Big City Marathons I remember seeing my first ever New York City marathon on TV in 1981. Although I had probably seen Olympic marathons, I don’t think a city marathon had ever been televised before. It was won in that year by Alberto Salazar, and it is the NYC marathon that led Chris Brasher to [...]
Archive for the ‘Sport’ Category
Marathon week – the marathon boom
Posted in News, Sport, tagged Boston Marathon, Chicago Marathon, Haile Gebrselassie, London Marathon, New York Marathon, Paul Radcliffe, Steve Jones on 24/05/2012 | Leave a Comment »
Marathon week – the distance (42.195 km)
Posted in History, Sport, tagged Dorando Pietri, London 1908, London 2012, Paula Radcliffe on 23/05/2012 | Leave a Comment »
The distance of the marathon has undergone some changes over the years. The now accepted distance of 42.195 km (26 miles, 385 yards) was not agreed upon until 1924. When the modern Olympics were revived by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, and it was decided the marathon would be included, the distance from Marathon to Athens [...]
Blue is the colour
Posted in Sport, tagged Bayern Munich, Champions League, Chelsea, Football on 18/05/2012 | Leave a Comment »
Tomorrow (Saturday), my team Chelsea are playing in the UEFA Champions League final against Bayern Munich (Bayern Munchen). The annual Champions League final is the biggest game in football next to the World Cup Final. For the team who wins, it represents a bonus of some £50 million in increased revenue. For English teams, if [...]
Hollywood couldn’t have scripted a more thrilling finale
Posted in Sport, tagged Alex Ferguson, English Premiership league, Manchester City, Manchester United, Roberto Mancini on 14/05/2012 | 2 Comments »
It was the kind of drama usually reserved for the pages of Hollywood blockbusters. Yesterday (Sunday the 13th of May 2012) was the last day of the English Premiership football season. As I have blogged recently, the title had come down to a two-horse race between Manchester United, the most successful football team ever in [...]
Red or Blue?
Posted in History, News, Sport, tagged Alex Ferguson, FA, Manchester City, Manchester United, Mario Baloteli, Premier League, Roberto Mancini, Wayne Rooney on 30/04/2012 | 5 Comments »
There is a joke that the unofficial greeting in the US state of New Mexico is “red or green?”, implying that each conversation opens with asking whether someone would prefer red or green chilli peppers. Is the unofficial greeting in the northwest England city of Manchester “red or blue?”, to determine the allegiance to one [...]
A new “Golden Era”?
Posted in History, News, Rugby, Sport, Wales, Welsh history, tagged England, Grand Slam, JPR Williams, Rugby, Sam Warburton, Wales, Warren Gatland, Welsh Rugby on 23/03/2012 | 3 Comments »
On Saturday (17th of March), Wales won the 2012 6 Nations Grand Slam, beating France 16-9 in a tense match in Cardiff. Although it was not billed as such, it was sweet revenge for France beating Wales 8-7 in the semi finals of the recent 2011 World Cup in October. This is the 3rd Grand [...]
Wales win the 2012 Triple Crown at Twickenham
Posted in History, News, Rugby, Sport, TV, Wales, tagged 6 Nations, England, Grand Slam, Rugby, Triple Crown, Twickenham, Wales on 27/02/2012 | Leave a Comment »
On Saturday (25th of February) Wales went up to the home of English rugby, Twickenham, to play England in their annual 6 Nations fixture. Wales were in the unusual position of being favourites for the game which, given that Wales have only won there once (in 2008) since 1988, was not something we Welsh are [...]
Going to Wembley
Posted in Sport, Wales, tagged Cardiff City, Carling Cup, Chelsea FC, FA Cup, Football, League Cup, Liverpool FC, Manchester City FC, Wembley Stadium on 26/01/2012 | Leave a Comment »
On Tuesday evening (24th of January), Cardiff City football club won their semi-final of the League Cup (currently called the Carling Cup), beating Crystal Palace in a penalty shoot-out, after drawing 1-1 on aggregate after extra time. This puts them through to the final, where they will meet Liverpool, who beat Manchester City last night. [...]
The state of the Union
Posted in Rugby, Sport, Wales, tagged Martin Johnson, RFU, Rugby, Shaun Edwards, Six Nations, Twickenham, Warren Gatland, WRU on 17/11/2011 | Leave a Comment »
The state of the Rugby Football Union, the governing body of English rugby, is not good. Thankfully for the Welsh, the state of the Welsh Rugby Union is very good, so I am not going to lose too much sleep over the state of the game in England. In fact, I look forward to, hopefully, [...]
Smokin’ Joe Frazier
Posted in History, News, Sport, tagged Boxing, Fight of the Century, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, Thrilla in Manilla on 08/11/2011 | 2 Comments »
This morning, I woke up to the news that Joe Frazier, “smoking’ Joe”, had died of liver cancer at the age of 67. Joe Frazier will forever be associated with the epic heavyweight fights of the early and mid 1970s, in particular his fights against Muhammad Ali. This was at a time when everyone seemed [...]
