2.6. Racing.
There are all kinds of racing in England – horseracing, motorcar racing, boat-racing, dog-racing, and even races for donkeys. On sports days at schools boys and girls run races and even train for them. There is usually a mile race for older boys and the one who wins it is certainly a good runner.
Usually those who run a race go as fast as possible, but there are some races in which everybody has to go very carefully in order to avoid falling. There is "three-legged" race, for example, in which a pair of runners has the right leg of one tied to the left leg of the other. If they try to go too fast they are certain to fall. And there is the "egg-and-spoon" race, in which each runner must carry an egg in a spoon without letting it drop. If the egg does fall, it must be picked up with the spoon, not the fingers.
The most famous boat race in England is between Oxford and Cambridge. It is rowed over a course on the river Thames, and thousands of people go to watch it. The eight oarsmen and a cox in each boat have great struggle, and at the end there is usually only a short distance between the winners and the losers. The University boat race started in 1820 and has been rowed on the Thames almost every spring since 1836. To be a member of a boat race crew – to win a rowing blue17- is the most cherished honour that can be gained by any undergraduate of either of the Universities. The crews of the boats, chosen from the members of the college Boat Clubs, train together for twelve weeks before the race. On boat race Saturday the banks along the Thames and the bridges are crowded with people who come out to watch the race sporting a dark-blue or a pale-blue rosette thus demonstrating their preference.18At the Henley Regatta in Oxfordshire, founded in1839, crews from all over the world compete each July in various kinds of race over a straight course of 1 mile 550 yards (about 2,1 km).
Naturally animals don't race unless they made to run in some way, though it often seems as if little lambs are running races with each other in the fields in spring.
Dogs won't race unless they have something to chase, and so they are given a hare to go after, either a real one or an imitation one. Horses are ridden, of course.
2.5.1. Horse racing
Everybody knows about the love of the English for animals in general and horses particularly. So English people adore horse racing a lot. Horse racing is a long established and popular sport in Britain, both 'flat racing' and 'national hunt racing' (where there are jumps for the horses), sometimes known as 'steeplechase'. They are administrated by the Jockey Club. Flat racing is held from late March to early November and steeplechase – from August to early June. In flat racing, the horses run on level, or flat ground; in steeplechase they jump over the obstacles (fences). The former became known as 'the sport of kings' in the seventeenth century, and modern British royalty has close connections with sport involving horses. Some members of the royal family own racehorses and attend annual race meetings; some are also active participants in the sport of polo and show-jumping. Princess Anna, the elder daughter of Queen Elisabeth II, was a member of the Olympic team in show-jumping, and Prince Charles took an active part in playing polo. There are several kinds of them. The main ones are Classic Races – five main races of the year: "Two thousand Guineas", "One Thousand Guineas", "Derby", "Oaks", and "St. Leger". But besides them there are several more rather important – "Ascot" and "Grand National".
"Two Thousand Guineas", "One Thousand Guineas"– these races are held annually for three-year-old mares at the hippodrome of Newmarket, county Suffolk.
"Derby" and "Oaks" are held at the hippodrome "Epsom Downs" near London. The distance is 2400 metres. For the first time they were organised by Earl of Derby in 1779 ("Oaks") and in 1780 ("Derby"). Since that time they have taken place every year. But "Derby" is for the horses of three years old, and "Oaks are for mares of the same age.
"St. Leger", I think, is the second oldest official horse race in Britain. It was held for the first time in 1776. It is called after its organiser, Colonel St. Leger. It is also for three-year-old mares. The race takes place in Doncaster, Yorkshire.
But the most fashionable and aristocratic are four-day races at Ascot near Windsor. The full name of it is "Ascot Meeting" or "Ascot Course". Every June crowds of people dressed in the latest fashion, representatives of the most noble and famous names, including the Royal Family (the Queen Mother adored this race till the day of her death at the age of 101) gather at the hippodrome to watch the race. And there is even the Royal Enclosure. This competition started in 1711.
"Grand National" is the greatest horse steeplechase of the year. It is held in spring at the hippodrome Aintree near Liverpool. The distance is 7,2 km.19
Horse racing is big business, along with the betting which sustains it. Every day of the year, except Sundays, there is a race meeting at least at one of Britain's several dozen racecourses. Nine-tenth of the betting is done by people all over the country, by post or at local betting shops, and it is estimated that a tenth of all British men bet regularly on horse races, many of them never going to a race course.
Other kinds of sport
Almost every sport existing is played in Britain. As well as the kinds of sports that have already been mentioned hockey, mostly on a field, but also on ice, is quite popular. And both basketball for men and netball for women are growing in popularity.
Also, an ancient game of rounders is becoming more and more popular in England. This game is rather similar to American baseball and ancient Russian lapta, but it certainly doesn't have the same image. It has a long history and usually rounders has been played at village fetes. Though it is not considered to be a proper sport by some people. But now the situation is gradually changing. It has recently become the second most popular sport for state schools in Britain. More traditional sports such as cricket and rugby are being abandoned in favour of rounders, which is much easier to organize. Rounders requires less special equipment, less money and boys and girls can play it together. It also takes up less time. It is especially attractive for state schools with little money and time to spare. More than a quarter of all state school sport fields is now used for rounders. Only football, which is played on nearly half of all state school fields, is more popular.
The British have a preference for team games. Individual sports such as athletics, cycling, gymnastics and swimming have comparatively small followings. Large numbers of people become interested in them only when British competitors do well in international events. The more popular individual sports are those in which socialising is an important aspect (such as tennis, golf, sailing and snooker). It is notable in this context that, apart from international competitions, the only athletics event that generates a lot of enthusiasm is the annual London Marathon20. Most of the tens of thousands of participants in this race are 'fun runners' who are merely trying to complete it, sometimes in outrageous costumes, and so collect money for charity. The biggest new development in sport has been with long-distance running. Now the annual London Marathon is like a carnival, with a million of people watching as the world's star runners are followed by 25,000 ordinary people trying to complete the course. Most of them succeed. Many thousands of people take part in local marathons all over Britain.
