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ANORAK'S CORNER |
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Welcome to Anorak’s Corner. This will
consist of a mixture of ranking lists, statistics and nostalgia. I have
been running for a long time so there is an awful lot of nostalgia to draw on.
To give you an idea of how long I have been
in the sport when I first started competing Blackpool Football Club were
in the top division of the football league. Pound’s, shillings and pence were
still in use and over 50 of Wesham’s membership had not even been born.
In the nearly 40 years I have been running there
have been many changes to our great sport some for the better, some not so good
and some forced upon us by outside bodies Police, Council, even Government.
Another facet of the sport that has
changed beyond belief over the years is the clothing and footwear. When I first
started training, the standard kit was t-shirt and shorts with pumps. If
it was very cold we wore woolly tracksuits with elasticated waists which were
O.K. if the weather was dry but, when it rained, they just soaked up the water
and got heavier and heavier and you finished up running with one hand holding
up the tracksuit bottoms as the weight of the water pulled them down.
Yet another difference between races now
and the good old days is that, nowadays, races tend to be at standard distances
5k, 5miles, 10k, 10miles etc. Back
then races would start at a church hall or club house, go round a circuit and
finish back at the same place. So, all races were different with titles such as
the Thornton-Cleveleys 7 ,Waterloo 8, Gower 11 ,Chris Vose 7, [actually7.2], and Eastham’s
7, with the distances always a bit[ish] The Thornton-Cleveleys
race started and finished at Thornton library, and was organised
and sponsored by Cleveleys Trading Association. Eastham’s 7
started and finished at the Mount in Fleetwood, and was sponsored
by a local manufacturer of electrical goods who gave a washing machine as first
prize one year and caused a sensation! Prizes were normally of the towels, cutlery,
and blankets kind. When the sponsorship stopped, the races folded.
Another difference between then and now, races then lost money and needed to be
subsidised by clubs or firms.
I hope
to cover all aspects of running in forthcoming articles – Road, Track
and even Cross Country. I hope to produce various sets of
statistics and ranking lists including Annual Lists, and All-Time
Lists, you have been warned…… it could get very boring………...
Written by: Anorak Man
Submitted: 9th February 2006
Edited by: Brenda J
Earnshaw, WRR Website/Magazine Editor
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Item Number |
Item |
Date Submitted |
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No. 1 |
9th February 2006 |
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No. 2 |
7th March 2006 |
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No. 3 |
21st April 2006 |
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No. 4 |
28th June 2006 |
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No. 5 |
September 2006 |
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No.6 |
11th July 2006 |
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No.7 |
23rd January 2007 |
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No.8 |
2nd January 2009 |
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No.9 |
25th February 2009 |
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No.10 |
25th February 2009 |
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No.11 |
27th February 2009 |
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No.12 |
27th February 2009 |
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No.13 |
27th February 2009 |
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No.14 |
27th February 2009 |
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No.15 |
27th February 2009 |
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No.16 |
27th February 2009 |
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No.17 |
27th February 2009 |
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No.18 |
27th February 2009 |
