Roy Langford - Article No.37 (13/10/2014)

It was a more contended yours truly who stepped proudly out of the confines of R.A.F. Cosford on that bleak February 10th night in 1962 at the end of a remarkable evening of indoor athletics, and I was really chuffed at my own performance in the 60 yards open sprint race in which I was beaten only by a cats whisker by Ian Foster (Royton Harriers) in the respectable time of 6.7 seconds.

But I'm sure the main talking point about tonight's meeting which will cast a shadow over the brilliant running on the track, would be the profound cock-up by those track officials responsible for measuring out the 100 yards track which turned out to be only 94 yards long, this error I am sure will give the local sports reporters a field day when they write their forthcoming newspaper reports on tonight's meeting. With all those kinds of thoughts going through my mind, it in some ways helped soften the blow of how desperately tired and hungry I was now on my weary homeward bound journey back to Dudley.

Back In the Fold Again at Tipton Harriers

After now regaining some lost pride, after losing some degree of fitness during my bout of flu before Christmas, I thought it was time to show my face once again down our club headquarters and hopefully renew my Sunday training spells with Andy, John and Dave, or should it be former mates after nearly two months without being part of their training routine, and so it was on that following Tuesday evening of February 13th that I stepped over the threshold once again, not knowing what sort of reception I would get, but in true Tipton Harriers comradeship I was greeted with the warmest of handshakes by our club captain, Ken Rickhuss and our two leading officials, Jim Bedford and Len Myerscough, who made me feel like the long lost "Prodigal Son" and at any minute I expected them to bring out the proverbial fatted calf for me. Further greetings came from my mate John Brimble and Andy Fereday who said it was great to see my back in the fold at Tipton Harriers again, and then went on to say, they had missed my input on those Sunday morning workouts, and with those thoughts fresh in our minds we set up a training session for this coming weekend.

But also on the talking point menu that evening in the packed club house, there was a buzz of excitement and speculation to how our elite cross country lads will fair in the Midland Counties Senior Cross Country Championships on this forthcoming Saturday afternoon (17th February 1962) over a tough stamina testing 9 mile course in the picturesque winter settings of rural Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire. On leaving the club house after my short visit, I couldn't help but wish those sturdy cross country runners all the best of their gruelling race on Saturday.

Tipton Harriers Cross Country Team Finish in a Creditable Third Place

In no time at all that week seemed to fly by to that Sunday morning down the Vono Sports Ground with the reunited "Three Tipton Flyers", Andy, John and myself going through our kamikaze training sessions once again, but our overall concentration this morning was perhaps more centred on the sparking performances of our senior cross country runners in yesterday's Midlands Counties Championships, the Tipton lads had done us proud with a sterling all round effort to finish in a creditable third place out of more than 30 teams competing in the championship, the winners of that team race for the fifth year on the trot, were the hot favourites, Derby & County A.C., with the individual winner being Eddie Strong (Bristol A.C.) his winning time for the 9 miles race 46 min 25 seconds.

The Tipton bronze medal winning team placings for the race were as follows:- 21st John Thorneycroft, 30th Geoff Wood, 31st Ron Franklin, 36th Alan Whittle, 37th Bert Harbach, the six and last counting runner for the Tipton team medals was the redoubtable Ken Rickhuss, that last team finishing position of 45th might not seem very good, but let's not forget that over 450 runners were entered to run in this spectacular race.

The Last Meeting of the Cosford 1961/62 Season

The next meeting at R.A.F. Cosford was scheduled for 3rd March 1962, and sadly this would be the last meeting of the 1961/62 indoor track season, and yet again I routinely posted off my entry form for this meeting in which I again expressed my wish to only compete in the short sprint events, and with it went the hopes and dreams of finishing the season on a winning note, but I knew had the mountain to climb competing against those more privileged College and University based student athletes who seemed to monopolize these meetings, and not so surprisingly all seemed to be on physical fitness training courses of one sort or another, thereby having far superior training facilities than I could ever dream of, but all I could do was train hard and hope for the best, after that my fate was in the lap of the gods.

