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Newsdesk 2002
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RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 85 18 DECEMBER 2002
Web site: www.ranelagh-harriers.com
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A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!
CHRISTMAS PARTY Saturday December 21st at the Wych Elm pub, Elm Road,
Kingston.
The club Christmas party is happening this Saturday from 8pm at Janet
Turnes's pub, the Wych Elm in Kingston. Janet will be charging a fiver a
head to cover food. If you plan to come and haven't already expressed an
interest please let either Janet or Julie Drummond
(thedrummonds@blueyonder.co.uk ) know before Saturday so that Janet can
plan the catering.
HENTY RELAY Saturday December 28th in Richmond Park
This is our post-Christmas fun relay and all members, friends and guests are
welcome to take part. It's six laps of the 1.3 mile circuit of Sidmouth
Wood. Teams of three are drawn on the day, each comprising one "fast" who
has to run a total of three laps, one "medium" who runs two laps, and one
"slow" who runs one lap. Each team can decide its own running order. Teams
are sorted out at the clubhouse so you must be there by 2pm please. Late
arrivals may not get in a team.
STUBBS CUP MOB MATCH v SOUTH LONDON HARRIERS Saturday December 14th in
Richmond Park
"Against Thames a couple of weeks ago we had 59 starters. If we can match
that we can certainly win," I wrote last week. Well, you didn't have to take
me quite so literally. I believe we did have exactly 59 starters again. But
we didn't win. SLH brought some two dozen fewer starters but alas for us
only a handful of them were at the blunt end of the race. We occupied no
less than 24 of the last 30 places, which pretty much cancelled out our
numerical advantage. It was a close-run thing but SLH were always a little
ahead in the scoring and came away with a successful defence of the Stubbs
Cup by 988 points to 1097.
So we didn't get the result on this occasion, but we should be pleased
nevertheless with another good turnout and it's to be hoped that most of
those who ran today will be intrepid enough to venture over to Hayes in Kent
on February 8th for the season's final mob match against Blackheath
Harriers.
In the absence of Haarer and Jones Marcus Gohar must have fancied his
chances of getting his name on the Wynne Cup club championship trophy and he
led the Ranelagh contingent round the first lap. But Julian Smith, even if
only half fit, was not to be denied and worked steadily through on the
second circuit to leave Marcus nearly thirty seconds adrift at the finish.
Third place medal went to Paul Doyle.
Handicapper Will Graves won his own sealed handicap, but contrary to popular
belief this does not require either his immediate resignation or his summary
execution. He did, after all, run over five minutes faster than against
Thames two weeks ago. Runners-up, suspiciously close together, were Wally
Garrod and Brian Coles.
ADDITIONAL FIXTURE ON JANUARY 18TH
This was originally a blank date on the calendar but Milocarians have now
resurrected the race that used to be held earlier in the season in the
grounds of RMA Sandhurst (off the A30 at Camberley). This is a 6 miles event
starting at 1400 hours for men and women against Milocarians and a few other
clubs - and about 200 officer cadets! If you haven't been there before it's
worth a visit if only to get a glimpse of the training of our future
military leaders and to scoff the most enormous free tea you'll ever find at
a race. BUT, military security being what it is, Sandhurst needs the names
and car registration numbers of all who might attend by January 1st. If you
just turn up unannounced on the day, the chances are that you will not be
allowed in. So if you think you MIGHT go, please e-mail me before Christmas
with your name and car details or give same to John Hanscomb or Clive Naish
or Andy Bickerstaff. You're not being asked to commit yourself definitely to
attending - we can give them as many "possibles" as we like - but you won't
be able to get in if your name's not on the list. If you do attend, take
some i.d. with you.
COMMITTEE
Clare Nicholson sends details of a couple of issues raised at the last
meeting:
"Clubhouse consideration.
The club is lucky to have team of volunteers who make tea and keep the
clubhouse clean and tidy. Their unpaid jobs would be eased if other members
who use the facilities would undertake the following themselves:
(a) return and wash/dry-up tea mugs and drinks glasses after use
(b) wipe feet thoroughly before entering the clubhouse
(c) use the shower squeegy to force excess water down the drainage
(d) otherwise keep all areas reasonably clean and tidy after use
Just a little effort will go a long way ... Thanks people ...
