Allen just keeps on running

Allen, an old age pensioner who'd never run a race until he was 44, trains in all weathers, relaxes after club nights with a pint and a couple of chip butties, sandwiches a night of disco dancing between two day events.

"Few pints, couple of Pernods, you're only young once, " he reasons.

Unknown to him, he'd been entered into the five mile Rail Trail event around Shildon by his 14-year-old daughter. She beat him.

"I'd never run, never played football, only played cricket for the welding shop at Shildon Works and didn't do anything at that.

"That first race nearly killed me, but after that I started training. My daughter never beat me again."

Six years later, aged 50, he clocked two hours 53 minutes for the London Marathon.

His first prize had been a bottle of wine, "second or third" in an event at South Shields - "It was like an Olympic medal to me, total glory" - though he did win the Railway Institute leek show in 1973.

"Its like I'm living my life in reverse. Leek shows when I was a young man and running miles on end now that I'm a pensioner. Every year I vow I'm going to pack up, but it doesn't seem to work."

Though now 65, he still runs 8-10 miles every day, but admits - "why do you think we've been married 40 years" - that he runs around his wife Ann first.

"I'll take her to her sister's in Newton Aycliffe and do a few miles around Newton Aycliffe.

I'll take her to Morrison's in Bishop and go for a run round Etherley, which doesn't half beat pushing a trolley."

So what does she make of it all? "You wouldn't want to know, " says Ann, cheerfully.

"Running has become like a drug but it keeps him happy and healthy. At least I always know where he is, because he's never off the roads."

At the weekend he enjoyed one of his greatest highs, helping Crook AC win the NorthEast Veterans' League and claiming the 65-69 age group trophies for both sprints and distance running over the season.

Allen enters them all, 100m to 5k, hasn't missed an event all season. "I'd never even thought about serious running until I joined Crook and discovered I was quite useful.

"I sometimes wait until it's dried up if it's raining really hard, but I don't mind the weather. The hardest bit is getting over the doorstep, after that it's fine."

When the going gets tough. . . .

He admits, however, that a truly dedicated athlete wouldn't go out on Saturday nights during meetings. "It's just part of the fun of life. Just because you're 65 doesn't mean you have to become a hermit.

"There's a fantastic team spirit at Crook and the essence of it all is that we enjoy ourselves. If you talk about ambition, my only ambition is to enjoy each day as it comes."

IMPOSSIBLE to leave Crook's veteran athletes without mention of Harry Brook, who made his debut hereabouts in July 1990 after winning the Over 60s 100m in 14 seconds and the 200m in 28.9 at the North-East championships. He was second in the 400m, an' all.

The retired teacher was 61 at the time and still played third team hockey for Durham City.

"My wife thinks I enjoy myself, " he said.

Harry wasn't around yesterday but Allen Purdham still sees him at the club. Like Allen himself, this one just runs and runs.

REMEMBER that lovely little story about Aston Villa - Aston Villa, Quarrington Hill - in Tuesday's column? There's an e-mail from Kath Bean.

"I feel like a bubble pricking killjoy who tells the little ones there's no Santa Claus or tooth fairy, " she begins.

There's little doubt that the basic story is true - it would have been Sunderland House, had not the Wearsiders been beaten in the 1913 FA Cup final - but we added the local legend that the owner had been bus company boss Albert Gillett.

Albert was Kath's uncle. He wasn't born until 1903, began formal bus operations as G&B in 1926 and didn't marry his wife Belle until 1939, when - notwithstanding that Albert was also a passionate Sunderland fan - they moved into Aston Villa.

"There'll be very few people around who remember the house without Mr and Mrs Gillett, so it's understandable the two stories have been interwoven, " says Kath.

The 1913 deeds show that the purchaser was David Stainthorpe. Anyone know more about him?

REPORTING on August 16 the launch of Alan Adamthwaite's book on Bishop Auckland FC's glory days, we noted that on Alan's first day at Howden-leWear junior school he'd been slippered by Mr Savage.

Name and nature? Local councillor Dave Quinn leaps to his former teacher's defence.

Dave was outside right in the 1957-58 school team, coached by Jimmy Savage. "He took a limited bunch of fairly average lads and against all the odds guided us to the Bishop Auckland schools league title, " says Dave.

"Yes he was a disciplinarian, but he was a fine and committed teacher with the kind of devotion to his job that we could do with a bit more of these days.

"I can still remember how proud we all were when Jimmy gave us the medals at the end of the season."

Sadly, Mr Savage - the noble Savage, as John Dryden would have had it - died in his early 40s. If not an all-round sportsman, Coun Quinn went on to become an egg shaped one. He also organises the annual jarping championships at the Australian in Howden-le-Wear.

PLENTY of on the spot justice at Billingham Town on Tuesday night - Martin Birtle reports three penalties in as many minutes in the Arngrove Northern League match against Jarrow Roofing.

"Town got a penalty for hand ball and scored.

"Jarrow kicked off again, immediately got the ball into the penalty area and had a man brought down.

"Darren Collier in the Billingham goal saved it, threw the ball upfield and in the resultant attack Town got another penalty, which was also saved.

"Taking out all the bawling and shouting which accompanied the decisions, I reckon there were three penalties in under 40 seconds of actual play."

Three kicks. Can it ever have been beaten?

Rain stopped play on Lord's Day

LORD'S Day observed, part II: we reported a month ago that, to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Lord, Thirsk Cricket Club were to play West Meon, from Hampshire, at what cricket knows as Headquarters.

Thirsk is where Lord was born - his family left when he was three - West Meon's where he died, aged 76, in 1832. Amid much local excitement, the match was due on Wednesday, on the Nursery Ground. Thirsk chairman Malcolm Neesam takes up the story.

"We left Thirsk exactly on time at 5.30am, just as it started to rain. On the way south the weather improved a bit and when we arrived at Lord's about 9.45am it was fine, but cloudy with a very strong wind."

Even that didn't last. "The rain arrived soon afterwards.

We sat inside and watched it until 2 15pm, by which time the Nursery Ground had deep pools of standing water on it.

"We went outside, looked at the pitch, and reluctantly decided that no play would be possible.

"There was nothing else for it than for the day trippers to return to Thirsk."

The whole day no-balled, they can at least claim, says Malcolm, that they got to see the home of cricket. Just a bit of a dampener, that's all.

AND FINALLY . . .

THE two teams which had completed the double before Sunderland almost achieved it in 1913 (Backtrack, August 23) were Preston North End in 1888 89 and Aston Villa in 1896-97.

Fred Alderton in Peterlee today invites readers to name the sport which James Gibb is credited with introducing in 1899.

With a bit of an anniversary to share, the column returns on Tuesday.

Published:26/08/2005