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 ****************************************************************************
 RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 191               5 October 2005
 Editor: Steve Rowland
 mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com
 ****************************************************************************
 HEADLINE NEWS
 *  Simon Burrell wins Page Cup
 *  155 runners in first anniversary Bushy Park Time Trial
 *  Darren Wood and Gill Wilson win BPTT points trophies
 *  Lauren Shelley 32nd for Australia in World Half Marathon Championship
 *  Anna McLaughlin wins Regents Park 10km
 *  3.08 marathon for Fari Shams
 *  Christmas Party on December 9th
 *  HELP needed at home races
 *  Junior Points Prize races start on October 22nd

 SEE HERE
 *************
 SURREY CROSS-COUNTRY LEAGUE  Saturday 8th October
 The first league races for both men and women take place on Saturday. All
 seniors are welcome to take part and there are separate junior events for
 all age groups.

 Our women's team are the current Division 1 title holders and start their
 campaign on Wimbledon Common. The 6km senior race kicks off the proceedings
 at 12.30pm, followed by the Under 20s and Under 17s at 1.15pm  (5km) and the
 Under 15s and Under 13s at 1.45pm (4km). All are welcome to take part. Only
 five score for the A team but there are B, C, D teams etc too, so everyone
 counts.  More details from Anna.

 The men are at Epsom Downs and cars will be leaving from the clubhouse at
 1pm. If anyone needs a lift or can offer a lift could they please be there
 and if possible let Andy Bickerstaff know in advance (contact details in
 "What's Coming" below). Alan Hedger will be providing tea at his house in
 Epsom after the race.

 We are competing in Division 2 of the men's league this year and our target
 is to win it or at least finish in the first three to ensure immediate
 promotion back to the top flight. The top ten from each club count in the
 official scoring but we want to see many more Ranelagh vests in the race
 than that. Accordingly we are  introducing a "Virtual B Team". The 11th to
 20th Ranelagh finishers in each race will be unofficially scored as a B team
 and their aim will be to avoid virtual relegation to Division 3! 

 The combined Under 17/15/13 race over 2.5 miles starts at 2.30pm and the
 senior event over 5 miles at 3pm. The start and finish is at Tattenham
 Corner.  More details from Andy or Phil. 

 TUESDAY NIGHT CHANGING
 In view of the increasing numbers of men now training from the clubhouse on
 Tuesdays and the fact that most of the women change and shower at home, it
 has been decided that the respective changing rooms will henceforth revert
 to their normal usage. That is to say, the men will use the larger changing
 room and the women the smaller. Don't forget!

 A PLEA FOR HELP
 Bev Ali writes:
 "At Ranelagh, there is a tradition of voluntary participation in the
 organization and running of our club and our races. We need volunteers to
 act as race coordinators, marshals and timekeepers for club and handicap
 races and the other (few) races that we host. If everybody does a little,
 then we can all feel a part of the club without feeling imposed upon. So,
 understanding that members are able to commit differing amounts of time due
 to work or family pressures, please have a look at the fixture list (on the
 website) or look around the clubhouse (room for amateur
 gardeners/landscapers, etc) and try to find something you can help with.
 Please contact one of the club captains listed on the website, any member of
 the committee, or me at mailto:bev.ali@blueyonder.co.uk if you feel that you
 can help out with a specific race or make any other contribution". 

 SURREY VETS CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPS  Saturday 15th October in Richmond Park
 This is as usual on our own course in Richmond Park. The men run 10km, the
 women 6km. It's open to all men over 40 and women over 35, but you do have
 to enter in advance.
 Margaret Auerback writes:
 "If you want to run the list is in the club house. Please put your name and
 all other details on the relevant list and let me have your £3 entry fee as
 soon as possible please. You can also enter by e-mailing me
 (mailto:m.auerback@btinternet.com) with your name, age, d.o.b, address and
 date of joining Ranelagh. There are medals in five year age bands and team
 medals as well so it is important that you put your d.o.b on the list.
 The course is not too demanding, you'll get lots of support and the sun
 usually shines so come on down and give it a go. Oh, and you'll get one of
 Carol's delicious teas afterwards! How could you resist".

 RANELAGH BUSINESS CARDS and CAR STICKERS
 Supplies of both can be found in the clubhouse. Please help yourself and
 take every opportunity to pass a card to any unattached runner you come
 across. Take some cards with you if you are officiating at any of our
 races - we're often asked for information by passers-by.

