*************************************************** RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 326 13 March 2010 Editor: Steve Rowland mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com *************************************************** HEADLINE NEWS ************* * Ralph Street and Marie Synnott-Wells are the leading Ranelagh finishers in the National * Hercules Wimbledon wins inter-club but we defeat Ealing for the Hec Petersen Trophy * Annemarie Goodridge wins the Clutton Cup * Fastest times by Niall O'Connor and Marie Synnott-Wells * Successful MABAC League race in the Park * parkrun placings for Rachael Holmes, Duncan Mallison, David Rowe, Paul Sinton-Hewitt and Kirsty Bangham * Rachael Holmes wins Bushy Park 10km * 2.50 for Martin Halvey at the Barcelona Marathon * 1.34 for Kate Comisso at the Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon * Vets placings for Bill Neely and Pete Warren SEE HERE ******** BAKER CUP SUPPER AND PRIZE PRESENTATION This will take place on Saturday 27th March at the Roebuck pub on Richmond Hill, starting at 7pm. Cup holders, if you haven't already returned your trophy to Alan Hedger (tel: 01372 740626) please contact him as soon as possible. All are welcome, especially those who have cups or medals to collect. The price is £20 including food and a greeting glass of bubbly. Places are limited to 60, so book now with Michele Gibson: e-mail Michele micheleagibson@hotmail.com or phone 07703 518956. BAKER CUP AND NEW JUNIOR TROPHY Simon Burrell writes: "It was fantastic to see so many Ranelagh runners turn out to enjoy the mob match against Blackheath and the social activities afterwards. A good time was had by all and we won the race by a country mile. This was the last mob match of the season and we won't see the next one until October. For any of you already experiencing withdrawal symptoms, what's next? There's no more cross-country but for something a little different why not put the Baker Cup in your diary (27th March). This is run over 3 undulating miles, mostly on tarmac roads around the Royal Ballet School, so it is a distance to suit all comers. As one of the club's handicap races, you might even walk away with the impressive Baker Cup, which is presented at the supper event on the evening of the race. This is traditionally a well-supported race, but it would be great to have as many runners enjoy the event this year as we saw for the last mob match. This year we will be awarding a new annual junior trophy at the Baker Cup, in honour of Jack Ellicock, who celebrated his 90th birthday and 60+ years as a Ranelagh member in February. Jack remains very involved with and supportive of the sport and we hope he will be able to present the trophy personally on the day. We would like to get as many juniors running as possible - to be eligible, a runner must: * be under 18 on the day of the race; and * be a paid up member (individual or family); and * meet handicapping criteria (see below). The first eligible junior over the line (in handicap order) will win the Jack Ellicock trophy. To get a full handicap, the usual rules apply with regards three previous runs on which our handicapper (Mike Rowland) can make a judgement. As junior racing opportunities are more limited, Mike will allow up to two parkrun times to be taken into account in setting a junior handicap. This means you only need to have completed in one previous club race, so long as you have run at least two parkruns. You are still welcome to run without a full handicap but this will be as a guest and so you will not be eligible for the trophy. If you do want to run as a junior but don't have three club race results recorded, please let Mike know mike_rowland@fsmail.net and he can check your parkrun times before the day of the race." IMPORTANT UPDATE ON ENGLAND ATHLETICS AFFILIATION CARDS More from Hon Sec Simon Burrell: "Ranelagh Harriers is affiliated to England Athletics (EA). This requires the club to individually register runners with EA each year, which should cause a 