and will now be run every Saturday at 09:00 and no one is safe 😉 Not even the children, so we anointed Andy as Race Director and the people began to arrive all 419 of them!

Even the Princess has got the bug 😉  we helped set up, marshal and pack down but volunteering for this event is actually a privilege when you read the reviews and praise we received.

So, a great start to an event that I believe will endure for years to come. The cows didn’t seem to mind and after the pack down the tranquility of the Westwood Pastures returned once more.

 

Beverley Braves

I stared up at the ridge, awaiting the hordes, I felt a nervous anticipation and my ‘Marshall’ partner said, “It’s a bit scary waiting for them all to come charging at us.” She is only 15!

 

Thankfully this wasn’t a Barbarian attack, but the Beverley Braves Rugby kids charity 5k Run, all 200 of them! It was so hot yesterday I think the Barbarians would have cancelled slaughter and pillage, but these kids were tough. Yes, at long last and after a lot of hard work there is going to be a Park Run in Beverley (We’ve been told not to tell anyone or put it on social media, until it is definite, but you guys can keep a secret 😂) This was also an excellent chance to test the course before the real thing in a few weeks whilst giving the kids a good testing route for their event. In the past they used the Golf Club, but the club has never been overly enthusiastic, so two members of the community have been helped and we haven’t even started yet 😉

Period Drama

When I first heard that term I thought it was about ‘ladies problems.’ No, really, you have to remember my English report stated, “Although Charles lacks intelligence and a certain amount of work ethic, he can be very cute.” I checked the dictionary for work ethic and it said someone who finds work immoral, my spelling wasn’t the best back then and after looking up ‘immoral’ it appeared I was going to be famous and remembered forever, so not a bad report overall. Anyway back to the plot. Last week we went to Castle Howard.

The Oxford Shakespeare Company (who were fabulous) were performing Wuthering Heights,  this was a small affair maybe 150 people in the Walled Garden what could be better on summers evening? If your not familiar with the tale basically a geezer called Heathcliffe falls in love with a girl called Cathy, she snuffs it and he sulks for about 20 years. Obviously there’s a bit more to it than that and in truth it’s a great Bronte tale and Kate Bush song, but as you know I don’t do reviews which in itself is a Godsend to the world of Art and culture. 😉