Comment, by George Kirby

I WAS asked the other day by one of my club contacts: "What do you honestly think of the county championships, George?"

I was tempted to answer, "Not much," but that could have been construed as being critical of the performances of those who have been successful in recent Red Rose 'do's', writes GEORGE KIRBY.

Consequently I tempered my comment to: "Not as much as I would like to," which is a little more kind and says a little more about what I, and a number of local club members I have approached, feel about what is happening at this level of competition.

In other words, there is nothing wrong with the quality of our county champions, what they need is opportunity to prove their worth against stiffer opposition before they move on to higher things.

Entries in most sections of Lancashire Championships in all disciplines - cross country, road, track and field - are, to say the least, disappointing.

Many track events go through as straight finals because of the paucity of entries. In some cases there are not enough of them to justify the normal allocation of medals. Occasionally, in some age groups, there are no entries at all. A single-lane finish funnel is usually sufficient to cope with the numbers involved in cross country events.

Those who succeed in this situation, particularly the youngsters, are being done no favours.

As they move up to Area and National competition they will need experience of pitting themselves against top class opposition.

That should start at county championship level, but seldom does. More often they are left far behind at the start of major championships before they realise what is happening.

As I have said before in this column, the mid-Lancashire League can offer tougher competition than a county meeting, since it involves strong teams from Cumbrian clubs as well as those from North, East and part of West Lancashire, which excludes the populace Greater Manchester and Merseyside regions. They, too, operate independently.

The decision to divide the 'old' county into three was taken a little while ago and could be difficult to unscramble. Perhaps too many people have a vested interest in maintaining what is now the status quo for changes to be made.

However, I wish everyone would look unselfishly at this situation and make a real attempt to bring county athletics west of the Pennines back to what it was in the not-too-distant past when athletes clamoured to enter championships instead of ignoring them.

I would welcome opinions on this one.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.