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 ****************************************************************************
 RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 161        8 DECEMBER 2004
 Editor: Steve Rowland
 mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com
 ****************************************************************************
 HEADLINE NEWS
 *  Serpentine score a double win in the Ellis and Dysart Cups
 *  Anna McLaughlin wins Hugh Jones Salver club women's championship
 *  Sonia Rowland wins Trish's Trophy club women veterans' championship
 *  Alice Beverly wins Varsity Race
 *  Application for club London Marathon entries
 *  All needed for SLH mob match this Saturday

 WHAT'S COMING...
 ************************
 The fixture list for the 2004/05 winter season, 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 ).

 Friday December 10th             Ranelagh Christmas Party at the Turk's Head
 in St Margarets. Sorry, all tickets sold.

 Saturday December 11th         Stubbs Cup Mob Match v South London Harriers
 in Richmond Park starting at 2.30pm. See below.
                                             Junior Points Prize race 2
 1.3 miles in Richmond Park starting at 2.30pm. See below.
                                              Ranelagh 5 km Time Trial in
 Bushy Park. 9am start

 Saturday December 18th         South of the Thames 7.5 miles Championship on
 Wimbledon Common starting at 2pm.
                                             Ranelagh 5 km Time Trial in
 Bushy Park. 9am start

 Saturday December 25th         Ranelagh 5 km Time Trial in Bushy Park. 9am
 start (yes, really!)

 Sunday December 26th           Social run in Richmond Park.  11am from the
 clubhouse

 Monday December 27th           Henty Relay in Richmond Park.  2pm start but
 you MUST report to the clubhouse by 1.30pm. See below.

 Saturday January 1st               Ranelagh 5 km Time Trial in Bushy Park.
 9am start

 RANELAGH CHRISTMAS PARTY  Friday 10th December
 Jo Turner writes:
 "The Turk's Head pub is on Winchester Road, St. Margarets and is an easy
 walk from that station or people can park in the surrounding streets. We
 would like people to get there at 7.30 for eating at 8pm. Can we also remind
 people that we want to see party clothes and a bit of dressing up. No sports
 wear! The bar will be open until 12".

 STUBBS CUP MOB MATCH v SOUTH LONDON HARRIERS  Saturday 11th December 7.7
 miles in Richmond Park
 The same old story! We need as many people as possible please for Saturday's
 mob match, again at home in Richmond Park over the same course as we ran
 against Thames a few weeks back. Start time is 2.30pm. Everyone, male or
 female, who can manage 7.7 miles will be more than welcome. Your big chance
 to escape from Christmas shopping for the afternoon!
 This race incorporates the club championship for the Wynne Cup and a sealed
 handicap.

 JUNIOR POINTS PRIZE RACE 2  Saturday 11th December  1.3 miles in Richmond
 Park
 Race 2 of the series, but all under 17s are welcome to take part regardless
 of whether they took part in the first race. Register at the clubhouse by
 2pm or come straight to the start by Sidmouth Wood (opposite Pembroke
 Lodge). The start will be immediately after the mob match is set off at
 2.30pm.

 HENTY RELAY  Monday 27th December  1.3 miles laps in Richmond Park
 This is our Christmas fun relay, the opportunity to run off all that turkey
 and alcohol (as if...). All are welcome, including guests and juniors - the
 course is the same as for the Junior Points Prize, one lap of Sidmouth Wood.
 Teams of three are made up on the day, comprising one "fast", one "medium"
 and one "slow". For each team the fast runner has to cover a total of three
 laps, the medium two and the slow runs just one lap. The race will start at
 2pm but you must come to the clubhouse first by 1.30pm at the latest. This
 is to allow the teams to be formed up. Please don't go straight to the
 start, you might not get into a team.

 LONDON MARATHON 2005
 We've already received 21 applications for the club's five guaranteed places
 in next year's London Marathon. The draw for these will take place at the
 club Christmas Party this Friday, December 10th. If you want to be included
 in the draw and haven't yet contacted us please reply by return to me or
 Anna McLaughlin (mailto:anna.mclaughlin@itv.com).

 WHAT'S HAPPENED...
 ****************************
 DYSART CUP WOMEN'S RACE including HUGH JONES SALVER CLUB WOMEN'S
 CHAMPIONSHIP and TRISH'S TROPHY CLUB WOMEN VETERANS' CHAMPIONSHIP  4.11
 miles  Saturday 4th December in Richmond Park
 There was a fairly small muster on the Ranelagh side for the Dysart Cup, and
 skipper Anna McLaughlin took full advantage of the absences to register her
 first club championship. She ran strongly to finish 8th overall, with only
 Sonia Rowland briefly troubling her amongst the home runners. Sonia held on
 to take the silver medal and also regained Trish's Trophy, the club women
 veterans' championship. Eliete Nascimento was next in and the team of five
 was completed by Sophie Timms and Margaret Auerback in her first race back
 from injury. Serpentine dominated, providing both the individual victor and
 the winning team.

 There was also a sealed handicap and this was won by a very clear margin by
 Angela Smith ahead of Di Wilson and Sophie Timms.