 CHRISTMAS PARTY  Friday 9th December
 Last year's great party at the Turk's Head in St Margaret's is to be
 repeated on 9th December. More details to follow but put the date in your
 diary now!

 JUNIOR POINTS PRIZE RACES
 This is a series of four races in Richmond Park with prizes for the overall
 points winners in each age group. All under 17s are welcome. The first event
 will be at 2pm on Saturday 22nd October. 

  WHAT'S COMING...
 ************************
 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 ).

 Saturday October 8th         Ranelagh Bushy Park Time Trial  5km. 9am start.
                                         Surrey Cross Country League: men
 (Div 2) at Epsom Downs, women (Div 1) at Wimbledon Common  

 Saturday 15th October       Ranelagh Bushy Park Time Trial  5km. 9am start.
                                         Surrey Veterans Cross-Country
 Championships in Richmond Park. See above.

 Sunday 16th October         Cabbage Patch 10 miles at Twickenham. Entries
 now closed.

 Saturday 22nd October       Ranelagh Bushy Park Time Trial  5km. 9am start.
                                         Mob match v Orion Harriers, incl
 men's club veterans championships.  7.5m in Richmond Pk. 2.30pm start.
                                         Junior Points Prize 2km Race 1 in
 Richmond Park.  2pm start. 

 FOUNDER'S CHALLENGE  Sunday 23rd October at Peaslake
 This is a 26 mile challenge event in the Surrey Hills, walking or running,
 organised by the Long Distance Walkers' Association. More details from the
 LDWA London group web site at http://www.dasha.demon.co.uk/Founders.htm. 

 WHAT'S HAPPENED...
 ****************************
 PAGE CUP 5 miles handicap  Saturday 1st October in Richmond Park
 If there were fears that numbers of participants in the Page Cup would be
 compromised by the BPTT anniversary event in the morning, they proved
 unfounded as 46 runners took part including no less than ten who had also
 covered the 5km in Bushy Park a few hours previously. 

 Several of the earliest starters were taking part as guests and two of
 them - Martin White and Anje Lanting - were never sighted by the pack, much
 less overhauled by them. But in the race for the Cup it was the group of
 five who started at the 11.40 mark who played the significant roles. Four of
 them made it into the top six home, led by Simon Burrell who put in a great
 performance just a few months after knee surgery. Simon had over half a
 minute to spare over Bob Beatson who caught the remains of the 11.40 pack in
 the closing stages to finish 2nd. Martin Clark just held off the
 fast-finishing Jonny Rowan for the bronze medal, with two more '11.40s' Tom
 Reay and Jim Forrest close behind.

 Fastest time was by Phil Killingley, ahead of Rob Stillwell and Marcus Gohar
 and amongst the women it was Liz Kipling, Jenny Lloyd-Jones ("fresh" from
 the Berlin Marathon a week earlier) and Kathy Mallett. 

 
 BUSHY PARK TIME TRIAL FIRST ANNIVERSARY 5km  Saturday 1st October in Bushy
 Park
 Not surprisingly there was a huge new record field of 155 runners for the
 first anniversary of the BPTT. Paul Sinton-Hewitt's direct line to the
 weather gods held firm and we were greeted with another crisp bright sunny
 morning. Paul takes up the story: "The Bushy Park 5km Time Trial celebrated
 its first anniversary with a new men's course record and a record number of
 runners. Noel Pollock of Kent AC was first home in a field of 155 in a
 course record of 14:39, knocking a hefty 15 seconds off the previous best.
 Newcomer Phil Killingley of Ranelagh Harriers was second in 16:00, with Dave
 Symons of Thames Hare & Hounds third in 16:14. 40 athletes recorded personal
 bests with 38 newcomers racing for the first time. Over the year 410
 different runners have registered 1,721 finishes, an average of 33 runners
 each week and a total of more than 8,600 km run by competitors". 

 Phil Killingley's 16 minutes dead was 9th fastest in the history of the
 event and takes him to the top of the Ranelagh pile. Duncan Bell and Sam
 Perkins were next for Ranelagh, both just outside their PBs, followed by
 first-timer Adam Tapley and second-timer Chris Owens - Chris's first
 appearance being in leading home the 13 runners in the very first BPTT
 twelve months ago. 