My training build up for the week prior to the Cosford meeting was all geared up to speed work and I was running out of my skin and really felt back in tip top sprinting form again, and I did manage to fit in another tough Sunday morning training session with Andy, John and Dave in the bleak winter settings of Victoria Park, Tipton, on the 25th February, with our pre-set training schedule lined up for us being a series of 10 x 150 yards sprint efforts, with another 4 x 400 yards races lined up to finish off the morning workout, but after putting all my heart and soul into completing those 150 yards races, I called it a day, letting my mad keen mates fight it out over those remaining 4 x 400 yards efforts, my wise young head didn't want me to leave all my energy and sprinting fitness out there on the training field, because I wanted to feel sharp for those short sprint races on Saturday and didn't need those leg sapping 400 yards efforts again until after I had competed at Cosford.

My last two key training sessions on the Tuesday and Thursday of that all important week, took place from the close proximity of home, and they both consisted of speed work, to the best of my ability in the circumstances up the steep inclined roadway where I lived in Fairfield Road, Dudley, and now with almost two days rest from training this will allow my mind, body and soul the chance to recuperate and on Saturday I will once again blaze a single handed trail for my club as being the only Tipton athlete who has set foot on the Cosford track this winter indoor season, and I'm really looking forward to putting on my running gear for Saturday evening's final showdown at R.A.F. Cosford.

Women's National Cross Country Championships

On that fateful day of March 3rd my routine took in my 4 hours at work on that Saturday morning followed by a restful afternoon in front of a blazing fire watching T.V.

But a restful afternoon wasn't on the menu for two of those lady athletes who usually ran at those Cosford evening meetings because Brenda Cook and Anita Webb (Bilston Town A.C.) were this afternoon at 2.30pm, battling it out over a cross country course with a few hundred other top women athletes in the "Women's National Cross Country Championships" over a 3½ mile course set on the East Park, Wolverhampton with their club Bilston Town A.C. playing host to these prestigious days championships. On pure hindsight of a race which took place 45 years ago, I can tell you that the race was won for the third time in 4 years by the brilliant 25 years old (Doctor) Roma Ashby of Coventry Godiva Harriers, the contemporary newspaper account of the race stated that "she had the race after a quarter of a mile, with her only serious challenger being Madeleine Ibbotson (Longwood Ladies A.C.) but she eventually succumbed to the fast pace of the Coventry girl, and was in turn overhauled at the two mile point by Susan Jarville (London Olympians) Roma eventually won the race by about 120 yards from Susan Jarville with Madeleine in third pace, the winning time 20 minutes 07 seconds.

My two friends from Bilston Town A.C. really distinguished themselves in this superb race with Brenda finishing in a marvellous 8th place, and the young Anita in a gallant 26th spot.

The newspaper report also went on to state that this particular race would be the last in the outstandingly short athletic career of 25 years old Dr. Roma Ashby, owing to the mounting pressure of her work as a doctor, and stated in future she wouldn't have enough free time to train to the high standard she had set herself, her retirement is a sad blow for Midlands Athletics.

I never look back at that report and wonder did Roma really give up her glittering athletic career for a stethoscope around her neck instead of medals, perhaps someone out there in Bugle-land will fill us in and let us know what happened to this truly talented young lady.

Cosford's Last Indoor Meeting of the 1961/62 Season

Before stepping out on my trip to R.A.F. Cosford my diligent Gran (Susan Woodall) had prepared for me an easily digestible lunch, of a double mouth watering helping of fresh salmon, cucumber and tomato sandwiches, this meal would be my last intake of food till early breakfast next morning. With a satisfied stomach I set out on my journey to Cosford at 5.00pm and to once again reiterate the last of my winter's well worn journey to Cosford, which was via the No. 58 trolley-bus from Dudley to Wolverhampton town centre, then the ¼ mile walk across town to Low Level Railway Station, where I boarded a connecting train from (Snow Hill) Birmingham, which then took me on to Cosford Railway Station which borders the air force base, descending from the high platformed station, I was then within a few minutes walk to my checking in point at the military base. After the usual scrupulous check in by the camp's military personnel, I was ushered on to make my way through the side entrance to the largest indoor area in the world, be it still only a giant aircraft hanger, but athletics suited its useful purpose and would be the centre of the universe for each and every athlete competing here for the next few hours this evening. It would have been about 6.25pm when I entered the doors to the arena, this gave me just enough breathing space to verify with the track officials to what event I had been allotted this evening and also collect my running vest numbers, a quick glance down the fixture list confirmed I was running in only one event, the 60 yards short sprint at roughly 7.40pm, this gave me ample time to prepare myself for my race and renew my acquaintances with my fellow athletes before the meeting sparkled into life at 7.00pm.