'Competition Licence' to be sent to your home address in the form of a plastic card with a registration number on it. Quoting this registration number should allow you to enter races as an 'affiliated' runner, usually saving you a couple of pounds on entry. Due to problems in the past, Chris Owens (our Membership Secretary) has left a folder of numbers in the clubhouse, so runners can check them if they have not yet been received. The scheme (introduced about three years ago) has not been without its problems, some of which are related to accuracy of information and some to the huge administrative burden this has placed on the club. There are a few things you can do to help here: * Check your details on the EA web site (see instructions below) - update any details that are not correct, especially your home address. * Let Chris (aachrisowens@yahoo.co.uk) know if you have changed your address - he will also need to update club records. * Remember to change this information (plus separately let the club know) if you move. * Let Chris know if you don't need to be registered with EA, i.e. you have no intention of running an open race in the season to come (April 2010 to April 2011). You may have spotted a flaw in the process, in that if EA has your previous address, you may never have received your registration card and instructions on how to login to check your details - this happened to me initially. If you have never received anything from EA and you think you should, then you can contact them affiliation@athleticsservices.org.uk or 0121 713 8400) and they will be able to help. Once armed with your login information you can access the EA Athlete Portal www.englandathletics.org/editmyprofile to check your details. Before you do this, please be aware that we have about 70 affiliation letters (for the 2009/10 season) in a box on the round table in the clubhouse. These relate to a random selection of members for whom EA managed to accidentally delete their addresses and send everything to me! We believe that they have now fixed the problem, but it would definitely be worth checking that your details are correct if you fall into this group. If you don't visit the club very often these days, haven't received your card and think you should have one, please let me know simon_burrell2000@yahoo.com and I can check if your card is at the clubhouse for you. It is important that you check your details on the EA site and make sure they are up to date, to ensure you receive your new card each year. Whilst the scheme requires the club to affiliate members, it also requires runners themselves to keep their details up to date. If you are affiliated and you move address, please ensure EA have your latest details as well as the club. If you have any queries on whether your name has been put forward for affiliation, please contact our Membership Secretary - Chris Owens aachrisownens@yahoo.co.uk. Apologies for the length of this note and the complexity of the system. I am advised that EA are actively looking into how they can change the system to make it more efficient." RANELAGH CUP SCHOOLS RACE This was not shown on the fixture list but is due to take place on Saturday 20th March in Richmond Park. If anyone can help with marshalling or recording that afternoon, please contact Alan Hedger (01372 740626). GREEN BELT RELAY 22rd and 23th May, 2010 Marie Synnott-Wells writes: "Would anyone interested in running in this year's Green Belt Relay please contact me nandmwells@aol.com as soon as possible. Information about the race: www.greenbeltrelay.org.uk/." ROAD GRAND PRIX Details of the Ranelagh 2010 Road Grand Prix are now available on our website: here: The first event is the always popular Thames Towpath 10 miles on Sunday 18th April at Chiswick. www.west4harriers.com/TowpathTen. parkrun MOB MATCH Marc Snaith writes: "After the success of last year's inaugural mob match against Stragglers we will be repeating the fixture again this year. The match takes place on Saturday 10 April and will be incorporated into the