Monday 28 January 2013

Busy Doing Nothing, It’s A Pain In The Back

I like that song, reminds me of watching those old movies during my childhood, of course they weren’t so old then. For those who don’t know the song here’s the first verse:

WE'RE BUSY DOING NOTHING,
WORKING THE WHOLE DAY THROUGH.
TRYING TO FIND LOTS OF THINGS,
NOT TO DO.
WE'RE BUSY DOING NOTHING,
ISN T IT JUST A CRIME?
WE'D LIKE TO BE UNHAPPY,
BUT WE NEVER DO HAVE THE TIME

Simple but very truthful, I’ve met plenty of people who seem to be busy doing nothing.
Unfortunately it’s also how I feel about myself at the moment, I’m busy doing nothing, or rather I’m busy but unable to train. I’ve had a few issues with my back and hamstrings over the last couple of years and last Tuesday I was taken out of the game again with a back twinge. It seemed innocuous enough when it happened, a short sharp pain in the lower back and I stopped what I was doing, but it seems to be taking a long time to heal. It’s getting better day by day, but I just know by experience that it’s not quite right yet.

What caused it? I’m in absolutely no doubt that it has been caused by love, my love of cross country to be exact. Two weeks ago I was at Boggart Hole Clough slipping and sliding my way around one of the muddiest cross country courses I’ve been on. For four days following that experience I had aches in my lower back. One week ago, ache free, I ventured out to Leigh for another cross country race. This course was much more to my liking but there was a short section, a mini Boggart Hole Clough, that I struggled on and then just as I was making a long dash for the finish I slipped whilst taking a corner and nearly came a cropper, it’s that moment where I managed to keep my footing but clearly put undue pressure on my lower back that I believe is the culprit for my latest lay-off.

I’ve not done anything other than mobilisation and some mild back strengthening work and I had to miss making my debut at the Northern Cross Country Championships this Saturday. That was a bit annoying, but, judging by the reports I’ve heard and the pictures I’ve seen, was probably not a bad thing. Today, Monday, I was hoping I might be able to start jogging again, but the tell tale signs are still there and I need to be more patient. Maybe tomorrow, hopefully as I have two client fartleks booked on Wednesday. At least it’s only my running clients that have been affected, I’ve managed to work through with my gym fitness clients, even if it can be a bit painful at times.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard you train, these little incidents can catch you when you’re at a weak point. I’ll admit I have been negligent on my lower back exercises, I will do better. But don’t think that I’m giving up on cross country, my relationship with cross country is a bit like a marriage, we have our glory days, though they seem to be mostly in the past, we have our arguments, but at the end of the day we’ll still be together for better of worse – though I’m not making any promises of returning to Boggart Hole Clough this winter.

Thankfully Salford’s Men’s team didn’t suffer any consequences from my absence as they ploughed through the mud for 5th place. The Ladies also acquitted themselves well with 7th. My mate Ray, who had to drive up on his own, as I felt unable to stand around for a long period of time, also had a good run, making the scoring team for Chester Tri, in 528th place.   

Hopefully next time I write I’ll be back doing what I do best. And to ensure I end on a positive, at least I missed running in some pretty horrible icy conditions. As I’ve often said, if you’re going to have an injury or an illness, at least have it when the weather’s rotten.




Written by Roger Alsop
www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Tuesday 22 January 2013

Cross Country Leagues

Ah cross country, don’t you just love it. Well even if you don’t, I do. It’s a great way to build your fitness for the road season ahead and the track season beyond that. But what makes it all the more exciting and purposeful for me are the cross country leagues. I’ve said it before, I’m a team player, I love being part of the team, particularly when you make a difference to the score for your team, and it’s these cross country leagues, as well as the county, area and national championships which really underpin the season for me.

I’ve been involved in cross country leagues since I first set foot on a cross country course, back in 1989, and, surprisingly over such a period of time, I’ve scored in about 99% of them. If I remember correctly I think I’ve only failed to make the scoring team on 3 occasions, and 2 of them were in my first season.

