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Newsdesk 2004

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 RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 147            5 AUGUST 2004
 Web site: www.ranelagh-harriers.com
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 HEADLINE NEWS
 *  Paul Doyle 5th at Elmbridge and 2nd in Bushy Park
 *  36.02 10km PB for Allison O'Neill
 *  David Benton selected for GB Duathlon team
 *  Clubhouse building work

 CLUBHOUSE BUILDING WORK AUGUST 9th - 20th
 At the club AGM, it was agreed that work should be carried out to improve
 the condition of the men's and women's shower floors before the next winter
 season. Accordingly, our clubhouse manager Alan Craig has arranged for
 Active Building to commence work on Monday 9th August. All work should be
 complete by Friday 20th August, and hopefully the women's showers should be
 available again earlier than this.

 While the work is underway, the women's changing room, WCs and hand-basins
 can be used. The men's changing room will also be in use but the whole men's
 shower and WC area will be blocked off. The toilets across the road inside
 the park should be open early evening before your run. Afterwards...we'll
 just have to be smelly!

 VICE CAPTAIN
 Congratulations to Phil Aiken, who has been appointed men's Vice-Captain for
 2004/2005. You can contact Phil at mailto:phil.aiken@rnid.org.uk or on 07739
 035189.

 ST MARY'S COLLEGE GYM
 Frances Ratchford writes:
 "There is another gym induction evening at St Mary's College, Waldegrave
 Road on Wednesday August 18th at 7pm. Even if you haven't joined you can go
 along and see what it is like.The Gym is situated in the sports complex, ask
 for Dean Beaver who is in charge.  If you want to join take along a photo
 and cheque made out to SMUC for £25 for a quarter or multiples of that
 amount. Please join - I still seem to be the only one in there apart from
 part of the England Rugby Squad last week!" 

 INSTONE'S BITS GET THE CHOP
 Alas, after the big build-up I gave them in the last e-news, Stephen
 Instone's bits ended up on the cutting-room floor. All we saw of him in
 BBC2's "The First Olympians" was a fully-dressed Stephen in the background
 of some of the other sequences filmed at Loughborough. Shame!
 Stephen also appeared - briefly and attired - as a talking head in Channel
 4's rival programme "The Ancient Greek Olympics".

 ELMBRIDGE 10Km  Sunday 25th July at Walton
 It was a Belgrave benefit day at Walton, as four of them broke away from the
 pack in the opening mile and dominated proceedings from there onwards. Paul
 Doyle and Peter Haarer led the peloton in pursuit, and Paul eventually broke
 away from Peter - a little short of training since the London Marathon - at
 the half-way point. Paul all but caught the last Belgrave man in the later
 stages but had to settle for 5th with Peter two places further back. In 16th
 place Mick Lane put in another powerful performance to duck inside 35
 minutes and take the first veteran prize. Andy Bickerstaff and Chris Owens
 enjoyed their own private battle a couple of minutes further back, with Adam
 Tapley in close attendance. Not suprisingly, Belgrave waltzed off with the
 team prizes but our quartet filled a good second place.
 Liz Kipling led our women's contingent in 12th place and Anna McLaughlin
 hacked a few more seconds off her pb at 25th.


 WEDDING DAY 7Km  Friday 30th July in Bushy Park
 Sonia O'Sullivan's appearance in Bushy Park rather than at the GP track
 meeting at Crystal Palace could be interpreted as a sign of confidence for
 the Olympic Games in three weeks' time - or as the complete opposite? At any
 rate in winning overall she was 15 seconds faster than last year (when she
 was "only" 8th!). We'll find out in Athens.

 Paul Doyle ran Sonia pretty close, nearly 45 seconds quicker than in 2003,
 and took a great second place. The usual suspects followed on, with Mick
 Lane 3rd over 40 and Mike Peace 2nd over 50. Liz Kipling was 6th in the
 women's section and Kathy Mallett and Carol Barnshaw also made the frame as
 3rd over 45 and 2nd over 55 respectively. It was good to see Marcus Gohar
 back in action, well up in 15th place and there was a fair sprinkling of new
 names too amongst the 43 Ranelagh finishers. One of these was Bev Ali's
 husband Joe - if you can't beat 'em...

 
 LONDON 10k  Sunday 2nd August
 Allison O'Neill reports:
 "David and I helped make up a small but not-so-elite "elite" field at the
 front of the London 10k, which is essentially a big charity fund-raiser on a
 twisty tourist course. Notably none of the 2003 elite field bothered with it
 again this year and I'm not sure we'll be back again either!  Along with
 everyone else, I was disappointed with my time of 36:02, despite it being a
 PB, as I had upped my training in June and was expecting to reap the
 benefits time-wise.  In general, though, I was pleased with my run,
 finishing well ahead of Lucy Hasell (6th in 36:40), only 16 seconds down on
 Jo Kelsey (compared with 75 secs at Eastleigh in March) and, best of all,
 for the first time in a 10k race, finishing within 4 minutes of David!!

