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Newsdesk 2001

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 RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 42        24 OCTOBER 2001
 Web site: http://www.surreyweb.net/rharriers
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 Lots of results to catch up with, so I'll keep the chat to a minimum. In
 very un-cross-country-like summery weather on October 13th both our men's
 and women's teams started their Surrey League division one campaigns with
 solid mid-table results. The men at Brockwell Park finished fifth out of
 nine, just behind newly-promoted Reigate but ahead of the likes of
 Aldershot, SLH and Boxhill. It was good to see 18 RH on the starting line.
 The ageless Hugh Jones led our pack, there was an impressive debut from
 South African Doug Bitcon and a welcome return from fat boys Vaughan and
 Clark.


 The women's race was on Wimbledon Common, and our team - with a long list of
 absentees - just failed to match the men with sixth out of ten. Our nine
 runners included three League debutantes. Kathy Mallett was our first home
 and rapidly-improving Eileen Church was fourth scorer in her first league
 race. The junior age groups have been compressed into two races and Jessica
 Harvey and Anair Beverly led our teams to impressive 3rd and 4th places.

 Under 20s / Under 17s
 1	S Fairhead (Guildford)	17.34
 5	Jessica Harvey		19.12
 8	Alice Beverly		20.27
 11	Hannah Turnes		22.47
 4 to score:
 1	Guildford & G	10
 3	Ranelagh	48
 Under 15s / Under 13s
 1	M Knepsl (Herc Wimb)	14.19
 3	Anair Beverly		14.37
 8	Alex Hook		15.10
 25	Laura Ball		16.13
 31	Francesca Molyneux	16.30
 36	Emily Ball		17.01
 46	Stacey Barber		20.25
 4 to score:
 1	Sutton & Dist	47
 4	Ranelagh	67

 On Saturday 20th we hosted the Surrey Veterans cross-country championships
 in Richmond Park. In the men's 10km race injuries and holidays kept a
 potentially medal-winning RH team out of the running in the over 40s, but
 individually Marcus Gohar ran strongly to take the bronze. Further back
 Allan Lang won gold in the over 60 category, though he was first to point
 out that he was actually well behind Thames's 68-year-old superman Keith
 Spacie who won the over 65s.
 Similarly in the women's 6km race Kathy Mallett won over 45 gold though
 beaten by an over 50. Sonia Rowland was 3rd over 45 and Kathy, Sonia and
 Corinne Bishop won silvers in the over 45 team.


 We had a few participants amongst the 1500 or so who took part in one of the
 four races in the Kingston running festival on October 14th. Best
 performance came from Anne Fallows who was the 5th woman to finish in the
 half marathon.
 Half Marathon
 1	H Lobb (Bedford)	74.03
 28	Adam Tapley		87.18
 108	Anne Fallows		95.15
 176	Fabio Scarpello		99.12
 379	Nick Lawrence		111.16
 386	John Hanscomb		111.33
 687	Jenny Steadman	136.00
 8 miles
 1	K Chebouki (Serp)	42.33
 161	Corinne Bishop		64.39
 299	Alan Meaden		72.01
 342	Walter Wickham	74.23
 353	Frances Ratchford	74.51
 389	David Meaden		77.17
 509	Hazel Carr		84.15
 519	Mei Fei Wickham	85.06 

 Pete Warren and Ken Powley were respectively first over 60 and first over 70
 in the Serpentine 5km on September 28th, with times of 19.42 and 23.28.
 
 Mike McDowell writes: "After a traumatic year in which I have been able to
 do very little training or racing I have just, at 73 years old, celebrated
 being an active member of Ranelagh for 50 years. I ran in the national 10km
 road race at Cheltenham on September 9th, finishing 2nd over 70 in 60.46. I
 was then the only Ranelagh to run in the British vets cross-country at
 Swansea on October 6th and ran with 16 over 70s and 7 over 75s entered. I
 finished 10th, covering the tough 5km course in 32.54". 

 Ray Auerback writes: "There are two London Marathon places available as of
 today for people who are willing to run for a charity called Saltmine Trust,
 which is a Christian charity active throughout the world.  I am getting hold
 of some literature to show what they do, and will get it to Ranelagh when I
 do. However, Flora have charged Saltmine £1000 per place, so they need
 someone who can raise reasonably significant sponsorship in order to make it
 viable.  The head of Saltmine is called Pope, so redemption is guaranteed
 for the lucky participant, unless he or she fails to finish!"
 If you're interested, look out for Ray's leaflets at the clubhouse. 

