NEW MEN’S CAPTAIN’S REPORT

I am proud to be elected as Men's Captain for 2010 and have been passed the baton from my good friend Lee Barlow who has provided great service to the club over the past few years. Not only has Lee organised Wesham's participation in many team events, but has competed internationally in several big city marathons flying the flag for Wesham and putting in some great performances. The quest for the sub three hour marathon was finally realised last April in London when Lee smashed the 3 hour barrier and entered the big time! It reminded me of other sporting great’s triumphs after several disappointments

· Hicham El Guerrouj missing out on 1500m gold at the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics and finally winning two Golds in Athens.

· Stanley Matthews and Blackpool's failure at two FA Cup finals and finally winning in the Matthew’s final against Bolton Wanderers in 1953.

I am sure everyone will join with me in thanking Lee for all he has done for the club and wish him every success in going even faster, and being a major athletics star on the Fylde coast!

For members of the club who are not familiar with me, I am currently going through an incredible loss of form which has now lasted five years. I hope to use the captaincy position to motivate me into rekindling the glory days of the 40mins 10k, 1 hour 30 mins half marathon, and 3 hours 25 mins marathon, and I have already started to take things seriously by running slightly faster than I normally do, and may consider lessening my chocolate intake, but it is hard.

My aspirations for the year include the Men’s team to be competitive in the Inter Club series, and worry other teams. I think it will be difficult to win with the big clubs of Preston, and Blackpool and Fylde who bring their young track stars to compete over the short courses. But, if these clubs can be worried by Wesham, it will be really good. It would also be good if under 25’s could be barred from the Inter Clubs to increase Wesham's chances of winning!

I follow the results for many races and have noticed the emergence of many new stars including Brian Yates and Troy Watson and the future looks bright. Other stalwarts of the club continue to put in rock steady performances year after year, and some of my favourites include Martin Bates, Alex Rowe, Charlie Pass, John Bertenshaw, Graham Vickers, Alan Taylor, (I really missed him when he was in Oz), Lee Barlow and Trevor Rayner. I also need to mention Russell Mabbett who has become "Mr Sub Three" over the years but bombed in the Berlin heat last September. Many are writing him off, but I suspect another 2:59 and lower again this year. I am also a big fan of Haile Gebrselassie, Lennox Lewis and Aussie rockers Wolfmother.

Peter Cooke – I hope to beat him consistently this year!

Relays – I think I will get into organising relays and hope people will be encouraged that a runner who is not considered to be a top runner is Captain, and put themselves forward to compete. When I first joined the club I was wary of competing in Lancashire and Northern Relays, thinking I wouldn't be competitive, but it was quite apparent that there were runners of all standards at these events, in fact some really were quite rubbish and a lot worse than me, so get in there!

I am taking the position of Captain quite seriously and will wear my Wesham vest at all races this year, and will wear my expensive Ron Hill range only during training and leisure activities. I will also be competing internationally in Krakow and Swiss Alpine marathons and will probably run another marathon later in the year too.

I hope the club has a successful year and I look forward to helping the team compete in many events.

Yours in Sport - Finlay McCalman BA BSc (Hons) and 17 Marathons

Submitted: 13^th February 2010