True Colours

I’m a rather avid listener to the parkrun show, the weekly podcast rounding up of all things to do with parkrun. The whole ethos of parkrun is brilliant, a weekly free timed 5k run (not race, I’ll get told off) that allows you test any gains you make in top end speed.

Over the last few weeks, one of the hosts ‘King’ Danny Norman has mentioned the fact that he has changed Running Clubs and it got me thinking about my own changing allegiances over the last few years. I consider myself very lucky to have been a member of a number of different clubs. Both in Rowing and Running, the colour of your vest or All-in-One means a lot to the athlete and the decision to change those colours is NEVER easily made.

Leaving a club is effectively saying to your close friends and training buddies “It’s not you, it’s me...I’m in love with someone else. There can be a variety of reasons for that change – location, quality of training, size of club, boredom, frustration, better opportunities the list is endless, and unique to each person involved. Of course people ask you to stay, but an unmotivated and possibly frustrated team-mate is rarely the most effective team-member. It can be hard for all concerned at the time, but all usually come out of the situation stronger in the long term.

The process of changing Rowing Clubs is far, far easier than in Running. A quick click on the British Rowing Website, and your First Claim Club name changes in a second, albeit with a wait until your Racing Licence Renewal for the name to be expunged off the back.

With Running, you have to get signed confirmation from both your old and new clubs that they have no objections to your move, along with a cheque for £10 to England Athletics, who then have a committee who sites periodically to decide on approved moves. In practice, I doubt they hardly ever refuse, but it does some rather archaic!

Ironically, the emotional stress of changing Rowing Clubs far outstrips that of Running.

The first time I raced in a Penny Lane Vest, I’d been a member for a couple of months. I was nervous taking my top off in front of old club mates, knowing that some ribbing was likely. There was a little frostiness at first (maybe I was oversensitive to it), but that lasted precisely one race and now we all cheer each other on at races with equal gusto. A great reflection on the Liverpool Running scene.

Maybe because I didn’t have a corresponding break between clubs, replacing the Black and White of Mersey RC for the Blue and Gold of GRC was much harder. I remember vividly sitting in a Grosvenor boat for the first time and hearing “Come on Grosvenor” and it just felt weird. I suppose at that point, mentally I was still with Mersey and it took a couple of months to get used to the new way of things. Probably as soon as Colin turned up...

The times we raced against Mersey were horrid, one of my few rowing regrets in that year was that it seemed to become about GRC vs MRC. I admit I probably should have been more forceful in not letting that happen., but still, we got some good races out of it...  and a medal or two *invokes Hammersmith clause*

Both clubs have flourished, as have I. All the people I’ve met along the way, all the knocks and disappointments, have helped me grow in confidence and get better at getting better. I never would have had the confidence to get a running coach and be where I am now without them.

So if you cut me open, what colours would you see?

The answer is all of them, as LRC, Mersey, Grosvenor and Penny Lane have all made me the athlete I am today.