Richmond parkrun - 9am start at Richmond Gate. This means that the race distance is only 5k which is less than half the distance of our cross country mob matches. It is a great opportunity for those who find our cross country mob matches a bit daunting to run for the club and perhaps next year step up and join us on the mud for the 12k version. Last year over 50 ran and we were still edged out by The Stragglers. This year we have had contrasting cross country seasons. Whilst we were languishing at the bottom of division one of the Surrey League, or neighbours in Ham came second in division two and will be taking our place in division one next year. It would be a welcome silver lining to our season if we ended the winter with another mob match victory. Club vests/tops must be worn." RANELAGH RICHMOND HALF MARATHON Sunday 16th May 2010 Heather Martingell writes: "Please help. We need plenty of on-course marshals. The race starts at 8.30am. Marshals will be required for about 90 minutes placed somewhere convenient for you, and you will be rewarded with tea, coffee and various edible goodies back in the clubhouse afterwards. There will also be some drinks on the Tuesday afterwards in the clubhouse for marshals only, as well as energy bars for during the race (to tease the runners with). If you are available to marshal please contact me ranelaghhalfhelpers@hotmail.co.uk ." 1980 WORLD CROSS-COUNTRY VIDEO Marc Snaith writes: "I came across this video of the 1980 World Cross Country Champs in Paris. You might remember the race as Nick Rose built a comfortable lead only to see it disappear over the last mile and he was out-sprinted into third position. I enjoyed watching the racing but of note to Ranelagh is that Hugh Jones was running and can be seen crossing the finish line. He and the club are then mentioned by the commentator: Go to www.craigvirgin.com/main.html and then towards the bottom of the page click on 'watch IAAF video & read more'." Hugh finished 40th in his international debut and went on to finish 11th two years later. MARILENA IN THE ATACAMA You can follow Marilena Wilkinson's progress in the 250km Racing the Planet Atacama Crossing on her official blog here:. If anyone else would like to help Marilena raise money for her chosen charity Ataxia UK, visit her Just Giving page:. WANTED - VOLUNTEERS TO PARTICIPATE IN RUNNING PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH Calling male runners to participate in psychology research on exercise behaviours and beliefs being conducted by a post-graduate student at London Metropolitan University. Please use the link below to complete a short, anonymous survey on your running history and activities. As a thank you, you may optionally leave an email address to receive personalised feedback on your exercise belief responses: www.surveymonkey.com/s/runners. The research is being conducted under the research rules of the British Psychological Society and is being supervised by qualified sports psychologist Dr Jeremy Adams. PACERS REQUIRED Carola Richter writes: "Human Race is launching a new pacing event, Race Your Pace, which takes place on the 28th of March 2010 and is located at Dorney Lake, near Windsor, a stunning location for a half marathon (13.1 miles). We require pacers of various speeds for this event. I'm looking for runners who have experience in pace setting and/or would like to volunteer for this opportunity. Pacers should be able to run a steady pace of either: 6/6.5/7/7.5/8/8.5 mins per mile for performers and 8/8.5/9/9.5/10/10.5/11/11.5/12 mins per mile for improvers. All pacers will get a free entry into the race and a free entry into the Kingston Breakfast Run which takes place on the 11th of April 2010. We also pay £20 for petrol, however volunteers will need their own transport or maybe they can arrange a car share. With the support of Lucozade Sport, Human Race is offering runners the opportunity to understand and experience one of the key factors in running a successful race - pace judgement. The event will cater for