MIGHTY MIDLANDS

Midlander Martyn’s feeling particularly proud after spending a couple of jubilant weeks in Birmingham at the Commonwealth Games

- MARTYN BRUNT

I hope I don’t upset anyone by saying this, but the West Midlands isn’t always the most cheerful place in the world. I speak as a confirmed Midlander myself of course – born in Coventry, parents from Birmingham, grandparents from Walsall, and an uncle who was considered exotic because he married someone from Worcester. But we can be a downbeat lot, whose highest compliment is that something is ‘not bad.’

But I’ve had to revise that opinion having been to Sutton Coldfield to watch the Commonwealth Games’ triathlon events, and witnessed a huge crowd of fellow Midlanders greeting the athletes like a conquering army in ancient Rome.

It’s not often the great and good of the sporting world comes to the West Midlands, and when they do I’m always worried they’ll just be greeted by a wave of red-faced car drivers shrieking about their roads being closed for a couple of hours. But my naturally bleak view was completely misplaced this time because I’ve honestly never heard cheers louder than the ones that greeted the athletes as they cycled through the streets.