The Latest from Billy Cramp-Up / Local Coach and Adviser 12 Jan 2008
Cross Country Racing / Training
Billy says cross country races these days are far to easy compared
to the races in his era. What! No streams, No Hurdles, No Fences,
Not even dry stone walls to tackle. it was like a formula 1 race ,
where we would have about fifteen finishers from a field of around two
hundred. The saying now is, "it's not about winning but the taking part
that counts". But in Billys day the saying was "It's not about winning
but trying to finnish the bloody race is what counts".
In those days we had proper injuries not like the sprains and strains
that athletes get today. One injured athlete Billy remembers having to
rescue with a broken leg high on the side of Ben Nevis. (Now that was
a tough cross country race) Air rescue in those days was just a case of
rolling the injured athlete off the cliff and hoping someone below could
catch them before further injuries were sustained.
With the global warming problem Billy says it was alot colder in his
racing days doing cross country, with winds upto 100 mph, 6 foot
snow drifts and hailstones the size of footballs. But now they complain
and they are wrapped up in thermal underwear, base layers, mid layers,
gloves and thermal hats. Meanwhile Billy is watching from the side line
in his swimming trunks it's that bloody warm, and they have the cheek
to say it's freezing. If it was minus 15 degrees Celsius Billys motto was
VEST IS BEST.
Out soon Billys Running Bible .
Hopefully we will have more valuable information from Billy Cramp-up next month.
If you missed Billy's Column last month - Not to worry
Click Here Handicap Racing Tips.
Click Here Marathon Training / Racing.
Click Here Coaching Course for Billy.
Click Here Advice on weight training.
Click Here Billy the talent scout.
Click Here to read about Billy's big night out.
Click Here for cross training advice.
Click Here for stretching advice.
Click Here for fell training special.
Click Here for his special on speed.
Click Here for his report on Interval Training.
Click Here for his report on Hydration.