*************************************************** RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 329 22 April 2010 Editor: Steve Rowland mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com *************************************************** HEADLINE NEWS ************* * Liz Kipling 2nd in Thames Towpath 10 * Nathan Mills is our first finisher, over 50 prizes for Howard Gleave and Bill Neely * Sandra Prosser is the leading woman in the MABAC League race * parkrun placings for Nick Wright, Michelle Davies and Kirsty Bangham * Good luck to all London Marathoners! * All welcome at the Marathon Aches and Pains party at the Wych Elm on Sunday evening SEE HERE ******** LONDON MARATHON Good luck also to those running London on Sunday. There's usually plenty of Ranelagh support on the course, so wear a club vest if you can. The meeting point for Ranelagh supporters will as usual be just before the 6 miles point (as the runners approach the Cutty Sark). In the evening everyone is invited to Janet Turnes's pub the Wych Elm in Elm Road, Kingston. Janet usually generously lays on some food, so come along and eat it! All are welcome, runners and non-runners alike from 7pm onwards. But if you finished London (or indeed Brighton, Paris etc etc) bring your medal! ROAD GRAND PRIX Our 2010 Grand Prix is already under way. Results from any spring marathon up to the end of April will be collated and the overall result will count as one event. The Thames Towpath 10 miles last Sunday was next on the list, followed by the Sutton 10km on 2nd May: Details:. Then come our Richmond Half Marathon on 16th May and the Dorking 10 miles on 23rd May. The Sutton, Richmond and Dorking races all also feature in the Surrey Road League Details: and Richmond and Dorking double as county championships. Full details of our GP are available on our website here:. RANELAGH'S ROAD RACES Entries are open for our two road races, the Richmond Half Marathon on Sunday 16th May Details: and the Richmond 10km on Sunday 20th June. There are changes to both compared with previous years: the course for the Half Marathon is fundamentally the same but the start will be at the Rose of York pub in Petersham Road. The 10km is a new course, similar to the old one but now on tarmac all the way. The start and finish will both be on the grass at the end of Riverside Drive (where the finish used to be) and the race HQ will be at the Kew FC clubhouse adjacent to the start. MARATHON SWEEPSTAKE Heather Martingell and Duncan Mallison are running the London Marathon in aid of the Police Dependants' Trust. As a change from a sponsorship appeal they have organised a sweepstake - for £5 a guess you can predict what time either of them will achieve. Details:. LONDON MARATHON SPONSORSHIP Mike Rowland writes: "Careful readers of my brother's splendid fortnightly e-news may have noticed that the last Ranelagh member to finish the London Marathon year after year is your friendly, generous, sympathetic club handicapper. The reason I'm so incredibly slow is because I don't run but race-walk (though, to be honest, I can probably walk the thing faster than I could run it these days).This year, I'm trying to raise as much as I can for a charity called Water Aid. Their aim is for a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation. Sadly, this is a long, long way from reality and this really came home to me when Water Aid sent all their supporters a letter about a lady called Agnes who lived in Botswana. Each day, she walked to a 'local' river (10 miles away!!) to collect filthy water for her family. She was always accompanied by her 16 year old son who helped carry the water. One day, she was in the river when she was dragged under by a crocodile. Her son managed somehow to fight the beast off but Agnes received terrible injuries. I know that she survived the attack but does have dreadful scars. The saddest part of the story is that her brave, brave son died a few months later. Don't know how. Last November, I gave a presentation to my church congregation in the hope of raising money for Water Aid. The