On The Run

Sport So congratulations to Paula Radcliffe on winning the London Marathon for third time, despite needing a toilet break half way through (it happens to us all). I'm watching the other women athletes coming to the finish and what am I noticing? Heather Small singing Proud seems to be on a loop. And it's excrutating. When I was volunteering for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester and went to the opening event, Small turned up to sing this for the finale. That was in 2002 and it was a fairly stirring moment, because it felt like we were all part of something and it was huge. We were, and it was. Now the 2012 Olympic bid seems to have inherited it and they wheel it out at every event -- it's their theme tune. Couldn't they have thought of something better? Lyrics are nice and it's not sung badly. Repetition is breeds contempt though and I'm getting really contemptful. But here it is clanging about over ... and over ... and over again. Is it really the thing you want to hear after running twenty-six odd miles?