*************************************************** RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 371 17 February 2012 Editor: Steve Rowland mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com *************************************************** HEADLINE NEWS ************* * Ranelagh men finish 5th in the Surrey League and remain 4th overall * Ranelagh women finish 2nd in the Surrey League and move up to 11th overall * Richard Gregory and Liz Kipling lead our teams * parkrun placings for Mel Hunter, Elin Mortensen, Rachael Holmes and Chris Camacho * All needed for the mob match away to South London Harriers this Saturday ATTENTION PLEASE **************** STUBBS CUP MOB MATCH v SOUTH LONDON HARRIERS Saturday 18th February at Coulsdon A final general call to arms this cross-country season! Our last mob match of the winter is tomorrow (February 18th) at Coulsdon, starting at 2.30pm. As usual the more bodies we have there, the better our chances. Be there if you can. Details:. IMPORTANT: Mike Peace has had very few takers for the minibus leaving the clubhouse at 12 noon. If you want to use it please contact Mike immediately - mpeace1@gmail.com. RICHMOND HALF MARATHON Sunday 6th May We reached our entry limit very early and on-line entries have therefore officially closed but there is a limited number of additional club places available - reply to the Newsletter Ed without delay if you want to take one of these. It will be first come, first served. MABAC NEWS Penny Merrett writes: "Set up in 1977, the League was named MABAC after its prime mover Alan Blatchford. He organised a running group at British Aircraft Corporation, who were joined by runners from Matthew Arnold School hence MA-BAC. MABAC is made up of twelve running clubs from SW London, Surrey and Middlesex, including the Blackwater Valley Runners, Dorking and Mole Valley AC, Epsom Oddballs and Epsom Allsorts, Wimbledon Windmilers and Ranelagh Harriers - some of our Surrey League competition! Races are held monthly, usually on the first Sunday of each month, each race being organised by one of the twelve clubs. Races are generally an 'undulating' five cross country miles - on a two lap route that is always challenging for the stronger, faster adults, but also makes it possible for juniors and the less competitive or less fit to run or walk it as a 2.5 mile race. Ranelagh Harriers' own race this year is on Sunday 4th March at 10am in Richmond Park. (Please note the earlier start time). The race starts opposite Broomfield car park (between the Robin Hood Gate and the Kingston Gate). Last year the race was won in a time of 28.42 with not a Ranelagh runner in sight - we were all busy marshalling! This is our event and let's face it there is no travelling time involved for most of us - you can have a Sunday morning lie in and still get to the race on time! It would be great to have a full complement of runners and marshals this year. Please put it in your diary and if you are available to marshal please contact Penny Merrett penelopemerrett@yahoo.co.uk or Deborah Blakemore." Bev Ali adds: "MABAC organises the Cranleigh 15/21 mile race each March, the 25th March this year. Since we joined MABAC, I have been the Ranelagh volunteer and helped with the timekeeping. This year I cannot because I entered a half marathon held on the same day, before I knew which day the MABAC race was scheduled for. Thus I am appealing to other club members to please think about volunteering, not necessarily for the timekeeping job - I am sure that a responsibility that fits in with your availability could be arranged. If you are participating in the race, please think about whether one of your supporters could offer some assistance while you do the miles. This race is very important to MABAC and to many runners preparing for London Marathon. It raises a great deal of money that is shared amongst several local and national charities. If you can help, please contact me, Bev, either in person on a Tuesday evening, by e-mail beviscosmicali@gmail.com or by telephone 02082558641 / 07974217424." The course is a pleasant three loops around country lanes. If you're interested in taking part, details are here:. THAMES TOWPATH 10 miles Sunday 15th April at Chiswick Entries are now being accepted for the Thames Towpath 10, traditionally the opening event in our Road Grand Prix series. Details are here:. The full list of Grand Prix events is now on our website here:. SWLAN NEWS From 20th February, Kingston & Poly AC will be resuming its series of monthly athletics talks supported by the South West London Athletics Network. As before, these talks are held on the third Monday of each month. All talks will start at 7:30pm and are kindly hosted by the Pure Sports Medicine Clinic at the David Lloyd Centre in Bushey Road, Raynes Park - just off the A3 and not far from Raynes Park and Wimbledon Chase stations. All talks are free to everyone. 