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Newsdesk 2007
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RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 247 29 March 2007
Editor: Steve Rowland
mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com
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HEADLINE NEWS
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* Jo Ronaldson 3rd in 34.39 at Eastleigh 10km
* David Benton 5th in British Masters Championships, leading team to 4th
place
* Frances Ratchford elected to board of England Athletics
* Baker Cup 3 miles road handicap this Saturday
SEE HERE
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BAKER CUP 3 miles road handicap Saturday 31st March in Richmond Park
Although we're already enjoying an early spring, the traditional closing of
the "winter" season is on this Saturday 31st March. It's the Baker Cup 3
miles road handicap, one of the few events on the calendar that is suitable
for absolutely everyone in the club, young and old, fast and slow. It's only
three miles and it's on traffic-free roads in the centre of the Park. The
start and finish are beside White Lodge, near the Pen Ponds car park. Start
is 3pm. You don't have to enter in advance, just turn up on the day -
preferably at the clubhouse (no later than 2.30pm) or else at the start. In
the evening the annual Baker Cup supper and prize giving takes place at the
Orange Tree pub in Richmond, 6.30pm for 7pm...
CONGRATULATIONS...
...to our President Frances Ratchford, who has been elected to the board of
England Athletics.
SPRING MARATHONS
Thanks to those who have updated me with their spring marathon plans. Here's
the latest list, please let me know of any further corrections or additions.
Paris Marathon (15th April)
Karen Broadbent, Michele Gibson, Evelyn Joslin, Ian Grange, Andy Hayward,
Chris Read, Tom Reay and Steve Roberts.
Rotterdam Marathon (15th April)
Ed Whitlock.
London Marathon (22nd April)
Tanya Allen, Kerry Anley, Lynne Barber, Dawn Bates, Hazel Carr, Rachel
Fursman, Liz Kipling, Fari Shams, Lorna Smith, Marie Synnott-Wells, Mandy
Westlake, Jane Wyatt, John Atkinson, George Coates, Ed Barker, Ken Fotherby,
Ian Grange, Martin Halvey, John Hanscomb, Mick Lane, Stephen Logue, Trevor
Maguire, Nathan Mills, Neil Myland, Niall O'Connor, Mike Peace, Mike
Rowland, Tim Sizeland and Steve Whitehead.
Hamburg Marathon (29th April)
Carola Richter.
GREEN BELT RELAY
This event takes place over the weekend of May 19th and 20th. We are the
reigning champions in both the veterans' and the women's categories. Most of
you have some idea what the GBR is all about, but for the benefit of
newcomers it's a relay covering a 220 mile circle around the London green
belt. The route is off-road where possible, very scenic, and is divided into
22 stages. The average length of each stage is therefore 10 miles, though in
fact they vary from 5.7 miles to 13.8 miles. The first 11 stages are run on
Saturday, starting at Hampton Court and finishing at Blackmore in Essex. The
race then resumes on Sunday morning to complete the circle, finishing at
Ham. Teams comprise 11 runners, and each member of the team has to run once
on Saturday and once on Sunday. You have the option of following the race
either in whole or in part (we stay overnight in Essex) or else just running
your own stage and then going home.You can see lots more information on the race website.
Entries are due very soon, so if you are interested, please contact me, Andy
Bickerstaff or Anna McLaughlin (contact details below) as soon as possible.
PETITION TO SAVE THE VIEW OF ST PAUL'S FROM RICHMOND PARK
Deborah Young writes:
"As many of you will know, on a good day you can see St Paul's from Richmond
Park - along a 10 mile 150m wide corridor - from King Henry's Mound in the
grounds of Pembroke Lodge. If you haven't seen it I do recommend it.
I understand that Ken Livingstone has given permission to reduce the width
of the corridor to just 70m.
Personally I think it will be an awful shame if that happens. I enjoy the
view myself, and enjoy showing it to visitors. If the view is damaged or
destroyed it will never be recreated and future generations will miss out.
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WHAT'S COMING...
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More details of the following from
Andy Bickerstaff ( 07772 111491 / mailto: andy@norris-hobs.co.uk ) or
Mark Middleton ( 07725 119649 / mailto: markjmiddleton@yahoo.co.uk ) or
Phil Aiken (07739 035189 / mailto: phil.aiken@rnid.org.uk ) or
Anna McLaughlin (07971 606521 / mailto: anna.mclaughlin@talk21.com ).
Saturday 31st March Baker Cup 3 miles road handicap. 3pm start in
Richmond Park (near White Lodge).
Sunday 1st April Kingston Breakfast Runs 8m or 16m.
Sunday 15th April Thames Towpath 10 miles at Chiswick. Ranelagh GP
race.
