The passion of the supporters, the atmosphere and the volume of sound from all the matches have been impressive. England have stuttered through all their matches but are still in contention by reaching the quarterfinals.
The English media and many fans have been less than impressed with the way the very talented team have performed and keep hoping for a spark from their team. In Scotland, there is never great enthusiasm for their Sassenach neighbours.
The tournament has been one for underdogs with Slovenia almost snatching victory in the final minute against the much higher-ranked Portuguese team following a saved Ronaldo penalty only minutes earlier. There was to be no Slovenian miracle with the Portuguese goalkeeper Diego Costa saving the first three penalties in the shoot-out to secure victory for Portugal.
With football dominating British media, and with the start of Wimbledon and the Tour de France, it was hard to find information about the British Athletics Championships doubling as the Paris Olympic trials.
Finding television coverage was even harder.
It is rather like New Zealand Track and Field which rarely gains much media coverage except at Olympics and Commonwealth Games when suddenly notice is taken and the sport is centre stage.
Britain has a number of bright Olympic hopes, as has New Zealand, and individual Olympic success will briefly make athletes household names and strong candidates for annual sports awards.
The Mexico Olympics in 1968 had track and field at the start of the games. That was never repeated as track and field is always a highlight of any Olympic Games and I am sure Paris will be no exception.
Arrival at my brother’s home at Lochwinnoch near Glasgow and good internet coverage meant an immediate return to thoughts of New Zealand and of cross country.
I had emails from runners about their training, notably the Whanganui Collegiate captain Oliver Jones who has the Athletics New Zealand Cross Country Championships at Mission Bay Vineyard in Napier in early August as a major target.
He will be running in Taupō this weekend at the North Island Championships which is always a key event on the cross country calendar.
It is pleasing to see good Whanganui Harrier Club entries at the championships with a good mix of age groups travelling north. The Masters group includes World Masters track and field world record holder Sally Gibbs, Bex and Brendon Sharratt, Paula and Robert Conder, Di Matthews, Mignon Stevenson and Russell Spencer.
Christian Conder, returned from Florida, will join his parents and Jones will be joined by the Whanganui Collegiate junior captain Hannah Byam in the confirmed entries. I will hopefully have details on results and performances for next week’s column.
I also had encouraging requests for training from three other athletes who hope to join Oliver Jones in Auckland in early September to run in a mixed team at an inaugural schools’ event in Auckland during Secondary Schools Tournament Week.
This is an exciting new initiative.
I also had a scheduled pre-breakfast Zoom call regarding selection for a New Zealand Schools cross country team to compete in the Australian Schools Championships near Melbourne in late August.
The top 10 boys and girls in the senior grade at last month’s New Zealand Championships have automatic places should they wish to compete, with a total team of 12 boys and 12 girls travelling.
It is encouraging that, in the boys, nine of the top 10 wish compete and in the girls seven (some have other commitments at the time), clearly illustrating the development opportunity offered and easing the selection demand.
