Writing this a few days post Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
The results and performances from the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham have been well documented in usual reports. Here are a few thoughts and impressions from a “fan at track side“ written a few days after getting home .
How would it compare to the recent World Championships in Oregon
In my recent post on the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, I posed the conundrum of how best to watch it “as live“ while being 8 hours ahead of the US west coast.
You can read that one HERE
There was some chatter that Birmingham could not match Oregon in athletics terms. However if you are a follower of track and field, the Commonwealth Games certainly delivered. The atmosphere of “The Friendly Games’ as always was exceptional and despite small fields in some events , the overall level of competition was excellent.
Armchair fan or trackside fan
The option of going to Oregon for the World Athletics Championships was not possible, however in this amazing summer of Athletics Championships, the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham was a much easier ask. A mere 5-6 hours from Edinburgh down the A702 through Biggar, before hitting the M74 and M6, and you were there!! SIMPLES!
It would be my fourth Commonwealth Games to add to Edinburgh 1986, Manchester 2002 and Glasgow 2014
Stadium Arrival
Whether you are at the stadium for a few hours or 5 days, arriving at any major sporting occasion always gives you a thrill and arriving at the revamped Alexander stadium was no exception The buses or trains packed with people on their way to the stadium travelling from near or far. The good natured crowds, the first sight of event flags and then the impressive revamped Alexander stadium, all help to generate that “kid in a sweet shop excitement“.
First night set the scene for the next few days. An eclectic mix of spectators around us: a retired Cornish couple one side; behind us a group of Ugandans who, of course, became very excited as the men’s 10,000 metres progressed.
Another young couple on the other side, who seemed to have divided loyalties between Kenya and Uganda, all helping to make the Commonwealth Games what it is.
You go to a major soccer or rugby match in Glasgow, or maybe north London or Liverpool and the atmosphere can, to say the least, be a little tribal and at times edgy. Five nations rugby is certainly tribal but with friendly undercurrents when all is said and done.
Major Athletics meets are totally more FAMILY and friendly, somewhere you are happy to take family and friends
Yes, flags are waving for respective countries, but here you had English cheering Scots and vice versa, Scots cheering Welsh athletes and the whole crowd on their feet cheering the lapped runner in last place who was nonetheless probably still setting a national record and living their own dream.
Some fields were small, due to the quota system for countries to enable a wide spread across all sports, and some very good athletes subsequently were not selected. Wales’ Kris Jones in the 10,000 metres being one such.
This had led to some comments in the press and social media. However once the races started this was soon forgotten once you realised, despite the small fields, you were still being treated to some exceptional championship racing.
A winning time 27.09.16 speaks for itself.
It was good to see Andy Butchart, after an injury interrupted season, give it a go and hang in with the main pack before the inevitable African surge.
Eilish’s greatest race?
Weds night women’s 10,000 metres was probably the race of the Birmingham Commonwealth games, with Eilish McColgan totally taking it to the Africans and others. The roar of the crowd heightening lap by lap as runners dropped off the pack until there were 3, and barring minor catastrophe, a medal was secure. As the final laps rolled by so did the noise increase and the unison with which everyone seemed to get to their feet with 2 laps to go as Eilish made a surge for the win, was something very rare in an athletics meeting.
It didn’t matter what nationality you were, you just realised something special was happening and being played out in real time before you.
Almost like that Steve Jones 10,000 metes from the 80s with the immortal David Coleman commentary that has had who knows how many million hits on you tube, this race will now secure its own place in athletics history and like Steve Jones ,,,,young runners not yet born will watch videos of a race in Birmingham that also brought the crowd to their feet for someone who “didn’t give in’ but just wanted so much to seize their moment and a place in the hearts of not just her homeland of Scotland but in athletes hearts around the world.
Steve Jones video can be found HERE
Going to the well
As athletes or recreational runners we all know what it is to “go to the well” with our own capacity to achieve our own impossible goal. Eilish seemed to have gone to the well and then some, to claw her way back into the lead and then hang on down that last 100 metres. I was hoarse as were many around us cheering, not just Eilish, but the other Scot in the race, Sarah Inglis, who also ran a brave race to finish in 32:04, just a few seconds outside her PB.
