“Rain Stops Play”
Not just rain of course, but thunder, lightning, and hail, meant that the Veterans track meet scheduled for last night was cancelled.
I didn’t go, because I knew they had cancelled previously, when conditions were nowhere near as bad.
In the “good old days” we ran rain hail and shine.
The difference now isn’t that we have all gone soft. I am not saying that. The difference is that we now have to pay so much to use the track, that the club stands to lose if they go ahead with a track meet and no-one comes.
The problem that has arisen now is the vicious circle – the more we cancel, the fewer people turn up on baddish days, so the more likely we are to cancel.
“What about training sessions” I hear you ask. No we "never" cancel! Four reasons. (1) I don’t want us to fall into the trap mentioned above. People will always turn up because it hasn’t been cancelled before. (2) With our training there’s no financial loss involved. I don’t ever charge! And I don’t use venues that incur charges or involve booking. (3) more often than not conditions turn out to be OK, if not excellent, for training! And (4) even if a ground is closed, there are plenty of other alternatives.
As an aside, it is probably a good thing that the track meet is cancelled every now and then – it gives us extra day to lick our wounds from all the injuries, sorenesses and other excesses.
"See you at the track"
Not just rain of course, but thunder, lightning, and hail, meant that the Veterans track meet scheduled for last night was cancelled.
I didn’t go, because I knew they had cancelled previously, when conditions were nowhere near as bad.
In the “good old days” we ran rain hail and shine.
The difference now isn’t that we have all gone soft. I am not saying that. The difference is that we now have to pay so much to use the track, that the club stands to lose if they go ahead with a track meet and no-one comes.
The problem that has arisen now is the vicious circle – the more we cancel, the fewer people turn up on baddish days, so the more likely we are to cancel.
“What about training sessions” I hear you ask. No we "never" cancel! Four reasons. (1) I don’t want us to fall into the trap mentioned above. People will always turn up because it hasn’t been cancelled before. (2) With our training there’s no financial loss involved. I don’t ever charge! And I don’t use venues that incur charges or involve booking. (3) more often than not conditions turn out to be OK, if not excellent, for training! And (4) even if a ground is closed, there are plenty of other alternatives.
As an aside, it is probably a good thing that the track meet is cancelled every now and then – it gives us extra day to lick our wounds from all the injuries, sorenesses and other excesses.
"See you at the track"