runners of all abilities and speeds, and in order for our runners to get the most out of the event we're splitting runners in terms of ability. There will be two group races - Performers and Improvers. We will give athletes the opportunity to manage their pace in two separate starts with the help of pacers. - The first pace group PERFORMERS has a start time of 10:00am - You should have a half marathon target time of 1hr 05 to 1hr 45 (2hr 30 to 4hr for a marathon). - There will be pacers for 6/6.5/7/7.5/8/8.5 mins per mile - The second pace group IMPROVERS has a start time of 12:30pm - You should have a half marathon target time of anything over 1hr 45 (4.00hrs + for a marathon). - There will be pacers for 8/8.5/9/9.5/10/10.5/11/11.5/12 mins per mile There will also be a series of 20 minute post race seminars. These seminars will be hosted by double Olympian Liz Yelling and will focus on improving your performance and getting the best out of your run in preparation for a spring Marathon. WHAT'S COMING ************* More details of the following from Marc Snaith (07717 213035 mailto ( mdsnaith5@hotmail.com ) or Marie Synnott-Wells (07983 430264 (After 5pm Weekdays) / mailto nandmwells@aol.com )
Saturday 20th March Ranelagh Cup Schools Race in Richmond Park Saturday 27th March Baker Cup 3 miles road handicap in Richmond Park at 3pm. Our shortest handicap. It's on the closed roads in the centre of the Park, starting beside White Lodge. All welcome, register on the day. Saturday 10th April 5km mob match v Stragglers incorporated with the Richmond parkrun Sunday 18th April Thames Towpath 10 miles at Chiswick. Details:. Sunday 25th April London Marathon. Sunday 2nd May Sutton 10km. Details:. parkruns every Saturday at 9am Bushy Park Diana Fountain car park Richmond Park Richmond Gate Wimbledon Common Windmill car park Banstead Woods Car park off B2219 Park Lane, Chipstead Bedfont Lakes Bedfont Lakes Country Park, Ashford, Middlesex Other venues, more details and registration at www.parkrun.com WHAT'S HAPPENED ************** NATIONAL CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS Saturday 27th February at Leeds A communications breakdown in the form of an out of date mobile phone number almost led to the Sheffield Hallam University section of the Ranelagh team (Ralph Street) failing to meet up with the Richmond contingent which had travelled up with the Sandra Prosser taxi service. Fortunately Ralph was found just in time for the senior event and ran an excellent race to finish 147th almost a minute clear of the next Ranelagh man Peter Haarer. Peter claims he "ran like a donkey" and subject to confirmation he will lose his eight year tenure of the Roffey Salver for the first Ranelagh man to finish in the National. A respectful distance behind Ralph and Peter came Niall O'Connor and the scoring team of six was completed by Andy Bix, Chris Bundhun and Chris Brook, with Christian Vaughan and Andy Woodhouse in reserve. 1428 runners completed the course, and 107 teams closed in, with Ranelagh safely inside the top half. In the women's race 543 runners and 61 teams finished and we placed 33rd. Marie Synnott-Wells was untroubled in retaining the Aotearoa Trophy as the first Ranelagh finisher in 118th place - just three places lower than last year. Bronwen Fisher, Sandra Prosser and Louise Piears made up the rest of the scoring four ahead of Kate Brook. INTER-CLUB 3.8 miles Saturday 6th March in Richmond Park In the ten to score event we were narrowly beaten by Hercules Wimbledon, but in the race against Ealing, Southall and Middlesex for the Hec Petersen Trophy we came out just ahead on a six to score basis. Niall O'Connor was our leading runner in 4th place, only a hundred metres behind the winner, HW's Richard Xerri. Andy Bickerstaff outsprinted Chris Bundhun another 100 metres back, both making it into the top ten. Peter Weir and John Herries followed, with Chris Brook and Christian Vaughan also in the first twenty. Then came a Ranelagh host, filling twelve of the places between 21st and 34th. Amongst these were the leading three women, Kate Brook, Karen Weir and Anna Mallett. MABAC LEAGUE 5 miles Sunday 7th March in Richmond Park Deborah Blakemore reports: "Sunday 7th March saw another successful MABAC event hosted by Ranelagh Harriers in Richmond Park. The weather was kind to us - it was a beautiful cold sunny morning. 