20th February - Marathon Training Panel Session With two months to go until the London and Brighton marathons, this panel will help you to plan your training and race build up to get the best out of yourself on the day and to avoid injury. Whether you've broken the three hour mark several times, or you're just hoping to finish your first marathon, this session will have something to offer you. 19th March - Faster Masters A panel of successful Masters athletes will be sharing their experiences on how to stay (extremely) fit and competitive past the age of 40. The line-up provisionally includes Pat Logan (sprints), Camilla Thrush (throws) and Ben Reynolds (distance running), all of whom run for local clubs and have won multiple medals at world level. 16th April - John Bryant on Chris Brasher: The Story of the London Marathon John Bryant will be discussing the origins of the London Marathon and the story of its founder Chris Brasher the week before its 32nd running. John is a famously lively speaker and has recently written a book on the life of Chris Brasher, which is to be published later this year. PHYSIO 4 LIFE OPEN DAY Sunday 26th February Physio4Life is organizing another open day for runners on Sunday 26th February from 8am to 4pm at the Putney Medical Centre, 125 Upper Richmond Road, Putney, SW15 2TL. Everyone is welcome. The free Open Day will be focused specifically for runners. Guests are invited to experience a number of complimentary services plus free specialists' talks and workshops throughout the day, which will cover interesting topics relevant to runners, duathletes and triathlon competitors. Physio4Life's partners Triathlon Europe, Precision Hydration and Sporting Feet will be there and bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to share with everyone at the Open Day. Yoga for Runners, an innovative workshop to enhance running performance and technique, offers classes on the day at an introductory price of only £10. Electrolyte testing and hydration consultations with Precision Hydration are specially discounted. Plus save 30% on all Physio4Life's Sports Massage appointments on the day. Full details available. Places are limited for all activities, so please ensure you book early! Telephone: 0208 7045998. WHAT'S COMING ************* More details of the following from Marc Snaith (07717 213035 / e-mail Marc ranelagh.men@gmail.com or Marie Synnott-Wells (07983 430264 (After 5pm Weekdays) / e-mail Marie and Heather ranelagh.women@gmail.com Saturday 18th February Stubbs Cup mob match v South London Harriers. 7.7 miles at Coulsdon. 2.30pm start. Saturday 25th February National Cross-Country Championships at Parliament Hill Saturday 3rd March Inter-club 3.8 miles in Richmond Park. 3pm start. All welcome, register on the day. Sunday 4th March MABAC League 5 miles in Richmond Park. 10am start. See above. Sunday 18th March Clutton Cup 10 miles handicap in Richmond Park. 10am start. 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 Old Deer Park Pools in the Park on the A316 Other venues, more details and registration at www.parkrun.com The 2km junior parkrun for under 15s takes place at 11am on the first Sunday of each month from Bushy Park's Teddington Gate. WHAT'S HAPPENED *************** 2XU SURREY LEAGUE DIVISION 1 Saturday 11th February on Wimbledon Common The men's team came to a League race on Wimbledon Common for the second time this season, and came with three aims: first, to ensure that we didn't take our eyes off the ball and allow ourselves to be pushed back into the relegation zone - should be a formality; second, to hang onto fourth place, which would equal our best league result for many years - very possible; and third, to catch up a hundred or so points on Belgrave Harriers and move up to third - unlikely but possible. We achieved...two out of three, a very satisfying result, and our warmest congratulations should go to the whole team led by Captain Marc. We actually achieved our lowest points score of the season, our 408 points narrowly bettering the 415 which secured us third place at Coulsdon in January. Nevertheless we "only" finished 5th on the day as Hercules Wimbledon made a late charge to take 3rd place and drastically reduce their deficit on us. Fortunately they fell almost 50 points short of catching up. As for Belgrave - well, at Coulsdon we had defeated them by some 130 points, but if we were to repeat the trick it would require them to play their part with another weak team. On their own course it was unlikely they would oblige us and in fact, led by the individual winner, they slightly increased their lead over us. So fourth place it was for Ranelagh Harriers. At the bottom of the table Dorking gave up the ghost altogether and fielded only eight runners, but there was the closest tussle to avoid joining them in the drop to Division 2. Clapham Chasers made a great effort to claw themselves up