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 RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 100              21 MAY 2003
 Web site: www.ranelagh-harriers.com 
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 The e-news reaches its centenary edition! Some of you will be able to guess
 who provides this tribute:

 Ode on Steve Rowland's 100th Ranelagh e-news

 Thou still unceasing friend of Ranelagh!
   Thou e-mailer of stories and fast time,
 Screen-wise historian, who canst thus express
    A running result more subtly than our mime:
 What great performance haunts about thy news
   Of Bickerstaff or Seal or of Jones,
     In London or the dales of Richmond Park?
   What men or gods are these? What deeds of speed?
 What mad pursuit? What struggle to be first?
     What race and prizes? What wild ecstasy?

 O Cranleigh man! Fair coverage! with news
   Of running men and women out of breath,
 With world-wide gossip and obituaries;
   Thou, techno-kid, has humoured us all now
 A hundred times on screen: loyal servant!
   When old age shall this generation waste,
     Thou shalt remain, in electronic form
   Stored up, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
 'Read the Ranelagh e-news,' - it is what 
     Your e-mail's for, and all you need to know.

 STEAK 

 RICHMOND HALF MARATHON  Sunday May 18th 
 The early start again proved popular with nearly 600 postal entries and none
 accepted on the day. Ken's computing power was stretched to the limit but
 fortunately a forecast of wet and windy weather put some people off and less
 than 450 actually started. 429 finished, of which nearly 300 were listed as
 "unattached". Would that we could sign some of them up! 
 The eventual winner, Toby Lambert of Alton, was soon out in front and though
 Darryl held him to 150 metres or so on the first lap he could do nothing to
 stop Lambert moving well away on the second. Darryl held on to an isolated
 second place and with Paul Doyle moving into 4th we made a good start in the
 team stakes. Next man home in 20th place was David Powell and this proved
 good enough to bring us the team awards. 
 Only a minute behind David was new member Don O'Shea, making a promising
 debut for the club. Messrs Instone and Andersen were the only other RH men
 ahead of our first woman, the fast-improving and impressive Eileen Church.
 Eileen was 4th woman overall put picked up the individual third prize as
 those ahead of her were all eligible for the over 35 vets category. Sophie
 Timms and Evelyn Joslin closed in the team in third place.
 The race incorporates the Surrey individual and team championship. Official
 results usually take a while to appear as not all those eligible remember to
 indicate the fact on their entry forms. But it would seem likely that Darryl
 will be confirmed as county champion, with Paul taking the bronze medal and
 the team winning golds. Provisionally, Eileen will make it a brace of
 individual champions for Ranelagh but this definitely needs to be confirmed,
 as do provisional team golds for the women. 
 It was also the fourth race in our Grand Prix series. In Mike Peace's
 absence Paul Doyle leapfrogged into the lead in the Open category with
 Darryl McDonald looking menacing not far behind. Stephen Instone, Mike Peace
 and Evelyn Joslin retained the lead in their sections.      


 Grand Prix leading scores after four races (full scoresheet plus fixtures
 and rules are on our web site):
 Open: 
 Paul Doyle 34,  Mike Peace 27, Darryl McDonald 24, Stephen Instone 23, Simon
 Lawrence 20.
 Over 40:
 Stephen Instone 16,  Simon Lawrence 14,  Bob Beatson 7.
 Over 50:
 Mike Peace 18,  David Meaden 10, Tom Reay 10.
 Women:
 Evelyn Joslin 13,  Eileen Church 12,  Marlene Pautard 6. 

 Representing Oxford University, Alice Beverly finished 4th in the 5000
 metres in 19.06.1 in the annual varsity athletics match against Cambridge at 
 the weekend.

 Anna McLaughlin finished 8th in the Bracknell Half Marathon on 26th April in
 97.23.

