It
was thirty-two years ago on Saturday, 6 April 2013, that a gentleman by the
name of Bob Champion (incredibly apropos last name) won the Grand National on a
marvellous horse named Aldiniti. The
race actually took place on Saturday, 4 April 1981, at Aintree racecourse in my
old hometown of Liverpool.
First,
I want to briefly talk about the time before the race with a few things of note
here…
- Bob Champion had been diagnosed with cancer and went through chemotherapy and recovered.
- Aldiniti spent six months in his stable with a plaster cast on his leg because of injury; a vet had even recommended he be humanely put to sleep because he would probably never race again.
- The Grand National is a gruelling race in which horse and jockey have to jump over thirty fences, some of them brutal, on a circuit that runs just longer than four miles; a true test of stamina, courage and focus.
They
even made a movie; it is called ‘Champions’.
A great name for a movie because horse and jockey were both champions of
the highest calibre.
In
April of 1984 a young man took a young lady on a date. It was their first date. They went to the movies. They watched a movie called Champions. They already knew, within their own hearts,
that they were in love with each other and had to find their way through the
clumsiness of youth to share how they felt.
They failed. They broke up for
about twelve months before he had the courage to ask her out once again. He had to get over the death of someone he
already loved and would never come back.
She felt that she could not compete with a woman who was already
dead. Such is life (and death);
complicated, confusing, complex.
I
was that young man. That young lady was,
and is, my lovely bride of over twenty-six years. I cannot speak for my wife, but that movie
touched me in a way I had never been touched.
It showed me, for the first time in my young life, how to face
adversity. In this movie I was watching
Bob Champion go through what we all wish to avoid; cancer, and the treatment. He went through that treatment, whilst a
horse that could have been put down was trapped, literally, in a box for half a
year. And they both stuck with it and
came through. But here’s the thing; they
not only came through, but they went on to win one of the most famous horse
races in the world. There is not a
single horse-racing fan that has not heard of the Grand National, I would
wager!
You
can pay good money to go and listen to a voice of value at a seminar (and there
is nothing wrong with that) to find inspiration for ones’ self. Or you can spend about $10.00 on Amazon and
buy this movie. Not only is the movie a
wonderfully up-lifting true story, but the musical score is an almost eclectic
mix of James Horner’s work on Titanic and the work of Vangelis with Chariots of
Fire. The music is simply uplifting as a
stand-alone item; but combined with the story in this movie it is elevated way
beyond that.
I
cannot be certain, but this movie may be the reason that I have the life I
enjoy today. It showed me how to have
courage even when unsure and afraid. It
showed me that we all have our road-blocks in life and that we have to work
around them or plow through them; you decide.
It showed me to never give in; I believe that one of my mentors, Sir
Winston Churchill, said the very same thing during the adversity of World War Two. It showed me that just when you think it is
over; done and dusted, it is not because you get yourself up and you dust
yourself down and by the Lord God Almighty you move forward and you go on.
Onwards
and upwards!
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