the table but fell an agonising two points short of catching Stragglers, who therefore retained their place at the top table by the skin of their teeth. Next season will be tough for all of us - the powerful Kent AC joined the League three years ago in Division 4 and have worked the way through the divisions, dominating each as they passed through. Now at last they are to join Division 1 where they are likely to be vying with Herne Hill and Thames at the top of the table. Reigate Priory are also returning to Division 1. The course was a tricky one as far as footwear was concerned: some wore spikes, others preferred trail shoes. It was icy in parts and in the woods there were some very unpleasant frozen rutted stretches. Richard Gregory achieved his highest Div 1 position in 4th place, chasing hard after two of HW's young stars. Phil Killingley ran well for 11th, less than half a minute behind Richard. Sam Perkins and Peter Haarer finished in the late twenties and only a hundred metres or so behind them came Darryl McDonald in 37th. Carl Selya-Hammer continued his steady improvement to break into the top fifty for the first time with Marc Snaith half a minute and ten places back. Another half minute saw Nathan Mills lead in the remaining counters, Trevor Maguire and Mark Herbert. A quartet of speedy over 50s - John Shaw, Howard Gleave, Andy Bickerstaff and Chris Owens - led the rest, which included Paul Keen on a visit from Sheffield. With 27 finishers we outnumbered all the other clubs and in the unofficial B team contest against Stragglers we secured our fourth straight win by 1104 points to 1615, giving us overall victory by 4872 points to 6182. Somewhat surprisingly, we provided two of the individual champions, one at each end of the age range - Alex Fordham in the Under 20s and Steve Rowland in the Over 60s. I suppose it must be admitted that in each case they were the only competitor to complete the required number of races! After the race a good crowd - including some of the women's team that had raced earlier - repaired to the Green Man on Putney Heath. This was Ranelagh's original home but is also now the "local" for Gordon Whitson when he is in this country. Gordon generously put a tab behind the bar and laid on snacks to help us celebrate the afternoon's deeds. Thanks Gordon! SURREY LADIES LEAGUE DIVISION 1 Saturday 11th February on West End Common, Esher In contrast to the men's team, the women had but one aim. This was to do enough to ensure we held on to our place in Division 1. There are fifteen teams in the top division, with the bottom three to be relegated at the end of the season. After three races we were teetering on the brink of the precipice in 12th place amongst the A teams. Could we hold on? Happily, yes we could. Our team rallied magnificently and we produced by far our best result of the season to finish second on the day, beaten only by runaway champions Thames Hare and Hounds. Surprisingly this gained us only one place overall but that was enough. After a very cold night the course was frozen hard, with some snow still lying in places. Much of the course was narrow, with a particularly bad bottleneck as the field crossed a plank bridge into the woods soon after the start. A quick getaway was therefore vital and Liz Kipling and Alice Hector both ensured they were well placed. While eventual winner Lucy MacAlister of Thames began to build up a huge lead, Liz was running strongly in fourth place on the opening lap, with Alice not far behind. Fiona Ford and Marie Synnott-Wells were together in the twenties and a little further back Daniela Mingham and Kerrie O'Connor were fighting out the fifth and final counting position. On the second circuit Liz slipped back a little but despite a sore back she was happy enough with 8th place. Alice was a fine 15th in her first full Surrey League race and Fiona pulled away from Marie to finish 23rd, four places ahead of Marie. Daniela left Kerrie behind and just held off the fast-closing Kate Woodhouse, who had been badly caught out at the start and spent the rest of the race catching up. Louise Piears, Sandra Prosser and Kate Brook completed the B team, which also placed second today amongst the B teams. Helen Nance and Tamsin Burland provided backup. In the Under 13s race Livvy Ricketts flew the flag for Ranelagh and ran well against girls two or three years older than her. Under 13s 1 S Millard (HHH) 7.58 35 Livvy Ricketts 10.38 PERCH XIII 10km Sunday 29th January at Nonsuch Park Results were in the last e-news, but Wally Garrod tells us that he won the over 70s prize (as the only over 70 in the race!). VALENTINE'S 10km Sunday 12th February at Chessington Bev Ali reports: "The Valentine's 10k organised by the 26.2 Running Club, was the excuse for just over 400 runners and it seemed like almost as many marshals to freeze their little butts off on Sunday! As Penny and I had completed an 11 mile