The Big Pond

Okay so I'm his Dad! It's quite hard to write about what Billy did today, without sounding like a complete idiot. However, I have the record books on my side. The event was the Cornwall County Athletic Track Championships over at Par, try saying that when you've had a few. The best that Cornwall has to offer. Billy entered the U11 800m, it's what he wanted to run.

The race started at 1.25pm and went as follows. The start was pretty crazy. One lad went steaming off down the track, Billy followed in hot pursuit. It just looked too fast to be sustained. Slow, slow, slow I urged Billy in my head. This was a race not a time trial. We had a plan, this was not it! But to no avail, the two continued at such an astonishing pace, completing the first lap quite a distance ahead of the others, On the bell, Billy was sat on his shoulder, looking focused and strong. Something surely had to give. This pace couldn't continue. Forty metres later and the other lad hit the wall. He dropped right off the pace leaving Billy now out front on his own. I think we all expected Billy to drop back to the pack too, but he did exactly the opposite, he stepped it up and got quicker. As he came down round the top bend and onto the home straight he was in full flow, sprinting with real purpose. He crossed the line as the others were just beginning the straight. The timekeepers checked their stop watches. "Two minutes 27!" came the shout. "Two minutes 27 secs?" They looked at each other. "What's the county record?"

"Were you going for the record?" Janey asked him later. "No, I kept thinking that big boy was going to put in a late charge!" He was indeed a very tall lad, but had Billy cared to look sideways he would have seen him about half a lap behind. Billy had retained his unbeaten running record but what I was more interested in is how his time compared to his peers around the country.

The Cornwall U11 record is 2mins 34 secs. Having researched on the internet the fastest time I can find throughout the UK whether it be club, county or event records, is two minutes 29 secs and that's the only one I can find in the 20's. He beat both and could have gone faster. He had plenty left in the tank. So what does that mean? That he's the fastest 11 yr old ever in UK? - it's a lovely if unrealistic thought, there must be a better time/s out there somewhere. No, what it is, is reassuring, that's what it is. When you live in Cornwall you can feel a bit cut off from the rest of the planet - this can be a positive thing, and it can be a negative. With our boys and their hobbies, the fear is that it's a negative, so we're always mindful of it. If football and running are to be Billy's main focus, maybe even career (follow your dream) then keeping in touch with what's going on in the bigger picture, outside of Cornwall is important. No point being a big fish in a small pond. So this was the first measurable chance to see how he stacked up against his contemporary's throughout the UK on a level playing field (ie a set distance on a track), to compare times with other counties and clubs.... and the reality is that he's gone out and put in a performance that would be the quickest in most regions (2.34 seems a popular county record) if not all. In other words, he's doing great. And that's very reassuring and relevant, particularly as he approaches Yr 7 and Secondary next term and we think about a school that will get the best out of him and help him to fulfil his dreams. Oh decisions, decisions.

Billyman crosses the line - the others are there somewhere!

I know, I know, banging on about my boys again! But hey, when your flesh and blood does good, you're bursting with pride. Bring back the guest bloggers! Whatever did happen to them?) I'm not going to stop there either. I'm going to press on with family matters! Findog was also at the event. He battled through his heat to pick up a hard fought bronze in the sprint final, an event that we entered him into by mistake (he's a long distance man and should have run in the 600m). Anyway, he took his chance and ran his little legs off! Tough following in big brothers footsteps, but he's come to realise that if he gets his head down he too can mix it up. His time will surely come. Great run boys, great day. We're keeping up with the big pond.

Findog on the left - he's not used to running this fast without a ball at his feet! His school report commented that Fin has a fifth appendage, a football permanently attached to his left hip wherever he goes.