 The big PB came from Darren Wood and again this was entirely appropriate.
 Since Paul SH introduced the concept of a points prize competition within
 the BPTT Darren has held a clear lead - not surprising really as he has
 missed only 8 of the year's 52 runs. Recently his BPTT run has been just the
 middle one of three laps of Bushy Park, but today he was given free rein by
 coach Robin Drummond. The result was an 45 seconds improvement to 18.36.
 Other improvers included Andy Morris, Chris Camacho, Chris Wright and Amelie
 Hunton whose 21.03 took another 21 seconds off her previous fastest. 

 After the run there were T-shirts for all and a large selection of prizes,
 mostly with the emphasis on participation and improvement. Ranelagh featured
 well. Darren's points win was rewarded with the John Hanscomb Trophy and the
 women's equivalent, the Sonia O'Sullivan Salver, went to Gill Wilson.
 Darren's points total (based on 100 for the first finisher each week down to
 1 for the 100th and beyond) was 3954 and gave him a massive lead over
 runner-up Stephen Instone's 2856. Roger Wilson was 5th with 2519. Gill
 scored 2556, Karen Broadbent in 3rd place scored 1109 and Holly Wilson was
 5th with 918. 

 Darren and Stephen were also tied for first and third respectively for the
 number of PBs set through the year - 13 by Darren and 10 by Stephen. The
 overall biggest improvement was exactly 10 minutes by Simon Lawrence. Chris
 Hunton, Luke Wilson and John Hanscomb featured among those with over 20
 appearances and Rachel Rowan finished joint 2nd in the number of wins
 amongst the women with five. 

 Paul has done a grand job in getting this event established and when the
 rest of the prize presentation was out of the way he was himself the
 recipient of some gifts from his grateful clientele. More power to his elbow
 for the future. 

 1 N Pollock (Kent) 14.39
 2 Phil Killingley 16.00
 10 Duncan Bell 16.48
 11 Sam Perkins 17.12
 16 Adam Tapley 17.55
 17 Chris Owens 18.01
 21 John Atkinson 18.11
 28 Marc Snaith 18.35
 29 Darren Wood 18.36
 36 Andy Bickerstaff 19.13
 43 Mike Bruce 19.44
 44 Clare Gutch 19.45
 45 Steve Rowland 19.45
 47 Andy Morris 19.49
 48 Rachel Rowan 19.50
 59 Mike Peace 20.25
 64 Chris Camacho 20.34
 68 Chris Wright 20.51
 69 Alan Davidson 20.55
 70 Amelie Hunton 21.03
 71 Chris Hunton 21.03
 74 Adam Wright 21.16
 75 Roger Wilson 21.19
 97 Michele Gibson 22.50
 98 Andy Hayward 22.50
 101 Karen Broadbent 23.34
 109 Evelyn Joslin 24.04
 117 Julie Drummond 24.27
 125 Ian Grange 24.56
 126 Luke Wilson 25.01
 128 Gill Wilson 25.20
 133 Julie Naismith 25.41
 138 Simon Quayle 26.47
 147 Janet Turnes 28.16
 148 Wally Garrod 29.10
 149 Sam Hunton 29.20 

 LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH 5km  Friday 30th September in Hyde Park
 1 C Smith (TVH) 15.41
 83 Alan Davidson 20.36
 86 Kerry McLoughlin 20.43
 90 John Pratt 20.54
 99 Niels Andersen 21.14

 SURREY COUNTY JUNIOR CROSS COUNTRY RELAYS  Sunday 2nd October at Stoke Park,
 Guildford
 We were represented in three of the age group races, though unfortunately
 with only one complete team. The Under 15 girls all ran well within 11
 seconds of each other to finish mid-way in a field of 23, but the fastest
 time went to Nadia Fidler in the incomplete B team! Our Under 13 teams were
 also well placed when they ran out of runners.

 Girls Under 15
 1 Aldershot F&D 18.59
 12 Ranelagh A 21.05
 Victoria Elbourne 15 7.06
 Rachel Price 13 7.04
 Georgia Miansarow 12 6.55
 nf Ranelagh B
 Nadia Fidler 7 6.35 

 Girls Under 13
 1 Aldershot F&D 19.14
 nf Ranelagh
 Emily Johnston 11 7.11
 Holly Nichols 13 7.55 

 Boys Under 13
 1 Aldershot F&D 17.39
 nf Ranelagh
 Richard Crowther 18 6.58  

 REGENTS PARK 10km  Sunday 2nd October
 Anna McLaughlin recorded her maiden race win in a time of 38.03.

