Helen in Melbourne and Beyond

[guestx2]

Helen Clitheroe epitomises all that is best in sport and community not only in our city but in our Country. To those who know Helen it came as no surprise to see her genuine feelings for the youngster who had won Gold.
This City is proud of Helen and I am sure the club is equally proud.
In this the clubs 125th Anniversary year I think it would be right to acknowledge Helen as the number one female all time club athlete.
Hopefully the clubs youngsters will continue to benefit from Helens experiences to become the best they want to be and this applies to all the clubs youngsters not just middle distance, so all coaches should point to Helen as the epitome of Sporting excellence.
Lady Clitheroe of Preston has a ring to it!!!!!! -i f she has a million or 2 to spare!!!! Helen did you wear those shades because your eyes were going like this ?
Have a safe journey home

[salford]

The coverage of Helens efforts is Tuesdays Lancashire Evening Post is a disgrace. A local athlete with a genuine medal chance in a major championship merited barely 10 lines. Football manages to secure three & a half pages including a match report of West Ham v Man City for all those East Enders that live locally....and then over half a page of utter crap publicising that freak Uri Geller, who encourages us to 'focus on David Nugents foot' - You couldnt make it up. The football bias of LEP reporting has been well documented before but these games are every 4 years & local athletes no matter what the sport deserve better. I am mad at myself for buying the rag

[Pete Benson]

:PThis goes back to the LEP topic from several months ago when I stated the LEPs position that if we want any coverage then someone has got to write the articles, it is a pathetic situation but that is their position.
Several weeks ago I contacted Tony Dewhurst regarding this being an appropriate time for Helen to feature in The Big Interview which interested him but so far as I know it never happened.
Perhaps there is room/need for an Athletics in the City magazine for some budding publisher. Perhaps The Harrier needs to be on sale in a few selected outlets in the city especially in this special year.
I hope everyone will get behind Bob Shepherds commemorative card idea and encourage relatives and friends to join in this and any other initiative he, Alan and Maurice throw up this year no pun intended. Having said that what happened to my card from Helen? Oswaldtwistle is a strange place but the local Pony Express come through once a week.
Bob put me down for 2 packs at a tenner each.
Best wishes

Pete Benson

[bobshepherd]

Salford is spot on re LEP. I haven't bought one since my hero Tom Finney retired. Whenever I've had experiance of any article in the LEP, it is true to say that only the facts are wrong! & it's only the rest that is total rubbish, (rhymes with Shap). Uri Geller seems to have stopped telling everybody that he is Michael Jackson's best friend these days........do I need to wonder why? And am I interested anyway? No.
Thanks to Pete Benson for the mention of the Helen Postcards & for his appreciation of her dedication to the Harriers. Anyone not sure can see them at www.prestonharriers.com/ click on "Helen Junior Log".
Re my mention of Junior Writing. I am happy to extend it to Message Board Postings on any subject! So far there is one Junior congratulating Helen! (from Lozzi). Helen deserves lots of them, we've seen her down the track flying round! (All that effort makes me feel dizzy Lozzi).

[Hughie]

I can understand that the LEP will want local clubs to send in their own news etc and that they can't have someone out at every local running event. However I too was dissapointed at the very sparse coverage given to Helen Clitheroe at the Commonwealth games which is obviously a major event.

The LEP really has really gone down hill. Most of the smaller items are about people getting fines for driving offences and these are often repeated in the same edition! Some of the sloppy writing and spelling (even on main headlines) is a joke.


I also think that the BBC early evening highlights show has a little bit too much conversation and not enough action. Fair play to them with the live coverage but obviously it's not on at a good time for most due to the location. Also if you have interactive it's good but a lot of people will be relying on the 1.5 hour highlights show and then they just show athletes coming round the last bend or something without proper intros.
Also today they mentioned about an English athlete not starting in the 400 metres and just said "he does not start, of course" Why of course if you are only seeing the highlights and don't know why he isn't starting.

H

H

[Jessica Crook]

Well done Helen. As Lozz says you are a real inspiration to all the younger athletes. I feel very proud just to train on the same track that you do.
I was extremely proud watching you run in the final, you have put our club on the map, "The famous Preston Harriers"

Well done again hope to cya soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[rick]

My card arrived in Preston yesterday. It will make the trans-Atlantic trip with the next Harrier.

Helen. Thanks for putting this together.

[bobshepherd]

Helen in Melbourne has so rapidly become the best read posting ever! This Helen, is a sure indication of just what the members think of you & your dedication. Well done again. You'll probably need ear muffs when you get down to the track again,to protect you from the cheering! Those kids are so proud of you, & so grateful that you took time out in Oz to give them something that enabled them with the postcard, to share your experiance. If anyone hasn't seen more of your efforts, they can be seen at www.prestonharriers.com then click on Helen's Junior Appeal

Also The Harrier is now available on line. The centre pages are dedicated to the subject. www.prestonharriers.com/harrier_magazine.htm

There is also an article written by Steve Smith our new World Champion! Well done Steve.

[bobshepherd]

Ken Mackay who writes the regular column in the Harrier "The Memories of a Lifetime Member" sent me an e-mail just now re an article in a Blackpool paper today. here it is...
Dear Bob, Extract from Steve Simpsons article on above (Gazette, Bpool., 30-03-06):
The 1500 m. was won, entirely unexpectedly, by Englands Lisa Dobriskey, and as the post-race interviews on the BBC clearly showed, it could not have happened to a nicer person.
Prestons Heln Clitheroe, who looked for a time as though she would win gold herself, was run out of it yards from the finish, missing out on the medals in fourth.
Swallowing her personal disappointment, Clitheroe showed wonderful grace and sportsmanship to be the first to congralulate the winner and was genuinely pleased for her teammate.
Ken Mac
I swallow my personal disappointment about the Press! What a great tribute to Helen, albeit from Blackpool!

[bobshepherd]

If you don't get The Citizen Newspaper, you can read on line what they have said about Helen. (A good bit more than the LEP)! & next week they are featuring our Steve.
www.prestoncitizen.co.uk/news/prestonnews/display.var.718630.0.harriers_so_proud_of_helen.php

[bobshepherd]

Helen in Melbourne may now draw to a close, cos she ain't there no more! She's back home & after a full day training yesterday (5 miles in morning & free weights in afternoon) ran out in the Interclub last night & beat me. Helen actually was very easily first lady & was sixth overall. Steve Hallas once again wupped her, he was 4th. Well done Helen & Steve. Both Harriers' Men's & Women's teams took first place. Our first ever V60 team was second! Well done Joe Howard, and another old fogey. 3 of the Ladies group ran very well, considering the weekend prevous' alcohol intake. (Ettrick Bridge).
So once more, maybe finally, well done Helen for your efforts in Oz, and for your thoughtfulness towards our Juniors.