The major masters championships all seem to follow the same pattern nowadays, leading up to them I get injured and spend the week before wishing friends 'Good luck' through gritted teeth as they change their Facebook location to the departure lounge of some far flung airport whilst on route to their hotel. This is then naturally followed by various puzzled postings about the availability of the athletes registration service that seems to vary erratically from event to event for some bizarre reason. I have a conspiracy theory about this, largely thanks to Allan Leiper I'm afraid. I recon they do it to discourage masters from taking part by making them think they are suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's, I forget which. Then they can spend the money on senior athletics.
Anyway, having arrived at the games, I then have to suffer what the organisers have come up with for a results service so that I can keep track of performances and congratulate my friends as they pick up medals in the events I was planning on competing in too, instead of staying at home and struggling with my latest VAT tax return. Results seem to appear quicker on Facebook than on the official website which is puzzling as the organisers should know first, so why does it become classified information only to be released after 30 years by act of parliament or when accidentally leaked to the press by a whistle blower.
The next phase involves my friends enjoying themselves in host city restaurants and bars whilst celebrating the aforementioned medals or just generally going out and getting pissed and taking various group piccies and selfies. I finish up 'liking' things that I would much prefer to be in. At least now I can spell congratulations as so many of them did so well winning medals.
As the games draw to a close, and I watch Team GB rack up more gold bullion in the relays, the event I enjoy the most due my one and only golden moment two years ago, things move into the "Dave is now friends with Ludmila" phase, begging the question, well from my slightly warped way of thinking anyway, what have they been up to? This is also testament to the spread of the dreaded 'smart phone ', assuming that nobody is sad enough to take their laptop to a Masters championship, other than me. Everyone loves to post the end of meeting party, thus proving that we can organize a piss up in a brewery even if the LOC can't.
Soon after this the photo albums start appearing, often containing sequences of racing pictures out of order, so I can watch medal winning performances backwards, hurdles are best for this as far as I can tell.