But tonight's meeting wasn't all about the winning aspirations of the men athletes, because for one in a Blue Moon the lady athletes were taking centre stage for a short time this evening, because the R.A.F. promoters in conjunction with the governing body of the Women's Amateur Athletics Association were holding four sprint races which were classed as the Midland Women's A.A.A. Indoor Championships, with the men playing second fiddle, the supporting match was between yet again a Midlands Select Team versus a Manchester and District Team. My lowly placed event was one of only 4, open races for men this evening.

The supporting men's match between the Midlands and Manchester sparked the meeting into life at 7.00pm, and it was the Midlands team duo of Neil Duggan (Sparkhill Harriers) and Tom Ellwood (Sparkhill Harriers) who got the Midlands team off to a flying start, they dominated this 880 yards from start to finish, but it was the in form Neil Duggan who crossed the finishing line first, some 20 yards ahead of his team mate, with the Manchester runner T. Ash in third place, winning time a splendid 1 min 57.8 seconds.

Later on in the evening the super fit T. Ellwood (Midlands & Sparkhill) made amends by running his socks off to record a thrilling one mile victory from J. Field and J Frost (Manchester) winning time 4 min 29.8 seconds.

The first sprint race on the track was the match 60 yards dash, this race saw the regular competitor at Cosford, Danny Herman (Manchester) pull off a brilliant win by the thickness of his running vest against top international sprinter Berwyn Jones the Birchfield Harrier representing the Midlands winning time a respectable 6.6 seconds, but later on Berwyn Jones got his revenge in the 100 yards match event to soundly defeat Danny Herman and Colin Walsh (Manchester) by a couple of yards in 10.3 seconds.

Great Midlands A.A.A. Sprint Double for Daphne Arden

It was a champagne performance from Daphne Arden (Birchfield Harriers) the Queen of the Midlands track athletics this evening, and I could almost swear the temperature in the arena rose a degree or two when she stepped on the track, and with elegance, style, grace and gazelle like running she powered her way to two Midland Women's A.A.A. Indoor Titles this evening, and was a joy to behold in the 60 yards sprint where she beat another two top class athletes namely Janet Neal (Mitcham L.A.C) and Carole Bailey (Salford Harriers) winning time 7.3 seconds. Daphne's second title race was a much tougher affair, but her determination and powerful running saw her gain a narrow victory over her two talented club mates Ann Barton and Susan Moffat in the respectable time of 11.5 seconds.

My Final 60 Yards Race of the Indoor Season

Very soon after Daphne's race it was my time to hopefully capture some of the buzz of excitement in the crowd which her race had conjured up, and with this being my last indoor race of the winter season, with it went my hopes and dreams of finishing on a glorious winning note, but there was no magic potion I could take, it was whether I had what it takes to win against some very talented young opponents on this very tension packed evening for me, my main opponent who I feared the most in my open 60 yards sprint was Ian Foster (Royton Harriers) the young athlete who so narrowly beat me at the last indoor meeting, could I turn the tables on him and 4 other opponents tonight. I would soon find out as we all came under starter's orders and settled down into our starting blocks. I know as fast start is so paramount to me winning this race, an eerie silence befalls in the arena as the starter calls "get set", foolishly I tried to anticipate the starter's gun and was caught out for a false start. I am now in pickle because another false start from me will disqualify me from the race, the nerve racking tension builds up once more as we re-assemble and settle down into our starting blocks again, within the blink of an eye the starter for the second time fires his pistol, and with that split second of hesitation on my part out of my blocks was all it needed for Ian Foster to power ahead of me from my slow start, and these short 60 yards sprints take no prisoners because it's all over in a flash, because try as I may I couldn't overtake my worthy opponent Ian Foster (Royton Harriers) who beat me eventually by about ½ yard, with Colin Walsh (Sale Harriers) in third place winning time 6.7 seconds.

I had failed to win my last race, but that's life and athletics, but I could take heart from this race and build on it for the forthcoming outdoor track season.

With the curtain call coming down on the meeting at roughly 9.30pm it only needs me to report that the talented Manchester and District Team beat the Midlands Select Team by 55 points to 43 points.

PS: When I journeyed home from Cosford on that late winter's evening of 3 March 1962, I had no inkling this would be the last time I would grace this indoor track at Cosford because the next meeting wouldn't take place here until Saturday 23 November 1963, but I won't go into the whys and wherefores and reasons for that, because I'm jumping ahead of my story.

Yours in sport

Roy Langford