Back in the 80’s, 90’s and the first half of the 00’s I was London based and the league I was associated with was the Surrey League. It was a good strong league, every year you would have International standard athletes turning out (Justin Chaston, Gary Staines, John Solly, Richard Nerurkar, Paul Evans, Kassa Tadessa, Dave Taylor, Simon Fairbrother, Ben Whitby, Matt Yates – to name just a few), it was a strong league when I started and, although, like any league, there have been days when the field was weaker than usual, it still remains strong today. It’s had it’s changes, back then Boxhill Racers were dominant, a dominance which lasted well into the 90’s, but then they seemed to fade away. Woking and Hercules Wimbledon were both big teams of the past, they also drifted down into a lower division, though Hercules have now regained their position in Division 1 and are running well again. Hounslow, though Middlesex based, came, joined up with Windsor, Slough and Eton, and drifted back out after a brief spell at the top. Even Aldershot Farnham & District, always up there when I first started, dropped out to concentrate on their Hampshire league. Now Kent AC, from Kent (would you believe) are a part of it. It shows it’s class if clubs from other counties want to be part of it. And all the time stalwarts such as Thames Hare and Hounds, Herne Hill Harriers and Belgrave Harriers have been fighting it out for victory.

When I ran my first Surrey League, 28 October 1989, Richmond Park, I finished in position 126. Clearly not good enough to make the scoring 10 of Belgrave, on this occasion, but Belgrave were going through one of those phases where the top guys weren’t committing themselves to this league. They were languishing mid table so before the end of the season of four matches, despite only making it to 78th position, I had made the scoring 10 in half of the races, and I would never again not make the scoring 10 whilst a member of Belgrave. Presumably this must have been tough for some of Belgrave’s older members to stomach, particularly those who had been part of the team that won this league every year from 1966-1972. For a few more years we struggled to get our best runners out and by the end of the 92/93 season we were demoted to division 2. This could have been a killer blow for some teams but, with a new manager and a new structured management team, we bounced straight back as champions of division 2. With victory came enthusiasm and a new breed of Belgrave Harriers were emerging. Good management, perseverance and enthusiasm from within started to breed success in other areas of cross country running and eventually, in 99/00, we were crowned champions of division 1, once again. This victory was particularly memorable, for me. I was working in Germany at the time and was flying home for matches, I only got back at about 11pm the night before the last league match. But I was Captain so there was no way I was going to miss this deciding match in the league. It had been a hard fought out league between us and Thames Hare and Hounds. We went into the match 74 points behind and emerged as victors. It was one of those days when almost everybody turned out for us and nobody had a bad run. We dominated the day, beating TH&H by 108 points to snatch the championship. I even led the race, briefly, it was an inspirational moment for me having such great runners, including two Ethiopian internationals, follow me up that first hill. On that day I was 9th scorer for Belgrave, in 21st position, a bit different from the times I was 3rd scorer in about 50th. We won it again in 2002, this time we went into the last race ahead and just held on to win the league by 6 points as TH&H tried to bridge the deficit. I was 6th score that day, in 20th position. Then Belgrave’s fortunes in this league began to slide. As the team I would move to began to challenge TH&H.

My last Surrey League for Belgrave was on 15 January 2005, on Wimbledon Common, I was 31st. The next day I turned 40 and within a month I had left Belgrave and joined local rivals Herne Hill. I ran two league races for Herne Hill, the following winter, before I moved to Edinburgh. I scored in one but was 11th HH man home in the other making it the first time I hadn’t scored in a league race, I took part in, in 15 years. I made my final Surrey League appearance in 2007, at Wimbledon Common, where I finished 34th.

In Scotland my Scottish club, Edinburgh AC, were involved with the East District League. I made my debut on 21 October, at Livingstone, where I was 25th, but 1st over 40. That season I followed that up with 16th (1st O40) at Kirkaldy, 18th (1st O40) at Broxburn. I’d been lucky, managing to get all those days off work (I worked alternate weekends at that time). The following year I wasn’t so lucky with work and missed all matches. The year after that I was still making a mark on the league but no longer king of the O40s as Stevie Cairns matured and took my crown. Then it was down to Cheshire in 2010 and no more cross country leagues for me until this season.

Salford are involved in the South East Lancs League and the Manchester Area League, plus I believe we have some guys who turn out in the Red Rose league. That means it’s a pretty busy cross country season for us with 9 league matches, compared to 4 in the Surrey League, plus County, Area and National champs. This year, having been deprived of cross country league racing for so long, I’ve embraced it fully and turned out whenever I can, and to my surprise I’ve made the scoring 6 every time. As a senior team we’ve just won the South East Lancs League with a match in hand and are leading the Manchester League.

