Pages

Wednesday 17 November 2010

On the dangers of talking to the Press

 I was rather proud of my Derwentwater 10 mile road race result and thought it merited a paragraph in the Athletics column of our local newspaper so I sent a brief email to them because I’d also found out that beating nearly half the field in 1.21.21 had taken me to the top of the official British MV75 Road Race Rankings which means I'm currently the fastest man of my age in Britain over ten miles and I enclosed a picture of the legendary Kenny Stuart presenting me with a prize for this achievement which I was also very proud of because it isn’t very often someone who’s 78 years old is honoured in this way and the Prats Press must have thought so too because they wanted me to ring this man of theirs with more details so he could do a story about this but I said I didn’t want to talk to this man because I’m not very good at talking to people so I sent a link to my Blog from which I said he could glean as much information as he needed for a cracking good story but he didn’t think that was a very good idea and insisted I phone him because it was urgent and there was nothing to be frightened of so very reluctantly I did phone this man and he asked me all sorts of questions but my answers obviously weren't very important or newsworthy because when the story came out the following day he’d written a whole lot of nonsense that was totally different from things I’d told him and which said I was the top fell runner in Britain after running very fast round Derwentwater but that race wasn’t a fell race at all because I’d run all the way on the road and haven't actually competed in a fell race for over twelve months and he also said I’d won countless fell championships in the past but that was a load of tosh because I’ve only ever won one Fell Championship and that was in 2004 when I won the inaugural English MV70 Fell Racing Championship and to rub more salt in the wound he printed a five year old picture of me running in the World Masters Mountain Running Championships instead of the one I was very proud of with Kenny Stuart who really was a top fell runner and King of the Mountains so all in all I was made to look a right silly old fool among fellow athletes who know exactly what I've run and won but maybe thought I’d actually fed this duff information to the Prats Press in which case I'm probably regarded now as a stupid self-opinionated liar who ought to be having psychiatric treatment in an old peoples home to stop me having delusions of grandeur or dreaming up make-believe stories and pretending I'm still a champion fell runner when all I really am is a geriatric top of the pops over ten miles on the road.

6 comments:

  1. Most people will have a more realistic view of "the press", realising that most of what they read is tosh and bears little relationship to reality. The people that matter, family and friends (and blog readers) already know who you are, what you have really done and how much of an inspiration you still are.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Totally agree with the comment above. Your blog has inspired research into a number of trip destinations and is always interesting. I just hope I'm fortunate to enjoy retirement as much as you and your wonderful partner do. Keep 'em coming!

    ReplyDelete
  3. We all know how irresponsible the British press can be. I'm sure no-one will think you did this deliberately. You were right that your achievement deserves recognition - in the blogging world you are a total inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Typical press - the journalist didn't understand much about running - people will know that he failed to pick up the story properly. However: you are certainly not just a 'geriatric top of the pops'- your current running times would be phenomenal for a man in his 30s, you are running consistently and strongly and I agree with those who count you as a real inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I agree with the posts above. You're a fabulous runner, and, in the finest British tradition, remarkably modest about your astounding achievements. You deserve better from the lazy, slipshod Press. Maybe you should write to the editor of the paper, appealing to his/her desire to get the facts right. They may not print it, but you'd feel better. Or just say 'sod it' and carry on doing what you're doing, which is giving the rest of us a fantastic blog and hope for the future. We're with you!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Old Runningfox, sorry to read of you're frustrating and unpleasant press experiences of late, don't worry yourself too much about these things.

    Your blog tells your story and indeed so well! Your running career speaks for itself too as does your humility in each and every one of your fine blog posts. Don't let 'em get to you!
    Happy running, RB.

    ReplyDelete