JOAN MIR – NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES
2020 was certainly a memorable year, if nothing else. Amid all the lockdowns, the disruption to our way of life, the pain, the anguish, the loss and the general pervading feeling of anxiety that went with it, 2020 was a big year for heroes. The heroes of the coronavirus pandemic came in many shapes and sizes: the blue light heroes, the heroic NHS staff and care home workers keeping us and our families safe and healthy. Heroes also in the public eye: centenarian Captain Sir Tom Moore, walking 100 miles in his garden; footballer Marcus Rashford, helping get free food on the table for deprived schoolkids; Joe Wicks beaming his cheeky chirpy PE lessons into the homes of the nation and, of course, who could forget the legend that is Professor Jonathan Van-Tam coining some of the most incredible scientific analogies I think I’ve ever heard (try to think of a national vaccination programme as a small traumatised dormouse emerging from a particularly troublesome hibernation – I’m paraphrasing but you get the picture). If 2020 taught us one thing, it’s that not all heroes wear capes… but some of them do wear tight leather suits (all right, get your mind out of the gutter!).
Of course we’re talking about racing, and specifically today, the MotoGP championship. As far as seasons go, 2020 was totally off the Richter scale in terms of the quality of racing worldwide, but in the for a private one-to-one chat just before Christmas.