Personally I’m doing ok, not as well as I’d like, but I’m holding my own against some very good runners. In the first SEL race I was 9th and 2nd O45 to team mate Dave Lockett. The first MA race I was 39th and 5th M45, I missed the 2nd of both, due to warm weather training and the BMAF cross country relays. In the 3rd MA race I was 29th and 3rd M45. In the 4th MA race I was 27th and 2nd M45 and this weekend, in the 3rd SEL race I was 11th and 2nd M45, this time to another team mate, Paul Simons. As the current league standings lie I’m: In the Manchester League; 19th overall and 2nd in the M45 section (these positions could be seriously revised after the last match as it appears to be a best 3 of 5) and in the South East Lancs League; I lie 7th and joint 1st in the M45 section (again these are a best 2 of 4 so likely to be revised after the final match). But it gives me something to fight for.

I’ve been asked many times how long I think I’ll carry on running competitively. As you can see I’m still holding my own against younger runners. Yes it gets tougher each year but as long as I’m enthusiastic and have an enthusiastic team around me I’ll keep going, injury and illness permitting. One big benefit of these leagues, for us older gentlemen, is that you can score as a senior but also in your own age group, which is probably why there are so many Masters still competing in it.   



Written by Roger Alsop

Wednesday 16 January 2013

The Nightmare On Boggarts Hole Clough

It was an, almost, unique weekend for me, on the rare occasions where I’ve raced on both days the shorter Saturday race has helped me to a good race on Sunday. However, just because it’s happened on those rare occasions, I don’t go out of my way to seek double race weekends. There has to be a compromise somewhere and I do try to put family first, sometimes. Having said that, my relationship with Carole has blossomed to the point that she no longer gets frustrated when I focus my whole day on a race. And it’s a change I’ve taken complete advantage of by choosing to race just about every weekend this winter. She has developed an understanding of my desire to race and is starting to incorporate herself into my race weekends rather than be opposed to them. She’s even starting to enjoy standing around in mud for 40 minutes whilst I slog my way around a cross country course, now that’s true love. Or is it? I receive a post from one of my Pennington Flash pals, Shelle Bradley, who stated that her husband had run a race alongside another lady but, instead of going through the finish line with the other lady, he had turned round and gone back for Shelle and shared her finishing time. Now if that isn’t true love I don’t know what is, but no matter how much I love Carole, there is no way I’m ever going to share her finishing time.

I hadn’t originally planned to race both days, I had thought the cross country race was on Saturday, luckily one of my Salford team mates reminded me the race was on Sunday. So this prompted the idea to go to the Congleton parkrun, on Saturday, after all it was time Carole ran it. I’d also persuaded one of my clients, Katy, to go along. I’ve always thought that Katy and Ray were about the same standard, now was a chance that I would be proven correct as Ray and Sharon were also planning to go along.

The week prior had been pretty dismal, weather wise, this, combined with the fact I had a busy gym week with clients, led me to do my quality sessions on the treadmill. It was great for getting my legs turning over faster as, despite warm ups, warm downs and recoveries between reps, I was comfortably running 10k in 35 minutes. But the down side is that treadmills make my calf muscles tighten and no matter how much I stretched or rolled them they were still a little tight on the Saturday morning, still it was only a parkrun, not that important, until Malcolm Fowler turned up!

I hadn’t wanted a hard run but there was no way I was going to let Malcolm get the better of me again. But it wasn’t Malcolm I had to worry about today as he damaged his hamstring somewhere around the course, I wasn’t aware at the time I just kept pushing to the finish as I knew Malcolm would pounce if I slowed and offered any sign of weakness. But the run was won by Tom Bush, another local rival. He and his wife, Olivia, just seemed to have a bit more pace than me, on the day, as I finished in 3rd place.

Carole and Sharon both had good runs but as I jogged around after the finish I saw Ray and Katy coming towards the finish, neck and neck. My theory proved I was intrigued as to who would come in first, and then Katy kicked. With only 2 seconds between them I’m looking forward to lots more inter-client showdowns.
So Sunday and Boggarts Hole Clough was the setting for the Manchester Area Cross Country League. I’ve never been there before but I guessed it would be a tough course. Still it’s all good strengthening work for me. On arrival I started checking out the course but when it got a bit muddy I decided it could wait until the first lap. As I walked back to where all the athletes congregated I bumped into James Jackson, James and I competed against each other on many occasions in the Surrey League, back when we were youngsters, when James moved up North he joined Salford Harrriers, but he hasn’t run for them for some time. Looks like he’s rekindling his competitive spirit and thinking about getting back into the Masters running scene. It’ll be some team with my old rivals from London, James and Paul Simons, plus the current crop of talented oldies and the addition of my mate Rob Tudor. So look out for Salford.

