Scottish Distance Running: How We Get What We Value

The Start

 

Welcome to this inaugural edition of this new blog, The Last Lap. 

 

For as long as this retired athlete can continue to summon the adrenalin fuelled, sweaty, panting, edge-of-your-spikes excitement to keep it going, this blog proposes to provide an independent opinion and assessment of the Scottish endurance running community spanning the disciplines of track, road and cross country. 

 

Equipped with a precarious wi-fi signal, but a steadfast belief in the value of his own opinion, I will seek to make some sense of the Scottish distance running community. Where are we going and who is going to get there first?

 

Reflection

 

Rather than jump into short term forensic examination of the runners and riders within the community at present, on this inaugural week, I thought that it might be an opportune time to take a moment to reflect on our Scottish distance running community following nine months of stumbling from one metaphorical steeplechase barrier to another, interspersed by some particularly traumatic water jumps. Whilst trying to show COVID a clean pair of heels, sometimes it feels that we're into a good stride, and sometimes it can feel like we're flapping around in the deep end of the water jump with one spike on.  

In the 2020 edition of the BBC Reith Lectures, Dr Mark Carney - the former Governer of the Bank of England - provided a free public lecture titled 'How We Get What We Value'. At the outset, former Governer Carney poses some paradoxes; why is water - which is essential for life - virtually free, whereas diamonds - which have "virtually no utility beyond their beauty" - are so expensive?

 The reader will ask what this inaugural blog on endurance running in Scotland seeks to gain in referencing a former Bank of England Governer, but as the proverbial coach said to their athlete: "Hold on".

 

We as a sports community have had ample time in recent months to reflect on what holds value in our lives. Dr Carney notes, in his lecture, that there are areas of our lives which seemingly hold no monetary value, but which we spend much of our time and effort in engagement with. Dr Carney goes on to assess the celebrated study of how to incentivise children who are raising money for charity. Do the students raise more money if they were paid? The answer is - no. The children motivated only by charitable and civic virtue raised the most. 

In the face of a COVID pandemic, there was no government funding for the groups that sowed and donated make-shift PPE, for those that helped elderly neighbours in their communities, and those one million people that volunteered for the NHS. It seems that we get what we value, irrespective of what the market dictates.

Dr Mark Carney went on to note that values and value are related, but distinct.

"When people are engaged in an activity that they see as intrinsically valuable, offering them money weakens their motivation, by depreciating or even crowding out the intrinsic interest or commitments. In these ways, the spread of the market can undermine community, one of the most important determinants of happiness."   

"Our general failure to put a price on social infrastructure and social capital can lead to underinvestment in what matters for wellbeing."  

I know that many in the endurance community in Scotland will agree that we do matters for wellbeing and matters for community. Social infrastructure isn't the term I would have readily applied to the Scottish Athletics distance community, but actually, it does feel quite apt. When our weekly gatherings are torn from us, it is perhaps in the time that follows that we come to realise the inherent social value of our competitive sport; our gathering together in the pursuit of common goals; to run faster, and to break some PBs. #SALBelong begins to ring true.

So irrespective of whether you, the reader, have been fortunate enough to be able to attend and play your role in the cross country in Perth this weekend, or whether you are going to have to wait a few more weeks, do take confidence in the knowledge that we get what we value. If we as a Scottish Athletics distance community value our sport, then we will get it, and no matter how adverse the circumstances. The virtual races, the return to formal training, or simply lacing up and getting out the door, are all testament to this.

The Last Lap

During the course of the coming weeks, this blog will begin its task in reporting the news of the distance running world in Scotland. Will King Crowe continue his reign over the country? Will we get the National in our usual format? Will some Scottish athletes come home with some hardware off the plane from Tokyo?

That will follow in the future editions of the blog, however, at this early part of the race, this correspondent would like to take a moment to highlight a young man named Stuart.

Like many people in his Scottish community, Stuart found himself developing a fondness for running in summer 2020. On his own, and with little else to do, he would head out every other day, and run a steady 10K at his own pace. Having developed some initial enthusiasm, in October 2020, Stuart signed up to his local athletic club, started training with a keen group of runners there, and continued to develop. 

Last Saturday, as part of the Scottish Athletics Virtual 10K, Stuart set off on a bid to break 36mins with the support of some fellow club members. He had run around 36:20mins in late summer on his own, but having trained with a Scottish Athletics club, he was hopeful of improving this time, and perhaps even getting below a coveted 36mins barrier. Last Saturday, Stuart ran 35:01mins. 

There is no monetary value associated with Stuart's run on Saturday, but it was achieved within a social infrastructure that seeks to better their members, create community, develop happiness, and it means more to him than diamonds. 9 months into a pandemic, with little formal club training, and with almost no physical races available to this new-comer to the sport, Stuart just ran a 10K PB. Irrespective of the chaos around us, it does seem that we get what we value.

 Michael Wright, Sunday 6 December 2020