Snow joke, snow go etc. etc.
In an episode that has wider implications for growing sport-bureaucracy in 2009 the cold snap over the last few weeks had one victim, that stood up in the face of officialdom and slipped under the MST radar.
As reported in last week’s Athletics Weekly those pesky students took matters into their own hands at the BUCS cross country champs in Aberdeen (7th of Feb), as the organisers told teams that it was on at 10am on Friday, only to tell them it wasn’t at 4pm when, you guessed it, most teams had made 3/4s of the journey. One could be forgiven for thinking that the race was canceled due to teams from all over the UK being unable to get to a very snowy Aberdeen, however it has transpired that many teams actually made it safe and sound to the course only to be told upon arrival that the race was now off, due to the snow. A BUCS statement puts forward some fair points, but where was the common sense and sporting spirit in all of this?
Madness? Well, we all want sport to take place in safe conditions, and after the death of an official in 1972 due to hypothermia we need to make sure events are assessed for their danger content for all parties, and of course the necessary back up teams need to be able to make it to the event. But let’s put things into perspective.
Paula didn't mind a bit of snow
If dozens of teams, from all over the UK can make it there, so, you would think, can the local first aid, paramedics, caterers etc.? Then there is the fact that the race was to take place on soft, white powdery stuff – as AW stated “the only injuries reported were minor bruises from snowballs”. Okay, we don’t want to all revert back to the good old days when it was okay to virtually freeze to death during an XC race to ‘build character’, but equally we must ensure that our sport does not become soft. Yes, cross country is hard, cross country is not for everyone and you need a huge amount of endurance, strength and mental determination to become a top XC athlete, it’s an art and as with all arts you need overcome some obstacles to really achieve.
There were no winners at this event and for the record there was an unofficial race having 148 and 79 mens and womens finishers respectively – the men’s was won by Andy Vernon and the women’s by Lauren Howarth – however, the 2009 BUCS xc champs will be remembered for stubborn bureaucracy and that can-do human attitude that sometimes is lost in our cotton-wool world.