MABAC League 5 miles at Winterfold, 11am
start.
Sunday 22nd April London Marathon. Ranelagh GP race.
Sunday 6th May Sutton 10km. Ranelagh GP and Surrey Road League
race.
Sunday 13th May Ranelagh Richmond Half Marathon. Ranelagh GP race.
See above.
Every Saturday Bushy Park Time Trial: 9am start at the Diana
Fountain car park.
Wimbledon Common Time Trial: 9am start
at the Windmill car park.
WHAT'S HAPPENED...
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EASTLEIGH 10km Sunday 25th March
Jo Ronaldson moved into a different class today. Taking full advantage of a
fast course, benign conditions and a class field she ran a superb race to
finish 3rd in 34.39. This took an astonishing 1 minute 43 seconds off her
previous fastest time and places her second only to the great Priscilla
Welch in Ranelagh's all-time 10km list. This time would have ranked her 30th
nationally in 2006. "I am very happy!!" was Jo's understated comment.
Clive Beauvais was 2nd over 60 home, just inside 40 minutes.
Women
1 N Harvey (SLH) 32.56
3 Jo Ronaldson 34.39
Men
1 F Tickner (Wells) 29.38
148 Clive Beauvais 39.51
BRITISH MASTERS CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS Saturday 24th March at
Mansfield
Marcus Gohar reports:
"Ranelagh has often had many good veterans, but they usually continue to
race with diminishing success in open senior events. Rarely do they mix it
with their fellow 'mature' colleagues. However, inspired by new vet Dave
Benton a team made it to the start of the British Masters Cross Country
Championships in Mansfield. Any thoughts that the race would be a bigger
version of the Surrey vets were quickly banished as the race got under way.
Imagine the top 15 - 20 in the Surrey vets and multiply it by the number of
counties in England and you'll have some idea! Dave Benton enjoyed it,
establishing himself in the leading group after the initial charge. He
became detached from the group after 2K, subsequently finishing 5th. Given
that the leading group included ex-senior internationals who had only just
turned 40, this was a highly creditable result.
Further back, Andy, Howard, Chris and I were battling it out with a swarm of
old but not very decrepit adversaries. I got inspired, or rather
traumatised, by Andy catching me up after 4K. After a cut-throat battle I
broke clear and got the better of him by the massive margin of... four
seconds, my legendary finishing sprint being not quite slow enough for Andy
to do what he usually does and snatch victory on the line. Sadly my triumph
was tempered by the 73 old men ahead, including Mick Lane in Met Police
colours. Meanwhile, Chris and Howard, both vet 50s, ran competitively and
were not far behind. The team finished a surprising 4th, two minutes or so
off 3rd (the team result was on total time). With the exception of Dave, we
all need to go a bit faster".
Mick Lane, who had entered for the Met Police before he knew that a Ranelagh
team was taking part, finished 55th in 29.08. For the record, Mick, Marcus
and Andy were placed 15th, 22nd and 23rd respectively in the over 45
category, and Howard and Chris were 18th and 23rd in the over 50s.
1 B Royden (Medway) 25.59
5 David Benton 26.38
74 Marcus Gohar 29.51
77 Andy Bickerstaff 29.56
97 Howard Gleave 30.33
109 Chris Owens 30.49
Teams (4 to score, based on aggregate times)
1 Sunderland 1.49.07
4 Ranelagh 1.56.58
BATH HALF MARATHON Sunday 25th March
Niall O'Connor reports:
"'Officially flat, with three undulations' said the blurb for the Bath
half-marathon. Forget Bath's Georgian buildings, Roman Baths, and Abbey -
the "flat" bit was the selling point for me! The race begins near the city
centre with a mile of gentle downhill followed by two identical laps of
nearly 10km that follow the Avon. The finish is with the same initial mile,
this time in reverse - so it's a long, slow
incline. It was a fairly fast dry course with a pleasant cooling breeze in
places.
Positioning myself towards the front of the 8000 entrants I set off at a
determinedly conservative pace. Reaching 10km in 38:38 I felt quite strong
and reached 10 miles in 61:26, which is faster than I've run for 10 miles
before. That last mile took a bit of work but I was delighted to finish in a
p.b. of 80:37.
As I watched the subsequent finishers come in I discovered the answer to one
of life's great questions - if you run a half-marathon in just a thong how
do you keep your number on? Easy, don't pin it to yourself, just pin it onto
a bra strap, which you then hang around your neck!"
