The Weekend

Unfortunately I couldn't make the West Districts on Saturday but when I saw how many athletes we had running I was delighted. Teams seemed to be forward in every race - Junior Women, Junior Men, Senior Women and Senior Men. 11 Senior Men racing was a good turnout which was enhanced by the excellent running of Peter Bowman in his first cross country as a Junior Man. I have pictures of most of the runners and if anyone wants a copy, they only need to make contact and I'll forward them.
On Sunday I was at Kheredine Idessane's wedding - first of all in the Greek Orthodox Church in Dundonald Road and then in Glenbervie House Hotel. We were at a table for 10 for the meal with Ewan and Gail Calvert, Des Roache and his girlfriend Jill, Stewart Barnett (ex Vicky Park) and Julie and the patter was great. Grant Graham was there too and we had a good blether. For the information of those who know them and were members of club teams with them: Ewan is living in West Lothian and has three children now and is working for Standard Life; Grant is living in Belfast and has four children; Des is teaching in Renfrew High School and is a Grade 1 Referee who is now almost exclusively refereeing SPL and SFL games - his last 'big' one was Rangers v Dundee United at Ibrox two weeks ago. Kheredine was in great form - but then it was his wedding day! They all look in good nick and there was hardly any wine drunk at the table despite unlimited quantities of red, white and champagne being on offer. Good to see them looking and sounding so good.
They were all running for Great Britain as U20, Under 23 or Senior in the mid 1990'2 and Grant, Des, Ewan, along with James Austin were in the club team that won the West District Relays in 1995.
At that time many athletes were joining the club from other clubs because we were the most attractive option - John Watt from Maryhill, Struan Marshall from Garscube, Bryan Higgins, Grant and Des from Vicky Park, Ewan from Aberdeen and Kheredine from Edinburgh. NONE OF THEM WERE APPROACHED, TAPPED UP OR CHATTED UP! So why are we less attractive to runners in 2010 than we were in 1990? Maybe I feel a blog coming on!