 LOCH NESS MARATHON  Sunday 2nd October
 Fari Shams comments: "Fantastic course, highly recommended. Time was 3.08
 and I came 4th in the women's race".
 1 S Pride (Aberdeen) 2.30.15
 66 Fari Shams 3.08.50

 WORLD HALF MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIPS  Sunday 2nd October at Edmonton, Canada
 Lauren Shelley reports on her first run in an Australian vest:
 "Well I am recovering from my first world half marathon championships
 yesterday and it has been a fantastic experience! 

 After arriving in Edmonton, Canada on Monday after 34hrs or so of travel, I
 actually recovered surprisingly well. Had a pretty uneventful week, with
 plenty of R & R. Made it to the famous West Edmonton Mall (aka the largest
 mall in the world). To be honest the shops weren't that good, so I headed to
 the water park to soothe my legs in the wave pool. Countless waterslides and
 stairs later I decided to call it quits. I am definitely a big fan of
 waterslides...

 We moved into the team hotel on Thursday and was great to see all the other
 athletes. I got drug tested on Friday night before the race for the first
 time so very exciting; and got allocated race no. 1 (numbers allocated in
 country alphabetical order; obviously no-one from Algeria entered!) -
 another highlight and will have to keep my bib number this time!

 After a week of mild weather, even as hot as 15 degrees, my thoughts of a
 cold race had almost vanished. Alas race day weather was a max of 8 degrees
 and apparently an hour after our race finished the temp was only -1 degrees.
 It drizzled throughout; I ran in racing gear and gloves, but the beanie and
 tracksuit were on pretty quickly after and it took a long time to warm up.

 The race itself was a fantastic experience and after a fast start I settled
 into the middle of the field. Over the final 2 laps (out of 4.5) I started
 to move up the field and finished in 32nd (and first Australian!). Times
 were nothing special but given we ran at about 700m altitude and such
 miserable conditions fast times weren't expected. Overall I was pretty happy
 with my run and not too sore today luckily".

 Lauren ran a well-judged race as can be seen from her 5km splits of 17.28,
 17.46, 17.51 and 17.54. She finished within one minute of the second and
 third members of the British team and well ahead of the fourth.

 1 C Tomescu (Rumania) 69.17
 32 Lauren Shelley 74.36 

 BRISTOL HALF MARATHON  Sunday 2nd October
 1 W Taragon (Birchfield) 63.30
 74 Peter Weir 79.18

 KINGFIELD CANTER 2.85 miles handicap  Wednesday 5th October at Woking
 The record field of 49 included women's course records in both the over 70
 (Bridget Cushen 25.59) and over 75 (Betty Norrish 32.01) categories!
 1 A Jackson (Vets AC) 24.27  (actual time 23.57)
 4 Steve Rowland 25.48  (actual time 17.18)
 20 Alan Davidson 26.29  (actual time 18.14)
 25 Sonia Rowland 26.39  (actual time 20.39)

 TRAINING
 ************
 Coaching for juniors is now alternating between the Ranelagh clubhouse and
 the St Mary's College track on Saturday mornings at 10.30am. Forthcoming:
 15th Oct St Mary's, 22nd Oct Ranelagh, 29th Oct St Mary's. Contact Frances
 (mailto:grapevineproductions@compuserve.com) for details. 

 Tuesday sessions continue year-round, with speed work for various groups and
 Wally's beginners' club, at 7pm from the clubhouse.

 Robin Drummond's  "Improvers Sessions" continue on Thursday nights at 7pm
 from the clubhouse, concentrating on speed and technique.

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

 Don't forget the Bushy Park Time Trial every Saturday morning at 9am. It's a
 timed 5km run on the cycle track and grass in Bushy Park, starting and
 finishing at the big car park by the Diana Fountain. All are welcome - no
 need to enter in advance, just turn up and run.

 FINALLY
 ***********
 In the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Michal Kapral set a new world record for
 running a marathon while juggling three objects. He recorded 3.07.46,
 somewhat slower than the 2.49.43 world record he set last year for marathon
 buggy pushing (complete with 20 months old daughter).