Is it time to start thinking about having a Cheltenham Festival Flutter?

Having a flutter can have different meanings to different people. Aside from puritanical types I’d say that most of us fall somewhere on the betting scale, from casual punter on one end (of course even the lottery is taking a financial punt, aka gambling) to professional gambling on the other. No matter the strategy or lack therefore of involved though, I find that it’s the sporting events and festivals that draw in the whole nation that really gets people going. The Cheltenham Festival, comically highlighted here in the BetWay video above is a great example of that and how we’re all on the same page excitement-wise when it comes to festivals such as Cheltenham, the Grand National and the like. Let’s not forget also that Cheltenham betting odds are available on all 28 races.

The Cheltenham Festival is steeped in history and attracts the best of the best whether horse, jockey, trainer or owner, and that in part of what draws us all in. To become champion jockey or trainer at Cheltenham is something that contributes to individuals becoming true legends of the sport. The same applies to horses that have made their name at Cheltenham. Think the likes of Arkle, Desert Orchird, Kauto Star and Al Boum Photo.

What I find makes times like this a good opportunity to have a punt too is the myriad of betting offers available. Whether that’s in the form of free bets, bet bonuses, odds boosts, sign up bonuses, you name it, there are incentives galore during racing festival, so if you have a bet in mind, now might be the time to strike. For me, I’m tempted to have a cheeky wager on JonBon in the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase, though with El Fabiolo currently at 2/5, I appreciate that the odds may be stacked against me somewhat. Since when is that a good reason to avoid having a punt though. Bet brave!

Who holds the world record for the men’s marathon? (Kelvin Kiptum)

Interestingly, a world record for the men’s marathon was not ratified by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) until September 3, 1983, when Kenyan Paul Tergat won the Berlin Marathon in a time of 2:04:55; in so doing, he beat the previous ‘world’s best’ ratified by the IAAF, 2:05:38, recorded by Moroccan-born American Khalid Khannouchi when winning the London Marathon on April 14, 2002.

Since 2003, the world record for the men’s marathon has been broken seven times, each time in the Berlin Marathon and each time by an athlete from East Africa. Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie broke the world record two years running on the streets of the German capital, winning in times of 2:04:26 and 2:03:59 in 2007 and 2008, respectively. His mark was lowered, to 2:03:38, by Kenyan

Patrick Musyoki in 2011 and, thereafter, the world record has belonged, exclusively, to the ‘cradle of humanity’, whose capital, Nairobi, lies at an altitude of 5,500 feet.

The current holder of the world record, Eliud Kipchoge, has won the Berlin Marathon four times in all, first setting a world record, of 2:01:39, on September 16, 2016. However, on September 25, 2022, less than six weeks shy of his thirty-eighth birthday, he did so again, covering the 42.195 kilometre course in 2:01:09. Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum set a new men’s world record time of 2:00:35 in October 2023 (tragically he and his coach died in a car crash near a high altitude training centre in February 2024 – 24 year old Kiptum had been training for an attempt to run the first sub 2 hour marathon this April). Of course, the IAAF has strict rules, relating to distance, topography, etc., to determine which performances can, or cannot, be ratified as world records. Thus, while Kipchoge ran the full marathon distance in 1:59:40 in Vienna, Austria on October 12, 2019, as recognised by Guinness World Records, his effort was ineligible for world record consideration by the IAAF.

What happened to Payne Stewart?

The late Payne Stewart, who died in a plane crash near the town of Mina, South Dakota on October 25, 1999, aged 42, was an American golfer who won 11 times on the PGA Tour. Known for his sartorial flamboyance, characterised by his signatue plus-four trousers, polo shirt and traditional flat cap cap, often in garish colours, Stewart won the PGA Championship in 1989 and the U.S. Open twice, in 1991 and 1999.

At the time of his death, Stewart was en route from Orlando, Florida to Dallas, Texas for the Tour Championship, scheduled to start at the Champions Golf Club in Houston later in the week. However, shortly after take-off, air traffic control lost contact with the chartered Learjet in which he was travelling.

Crash investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) subsequently concluded the loss of cabin pressure led to both pilots and all four passengers becoming incapacitated due to lack of oxygen, a.k.a. hypoxia. Indeed, the aircraft was intercepted by several F-16 fighter jets, the pilots of all of which reported that the windows were frozen over, with no sign of life on board. Nevertheless, the Learjet continued to fly, on autopilot, until hours later and thousands of miles off-course, it ran out of fuel and nose-dived into the ground at high speed.

Did Brazilian footballer Socrates once play non-league football in Britain?

To cut a long story short, yes, he did. In his heyday, Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira, or Sócrates for short, was considered one of the greatest attacking midfielders of all time. Standing 6’4″ tall, he was physically strong, lithe and athletic, technically gifted and able to pick a pass with either foot. Sócrates was also a prolific goalscorer, chalking up 22 goals in 60 appearances for Brazil, whom captained in the 1982 FIFA World Cup, and 172 goals in 297 appearance for Corinthians, of São Paulo, with whom he spent most of his club career.

So, I hear you ask, how did the one-time revered captain of the greatest team, Brazilian or otherwise, to never have won a World Cup end up plying his trade in the lower reaches of the English football pyramid, thousands of miles from his homeland? Well, Sócrates offically retired from ‘futebol-arte’ – the Portuguese term used to distinguish characteristic Brazilian football – in 1989 aged 35 but, bizarrely, was coaxed back again 15 years later.

In October, 2004, at the behest of Simon Clifford, owner and manager of Garford Town who, at that time, played in Division One of the semi-professional Northern Counties East Football League, Sócrates agreed to become unpaid player-coach for a period of one-month. Of course, Clifford was also founder of the Brazilian Soccer Schools franchise, through which he had become friendly with the former midfield maestro.

In any event, the Brazilian made just one, brief appearance, coming on an as substitute after 78 minutes of a home game against Tadcaster Albion at Wheatley Park on November 4, 2004, which ended in a 2-2 draw. Cutting a fuller figure than he had in his prime, Sócrates reportedly prepared for his debut in West Yorkshire by ‘drinking two bottles of Budweiser and smoking three cigarettes’. Old habits die hard, it seems.

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