Funding officer.
The club is looking for a volunteer to join the committee in the capacity of
looking at ways of getting additional funding for the club. It is widely
known there are a number of 'pots' such as lottery, government grants and
other funds that the club may be in a position to apply for but at present
don't have the resource to do so. We would be particularly interested if
there were anyone with experience in the area. However, anyone who would
like to become more actively involved with the running of the club - we'd
love to hear from you. Please contact Frances Ratchford for details
(grapevineproductions@compuserve.com)".
NEW MEMBERS
Welcome to the following who were elected last week:
Jude Craft, Sally Wood, Roberta Blaylock, Sue Crabtree, Karen Broadbent,
Juliette Chan, Evelyn Joslin, Stefan Parkins, Gareth Davies, Garry Walsh,
Francisco Baratta and Robert Stillwell.
AND OTHER NEWS
Apologies for omitting to include this from Robin Drummond last month:
"Catherine Gadd (with some help from Paul) has just produced a new addition
to the Ranelagh ladies team, namely Sophie Alison Gadd. She weighed in at a
race ready 5lbs in her racing flats and auspiciously came in 4 weeks ahead
of her expected time".
Neil Bentley, our original webmaster, writes:
"In deepest Wiltshire the club Gazette is always read as soon as it arrives
to find out how everyone is doing. The quick
answer is better than me! A few injury problems coupled with two young
daughters mean that I hardly ever seem to be running at all. I have
recently switched clubs locally to one (Calne Running Club) just down the
road from our new house. It is a lot smaller than both Ranelagh and City of
Bath but a friendly lot with some well organised training.
If anyone comes down to Chedworth for the Roman Trail race again then give
me a shout and I will pull my old Ranelagh vest on again (if I can find
it)".
GREEN BELT RELAY
Bev Ali is already laying plans for the retention of the GBR toilet seat
trophy her team won last year (for the last team to complete the course):
"For those of you who are looking for a goal or New Year's Resolution for
2003, defence of our toilet seat will soon become a priority! Keep the
weekend of 10/11 May 2003 open and start thinking about training.....(for
those of you who are Bloodhound rejects, there will be other teams -
Greyhounds, Lassies and Old Dogs for example - who have titles to defend!)".
PHIL DOWLING
Older members who remember our former club vice-captain Phil Dowling might
like to check out the Wellpark College of Natural Therapies website
(www.wellpark.co.nz ) where they will find a mugshot of
Phil, now Head of Faculty, Naturopathic Medicine, at the college in
Auckland, New Zealand.
NEXT...
More details of the following from Andy Bickerstaff (07966 552302 /
mailto:norris.hobs@ndirect.co.uk ) or
Sarah Seal (020 8995 2380 / mailto:sarahs@walker.co.uk ).
Thursday December 26th Social run in Richmond Park starting from the
clubhouse at 11am.
Saturday December 28th Henty Relay in Richmond Park. A not-too-serious
relay for all ages and speeds. Teams of three (one "fast", one "medium" and
one "slow") are drawn on the day. Be at the clubhouse by 2pm.
Saturday January 4th Surrey Cross-Country Championships at Nork Park,
Banstead.
Saturday January 11th Surrey League Division 1 men and women both in
Richmond Park. Senior women at 12.30pm, followed by u13s/u15s and u17s/u20s;
then at 2.30pm u13/u15/u17 men and finally senior men at 3pm.
Saturday January 18th v Milocarians and others at RMA Sandhurst. See
above.
FINALLY
Stephen Instone sends the following, extracted from The Times of December
13th:
"Injuries are more often caused by the shoes a jogger wears than by the
action of running. 'Most of the injuries I treat are caused by people
wearing worn-out or unsuitable running shoes,' says Trevor Prior, a leading
podiatric surgeon who treats many top athletes and football players, and
works for UK Sport. 'Trainers have a shelf-life of 300 to 500 miles,' Prior
says, 'after which they lose their support and cushioning and need to be
thrown away'. How many shares in Reebok does Mr Prior have?".
Steve Rowland
e-mail: srowland@calorgas.co.uk
Tel: 01926 318734
Fax: 0870 4006901