183 assorted runners, walkers and juniors took part in either a 2.5 mile (1-lap) or 5 mile (2-lap) course which included running up Queens Ride (twice for runners!) and a steep hill to the finish! First Ranelagh home was Sandra Prosser. A big personal thank you to all of the marshals - Annemarie, Lorna & Mick, Bev, Pat, Marina, Jo S-H & family, Penny and especially Simon for marking out the course with me. And not forgetting my four-legged marshals Dodge & Dylan! MABAC news: MABAC recently donated £1000 each to St Mungo's (local charity for the homeless), Help for Heroes, Staines Shopmobility and the Cranleigh bandroom. These were chosen by the Committee (on which we sit) - a nice gesture as well as some great cross country events. The next one is on 18 April at Winterfold Forest." 1 D Cairnie (Runny) 29.49 35 Sandra Prosser 37.22 38 James Barber 37.41 63 Roger Wilson 40.12 109 Lynne Barber 49.23 124 Christine Goodsell 54.55 126 Clare McKenzie 57.40 128 Jade Barrington 59.22 CLUTTON CUP 10 miles handicap Saturday 13th March in Richmond Park As usual there was a relatively small field for our longest handicap race. A couple of dozen runners set off in pursuit of our oldest (presented in 1882) and arguably most handsome trophy. With a small field and 10 miles to cover the start is invariably very spread out, and this time over 40 minutes separated "limit" from "scratch". "Limit" on this occasion was Annemarie Goodridge and she must have had a very lonely, but ultimately rewarding, run. No-one caught her, probably no-one even saw her, save the officials at the half way point. Annemarie kept to her task and crossed the line victorious by over a minute. Mike Peace and junior Alexander Fordham led the pursuit towards the end but they were both overhauled at the death by Niall O'Connor on his way to the day's fastest time of 60.52. Mike took the bronze medal with Alexander fourth. Nathan Mills ran 63.30 for the second fastest time and Chris Owens followed in third place with 65.16. Marie Synnott-Wells's 68.55 was the fastest by a woman, ahead of Bronwen Fisher, 76.40, and Sandra Prosser, 77.31. LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH 5km Friday 26th February in Hyde Park 1 S Dawes (Guernsey) 16.03 23 Mick Lane 18.50 119 Alan Davidson 22.56 202 John Hanscomb 33.12 RICHMOND parkrun 5km Saturday 27th February First place and a new PB for Rachael Holmes. 1 B Goater (SM Rich) 16.49 23 Bill Neely 19.45 31 Stewart Anderson 20.15 32 Rachael Holmes 20.17 55 Chris Read 21.51 67 Tony Appleby 22.57 83 Andrew Brown 23.58 92 Simon Burrell 24.30 102 Donna Mason 25.08 119 Louise Reeder 26.05 142 Janet Turnes 28.53 155 Pat Hewlett 32.43 164 Wiebke Kortum 35.59 BUSHY parkrun 5km Saturday 27th February 1 R Stannard (Belgrave) 16.24 14 Nick Wright 17.53 17 Nathan Mills 18.06 117 Carola Richter 22.11 123 Adam Wright 22.18 124 Chris Camacho 22.19 175 Peter Fordham 23.15 248 Chris Wright 24.35 276 Jose Scheuer 25.12 321 Julie Naismith 26.15 388 Wally Garrod 27.52 428 Peter Lowman 29.17 432 Val Lowman 29.29 495 John Hanscomb 31.48 BEDFONT LAKES parkrun 5km Saturday 27th February It's getting to be a habit: Duncan Mallison's sixth win at Bedfont. 1 Duncan Mallison 19.05 16 Kirsty Bangham 25.20 FRIMLEY LODGE parkrun 5km Saturday 27th February 1 D Symes (unatt) 17.41 9 Darren Wood 20.12 RUN RICHMOND PARK 10km Saturday 27th February Rachael Holmes was 6th overall and won the women's section by nearly three minutes. 