letter about Agnes arrived just a few days before my presentation. I did wonder about reading them the letter - I can be a bit emotional - but I decided to go ahead and, inevitably, I completely broke down. The good news is that Water Aid have, with the help of the villagers, installed pumps in Agnes's village to collect water from underground so no more trips to the rivers. But there must be thousands and thousands of Agneses all over the world. We take so much for granted in the West - imagine turning on the tap in your kitchen and a crocodile jumps out and bites you!! So please, please, please let bygones be bygones, forget just for a while that I'm a mean old handicapper, and help me raise money for this wonderful charity. Please visit original.justgiving.com/mikerowland - and many thanks for reading all this" LONDON MARATHON SPONSORSHIP #2 Marie Synnott-Wells writes: "I am once again running for the Epilepsy Group at St George's Hospital. St George's Hospital provides a range of general and specialist services in South West London and beyond. Money raised through St George's Hospital Charity supports and enhances the services provided at St George's for the benefit of patients, visitors and staff. Please help it continue the good work. I would appreciate people's donations for this cause: virginmoneygiving.com/MarieSynnott-Wells." JENNI FALCONER'S RUNNING SECRETS "Anyone who wants to run a marathon can run a marathon," insists personal trainer Karen Weir. Karen sends this:. SUBSCRIPTIONS... ...were due on April 1st. Please be prompt! Rates remain unchanged: Seniors £40; Under 20 or student £10; Family membership £70; Retired and over 60: £20; Second-claim £20; Non-running £10. You can pay by cheque (payable to Ranelagh Harriers and sent to Membership Secretary, Ranelagh Harriers, 135a Petersham Road, Richmond, Surrey TW10 7AA) or you can download a standing order form from our web site here:. 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). We also need a couple of people to undertake simple catering duties at the clubhouse. If you are available to help in any capacity please contact me at ranelaghhalfhelpers@hotmail.co.uk." DISPATCHES Channel 4's "Dispatches" programme last week examined the London Marathon's finances and posed some valid questions, though one can't help thinking that there's always somebody who wants to dish the dirt on any successful event. If you didn't see it, you can catch up here:. For an alternative view see this week's Athletics Weekly. COLIN MILES We were sorry to hear of the recent death of Colin Miles after a lengthy illness. Colin had not been a member of Ranelagh for some years but was well known to many senior members. He joined the club in 1961 and soon became a regular attender at most club events. He won the Coad Cup summer 5 miles handicap in 1964, recording a time of 29.00, and won the same trophy again in 1972, this time 79 seconds faster. He became a keen orienteer after taking part in the first-ever such event in the south of England, organised by Chris Brasher in Richmond Park in July 1965. Colin subsequently became one of the founder members of Ranelagh's Orienteering offshoot, the Dysart Dashers. Later in 1965 Colin was a member of the Ranelagh scoring team in our first ever Surrey XC League race. He was also a member of our team which set a new record for the Pennine Way Relay in 1971. He was a long-serving member of the club Committee and was one of those who put a good deal of time and effort into the building of our previous club house. Colin racked up 47 mob matches in over two decades and won the Baker Cup handicap in 1979 but soon after this his running career was curtailed by heart problems which required multiple by-pass surgery. He continued for many years to marshal at our Half Marathon when it was held at Effingham and his daughter Sarah became a club member in the 1980s. Our condolences go to his family. 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 ) Sunday 25th April London Marathon. Sunday 2nd May Sutton 10km. Sunday 16th May Richmond Half Marathon. Sunday 23rd May Dorking 10 miles. 