Just before the start of the race I went for a short jog and ended up getting my left leg entangled in a bramble, as the bramble untangled itself it ripped some interesting patterns into my skin, brilliant 4 minutes to the start and I’ve got blood oozing out of my lower leg. This reminded me of my comeback race, three years ago, I was just heading to the start line of the National Cross Country Champs when some idiot ran his spikes down the back of my leg.

Then we were off and I was immediately swamped by a horde of faster starting runners. The first part of the course was winding through boggy grassland and I was caught in a big huddle of runners, having my pace dictated to me. I could see Graham MacNeil up ahead and about to pull a big gap on me, but I figured that three laps would pull me through the field. The 2nd part of the course was through wooded trails, and this is where I got caught out. The trail was so narrow and twisty and yet covered in thick sticky mud, with tree trunks running through it. I was in danger of having my shoes sucked. This was real hell for me, I really struggled through this patch and it even stopped me dead at one point. Back to the first part of the course and I managed to get into my stride, the field having elongated. I was passing people all the way round here but dreading the muddy patch I now knew was coming. Second time around, although bad, I managed to navigate the tricky muddy part by adapting my style to that more akin to a ballerina (I don’t have the most attractive running style at the best of times but I was grateful Sid Sacks wasn’t here taking photos of me. Then it was onto the 3rd lap and, although my legs were no feeling tired from all the races, training and ballet practice, I was still picking people off. As I navigated the mud this time round I remember thinking how horrible this was, I may not be a star cross country runner but I do enjoy it, however, frankly, this is one course I could never grow to love. I pushed hard towards the finish but had nothing left to sprint with at the end.

Despite what I thought was a bad run, I finished in my highest position in the league, 27th and 2nd M45. This is probably because loads of people didn’t turn up, having raced Boggarts Hole Clough before. I’m currently lying 2nd overall in the M45 section. No chance of winning that as Rob Downs has won all the fixtures, but I do have a chance to slip down, the scoring is based on your best 3 races so I’m sure the likes of Ian Wetherall, Malcolm Fowler and Dave Lockett will have a say in that, they haven’t finished 3 races yet so the last race is crucial. With Dave missing out today it also gave me maximum points in the Salford Harriers cross country Masters champs. So I do have a chance to win that competition after all, but I’ll have to beat Dave to do so. Although I genuinely hated the course at the time, and probably for a couple of days after that’s actually the sort of thing that will make me turn up again, I can’t have a cross country course be the master of me, I have to master the cross country course. I’m not saying I’m in a hurry to return and I’m not promising I will be back, but don’t rule me out.

This week’s been quite interesting. On Monday I was interviewed by a journalist who is writing an article on older runners, for Runners World. I don’t know when it’s coming out, nor how much of what I said will make the final article. But it was an interesting chat. The other big event of this week is my birthday, today. And what treat did I line myself up with….a double fartlek, Katy in the morning and Ray in the evening. Thanks to everybody who has wished me a happy birthday and don’t let the cold snap get you down.


Written by Roger Alsop

Monday 7 January 2013

Planning 2013

I’m not one for making new year’s resolutions, but the start of a new year is a good opportunity to look back over what has occurred the previous year and to decide what I’d like to achieve for this year. I’ve had some loose plans for a while, but now it’s time to start firming things up.

But first lets take a look back at 2012. This time last year I didn’t have much to look back on, despite winning a 10k, at the end of 2011, and 7 parkruns, 2011 had been my least successful year to date. But instead of letting this get me down I was determined 2012 was going to see me back winning medals. Straight away I was in the mix with a respectable 17th in my first race of the year, and first cross country race for 10 months, at the Cheshire Cross Country Championships. I placed 2nd in the M45 age group, which was good considering the depth of Masters talent in Cheshire, but the down sides were that there was only a medal for 1st and I was about 2 minutes behind Ian Wetherall, who took the medal. Consistent training saw me gradually improve as I took more parkrun victories and then, in full flow of training for the European masters 10000m, I took my first medal in 19 months, a bronze at the Masters 5k championships. Still improving I took another bronze in the 5000m at the Masters track and field championships. All was looking good for the Europeans, but then disaster, I tore my hamstring, which put paid to any ambitions in Germany. However thanks to the physio and my own strengthening work I was back in action earlier than anticipated and, although far from my best, I managed 9th place in the European Masters 5000m.

