Home > Blog > That's no lady... that's an MP
Recent Posts
Categories
Archives
Tags
Amec UK, aneorbic digestion, Anglian Water, Battersea Power Station, BG Group, Billing, Bournemouth & West Hampshire Water, Brighton, Bristol Water, British Energy, British Gas, Bu, Buchanan, Business Stream, Cambridge Water, Canatxx, CCWater, Central Networks, Centrica, Chapelcross, charity, Cheung Kong Infrastructure, civil engineering, Climate Change, Commons, competition, Competition Commission, complaints, construction, consultation, Consumer Focus, contractors, copper, copper theft, Cows, Cushnie Wind Energy, customers, Defra, Deutsche Bank, Diesel, Disability Sports Awards, distributed generation, distribution, Dong, drainage, Drax, DTI, DWI, EA Technology, Ecotricity, EDF, EDF Energy, EIUG, electricity, electricity distribution, electricity generation, electricity retail, electricity transmission, emissions, Emissions, ENA, Energus, Energy, Energy Bill, energy efficiency, energy retail, Energy Saving Trust, Energywatch, environment, Environment Agency, Eon, Eon UK, Essex & Suffolk Water, European Union, ExxonMobil, finance, flooding, FoE, FOG, fuel poverty, gas, Gas Natural, Gazprom, GdF, GDF Suez, George Bush, Golden Eagles, Greenpeace, HSE, Hutton, Ireland, Kingsnorth, LDA, leakage, legislation, Logica, lorry, maintenance, Malcolm Wicks, Metal theft, metering, Middle East, National Grid, Northern Gas Networks, Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Water, Northumbrian Water, Npower, nuclear, Ofgem, Ofwat, Ombudsman Service, ownership, pan-utility, people, planning, policy, politics, protest, renewables, RWE, RWE Npower, Scotia Gas Networks, Scotland, Scottish and Southern Energy, Scottish Water, ScottishPower, security, Severn Trent, Severn Trent Water, sewerage, smart meters, South East Water, South West Water, Southern Water, streetworks, tariffs, Thames Water, United Utilities, Veolia, wastewater, water, Water UK, Welsh Water, Wessex Water, Wics, wildlife, wind, Yorkshire Water
22 September 2009
Don't you just love the self-deprecatory humour of our elected representatives? The great man muses thus after listening to Tim Farron MP's speech at the Lib-Dem party conference in Bournemouth this week.
Fresh-faced Farron is the shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, so he keeps tabs on water issues.
This week he revealed that not only was he a keen but "awful" (his description) fell runner, he had won an award for pounding up the slopes of the Lake District and was officially the 2009 Coniston Fell Race Over-60s Female Champion.
This is his story, as told to conference delegates on Monday.
"You may have seen me in the last couple of days looking unfathomably attractive in my somewhat brief fell-running shorts and it is a measure of the discipline that we have in this party that you have all managed to control yourselves. Well, I'm keen but I'm not very good. But over the summer I won an award.
"I ran in the Coniston fell race - it's six miles, three miles to the top of Coniston Old Man - 2,500 feet up - and three miles back down. The winner did it in 52 minutes. It took me 58... just to get to the top!
"I finished in 89, and after I'd got my breath back I was asked to present the prizes.
"I gave out the prize for the fastest man, and then for the fastest woman and then the veteran categories. Until we got to the prize for the fastest woman over 60...
"Only there were no women over 60 in the race... so in a moment of inspiration and pity, the organisers gave it to me."
You couldn't make it up.
Tags: politics
Comment on this story