 Kristina Semple fills out some details of her experiences in the World
 Triathlon championships in Edmonton back in the summer:
 "The Triathlon World Championships in Edmonton this year was a fantastic
  event.  Edmonton is a small friendly city; very green with a huge area of
 parkland running through the heart of it.  This is where the triathlon took
 place.  A swim in a little lake, which had been emptied and refilled with
 drinking water(!), and chlorinated for the event, a 3 lap bike course that
 went up three hills in the middle of the town, and a flat out and back 3 lap
 run round the lake.  Lovely!
 I was taken by surprise at how much pressure I felt to perform really well
 at this event.  I have never experienced a race with such a long build-up.
 We got there 4 days before and had nothing but the race to think about.  I
 was conscious of every niggle and pain and imagined I was getting a cold at
 every rain shower.  And everyone knew I was racing here - all my running
 (and drinking) mates at Ranelagh, my work colleagues, and my company
 Celerant Consulting had very generously paid for my flights!  The worst part
 was on race day itself where we had to be out of transition by 6.30 am and
 my age group were not racing till 9.30 am.  By the time it had got to the
 race I was almost jaded.
 The swim was comparatively civilised.  I was ducked and scratched last time
 I raced internationally but there was good wide start which made dirty
 tactics unnecessary.  I had a good first lap, ran round the tree dived in
 and lost my goggles and concentration so my second lap was a bit messy.  The
 run to transition was enormously long and by the time I got to transition,
 my wetsuit had suckered itself to my legs. I finally managed to remove it
 and get on my bike.  The bike course had looked easy, but that was
 completely deceptive.  The hills were incredibly wearing, but I just kept in
 my mind that if I was finding it hard then so was everyone else - the bike
 is my strongest event.
 Finally the run.  I felt pretty good and maintained a decent pace, in spite
 of the fact that the sun had come out and was doing its best to cook us.  As
 it was 3 laps of an out and back run I could see everyone else in the race,
 and their progress.  Some of the British girls were flying, and others were
 obviously suffering in the heat.  Claire, one of my team mates made it round
 one lap and then gracefully fainted at the side of the road with heat
 exhaustion. I passed her on stretcher, and it made me feel grateful for
 feeling as good as I did, which was not that good at the time.   There were
 UK girls behind me.Catherine ran past me with 200m to go, I fought back and
 we sprinted for the line, after 2 hours 21 minutes of racing!  She just
 edged me out by a second, unfortunatley.  However, I was so glad to have
 finished the race in good health, and having gone reasonably, although I
 hadn't felt brilliant.  To survive without a crash or a puncture, or
 anything else was a good thing.  There are so many things that can happen in
 a triathlon because there are so many parts to it!  But that's half of  the
 fun!  I made 26th place out of 50 which I am pleased with."
 We had another competitor in Edmonton: Anne Fallows finished 40th in the 20
 - 24 age group in 2.33.54, with split times of 25.14, 80.16 and 48.26.  

 COMING UP
 More details of all the following from Andy Bickerstaff (07966 552302 /
 norris.hobs@ndirect.co.uk) or Sarah Seal (020 8995 2380 /
 sarahs@walker.co.uk). 

 Saturday October 27th    Page Cup 5 miles handicap in Richmond Park. Start
 at 3pm. 

 Saturday November 3rd    Priory Relays at Reigate  

 Saturday November 10th   South of the Thames "Junior" Championships at
 Coulsdon

 Saturday November 17th   Surrey League - men at Wimbledon Common (juniors
 2.30pm, seniors 3pm), women at Tilford nr Farnham (u15s 12 noon, u20s
 12.30pm, seniors 1pm) 

 Saturday November 24th   Mob Match v Thames H&H at Putney Vale (Wimbledon
 Common) 

 FINALLY
 Julian Smith recently ordered some new trainers to be delivered to his
 office at BP in Sunbury. The mail-order firm omitted Julian's building and
 room number on their address label, so BP's post room directed the shoes to
 Jeremy Smith, another BP employee - in Baku, Azerbaijan.....

 Steve Rowland
 Telephone: 01926 318734
 Fax: 0870 4006901
 e-mail: srowland@calorgas.co.uk