 ELLIS CUP MEN'S RACE   5.53 miles  Saturday 4th December in Richmond Park
 Once again Serpentine were out in strength and although Roy Reeder of the
 Stragglers led most of the way it was certainly the Serpies who dominated
 the sharp end of the race. Their scoring ten were all home in the top 21 and
 the Ellis Cup will duly join the Dysart Cup in the Serpentine trophy
 cabinet.

 For Ranelagh, Marcus Gohar and Mick Lane were always well placed in the top
 six and Andrew McLauchlan showed improved form in 13th place. With ten to
 score this race always provides an opportunity to shine for those who don't
 usually make the League team. Burkhard Fehsenfeld, Graham Quick, Simon
 Lawrence, John Kipps, Will Graves, Stephen Arneil and Pete Warren all made
 the top ten this time, and all inside the top fifty. As a team we finished
 third, just a couple of points behind Stragglers.

 VARSITY RACE  Saturday 4th December on Wimbledon Common
 Alice Beverly reports from the Oxford camp:
 "The six of us have been training as a 'pack' for the last two weeks in
 preparation for a ferocious team race! After the notorious water-jump three
 of us Oxford girls started to pull away up the long hill, and we literally
 ran stride-for-stride for the next 2.5miles, encouraging each other along
 the way, and trying to visualise it as just a 'reps' session. It was quite
 fun! When we passed the windmill, one of the girls (ex-English Schools
 Champ, Courtney Birch) dropped back slightly with stomach problems only to
 catch us up again - so Emily Crowley and I battled on through the mud of
 'The Butts' together: it was all very 'gentlemanly', we were encouraging
 each other all the way! I seemed to open up on one of the downhills, and so
 I pushed on absolutely certain that both Emily and Court would overtake me
 later, as they're both much stronger runners than me.

 The Varsity course ends with a nasty 400m flat sprint round the football
 pitch, so I pushed on again as I really felt I couldn't be bothered with a
 sprint battle with either of the two Oxford girls who I felt certain would
 not want me to beat them! I just couldn't believe it when I won: it was a
 huge shock to me and everyone else!

 The best thing was that Oxford got a perfect score: we took the first four
 spots and the two Freshers ran excellently too: so we were all happy with
 our runs! The boys' race was much closer and very exciting: and they managed
 to claw an Oxford victory by 4 points. It was a great day and massive thanks
 to everyone at Ranelagh for their encouragement, especially Sarah, Anna,
 Allison and Julian".
 1 Alice Beverly (Oxford) 23.52
 2 C Birch (Oxford) 24.00
 3 E Crowley (Oxford) 24.04

 BUSHY PARK 5Km TIME TRIAL  Saturday 4th December
 A win for Duncan Gaskell - he should at least know the way, having ridden
 the lead bike for the opening few runs of this event.
 1 Duncan Gaskell 19.23
 5 Andy Hayward 21.04
 8 Darren Wood 22.09
 9 Roger Wilson 22.23
 11 Karen Broadbent 24.23
 15 Holly Wilson 28.37
 16 Gill Wilson 28.44
 17 Marina Quayle 29.52

 BRIGHTON 10Km  Sunday 21st November
 Report in e-news #159.
 Men
 1 D Taylor (Black & B) 30.12
 2 Paul Doyle 31.53
 114 Neil Walford 38.39
 Women
 1 S Crombie-Hicks (Bourt) 35.16
 142 Evelyn Joslin 48.57
 211 Janet Turnes 51.12
 315 Julie Naismith 54.25

 TRAINING       
 ************
 Robin Drummond's  "Improvers Sessions" continue on Thursday nights at 7pm
 from the clubhouse, concentrating on speed and technique. See below for an
 outline of the next few weeks. Full details can be found on our web site.

 As an alternative on Thursday nights, Margaret Auerback and Frances
 Ratchford are holding Strength and Conditioning coaching sessions at 7.30pm
 in the free-weights room at the gym at St Mary's College, Waldegrave Road.
 Coaching at the gym on other days is negotiable. For more information
 contact Frances at mailto:grapevineproductions@compuserve.com.

 Tuesday nights continue as normal, with speed work for various groups and
 Wally's beginners' club. The next few sessions for the "fast" group are
 shown below, full details on our web site.

 Also Wednesdays at 6.30pm and Sundays at 10am at the clubhouse for a steady
 run in the Park.

 Thursday sessions. Each also includes a steady run warm up and warm down.
 Dec 9th    2 sets of 3 x 60 secs  in Ranelagh Drive
 Dec 16th  4 x bottom of Nightingale Lane, 2 x top of Nightingale Lane
 Dec 23rd  4 x 60 secs and 3 x 60 secs in Ranelagh Drive

 Tuesday "fast group" sessions. Each also includes a steady run warm up and
 warm down
 Dec 14th 4 mins, 2 mins, 7 mins, 3 mins, 4 mins, 2 mins efforts
 Dec 21st  3 x 5 mins efforts, 3 x 3 mins efforts

 FINALLY
 American marathon runner Don Kardong, quoted in Pete Mulholland's new
 "Masters Athletics Monthly" magazine:
 "No doubt a brain and some shoes are essential for marathon success,
 although if it comes down to a choice, pick the shoes. More people finish
 marathons with no brains than with no shoes".