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 Kingston The Hawker Centre Other venues, more details and registration at www.parkrun.com WHAT'S HAPPENED *************** THAMES TOWPATH 10 miles Sunday 18th April at Chiswick Liz Kipling was planning on nothing more than a hard training run but finding herself feeling pretty good at 8 miles she upped the pace to sub-6 minute miling. The result was second place in the women's race and a personal best by a few seconds. Liz's 64.01 was beaten only by Nathan Mills and Howard Gleave who finished less than 100 metres apart in the 61 minutes bracket. Nathan writes: "A combination of the warm weather and the steep climb on the steps leading up to Richmond Bridge at halfway ensured that most 10 mile PBs were safe, for another race at least. The finishers' commemorative pint glass was a nice touch and they would have undoubtedly won the Most Popular Race of 2010 award had each glass been filled with a pint of London's finest." Howard won the over 50s prize, and a good effort from Bill Neely secured him third place in the age group. Jerym Brunton, Christian Vaughan, Mark Herbert and Eric Plue were also inside 70 minutes. Michelle Davies was our second woman in 12th place, narrowly missing her PB. We had 38 finishers in all. RICHMOND parkrun 5km Saturday 17th April 1 J Flood (Stragglers) 16.19 6 Peter Weir 18.24 7 Jerym Brunton 18.44 38 John Ricketts 21.21 50 Chris Read 21.53 65 Donna Mason 23.02 78 Katherine Mercer 23.50 160 Louise Gill 28.38 186 Louise Reeder 31.26 188 Bronwen Northmore 32.18 BUSHY parkrun 5km Saturday 17th April 1 Unknown 15.36 10 Duncan Mallison 17.31 47 Simon Collingridge 19.13 132 Alexander Fordham 21.27 135 Clare King 21.29 366 Nicholas Fordham 25.35 367 Peter Fordham 25.35 410 Wally Garrod 26.31 431 Danny Hobbs 26.57 511 Val Lowman 28.32 565 Chris Wright 30.21 570 Peter Lowman 30.36 580 John Hanscomb 31.01 612 Jose Scheuer 33.02 FRIMLEY LODGE parkrun 5km Saturday 17th April 1 G Robinson (Sand J) 16.28 10 Darren Wood 19.05 KINGSTON parkrun 5km Saturday 17th April Nick Wright finished second behind Danny Norman. 1 Danny Norman (Strag) 17.09 2 Nick Wright 18.12 4 Luke Wilson 20.00 12 Roger Wilson 21.13 15 Chris Camacho 21.25 25 Phil Aiken 24.01 36 Janet Turnes 28.05 BEDFONT LAKES parkrun 5km Saturday 17th April Michelle Davies and Kirsty Bangham were the leading two women. 1 I Johnson (Strag) 17.00 14 Michelle Davies 22.50 15 Lee Davies 22.50 25 Kirsty Bangham 24.34 BRIGHTON MARATHON Sunday 18th April Ian Grange completed his second consecutive marathon weekend, only 27 seconds slower than in Paris...just London to go! 1 S Bat-Ochir (Mongol) 2:19.05 (gun time 2:19.05) 1592 Ian Grange 3:47.29 (3:58.28) 3167 Tamsin Burland 4:20.50 (4:27.18) MABAC LEAGUE 5 miles Sunday 18th April at Winterfold This was another of the scenic courses in the Surrey Hills which are a speciality of the MABAC League. It was typically hilly, the first half of each lap being roughly downhill and the second half back up again. Sandra Prosser was the first woman home. There are some photos on the Cranleigh T&H Runners web site here:. The next race is at Peaslake (also in the Surrey Hills) on May 9th. 1 J Querstret (Runny) 33.10 14 Steve Rowland 39.06 17 Sandra Prosser 39.29 40 Sonia Rowland 43.16 44 Alan Davidson 43.29 Juniors (2.5 miles) 1 T Drummond (Epsom O) 19.10 7 Johannes Prosser 22.58 BOSTON MARATHON Monday 19th April Commiserations to Chris Read who was unable to get to Boston owing to the Icelandic volcano. KENT COASTAL MARATHON Sunday 6th September 2009 Here's one that slipped the net: Kate Comisso finished 2nd in the women's race in 3:20:12. 1 J Rendall (Tonb) 2:41.18 28 Kate Comisso 3:20.12 FINALLY... "Running! If there's any activity happier, more exhilarating, more nourishing to the imagination, I can't think of what it might be. In running the mind flees with the body, the mysterious efflorescence of language seems to pulse in the brain, in rhythm with our feet and the swinging of our arms." Joyce Carole Oates, American author and professor of creative writing at Princeton University.