It was while I was injured I had time to reflect on my running over the last few years. I’d joined Herne Hill Harriers when I turned 40 because I thrive on team spirit, at the time Belgrave had no interest in Masters athletics but Herne Hill had a solid team of old men. When I joined it tipped the scales and Herne Hill’s Masters started winning national masters events. But less than a year later my work asked me to consider relocating to Edinburgh. It wasn’t a tough decision to make at the time, but it was tough leaving behind the team mates, other running friends and all the races I was familiar with. Whilst I retained membership of Herne Hill, and won a number of national medals with them, I was also able to represent a Scottish club, Edinburgh AC. This helped me to survive some dark times by using my training and racing as a means of keeping strong when other things weren’t going my way. But then came a further move, back to England, and back to my childhood county of Cheshire. Whilst I was still a member of Herne Hill I was unable to count with a more local club, and I didn’t want to leave Herne Hill because they were my mates and besides, with all the recent upheaval, I wasn’t altogether sure how long we’d be in Cheshire. There followed a tough three years of running very few times for Herne Hill and being the only Herne Hill runner in the races I entered. Despite that I didn’t feel too lonely as I soon managed to make friends with a number of runners from various local clubs. But the team spirit was missing from my life and the other thing I felt I needed to help me to improve was regular cross country. So in Germany I decided it was time to move on, to a more local club, but which one? I looked at Vale Royal, Sale, Altrincham, Salford and Wilmslow but it was Salford that stood out to me as the club I was most likely to settle into, even though they were the furthest away. So I left Herne Hill after seven good and successful years and joined Salford. So far it seems to have been a good decision for not only have I enjoyed being a member of Salford but I’ve been made welcome by a fantastic bunch of athletes and supporters and to cap it all won a BMAF silver as part of the cross country relay team. As we look forward, as a club, to 2013, there is the possibility of much more success for Salford and I want to be part of it.

Finishing off 2012 with half a cross country season and, in particular, tasting success at Derby, has left me feeling pretty confident about 2013. I know I’m not the best runner in Britain, in my age group, but I’ll always give my best and when I’m at my fittest I can be up with the best, also when I’m surrounded by team mates giving as much as me that makes us a strong unit.

The last few weeks of December saw a lack of cross country running for me, probably a timely break as too much can wear you down. I was anticipating a training consolidation period but then I ended up doing 3 parkruns. I’ve already mentioned, in a previous blog, that I turned up for the inaugural Congleton parkrun, well that was intended to be my last race of the year. But things don’t always work out and Ray twisted my arm to go along to week 2 at Congleton. I wasn’t really in the mood but a wet, windy, miserable and muddy parkrun was better than the alternative, a wet and windy hill session on my own. So what did I have to lose? The answer: my 2012 100% parkrun record as local M45 rival Malcolm Fowler turned up and took me to the cleaners. Well I’m not bothered about statistics, winning streaks will always come to an end and I certainly wasn’t going to lock myself up in a room for the rest of my life so I was never again beaten, but it was a bit disheartening to be beaten by another M45, even if it was by one of the best M45s around. At least Malcolm didn’t take my course record, though he sits above me on age grading, due to being a year older than me. The following week I turned up again for Congleton’s 3rd parkrun, again I wasn’t intending to do so but Carole was keen to run one. As it turned out Carole was in bed sick with man flu but as I’d arranged to go with Ray I decided to go anyway. Once again Malcolm was there, which meant I had a challenge on my hands, much better than a lonely hill session. This time both of us got stuffed by a youngster from Stoke, who became the first sub 17 minute runner and took my course record from me. But I ran my fastest time around the course, retaining my M45 record, finishing a few seconds ahead of Malcolm, though Malcolm still retains the top position on the age graded league. Beating Malcolm was a timely boost to my confidence as I saw him as one of my main challenges for the M45 title in the Cheshire Cross Country Championships the following weekend.