 TWO OCEANS 56 KM  Saturday 19th April in Capetown, South Africa
 35 miles is a very long way. It seems even longer if you put in a 330m climb
 around half way, and another 180m one later on. Seven Ranelagh Harriers
 decided that it would be a fun thing to do. Watching them, it looked
 anything but. It says a lot when even the leading Ranelagh finisher, who was
 delighted with his run, walked up the last few inclines. The results have
 been seen already, highlights being Chris Owens as the best Ranelagh
 finisher, Andy Bickerstaff running an hour slower than hoped, and Mike Peace
 finishing a week after doing London. Only two people were prepared to reveal
 their thoughts: Andy Hayward and Kevin Jacques take up the story of the
 race.
 AH: The race started in the dark, and continued for the duration in fog,
 excluding a 10-minute spell at the very summit of Ou Kaapse Weg where we
 were high enough to break through the clouds, and then (for me) the last
 mile. The downside of this was that we did not get the stunning views of the
 mountains and oceans. The upside was that the weather was therefore cooler
 and more conducive to running, and also we could not see exactly how much
 pain was ahead of us on the hills. Despite being more than 4 miles of
 climbing, totalling 1060 feet of ascent, Ou Kaapse Weg was (just about)
 runnable.
 KJ: At Louw's Corner we started to climb Little Ou Kaapse Weg at halfway,
 now for the real hill over 2 miles of grind up Ou Kaapse Weg.  Part way up I
 passed Andy B who was having a rough time of it, I tried to think of some
 positive words of encouragement but what do you say, "Come on mate only 17
 miles to go?"  The hill was shrouded in cloud but what's that on the side of
 the road? Gorillas in the mist?  No, a group of hardy Ranelagh supporters.
 I thought great, I must be at the summit, then Julian says 500m to go to the
 top then it's all downhill.  Yes it was all downhill all right. 
 AH: The downhill section was also pretty brutal on the legs, and upon
 temporarily reaching the flat at about 24 miles, it felt like one was
 running uphill again. The last ten miles were hilly, and although there was
 nothing quite as bad as Ou Kaapse Weg, the damage had been done as far as I
 was concerned. The last major uphill section rises about 520 feet in close
 to 3 miles, and this was definitely not fun. The last 3 miles were mainly
 downhill with three small but cruel uphill sections, including one right
 before the blessed relief of the finish line at the University of Cape Town.
 However, the race was run, medals were claimed, pictures taken, and then a
 massage received from an Angel who had been transported to earth and placed
 in the International Athletes "Rubbing Tent".
 KJ: On the downhill section the legs are beginning to suffer a little; the
 next target is the marathon. The kilometres are getting longer now and the
 stride is getting shorter.  Through the marathon in sub 3:10 - not bad
 considering, but tell that to your legs.  Oh and there is nice climb of
 nearly 4 miles coming up.  The legs are cramping up badly and I'm forced to
 slow down (I'm going to be disqualified for lifting). I stop at the physio
 station where I get a quick ice massage on the old pins.  I'm off again but
 to no avail so I walk for a bit... I get to the top the final big hill then
 it's relatively downhill to the finish, although little hills are mountains
 by now. The final mile is a crawl, with Ranelagh people dotted along the
 route urging me on through to the finish line... 
 I am considering coming back, especially if they re-open the old route
 through Chapman's Peak. You'd have thought that I would have learnt my
 lesson, but at least the beer is cheap... 

 MASTERS TRACK LEAGUE  Monday May 19th at Battersea Park
 Margaret Auerback writes:
 "A superb team effort by all the women in the masters team resulted in a win
 for Richmond with 145 pts, 6 ahead of Hillingdon and 20 ahead of Serpentine. 

 We covered all but two of the events in rather cold, difficult conditions
 but the team spirit was never dampened. There were good sprint performances
 from Eliete, Marion and Julie D. Eliete and Louise had to work particularly
 hard to cover all the W35 track events from 200 to 3000 metres and then
 turned out again for the relay. They were joined by me in the 800 and 3000.
 Julie and I also had a go at the long jump, we weren't the best(!) but we
 picked up 20 points. The other field events were covered by Celia Beverly
 and Jenny Eldridge. Frances volunteered for the shot but looked very
 relieved when Celia turned up.
 If we can put in another performance as good as this on 2nd June we can
 probably win again!
 On the men's side there were good performances from Steve Hook and Chas
 Rayner and Marcus Gohar's triple jump had to be seen to be believed. Watch
 out Jonathan Edwards! But - where were the rest of you men?
 Full results are posted in the clubhouse or are available on the Hillingdon
 website. Women's results: 

