LETTERS

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No failures please THIS is a heartfelt plea to television producers of athletics throughout Europe. While I can accept – albeit reluctantly – the showing of three or four different views of a successful high jump or pole vault, I cannot accept the sheer idiocy of continuing the same slavish coverage of failures. This is especially annoying and, in my opinion, stupid, when other events are taking place in the stadium. The obsession – for that is what it is – obviously derives from their football coverage training, in which repeated angle shots of missed goals may have some appeal to fans, and anyway nothing else of interest is going on. (If the truth be acknowledged, in football not much goes on most of the time.) Obviously, a repeated shot of a jump, failure or not, has some coaching value, but for reason’s sake use some judgment and don’t waste precious time repeating a preordained sequence of otherwise useless pictures when there are other things, important things, to be shown. Yours dejectedly . . . Stan Greenberg, London Ferris another great JOHN WILKS (Letters, June 28) praised the late Tom Richards, the 1948 silver medallist, recently featured in AW, but wondered how many other readers had heard of him. If John cares to look back further there was another great marathon runner called Sam Ferris who ran in three Olympics – 1928, 1932 and 1936 – finishing fifth, second and eighth respectively – and was only narrowly beaten in 1932. Sam also won the Poly Marathon and Windsor to Chiswick eight times. He then had a period in Hong Kong with the RAF and won the marathon there. On his return he again won the Poly Marathon after six weeks on board a ship.

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Your Say Write to: Athletics Weekly , 83 Park Road, Peterborough PE1 2TN or fax 01733-898441. E-mail: jason.henderson@athletics-weekly.co.uk (Please supply both a full postal address and daytime telephone number) I READ with interest your recent article on sponsorship (AW Basics, June 14). I have tried a number of different ways with differing degrees of success. The Ron Pickering Memorial Fund and Arthur JC Kendall fund in one year alone gave £4000 to £5000 between them direct to athletes at my local club – Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow – in chunks of between £100 and £400. I helped fill out the forms and sent them off “en bloc”. But it was very difficult to comprehend that some of the beneficiaries failed even to write a simple “thank you” letter. Quite rightly, they weren’t considered for the next year. Far too many athletes have a “gimme gimme” attitude and they will find getting help a hard and lonely business. Some aren’t even capable of filling out the entry forms for the events that they need to compete in so they can shine and get noticed. On the other hand there is a small minority who take the time to work out “What’s in it for them?” to potential helpers and sponsors. These are worth the help and I’m delighted to say that Puma agreed to support sprinter Nigel Levine,

Sam was invited to race in Italy and won a marathon title there, plus an inscribed gold watch presented by the King. On his departure at the airport the customs officials attempted to confiscate the watch but he refused to give it up. However, many years later his gold watch and medal were stolen when his house was broken into. The only thing I ever heard Sam complain about was winning the very large Poly trophy and having to take it home again on a lorry he had to pay for, also having to have the floor reinforced to support it safely. He truly was a great marathon runner and a true Irish gentleman who coached very many national and international runners when he retired in London. Unfortunately he died when still very active. Dick Weston, Derby Senneleys survives AFTER being at the start of the UK Cross Challenge series and having staged one ever since, the Birmingham District Invitation Cross Country League, like Cardiff, are extremely disappointed to see this fixture was removed from this year’s series, especially as Birmingham has always been so well supported by athletes of all abilities from across the UK who are happy to test their endurance capabilities on a true cross-country course year after year. We feel it is such an important fixture that we have sought and gained support from Birmingham City Council, Midland Cross Country Association and England Athletics. We are therefore pleased to report that in conjunction with these bodies we are able to continue promoting this renowned fixture on Saturday October 27, at Senneleys Park, Birmingham, in the same format as before (although it will not be part of the UK Cross Challenge Series). We hope that coaches and team

managers will continue to support what we believe is an excellent series of races to use to develop athletes to their true potential. Carolyn Franks, honorary secretary, Birmingham and District Invitation Cross Country League Improving core values I READ Peter Sneary’s letter (AW, June 14) about basic core training with the growing conviction that the writer has clearly never tried to add core training to his schedule. I never took core training seriously until I found myself in the situation where I could incorporate it two or three times a week into my normal training routine last May. I have now

prior to his winning the national under-20 title, because they were impressed with his work ethic and that he invests in the thrice weekly 120-mile round trips from Bedford to be with his coach, Simon Duberley at TVAC, Eton. The nice lady at Puma felt he was worth a bit of kit to help him out and she sent some very quickly. There are a couple of other athletes for whom I am acquiring help, and it will be a pleasure to help them out. I should also point out that UKA’s chairman Ed Warner has never failed to take or return a phone call when I’ve tried to get advice or names or numbers of people who could help. His predecessor, Dave Moorcroft, I’d add, was similarly helpful. As a full time volunteer coach and competing athlete, I want to see all our young athletes do well, but at the same time try to get people to realise that athletics is a relatively cheap sport to participate in. Compare it with golf, gymnastics, martial arts, you’ll see that it is good value at all levels. To those athletes that want to get rich quick; my advice would be to get to the top of your rankings, or try to get on the next edition of Big Brother. Jeremy Tigar, Burnham, Bucks

progressed to the point where 600plus sit-ups, or variations are a normal part of my routine. I have found that as a result my posture is better, I am physically stronger and I can train harder. I recently ran my fastest 10km time in more than eight years. I have been running for more than 20 years and being just short of my 53rd birthday was absolutely delighted. Core training may not suit everyone, but I believe everyone should give it a try for at least six months and decide for themselves whether they are just following icons or have discovered a valuable addition to their training regime. Martin Grimsdale, Watford Harriers

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