"Jogging", as a healthy outdoor exercise, became popular in the 1970s and soon after that more and more people took it seriously. Now every morning one can see a lot of people, young and not very young, even the whole families, jogging along the paths of numerous parks of London or along the empty streets of the city.
Scottish Highland Games (the other name of them is Highland Gathering), at which sports (including tossing the caber, putting the weight and throwing the hammer), dancing and piping competitions take place, attract large numbers of spectators from all over the world. These meetings are held every year in different places in the Scottish Highlands. They include all clans living in Scotland. And the opening ceremony is very picturesque. All these clans led by their pipers, dressed in their kilts, tartan plaids, sporran – a fur bag, and plumed bonnets, march round the arena. According the colours and stripes of tartans everybody can recognise to what clan this or that person belongs. The first part of the Games includes bagpipe performance and dancing competitions. Dances, such as the Sword Dance and the Reel, are performed to bagpipe music by men and women. Then highlanders compete in heavy athletic events, some of which, such as tossing the caber, are Highland in origin. All competitors wear Highland dresses, as do most of the judges. The competitions take place in a large roped-off arena. Several events take place at the same time. There is also a competition for the best-dressed Highlander.
No one knows exactly when the men of the Highlands first gathered to wrestle, toss cabers, throw hammers, put weights, dance and play music. The Games reflected the tough life of the early Scots.
Muscle power was their means livelihood – handling timber, lifting rocks to build houses, hunting. From such activities these sport contests have developed. Tossing the caber originated among woodsmen who wanted to cast their logs into the deepest part of a river. Tossing the caber is not a question of who can throw it the farthest. For a perfect throw the caber must land in the 12-o'clock position after being thrown in a vertical semicircle. A caber is a very heavy and long log (about 6 m long).21
Conker Contest. Every year, usually on the Wednesday nearest to the 20th of October, about a hundred of competitors gather to take part in the annual conker competition in a chosen place. The conkers are collected by children from an avenue of chestnut trees. The conkers are carefully examined and numbered on their flat sides, then bored and threaded on nylon cord. Each competitor is allowed an agreed number of 'strikes', and a referee is present to see a fair play. There are prizes for winners and runners-up. The contest usually starts about 7 p.m.
British Marble championships. It is said that in Elizabethan times two suitors for a village beauty settled the matter by means of a marble contest. What is now the Marble Championship is believed to be a survival of that contest. The game of marbles dates back to Roman times. Teams of six compete on a circular, sanded rink. Forty-nine marbles are placed in the centre of the rink. And the players try to knock out as many as possible with their own marble. This marble is rested on the index finger and flicked with the thumb. The two highest individual scores battle for the championship with only thirteen marbles on the rink. Similar contests are now held in some other English-speaking countries.
Curling became very popular in Britain only in the last decade of the 20th century, though this game is Scottish by origin and it started around three hundred years ago. Some people call this kind of sports "a housewives' sport" but it is rather attractive and intellectual. There are two teams with four people on each team in curling. They play on a sheet of ice that is 45 metres long and 4.3 metres wide. Each player slides two heavy stones towards the 'house' circle at the opposite end of the ice sheet. The stones weigh almost twenty kilos. Each stone is flat on the top and the bottom and has a handle on the top. The player swings the stone off the ice and it curls as it slides along. While one player throws the stone, his teammates sweep in front of the stone. This smoothes the ice and the stone can move faster. The captain of the team cries "Sweep!" and the teammates start sweeping the ice with mops. The task of the game is to kick out the stones of the other team.22
Water sports in Great Britain are based on its long coastline as well as many lakes and rivers. Sailing is particularly popular and the Royal Yachting Association has over 1,500 clubs throughout the country. There are a large number of sailing events in Britain. One of the world's principal regattas is held each year at Cowes in the Isle of Weight. The rowing calendar includes the Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race, the Head of the River Race and the Henley Regatta, where the teams fight to win the Grand Challenge Cup. All these events are held on the river Thames. Other popular sports include canoeing, rowing, water-skiing and windsurfing.
Among the most popular indoor games one can find squash, snooker (a kind of a billiard), darts and badminton.
Squash is a kind of lawn tennis; the difference is that a sportsman beats the ball not to the opponent but to the wall. So you can play by yourself or with a partner. Squash is played in a rather long room without windows.
Snooker is very popular in England. There are National championships held every year. In every city and town there are clubs and schools of snooker. And every large shop of sportswear and sport equipment sells special tables, balls made of ivory or special plastic and billiard cues.
Darts sometimes is called a national indoors game. One can see dart-boards everywhere: in the houses and at schools, in students hostels and in pubs, at offices and even in hospitals. But it is any pub where you can always see a dart-board, and on most evenings you will find the game of darts being played. Darts, of course, is an English game, and it developed from archery that was much encouraged for military reasons during Middle Ages. This game in its modern condition was mentioned for the first time in a 16th century description of a tournament, where people threw missiles at a target by hand, instead of using a bow. The Pilgrim Fathers, who sailed in the Mayflower to America in 1620, played darts during their voyage.
The dart-board has numbered sections, and the score depends on the section in which the dart lands. The darts are small, above five inches long (12,5 cm), and have a steel point, a metal body, and three feathers. A set of three darts is used and each player throws them in turn. Expert players usually have their own private sets of darts, but pubs always provide a set for occasional performers. In this game one should have a good eye and steady hand.23