coachkelly

MM...apologies if this has been brought up as I tried to read all posts but may have missed one or two, but as you witnessed what seems like a criminal assault ,did you report it to the Police?

Take cycling (another sport ravaged by drugs cheats) There do not seem to be any black cyclists, but I think this is simply a cultural thing. Young black athletes are attracted to sprinting because many of their black role models are probably sprinters. It would probably only take one succesful black cyclist to encourage more young black kids to take up cycling. I wouldn't say there is a physical reason why a black person couldn't be a great cyclist.

Dwain Chambers is a drugs cheat. This has to be taken into account when considering his times. For the record Britain has had four gold medalists at 100 metres. Reggie Walker, Harold Abrahams, Alan Wells and Linford Christie. 3 of them are white and the only black runner, Linford Christie, was found to be a drugs cheat. Although he wasn't done for taking drugs when he won his gold, I think it's fair to assume he probably was doing it then and was lucky to get away with. So was he a great sprinter because he was black or because he was a drugs cheat? In fact, many of the great sprinters of the past 20 years have been drugs cheats. Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis, Justin Gatlin. They are also black. Could a factor in the dominance of black sprinters also be attributed to the fact that many of them took performance enhancing drugs rather then some physical difference to white sprinters?

I'm not sure race always plays such a significant part in sporting achievements. I think background and circumstances also contributes a lot. For example, back in the forties and fifties many world class boxers were Italian American. This was because they came from very poor blue collar backgrounds. As time went by Italians became more succesful in American society and less of them got into boxing. They were replaced by black american boxers. This was simply because many of these boxers came from the ghetto. A similar argument could be applied to tennis, which is a predominantly white sport and has been for many years. This is because it's a middle class sport and not played in poor neighbourhoods.I'm sure many people ten years ago would have said black people couldn't play it and that white people were superior at this particular sport. However, the Williams sisters blew this argument out of the water. Harry Redknapp recently said that young black players were doing better then what he called 'lazy white boys'. It was a remarkable comment to make considering this is the sort of criticism that is usually reserved by some for black footballers (Ron Atkinson). What Redknapp said was that the black players worked harder and wanted it more. This doesn't mean they were physically superior, just that they had a better attitude. I think he was mainly referring to African players, who tend to come from extremely poor backgrounds. With regards to sprinting, the current number 1 british sprinter is a young white guy named Craig Pickering.

thanks again. Some great suggestions.

Thanks everyone, great advice. I am thinking of joining the Dulwich running club.I'm awaiting confirmation of next year's London Marathon. I reckon I may have a chance because I sent off online next day and I've never run it before. We shall see. In the meantime I have been running a lot so that If I do get a space I will have a good core fitness when I start the gruelling training. I like the sound of the half marathon starting in Goose Green. I'm not sure I can handle running around Dulwich park again again.

Anyone run a half marathon distance route starting and finishing in the east dulwich area? I'm training for marathon and would be interested in any routes, even 10km routes.

Check out the Brockwell Lido. It's amazing and all for ?47 per month !

Yes I'm looking at a foreign holiday. I've been trying websites such as travelsupermarket.com but they don't seem to be much cheaper. Any tips? I'm looking at the Med, maybe Sicily.

I'm sorry this is not really related to Dulwich, but I wondered if anyone could give me some advice? I want to book a holiday for myself and my twin sons who are 15. Everywhere I look is pretty expensive as they seem to charge 15 year olds as adults, so would it be wise to hang on and book a late deal? Do these really work out much cheaper? I'm thinking of going at the beginning of july.

I'm also a member of Jags and would be interested in playing both squash and badminton. Pretty much a beginner at both I'm afraid, but pretty fit.

Jags (James Allen Girls school) has the best pool in the area I think, and I've tried them all. 25 metres long but very clean and if you go at right time pretty empty.