Many have memories or will have seen clips of her mum at Meadowbank achieving the same feat in 1986, and yes, probably like several others in the stadium and at home I was there to see that one too. The sight of her rushing trackside, to give Liz, Mum and Coach, a huge and knowingly meaningful hug and a shared moment of achievement , obviously meant so much to them both.
Decathlon. The ultra of track and field
A highlight of any track and field championship for me has always been the heptathlon for women and the decathlon for men . Not content with doing one or maybe two events in a week long programme , these athletes in competing 7 and 10 events respectively in under 48 hours, really do push the boundaries out. Always Geekily memorable in a championship schedule is the decathlon pole vault.Traditionally the 3rd event of the second morning, like the high jump it is an “open ended event.’ Not a race over in a few seconds or an event where you get a limited three shots and that is it , the pole vault can go on for a while!
Decathlon Event logistics
Event organisers have to manage a slick operation between morning and evening sessions. Most days there is a finite schedule adhered to like clock work to empty a stadium timepusly clear up and tidy up, go get some rest and comeback for the evening sessions. The decathlon Pole Vault throws a slight spanner in those plans.
Athletes were warming up on the pole vault runways as the last scheduled track races that morning were finishing. While large number of spectators leave after the last track race , the Purists are always keen to stay to see the decathlon pole vault. Usually a few hundred at most, if they don’t already have nearby seats move and congregate to spectate and cheer the hardy decathlon souls
In Birmingham ,several thousand maybe subtly encouraged by the stadium comms team, stayed on to witness what was a wonderful spectacle .Many spotting empty seats vacated by leavers , swiftly moved to fill them. The result according to the experienced stadium comms team of Cliff Temple and Geoff Wightman was reported to be the largest crowd who ever stayed to cheer a championship decathlon pole vault !!
The nightly ritual of leaving the stadium to see “how long the queue is for the shuttle buses’ or in our case the X51 for the short ride back up Birmingham Road to Walsall, and our accommodation.
It has to be said, Birmingham your attention to detail, down to putting on extra buses as the thousands left the stadium each night, was as were many aspects of the organisation. We will not mention the price of in-stadium food though – OOFT!
That 1500 metres.
Saturday morning brought the mens 1500 metres and possibly the most eagerly anticipated race of the games. Absolute box office and dispelling the myth that the Commonwealth Games lacks depth. This filed would not have been out of place at a World or Olympic Final. 12 guys, one race, one winner.
From a blistering first 400 metres of 54.8 led by Abel Kipsang, it was set up. At the bell there were still 7 runners with medal possibilities and when Jake, the media’s pre-race favourite, made his move with 250 metres to go you thought it could be his, and a repeat of Oregon was on the cards. However a young Australian had other ideas.
Ollie Hoare, on paper was one of the fastest in the field. He had failed to make the recent Oregon World Championships 1500 metre final. On this occasion he hung in and bided his time on the bend but getting a clear run on the home straight, seized his moment clinching victory in a personal best.
PB Fest.
Although you sensed the crowd’s mild disappointment that the Home countries athlete had been pipped in the last few metres, but no one could deny that Hoare was a worthy champion. Behind him were a slew of other PB’s from Home Countries athletes, Elliot Giles, Neil Gourley, Matt Stonier, and Jake Heywood who lowered his own Welsh record, along with Sam Tanner of New Zealand who now sits 2nd on the Kiwi all time list behind Nick Willis .
Overriding memories of Birmingham Commonwealth Games
As with most major athletics meets you tea home some overriding memories.
A stadium bathed in sunshine. Full stadium for morning sessions. Blazing sunsets over the warm up track behind the stadium
At present Athletics is battling for attention at times against other sports. I would say if the powers that be could bottle the atmosphere and reach out to the many new fans this games will have reached, it will be a useful exercise!. Often they are just reaching out to the converted. Talking to people around us each night it was apparent for many that their primary interest wasn’t always athletics. THEY WERE SPORTS FANS and sports families of all ages who just wanted to experience the Commonwealth Games as a sporting spectacle.
The impression they must have left with was, yes, I would like more of this, and for many youngsters , they will have gone home maybe with a dream to better themselves too. That is a challenge for UK athletics going forward.