1 S Tewodros (Eth) 1.02.09 (chip time 1.02.09)
133 Niall O'Connor 1.20.43 (1.20.37)
1349 Paul Gilbert 1.40.25 (1.39.20)
3535 Aine Hayes 1.56.28 (1.51.22)
5957 Jane Wyatt 2.15.46
CRANLEIGH 15 / 21 miles Sunday 25th March
The Cranleigh race gives you 15 and 21 miles options (both a few tens of
metres over-distance in fact) but cruelly allows you to opt for either
during the race. So if you had 21 miles in mind, passing the finish at 15
must present a terrible temptation. Nevertheless, 470 runners completed the
full 21 as opposed to 187 stopping at 15.
Whether by accident or design, Marie Synnott-Wells and Liz Kipling were
amongst those who settled for the shorter option, and they finished 5th and
9th in the women's section. Chris Read and Evelyn Joslin led seven Ranelagh
home in the 21 miler, all of whom seemed satisfied with their marathon
preparations.
15 miles
1 C Finill (Harrow) 1.31.32
7 S Gilbert (Team Soton) 1.45.28 (1st W)
16 Marie Synnott-Wells 1.50.44
37 Liz Kipling 1.58.28
41 Derek Mason 2.01.08
125 John Hanscomb 2.30.14
21 miles
1 A Weir (Thames H&H) 1.58.51
85 Chris Read 2.38.54
129 Evelyn Joslin 2.45.29
221 Karen Broadbent 2.56.35
399 Geoff Bell 3.25.19
434 Lorna Smith 3.36.04
459 Lynne Barber 3.51.28
460 Hazel Carr 3.51.29
READING HALF MARATHON Sunday 25th March
A giant of a race, with nearly 10,000 finishers and queues of London
proportions to cross the starting line.
1 S Kasimili (Kenya) 1.03.36 (chip time 1.03.35)
112 Trevor Maguire 1.19.46 (1.19.37)
445 Darren Wood 1.28.53 (1.28.11)
633 James Morris 1.31.21 (1.31.06)
694 Stephen Logue 1.32.12 (1.31.41)
5094 Sorcha O'Conaill 2.02.25 (1.54.04)
5305 Gemma Bramley 2.03.28 (1.55.53)
7070 Anne Baker 2.15.07 (2.04.17)
7911 Tanya Allen 2.22.30 (2.12.15)
BUSHY PARK TIME TRIAL 5km Saturday 24th March
Yet another improvement from junior Edward Smith and personal bests also
from David Rowe, Chris Hunton and Frances Pennycook.
1 P Sanger (Epsom & E) 16.08
22 Edward Smith 19.13
26 David Rowe 19.20
36 Chris Hunton 19.58
53 Chris Camacho 20.47
61 Joss Moran 21.04
71 Darren Wood 21.21
84 Phil Aiken 21.40
90 George Inman 21.53
108 Adam Wright 22.38
117 Luke Wilson 22.47
119 Martin Harrison 22.48
126 Paul Bisping 22.59
194 Frances Pennycook 25.58
210 John Hanscomb 27.01
235 Steve McClune 28.51
273 Deidre Inman 33.00
WIMBLEDON COMMON TIME TRIAL 5km Saturday 24th March
Tim Woods gave us our highest finishing position yet in the WCTT. Yvonne
Hill was 3rd woman home and there were course PBs from George Coates and Jo
Turner.
1 C Phelan (SLH) 17.09
2 Tim Woods 17.30
24 Yvonne Hill 21.14
32 George Coates 23.30
33 Jo Turner 23.31
THAMES TURBO JUNIOR SERIES Saturday 17th March in Bushy Park
In the second race of the series there were age group wins for Luke Wilson,
Holly Clemens, George Inman and Stephanie Croucher. The remaining races will
be on 28th April and 12th May. Thames Turbo are also organising a junior
aquathon (swim and run) on 24th June.
Girls 11/12 2.5km
1 E Cottington 11.04
4 Alice Clemens 12.10
Girls 13/14 3km
1 Holly Clemens 14.55
Boys 13/14 3km
1 Luke Wilson 13.28
Girls 15/16 3.5km
1 Stephanie Croucher 17.21
Boys 15/16 3.5 km
1 George Inman 14.19
SILVERSTONE HALF MARATHON Sunday 18th March
1 H Ramaala (Sth Africa) 1.06.53
1447 Carola Richter 1.46.05
FINALLY...
And you thought cross-country was a winter sport? Such was the heat and
humidity at last weekend's World Cross-Country Championships in Mombasa,
Kenya, that 27 runners ended the afternoon in hospital. Nearly 30% of the
starters in the junior women's race failed to finish; over 20% dropped out
of the junior and senior men's races and nearly 15% in the senior women's
(they're tough!). In the men's race, holder Kenenisa Bekele was one of five
Ethiopian casualties, resulting in them not even closing in a team...