Athletic pursuits

A THOUGHT occurred with the news that Ely wants to be part of the 2012 Olympics. With only six years to go they had better get building fast. If the example of the new stadium at Wembley is anything to go by, they had better break ground tomorrow if they

A THOUGHT occurred with the news that Ely wants to be part of the 2012 Olympics.

With only six years to go they had better get building fast. If the example of the new stadium at Wembley is anything to go by, they had better break ground tomorrow if they want a bike shed, let alone anything bigger.

The continuing saga of the Paradise Pool doesn't actually fill you with hope, either. On reflection, the Paradise Pool on-off-closed-open story would seem to say that, using the Wembley example, Ely is the exact place for the Olympics.

There were lots of blokes getting wet and tired on the Thames at the weekend when the Oxford University foreign rowers beat the Cambridge University foreign rowers. There were men from Germany, Tasmania, Canada and the United States and a few from these shores, I believe.

Germans, Australians and people from the New World are all very well, but if you are going to use people from abroad to row boats, surely there is only one place to recruit.

Next year, I shall expect to see the Cambridge boat crewed entirely by people whose history is based around rowing.

Next year, I shall expect the Cambridge crew to be made up of Vikings.