outing the day before, my time aspirations were quite modest, even by my standards...happy to finish under 75 minutes, would be ecstatic to finish under 70 minutes and would be in an alternate universe to finish any faster...Dodo dodo Dodo dodo (almost!). We had a sprinkling of snow? sleet? at the start, but the weather stayed consistently cold and dry for the time I spent on the route. John Hanscomb and I seesawed back and forth for the first 4-5k, he complaining that he was cold (bare legs!) and I thinking I might just finish in front of him for once. But then, the blood reached John's extremities and he was away and finished just under two minutes in front of me. I think he probably spurred a few others in our party to excel as well. The description of the topography of the course was very accurate, the marshalling was excellent and plentiful, the footing was surprisingly good with well gritted roads and pavements (with the exception of a short bit of slightly slippery pavement at around 8k) , the venue for the race headquarters was absolutely brilliant and loos were plentiful. I have never enjoyed a Kit Kat as much as the one at the finish, and I certainly wish I had brought some cash with me to spend at the available concessions. This was the first time I have participated in this one and I give it a resounding 10 out of 10, with no demerits for the weather." 1 K Kyreme (Shaft B) 31.17 (chip time 31.16) 265 Lorna Smith 55.04 (54.45) 339 Wally Garrod 60.29 (60.18) 342 Alan Meaden 61.02 (60.44) 368 David Meaden 64.43 (64.25) 371 Cindy Croucher 65.34 (65.12) 378 Deirdre Inman 67.36 (67.13) 384 Tanya Allen 68.47 (68.25) 389 Penny Merrett 69.44 (69.22) 390 John Hanscomb 69.47 (69.36) 394 Bev Ali 71.54 (71.31) RICHMOND parkrun 5km Saturday 11th February Elin Mortensen and Rachael Holmes were second and third in the women's section. 1 B Klein (unatt) 19.24 10 James Whistler 20.19 17 Phil Jackson 20.57 22 Stewart Anderson 21.13 30 Chris Read 21.34 37 Daniel Chiechi 21.59 38 Elin Mortensen 22.02 40 Rachael Holmes 22.20 51 Amrut Sharma 22.53 78 Ally Salisbury 24.55 98 Sue Camp 26.05 99 Tony Clark 26.22 103 Rob Kitchen 26.39 113 Philippa Kitchen 27.02 129 Stacey Barber 28.41 134 Lynne Barber 28.52 137 Martin Clark 29.19 145 Peter Lowman 28.48 150 Christine Goodsell 30.08 151 Val Lowman 30.13 178 Pat Hewlett 35.56 BUSHY parkrun 5km Saturday 11th February 1 Unknown 15.35 18 Paul Sinton-Hewitt 19.13 19 Bruce McLaren 19.18 56 Adam Wright 20.24 155 Amelie Hunton 22.06 176 Ian Grange 22.23 254 Jo Sinton-Hewitt 23.31 271 Jose Scheuer 23.46 324 Nicholas Fordham 24.32 328 Chris P Wright 24.37 409 Louise Atkinson 25.53 416 Kirsty Bangham 25.58 496 Vicci Randle 27.12 607 Mary Hickson 30.12 647 Tanya Allen 31.28 685 John Hanscomb 33.46 GUNNERSBURY parkrun 5km Saturday 11th February 1 J Pabon (Ealing E) 18.11 13 Karl Garvey 21.50 KINGSTON parkrun 5km Saturday 11th February Chris Camacho finished third. 1 OP Bowden (Strag) 18.36 3 Chris Camacho 20.43 14 Alan Davidson 23.31 32 Hannah Doyle 26.04 40 Wiebke Kortum 27.34 41 Mike White 27.35 42 Hannah Turnes 27.48 OLD DEER PARK parkrun 5km Saturday 11th February Mel Hunter was the leading woman. 1 R McCulloch (Walton) 20.00 10 Melanie Hunter 24.22 BEDFONT LAKES parkrun 5km Saturday 11th February 1 G Russell (unatt) 19.30 57 Cindy Croucher 32.43 59 Deirdre Inman 33.43 NEWBURY parkrun 5km Saturday 11th February 1 D Fry (Bas & MH) 16.59 93 Rob Curtis 23.43 131 Tomas Sterner 25.40 150 Rebecca Hall 26.29 NONSUCH parkrun 5km Saturday 11th February 1 S Winter (SoC) 18.05 39 Tom Reay 24.10 St PETERS parkrun 5km Saturday 11th February That's St Peters in Sydney, Australia... 1 T Do Canto (unatt) 16.11 5 David Rowe 18.57 63 Sharon Rowe 28.17 FINALLY... From Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary, an authentic travel diary written by Celia Fiennes, a well-to-do English lady at the turn of the eighteenth century. This entry comes from the year 1701: "I drove through another part of the Forrest of Windsor to see a race run by two ffootemen, an English and Scotch, the fformer a taller, Bigger man than the other. The ground Measur'd and Cut even in a round was almost four mile; they were to run round so often as to make up 22 mile, which was the distance between Chareing Cross and Windsor Cross; that was five times quite round and so farre as made up the odd miles and Measure. They ran a round in 25 minutes. I saw them run the first three rounds and halfe another in an hour and seventeen minutes, and they ffinish'd it in two hours and a halfe. The English gain'd the second round the start and kept it at the same distance ye five rounds and then the Scotch-man came up to him and got before him to the post. The Englishman fell down within a few yards of the post. Many hundred pounds were won and lost about it, they both ran very neately, but my judgement Gave it ye Scotchman because he seem'd to save himself to ye Last Push."