 David, meanwhile, despite being in good shape and feeling strong, was 5th
 overall in 32:15, his slowest 10k for quite a while.  So not a race to do if
 you're looking for a fast time - but at least they paid our hotel bill!"

 Men
 1 T Van Hooste (Belgium) 29:43
 5 David Benton 32.15
 155 Kevin Jacques 41.34
 Women
 1 J Bleasdale (Hill) 34:37
 4 Allison O'Neill     36:02 

 RATCHFORD RELAY  Tuesday 20th July in Richmond Park
 There was a brilliant turnout of 49 women for this year's Ratchford Relay,
 which takes place on a circuit of about half a mile just inside the Park
 opposite our clubhouse. The format is similar to the Henty Relay at
 Christmas - teams of three comprising one "fast", one "medium" and one
 "slow", running three laps, two laps and one lap respectively.

 Jo Ronaldson led the charge on the opening lap, with Liz Kipling and Eileen
 Church in hot pursuit. And that is how, some 20 minutes later, they
 finished. In the interim, Jo's team of Karen Schomberg and Val Lowman had
 helped her build up a half minute lead over Liz, Clodagh Fahy and Monica
 Aycliffe; Eileen, Julie Drummond and Eliete Nascimento's sister Jo followed
 another 22 seconds later.

 There were plenty of nifty performances further down the list too and it all
 augurs well for the future. Unfortunately the results are missing a few
 surnames - if any of them is you, please let me know!

 1 Jo Ronaldson 2.52 / 3.00 / 2.35?
 Karen Schomberg 3.49 / 3.54
 Val Lowman 4.47                    20.57
 2 Liz Kipling 3.03 / 3.08 / 3.08
 Clodagh Fahy 3.44 / 3.47
 Monica Aycliffe 4.39                    21.29
 3 Eileen Church 3.09 / 3.20 / 3.05
 Julie Drummond 3.29 / 3.55
 Jo Nascimento 4.42                    21.51
 4 Shelley Beeston 3.24 / 3.42 / 3.56
 Carol Barnshaw 3.50 / 3.49
 Rebecca ? 4.37                    22.16
 5 Lorna Smith 3.14 / 3.31 / 3.22
 Leanne Miles 3.56 / 3.49
 Aileen Cahill 4.32                    22.24
 6 Sophie Timms 3.19 / 3.25 / 3.25
 Sonia Rowland 3.39 / 3.19
 Julia Elbourne 5.23                    22.31
 7 Berenice Speller 3.13 / 3.41 / 4.00
 Corinne Bishop 4.05 / 4.14
 Elysia Graymore 3.42                    22.55
 8 Eleonora Zona 3.37 / 3.56 / 4.12
 Frances Wray 3.41 / 3.33
 Juliette Chan 4.11                    23.11
 9 Sandra Foot 3.36 / 3.42
 Karen Broadbent 4.01 / 4.04
 Tracy ? 3.23
 Bev W ? 4.32                    23.18
 10 Julia Langensiepen 3.19 / 3.31 / 3.05
 Emma Corbett 4.09 / 5.07
 Di Wilson 4.31                    23.42
 11 Karen Vinicombe 3.38 / 3.45 / 4.12
 Louise Dunn 3.52 / 4.53
 Consi Dworschais 4.10                    24.30
 12 Sally Meekley 3.44 / 4.02 / 3.46
 Hazel Carr 4.03 / 3.50
 Louise Neville 5.09                    24.34
 13 Marianne Gelber 3.19 / 3.54 / 3.12
 Bev Ali 4.41 / 5.09
 Kelly ? 4.24                    24.38
 14 Teresa Segovia 3.45 / 3.52 / 4.08
 Janet Turnes 4.02 / 4.22
 Sian Tingley 4.49                    24.58
 15 Morgane de Verdiere 3.29 / 3.42 / 3.21
 Deborah Blakemore 4.18 / 3.48
 Maree O'Donovan 6.20                    24.58
 16 Kerrie O'Connor 3.40 / 3.39 / 3.58
 Margaret Fahn 4.53 / 5.02
 Pat Hewlett 6.18                    27.30

 SELF TRANSCENDENCE 5 MILES  Saturday 24th July in Battersea Park
 Tim Woods continued his comeback with a rather impressive win in 28.32.
 Jacqui Reid was 4th woman home in 36.05.

 LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH 5Km  Friday 30th July in Hyde Park
 1 D Gitau (N York Moors) 15.02
 54 Sara Grosvenor 19.24
 83 Alan Davidson 20.08
 127 John Pratt 21.46
 199 John Hanscomb 26.36

 ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN THE BALTIC
 Alice Beverly reports:
 "Sara Grosvenor and I did three races for the Achilles Club (Oxford and
 Cambridge Athletics) on their tour of eastern Europe. We did the three races
 in five days, running on the days in between, which was quite exhausting! We
 both got 4.52 in a 1500m race in Estonia (I just won), then both got 2.24 in
 a rather slow 800m in Finland (Sara just won).

 In the Tallinn 10km race (very possibly not the full 10km!) where the Oxford
 girls won every prize available (lots of Reebok kit), Sara was well ahead of
 me with around 37 plus mins and I got about 38.30 mins, possibly on the
 worst marshalled course I've ever run on!"

 KINGFIELD CANTER 2.9 miles handicap  Wednesday 4th August at Woking
 1 D Knott (unatt) 25.56 (actual 22.56)
 5 Steve Rowland 26.42 (18.12)
 8 Sonia Rowland 27.04 (21.04)
 12 Alan Davidson 27.19 (18.19)

 CHRIS BRASHER MEMORIAL 10Km  Sunday 20th June in Richmond Park
 One more Ranelagh finisher to add to the list: Martin Harrison in 45.52.

 RANELAGH ROAD GRAND PRIX
 There's now just one fixture to go in the 2004 Road Grand Prix, and that's
 the Surrey 5km at Wimbledon on August 22nd. Space is already being found on
 the shelves of Mick Lane, Mike Peace and Corinne Bishop to accommodate their
 trophies as they have unassailable leads in the men's over 40, men's over 50
 and women's over 50 categories respectively. The other sections are still
 being contested but the odds are in favour of the current leaders provided
 they turn up at Wimbledon. Mick Lane looks set to make it a double as he
 holds a five point lead over Paul Doyle in the Open category. Paul is
 unbeaten by a Ranelagh Harrier on the roads this summer but he has contested
 only 6 of the races so far, compared to Mick's 7. Liz Kipling holds a
 healthy 10 point lead over Anna McLaughlin in the women's section and Sonia
 Rowland has just 2 points over Michele Gibson in the women's over 40s. 

 94 Ranelagh Harriers have completed at least one of the GP events. There is
 a full scorechart and list of the races on our web site. Leading scores to
 date are:
 Open
 Mick Lane 77,  Paul Doyle 72,  Mike Peace 42,  Liz Kipling 40,  Stephen
 Instone 38,  Trevor Maguire 37,  Anna McLaughlin 28,  Andy Bickerstaff 27,
 Marie Synnott-Wells 26,  Adam Tapley 25,  Peter Haarer 23,  John Hughes 19,
 Jo Ronaldson 18,  Corinne Bishop 18,  Chris Read 16,  Stephen Arneil 15,
 Alan Meaden 15,  Andy Hayward 14,  Marcus Gohar 12,  John Hanscomb 12,  Ken
 Fotherby 11,  Marius Acker 11,  Nick Henderson 11,  Simon Burrell 11,  David
 Meaden 11
 Men Over 40
 Mick Lane 42,  Stephen Instone 20,  Andy Bickerstaff 14,  Chris Read 14,
 Andy Hayward 9,  Marcus Gohar 8,  Ken Fotherby 6,  Tim Woods 5,  Simon
 Lawrence 5,  Neil Walford 4,  Clive Naish 4,  Kevin Jacques 3
 Men Over 50
 Mike Peace 40,  Alan Meaden 23,  John Hanscomb 17,  Alan Davidson 15,  John
 Hughes 15,  David Meaden 13,  Wyn Williams 7,  Chris Owens 6,  Simon
 Rothwell 6,  David Fangen 6,  Bill Harvey 5,  Wally Garrod 5
 Women
 Liz Kipling 37,  Anna McLaughlin 27,  Marie Synnott-Wells 17,  Corinne
 Bishop 14,  Jo Ronaldson 12,  Sonia Rowland 10,  Kathy Mallett 10,  Evelyn
 Joslin 7,  Michele Gibson 7,  Janet Turnes 6,  Jenni Kruse 5,  Mariette
 Engelbrecht 4,  Sara Grosvenor  4,  Eliete Nascimento 4
 Women Over 40
 Sonia Rowland 18,  Michele Gibson 16,  Janet Turnes 14,  Lynne Barber 8,
 Catherine Carthy 7,  Jackie Alderton 6,  Joanne Turner 6,  Teresa Segovia 5,
 Marina Quayle 5,  Julie Naismith 5
 Women Over 50
 Corinne Bishop 33,  Bev Ali 12,  Kathy Mallett 12,  Mei Fei Wickham 11,
 Carol Barnshaw 5,  Pat Hewlett 3,  Julie Drummond 1,  Kathryn Curran 1 

