Brian’s blast from the past
Send your memories and pictures to Brian Lee, Cardiff Remembered, South Wales Echo, Six Park Street, Cardiff, CF10 1XR or email brianlee4@virginmedia.com
Remembered, South Wales Echo, Six Park Street, Cardiff CF10 1XR or email brianlee4@virginmedia. com – please include your phone number as I cannot reply by letter.
The sight of a jogger pounding the streets of Cardiff these days is hardly worth a second glance, but I am amazed at the number of runners I now see pounding the pavements.
However, things were very much different in my time as a Roath (Cardiff) Harrier back in the 1950s and 1960s as can be seen in this article I wrote for the now long gone weekly Reveille in October 1971.
Under the heading “Running Into Trouble” I had this to say: “Life for long distance runners can be hazardous. I know because I used to be one.
“It was not the 10-mile daily stint that troubled me. For like 30-miles-a-day man Dave Bedford I enjoyed training.
“To some people the sight of a runner plodding the streets has the same effect as showing a red flag to a bull.
“Not content at shouting: ‘Come on Chataway’, ‘Here comes Pirie’ or ‘Why don’t you catch a bus?’, they will shout swear words.
“On one occasion I was stoned by a gang of youths. A team-mate of mine was beaten up by hooligans during a run.
“Then there are the motorists who take great delight in sounding their horns as they speed past you.
“Some are even mad enough to force you off the road.
“During one marathon race a motorist slid down his window and spat at me.
“I do not know why people react in this way. I can only put it down to jealousy.
“The biggest hazard to the road runner is dogs which have been let off their lead.
“Big or small it makes no difference.
“While training in a park (Roath Park) I was once pinned down by an Alsatian.
“‘He won’t hurt you’, said the owner. Very comforting.
“Of course I could have jumped in the park’s lake and swum to the other side, but after running about eight miles I did not feel quite up to it.”
All that talk about the loneliness of the long distance runner is a myth.
The trials and tribulations of the long distance runner is more like it.
NB. Gordon Pirie, Dave Bedford and Chris Chataway were Olympic athletes.