PHIL Mowbray, a 21-year-old Edinburgh University student, made history
yesterday when he became the first member of Hunters Bog Trotters to
gain full selection for Britain.
But the honour could prompt the club to ask him to resign. For, in
being one of four Scots named to compete against Russia, in the 3000
metres at Birmingham's National Arena a week on Saturday, Mowbray has
broken an unwritten HBT club rule.
Trotters frown on egotism, those who take themselves too seriously,
and particularly on the too-intense pursuit of excellence. Winning races
is discouraged, even ensured, by the most bizarre means. Some of their
number, for example, even stop during road and cross-country races, when
the location of hostelries permits, to partake of a pint, ideally of
real ale, before continuing.
Tom McKean, Brian Whittle, and Mel Neef, from mainstream Scottish
clubs, may find it hard to adjust to Fifer Mowbray.
They are a non-elitist bunch, the chocolate-vested Trotters. They take
their name from an area in Edinburgh's Holyrood Park, and not, as the
Scottish Amateur Athletic Association believed when initially denying
them the right to the name, from anything with lavatorial connotations.
The most coveted club honour is the Golden Trotter vest, awarded to
the last person after each race, and passed, unwashed, week by week, to
the successive last man. The holder at the season's end wins the Golden
Trotter -- a freshly severed pig's foot from the local butcher, which is
then carefully spray-painted gold.
Mowbray, however, while showing hedonistic tendencies to compare with
the best of his colleagues, is repeatedly showing what his club will
view as a disconcerting ability, and a British vest will rank as the
ultimate heresy.
Last year, he was Britain's fastest under-23 metric miler, ranked
fourth senior in Scotland at 1500m with 3-41.63. On Hogmanay he stunned
English pundits when he scored a runaway victory in a 3000m
cross-country event at Durham -- a special race for track runners, in
which his victims included former world 1500m champion Steve Cram, and
major championship medallists Mark Rowland, John Mayock, and Matthew
Yates.
McKean, who took the Scottish West District 800m title last weekend at
the Kelvin Hall, is a predictable choice for the McDonald's
International, teaming up with Craig Winrow for the distance at which he
is still reigning world indoor champion.
Whittle, twice European Indoor Championship silver medallist at 400m,
returns to indoor racing for the first time in almost two years, chosen
for that distance and the relay. Neef, who broke Linsey Macdonald's
12-year-old national 200m record last weekend, has declined individual
selection, and goes only in the 4X400m relay.
Britain lost last year's match by 28 points, and though Colin Jackson
goes in both the 60m hurdles and flat 60m, and John Regis in the 200m,
several leading performers, including Linford Christie, are unavailable.
Great Britain team:
Men. 60m: C Jackson, M Rosswess. 200m: J Regis, D Braithwaite. 400m: B
Whittle, G Bullock. 800m: C Winrow, T McKean. 1500m: B Treacy, I Grime.
3000m: P Mowbray, S White. 60m hurdles: Jackson, T Jarrett. High jump: D
Grant, B Reilly. Long jump: F Salle, B Williams. Triple jump: J Golley,
F Agyepong. Pole vault: K Hughes, A Ashcroft. Shot: M Proctor, L Newman.
4 x 400m relay from: Whittle, Bullock, M Hylton, K Ulyatt, J Baulch, A
Condon.
Women. 60m: S Douglas, P Thomas. 200m: Thomas, S Williams. 400m: S
Earnshaw, T Joseph. 800m: S Bowyer, C Dawson. 1500m: A Griffiths, L
Gibson. 3000m: A Wyeth, D Gunning. 60m hurdles: J Agyepong, S
Farquharson. High jump: D Marti, L Haggett. Long jump: Y Idowu, D Lewis.
Triple jump: A Hansen, M Griffith. Pole vault: K Staples, P Wilson.
Shot: J Oakes, M Lynes. 4 x 400m relay from: Earnshaw, Joseph, M Neef, E
Sutcliffe, M Thomas, N Crowther.
* PETER Fleming, who withdrew from the Scotland team for last year's
Commonwealth Games for personal reasons, finished leading Briton in the
Houston marathon in the USA. Fleming, recently based in Colorado, but
from the Leslie Deans club in Edinburgh, recorded 2hr 13min 35sec,
placing fifth in a race won by Peter Fonseca (Canada, 2-11-52).
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