 SURREY ROAD LEAGUE
 Our hopes of retaining the Surrey Road league men's title rested largely on
 Belgrave not turning out in force at the Elmbridge 10km. The sight of four
 claret and gold vests leading the pack down the road from the Elmbridge
 Leisure Centre soon put paid to that hope! We actually still hold the lead
 after four of the five events, with the Surrey 5km at Wimbledon still to
 come. We are on 105 points to the Stragglers' 103 and Belgrave's 99 - but
 only the best four out of five scores count. We can expect a strong Belgrave
 presence on their home roads in Wimbledon and if they win there they will
 leap-frog over both clubs ahead of them to take the title.

 In the women's League we are in fourth place and a win in the final fixture
 could theoretically put us into contention - but we would still be depending
 on a poor result from one or two of those ahead.

 Individually though, we will not come away empty-handed. Mick Lane already
 has the Over 40s title sewn up, and second-claim member Duncan Gaskell of
 the Stragglers is similarly home and dry in the Over 50 section. In
 addition - provided they all finish the Wimbledon race in reasonable order -
 three more Ranelagh Harriers are likely to come away as champions. These are
 Paul Doyle, who will retain the Senior Men's title he won last year, Liz
 Kipling who will overtake current leader Anna McLaughlin in the Senior
 Women's section and Sonia Rowland in the women's Over 45s.

 EUROPEAN DUATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS
 David Benton confirms that his 3rd place in the British championships has
 earned him selection for the British "Elite" team for the European
 championship to be held in Swansea on Sunday 26th September. Best of luck
 David!

 TUESDAY NIGHT TRAINING
 ...from the clubhouse at 7pm. Further details on our web site.
 10 Aug  4 - 5 Pen Pond loops (1 mile each at 10km pace)
 17 Aug  6 x Ratchford Relay loop at 5km pace
 24 Aug  6 x Queens Ride / Ballet School hill plus 3 x White Lodge hill
 31 Aug  6 x squares and 6 x triangles
 7 Sep    Henty Relay lap (Sidmouth Wood) time trial, then 4, 3, 2 and 1 min
 efforts at 5km pace 

 HUSH, HUSH, WHISPER WHO DARES...
 Both Julian Smith and Darryl McDonald have celebrated their 40th birthdays
 in the past few weeks. Let's hope they'll both back in racing trim before
 long to enjoy the benefits of old codgerdom.

 MAL COTHER...
 ...one of the club's great characters from the 1970s, is over from Melbourne
 for most of August and hopes to get down to the club on Wednesday 11th. He'd
 be pleased to see anybody who knows him and make the acquaintance of anybody
 who doesn't!

 NEXT...
 A provisional fixture list for the 2004/05 winter season, together with
 details of the 2004 Ranelagh Road Grand Prix, can be found on our web site.
 More details of the following from Andy Bickerstaff (07966 552302 / 
 mailto:andy@norris-hobs.co.uk) or Phil Aiken (07739 035189 /
 mailto:phil.aiken@rnid.org.uk) or Anna McLaughlin (07971 606521 / 
 mailto:anna.mclaughlin@itv.com).

 Sunday August 22nd               Surrey 5km at Wimbledon. Ranelagh Road GP
 race 10 and Surrey Road League race 5. Entry forms on our website and at the
 clubhouse or just send your details to Derek Crookes, 209 Lynmouth Avenue,
 Morden, Surrey SM4 4RX. Entry fee £3 payable to Surrey County AA. Entries
 usually also accepted on the day (£4).

 Saturday September 11th        Surrey Road Relay championships at Wimbledon
 Park. There are separate senior and veterans events for both men and women,
 starting at 12 noon. Each stage is 3 miles. We'll be hoping to put in
 several teams, so if you'd like to run contact one of the captains.

 Sunday September 12th          River Relay  Virginia Water to Ham. There are
 six stages varying in distance between 3.8 miles and 7.5 miles, and each
 team must include at least two veterans and one woman. Again, contact a
 captain if you're interested.
 
 Saturday September 18th        124th Season Opening Run and Thomas Cup 3.8
 miles handicap at 3pm , preceded by annual club photograph. All members
 welcome.

 Steve Rowland
 e-mail: Steve Rowland