On the way back from that parkrun Ray and I were discussing our goals for 2013, which turned out to have a number of similarities. This led to my thinking about what else could I add to our training to make our goals happen. Then it dawned on me, something I loved doing, was very effective, but I’d neglected for a number of years – fartlek. So the next day I purposefully went out and designed my own fartlek course, which starts close to my house and finishes close to Ray’s. 12 repetitions ranging from 40 seconds to just over 3 minutes, featuring 5 hills (in Cheshire!) and varying lengths of recovery, the shortest just 15 metres. I ran it hard that day and have since used it with one client. I ran it hard again today and I love it, can’t wait to try it out on Ray.

So onto my 2013 goals. Well the first one was to have a good run at the Cheshire Cross Country Champs. I felt I had a chance of 1st M45, but so did others, including Malcolm Fowler, who’s name is listed more times than anyone else I know in the history of medal winning at the Cheshire Champs. The race took place last Saturday, at Reaseheath, a course that was 1/3 suitable for me and 2/3 not very suitable for me. But I wasn’t going to let that get in the way, I’m working on improving my cross country running and little by little I’m improving. I know I’ll never be a Mike Deegan but I can be a better Roger Alsop. Despite making a schoolboy error, thinking the start was 2:30 instead of 2:15 (thanks Ray for the timely reminder) I managed to get to the start line nice and relaxed. As we headed out I was nicely positioned alongside Malcolm, but with James Noakes (another M45) and the possibility of another M45 ahead of me I wasn’t going to focus solely on Malcolm, so when Dave Alexander, an M40 of some repute, went past me I tried to go with him. Into the muddy field and Malcolm came back past me, after that he pulled away to a convincing victory. I struggled to cope with the mud in those fields, during that first lap, and a group of runners containing Graham MacNeill, 1st m50, James Noakes, Tom Bush and a couple of City of Chester guys (one of whom I think was M45 Duncan Harris), pulled a gap on me. I was on my own as I tried to find the best way through the mud.

It was hard work in those fields but towards the end of the lap we were back on firm ground and I got a little respite. Out of the woods I was still looking at a largish gap to the group in front of me. Malcolm was way ahead so it was a certainty M45 gold had gone, particularly with his cross country reputation. Knowing that last year there was only a medal for the age group winner I could easily have given up at this point but I wasn’t about to, I’m striving to improve in these conditions and the only way that is going to happen is if I work hard in my weak area. So I relaxed and pushed. It seemed to work, I was finding it much easier to plough through the mud, I still had the odd moment of instability but I appeared to be gaining on the group ahead. The gap was getting smaller and, upon reaching the firmer ground again, I got some extra vigour. I sailed past 3 of the guys before entering the woods, passed another couple just after the woods and soon there was only Graham MacNeill up ahead. Graham was going well and it took me a while to reel him in but he came in all the same. I had about half a lap to go, I wasn’t going to let anyone come back to me. No looking back, just forwards and push all the way. I maintained position, finishing 14th, a disappointing minute behind Malcolm, but I felt like I’d managed to kick off a demon. With a little more work maybe I’ll make a cross country runner of me yet. Once again I was 2nd M45 so went home without a medal, only to find out, that evening, that someone had decided to hand out other medals and there is a Cheshire M45 silver medal with my metaphorical name on it.

So with my first, almost success, out of the way what are my plans for 2013: I’ve still got a way to go on finding my cross country feet but I’ve some time and a number of races to go before the one that matters, the BMAF Champs. Two years ago I was 2nd M45, what I’d give to beat that, but it won’t be easy (if it was easy we wouldn’t be doing it, is something I keep telling my clients, at least I practice what I preach). I’ve decided against the European indoors (too much going on at that time) and I’ll probably miss the track completely this year (though I might think differently about that later). I really want to help Salford to some national gold medals this year and I’m thinking about venturing into Europe for the non stadia championships. Other than that I think it’s time I did some 10ks and possibly a 10 mile or half marathon. With BMAF championships very much in mind, both for myself and Salford, I think that’ll keep me pretty busy. I’d also like to gain selection for England again.      

But with the hard training comes the possibility of injury and I’m conscious of a little niggle in my left knee, again. So better get those victories in before it goes again.

I should say well done to my Salford colleagues for all the success they had in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Middlesex championships. Proving we are a great club of great athletes – we just need a few more in Cheshire.


Written by Roger Alsop
www.rogeralsop.co.uk