1 N Everett (unatt) 38.31 (chip time 38.30) 6 Rachael Holmes 42.41 (42.40) TUNBRIDGE WELLS HALF MARATHON Sunday 28th February We had a strong representation in the women's race headed by Kate Comisso who finished 14th. The team placed 5th. 1 B Moreau (AF&D) 1:09.11 (chip time 1:09.11) 143 Kate Comisso 1:34.20 (1:34.12) 488 Michelle Davies 1:44.48 (1:41.19) 505 Alison Dicks 1:45.15 (1:41.54) 526 Wiebke Kortum 1:45.42 (1:42.26) 777 Lee Davies 1:52.33 (1:48.50) 989 Michael White 1:57.37 (1:53.59) RODING VALLEY HALF MARATHON Sunday 28th February Pete Warren seems to have been the first over 70 to finish. 1 P Martelletti (VPH) 1:10.16 346 Pete Warren 1:52.16 SOUTH LONDON 10km Sunday 28th February on Wimbledon Common Bill Neely was first over 50 - albeit beaten by the first over 60! 1 T Elsey (Herne Hill) 35.13 (chip time 35.13) 20 Bill Neely 41.18 (41.18) 277 Deirdre Inman 68.31 (68.18) 280 Cindy Croucher 69.08 (68.54) KINGFIELD CANTER 2.85 miles handicap Wednesday 3rd March at Woking 1 R Baggatt (unatt) 21.19 (actual time 19.19) 7 Steve Rowland 26.43 (18.58) 9 Alan Davidson 26.55 (19.55) 14 Louise Piears 27.00 (20.15) BEDFONT LAKES parkrun 5km Saturday 6th March A PB for Duncan Mallison but narrowly beaten by a mystery runner. 1 Unknown 18.26 2 Duncan Mallison 18.38 18 Michael White 23.49 38 Sharon Dooley 27.30 BUSHY parkrun 5km Saturday 6th March 1 M Skinner (Black & B) 14.46 49 Steve Elswood 19.41 53 Rachael Holmes 19.51 111 Adam Wright 21.29 138 Ian Grange 22.05 140 Alexander Fordham 22.09 257 Jose Scheuer 24.54 293 Phil Aiken 25.38 311 Nicholas Fordham 26.02 312 Peter Fordham 26.04 345 Wally Garrod 26.45 431 Peter Lowman 29.08 470 John Hanscomb 31.03 RICHMOND parkrun 5km Saturday 6th March 1 J Flood (Stragglers) 16.50 12 Bill Neely 19.29 56 Jar O'Brien 23.01 70 Simon Burrell 23.51 81 Joanne Sinton-Hewitt 24.21 84 Donna Mason 24.25 94 Andrew Brown 24.55 102 Louise Reeder 25.27 104 Rob Kitchen 25.52 112 Philippa Shaw 26.19 129 Wiebke Kortum 27.31 130 Alison Dicks 27.33 155 Annemarie Goodridge 30.20 169 Pat Hewlett 33.25 173 Bronwen Northmore 34.05 BASINGSTOKE parkrun 5km Saturday 6th March 1 P Crisp (Reading RR) 17.13 26 Bronwen Fisher 21.46 WIMBLEDON COMMON parkrun 5km Saturday 6th March 1 M Holm (unatt) 16.30 16 John Atkinson 20.24 GREENWICH parkrun 5km Saturday 6th March Only 18 runners turned up for the inaugural Greenwich parkrun in Avery Hill Park, and David Rowe and Mr parkrun Paul Sinton-Hewitt took full advantage to fill the first two places, with Kirsty Bangham the leading woman. 1 David Rowe 21.16 2 Paul Sinton-Hewitt 22.38 6 Kirsty Bangham 26.16 16 Sharon Rowe 35.55 SWINDON parkrun 5km Saturday 6th March ...and another new parkrun. 1 C Reade (Swindon) 17.45 9 Roger Wilson 22.07 BARCELONA MARATHON Sunday 7th March Martin Halvey finished 18th in the over 50 category in a few seconds over 2:50. 1 J Kotut (Kenya) 2:07.30 218 Martin Halvey 2:50.07 MILTON KEYNES HALF MARATHON Sunday 7th March Andrew Brown reports: "I managed 1:45:36, making feeble excuses about sore ribs (still!) and a cold. Fabulous weather (particularly compared to previous Sunday) and fine course - even finishing uphill like the best parkrun." 1 N Addison (Shaft B) 1:08.54 (chip time 1:08.54) 1002 Andrew Brown 1:47.10 (1:45.36) MILTON KEYNES 10km Sunday 7th March 1 M Fudaki (Milt K) 31.32 5 Marc Snaith 35.24 FINALLY... A couple of stories from Mike McDowell: "I was taking my mother home one bank holiday, together with my wife. On the way, I dropped off for a 7 miles road race as one does. Parking right near the start of the three equal laps, I showed them where to stand to give me my lap times. When I returned from warm-up, they had disappeared, and after one lap I saw them standing near an antique centre a quarter mile away. On the second and third laps they were in the right place. 'What about my lap times,' I said. 'I got your time for the second lap,' said my wife. 'I do not understand how,' I said, 'What was it?' 'You went past at half past three' she replied. As I was lying in a hospital bed after a five and a half hour operation on my face at the age of 71, in walked a six feet tall Australian lady physio. In a contemptuous tone she said 'When did you last do any exercise?' 'I ran a seven and a half miles cross-country race last Saturday,' I replied. She left without another word."