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June 2017: The Resorts of North Devon

Devon is the only county in England with two separate coasts, north and south. It is the latter that is perhaps better known and more ...More
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Athletics Clubs | Add Free Entry

In just about every town and city in Britain there is an athletics club, keeping alive a tradition of sporting endeavour and excellence that can be traced back to the nineteenth century here – Exeter College in Oxford has a claim to be the first institution establishing regular athletics events - but also all the way back to Greece five centuries before the current era.
Most clubs have a junior section, bringing on talent perhaps first spotted at school meetings, and providing the specialist coaching available at all too few of our schools. Some of those juniors will go on to compete at a very high level, and a very select few will represent their country and even reach the pinnacle of participating and even winning in the Olympic Games. Names like Harold Abrahams, Sebastian Coe, Allan Wells, Daley Thompson, David Hemery, Lynn Davies, Mary Peters and Kelly Holmes are all celebrated as British greats for their athletic successes.
But for many their athletic club is not a step to greatness but a social club, where they can meet friends, get together at athletic meetings with acquaintances from other clubs, and even just keep fit with a jog around the track. For some the enjoyment carries on well beyond the normal competitive age with senior events, membership of a club for them becoming a lifelong engagement, something that the government should be pleased about though the sometimes patchy provision of facilities could call official commitment into question.