Grassmarket

And a predictable disaster when the big group follows.

Already looking like we have a winner with Lizzie Deignan two minutes up with 45k to go. Just a smart move to be out in front, the second group are skidding & falling all over the place. Some very fine heaps of manure on display here: local cows have every reason to be proud.

Very rainy, windy & muddy on the old Napoleonic pavés today. Some of them could fall into the maize fields & never be seen again.

First pro win for Stephen Williams in , and takes the lead in the overall!

And it seems there’s also a marathon in….errm….Košice.

London Marathon on Sunday morning. Here’s a preview. https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-label-road-races/news/london-marathon-kosgei-kitata-jepkosgei-legese

Audio cassettes though. As it happens I was in a discussion on another board recently about VHS tapes. Consensus is that they are only still watchable if you have a CRT TV. Because of the way modern HD digital sets automatically try to upscale degraded images though, they look even worse than they did back in the day.

Just searching in the far depths of my kitchen cupboard just now and have found a treasure trove of unused C90 cassettes! Good ones too - TDK.

Lots of curling on YT this weekend. The Women’s Masters from Basel, and a Mixed Doubles from Bern. All the big names involved in the women’s competition. https://www.youtube.com/user/curlingchampionstour

Eurosport have highlights from the Irish women’s race, the Ras mBhan (which is Irish for “The Women’s Race”) tomorrow mirning.

Turning the clock back a fair few years in Sicilia - Vincenzo Nibali attacks a few km from the top of the last big climb, Movistar & Alejandro Valverde can’t react, & Nibali beats Valverde to both stage & his home Tour. Nibali’s first win since the 2019 TdF, so a very emotional day.

Amateur boxing corrupt from top to bottom, according to this evidence. It’s a great shame, because it ought to be one of those sports where poor nations can do as well as rich ones. Always was suspicious after the very transparent judging system used at Beijing 2008 was changed back to the subjective judges’ verdict system in 2012. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-10049895/Olympics-boxing-judges-bribed-thousands-dollars-hidden-toothpaste-tubes.html

Next year's Tour Down Under & associated events cancelled because Australians are a bunch of girly men.

Jess Lowden beats the Women’s Hour Record. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/58751483

The good news: the wild population of Catalonia is thriving. The bad news: they are attacking the world’s favourite Columbian/Lebanese pop singer. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58747464

More details on the story from yesterday. Long way to go before redicisions are made, if ever. Investigators fear eleven boxing bouts at the Rio Olympic Games were fixed by officials, including GB boxer Joe Joyce's controversial defeat against France's Tony Yoka in a gold medal fight. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-10045585/Investigators-fear-11-boxing-matches-fixed-Rio-2016.html

Of course the logical solution would be to have two categories, a defined category for Women & an Open category for everyone else. But i doubt that logical solutions are what the gender lobby are trying to attain. Transgender athletes have an unfair advantage in female sports and a new 'universal' category should be introduced for them, a major review has suggested. The report, from Sport England, concluded that trans women have an advantage in some sports, even when testosterone levels have been reduced. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/58732146

Problem is he’ll also have to meet the very strict NZ national qualifying criteria - effectively world level top 12 or something, like

The idea that the judging at Olympic boxing is rigged will come as no surprise to anyone, but it would be a major shock if anyone on the IOC were willing to do very much about it. Especially to the extent of re-awarding medals.... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/boxing/article-10042649/Joe-Joyce-Olympic-gold-fix-probe-loss-Tony-Yoka-Rio-2016.html

Competing for Lamin Deen, very much Britain's B sled. I'm sure he'll do a very good job because he has always been a truly professional athlete, but it does seem a bit of a publicity stunt to get sponsors onboard.

Ice hockey is not like soccer or volleyball. There is a risk of physical injury when hugely mismatched teams play, not just embarrassing scores.

Or “Kash” as she is known to us monosyllabic anglo-saxons.

When I saw her I am embarassed to admit I thought “That’s a rider in Hungarian colours….no, can’t be” and ran through my mental database of nations with red, white & green flags. Well, it wasn’t Lebanon either.

British team tactics also rubbish. Worked mid-race, did all the chasing down late race, were exhausted for the last 2km.

10k to go, and the Dutch have seven riders in with a chance.