 200m W35A 2nd Eliete Nascimento 34.4 guest Frances Ratchford 42.4
 W50A 1st Marion Rayner 35.0   W50B Julie Drummond 36.3
 800m W35A 2nd Eliete Nascimento 2.55.2  W35B Louise Piears 3.17.4  W50
 Margaret Auerback 2.50.0
 3000m W35A 3rd Eliete Nascimento 12.39.6  W35B 3rd Louise Piears 13.27.5
 W50 1st Margaret Auerback 12.04.4
 4 x 100m 2nd Richmond 68.6 Marion Rayner, Julie Drummond, Louise Piears,
 Eliete Nascimento
 Shot W35 3rd Celia Beverly 5.61m  W50 2nd Jenny Eldridge 6.13m
 Discus W35 3rd Celia Beverly 15.63m  W50 2nd Jenny Eldridge 17.32m 
 LJ W35 3rd Julie Drummond 2.62m W50 1st Margaret Auerback 2.58m  

 GREEN BELT RELAY reports still to come! Watch this space... 

 TRAINING
 Robin Drummond writes:
 "I will be starting a 6 week training course, aimed at improving 5k and 10k
 times, on Wednesday, yes Wednesday, 4th June at 7pm.
 The sessions will address Speed, Running Economy and Injury Reduction. They
 will be suitable for all levels and all are welcome.
 The sessions will be quite hard and I would like all participants to bring
 spikes or racing flats to all sessions if they have them. They will also
 need a watch, preferably multi lap". 

 Margaret Auerback adds:
 "Reminder -- speed work from the clubhouse on Tuesdays , Barn Elms track on
 Thursday evening and Sunday morning and the new session on Wednesdays from
 the clubhouse with Robin". 
 
 SUBSCRIPTIONS 
 Spring has sprung and the first of April has crept by us once more.
 Membership subscriptions for the year 2003/2004 are now due at the following
 rates:
 Full Annual subscription £30 
 Family subscription £60
 Retired and over 60 £5 
 Under 20 or Student £6 
 Non-running member £10 

 Please forward to Membership Secretary,
 Robin Drummond 
 1 Church Street
 Hampton
 Middlesex
 TW12 2EB 

 NEXT...
 More details of the following from Andy Bickerstaff (07966 552302 /
 mailto:norris.hobs@ndirect.co.uk ) or Sarah Seal (020 8995 2380 / 
 mailto:sarahs@walker.co.uk ). See our web site for details and scores in
 the Ranelagh Road Grand Prix. 
 
 Sunday June 8th       Dorking 10 miles road race. Race 5 in the Ranelagh
 Grand Prix series 2003. 10.45am start. Entry form can be downloaded from
 www.dmvac.org.uk 

 Sunday June 29th Dysart Dash 10km at Ham, Richmond. Race 6 in the
 Ranelagh Grand Prix series 2003. 10am start. Entry forms in the clubhouse or
 from our web site.

 Sunday July 6th Harry Hawkes 8 miles at Thames Ditton. Race 7 in the
 Ranelagh Grand Prix series 2003. Entry form can be downloaded from
 http://members.aol.com/tdcc1234/hh8.htm

 Saturday July 12th Brickmakers Arms Marathon Relay (10 x 2.5 miles) at
 Windlesham. 2pm start. A low key fun event based around an excellent country
 pub! More details nearer the time.

 Wednesday July 16th   Coad Cup 5 miles handicap in Richmond Park.

 Sunday July 20th Elmbridge 10km at Walton. Start 10.30am. Race 8 in
 the Ranelagh Grand Prix series 2003. Entry form can be downloaded from
 www.elmbridgeroadrunners.co.uk 

 Steve Rowland
 e-mail: srowland@calor.co.uk
 Tel: 01926 318734
 Fax: 0870 4006901