> ************************************************************************
> RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 7    5 OCTOBER 2000
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> Last weekend were the Southern Counties Road Relays at Rushmoor Arena,
> Aldershot - the men racing on Saturday and the women on Sunday. The men
> had to make it into the top 25 to qualify for the National relays at the
> end of the month, but were missing a few key men. We should also have had
> a decent shot at a high finish in the over 40s event - but could the star
> vets be spared from the senior team? No they could not. In a fine spirit
> of compromise our senior team ended up with three over 40s - Marcus Gohar,
> Mick Lane and Chris Owens - and three under - Marius Acker, Andy
> Bickerstaff and Julian Smith.
> Marius - in his first race since the Green Belt Relay back in May - was
> thrown in at the deep end on the opening stage but swam like Thorpe the
> Torpedo to come home in 30th place with the team's fastest time of the
> day, 19.33. Andy on stage 2 was more of an Eric the Eel and slipped back a
> bit, but a 19.48 from Marcus on stage 3 (which would have placed him
> amongst the fastest in the vets race) started our recovery which led to
> Julian anchoring the team into 28th place. Discounting the four 'B' teams
> that finished ahead of us we were therefore effectively 24th and -
> hopefully - into the Nationals. 
> 1  Hounslow 110.39
> 28 Ranelagh 121.58
> Marius Acker 30 19.33
> Andy Bickerstaff 43 20.51
> Marcus Gohar 35 19.48
> Mick Lane 35 21.05
> Chris Owens 36 20.59
> Julian Smith 28 19.42
> We ran an Over 50 team which finished a creditable 11th despite the very
> slow bloke on the anchor stage:
> 1 Oxford 84.44
> 11 Ranelagh 91.42
> Clive Beauvais 23.05
> Mike Peace 22.20
> Mike Bruce 22.00
> Steve Rowland 24.17
> 
> There were no qualification pressures for the women - to run in the
> Nationals the only criterion is to get their entry in on time. But the
> team fared well, all of two seconds slower than last year, in 16th place.
> Margaret kicked off in her usual reliable fashion and Liz took over
> looking as if she was out to emulate her fellow modern pentathletes who
> had won Olympic glory that morning. She looked a bit wobbly in the closing
> stages but still gained ground, Sarah picked up one or two places with a
> typically battling effort and Linda anchored with the team's fastest time.
> 1 Shaftesbury 53.49
> 16 Ranelagh 61.33
> Margaret Auerback 15.25
> Liz Kipling 15.36
> Sarah Seal 15.48
> Linda Cartwright 14.44       
> 
> Nobody has volunteered me much info about the Cabbage Patch 10 at
> Twickenham on September 24th, but I can see from the results that we had a
> good crowd out, Darryl won the Callis Cup club 10 miles championship,
> Marcus finished as 2nd vet and Linda made the top ten.
> 1 C Kirkwood (Tipton) 51.28
> 9 Darryl McDonald 54.20   
> 11 Marcus Gohar 54.54
> 30 L Watson (1st W) 58.01
> 35 Giles Marshall 59.06
> 52 Dave Knight 60.58
> 74 Stephen Instone 62.16
> 99 Linda Cartwright (9th W) 64.11
> 112 Bill Harvey 65.10
> 119 Roger Brankin 65.20
> 144 John Hughes 66.10
> 147 Luke Gisby 66.20
> 176 Clive Naish 67.38
> 203 Alastair Sinclair 69.15
> 207 Matt Gisby 69.20
> 227 Margaret Auerback (27th W) 70.09
> 269 Michael Beverly 72.41
> 293 Eliete Nascimento (36th W) 73.50
> 301 Martin Clark 74.19
> 322 Sue Healey (48th W) 75.13
> 368 Fabio Scarpello 77.03
> 371 Alan Craig 77.12
> 417 Brian Chard 78.56
> 434 Bryony Hynd (77th W) 79.44
> 435 Mike Hynd 79.45
> 534 John Hanscomb 85.34
> 546 Corinne Bishop (121st W) 85.53
> 563 Simon Burrell 86.57
> 590 Carol Barnshaw (140th W) 88.41
> 631 Katie Knight (158th W) 91.39
> 682 Alan Meaden 95.53
> 706 Pat Hewlett (198th W) 99.45
> 
> We also had a number of runners in last Sunday's Windsor Half Marathon -
> more details when I get them.
> 
> COMING UP
> Saturday October 7th  Page Cup handicap. The season's second handicap,
> this time over 5 miles. 
> Richmond Park, 3pm.
> Saturday October 14th  Surrey Cross-Country League Div 1 at Brockwell
> Park. Under 17s 2.30pm, seniors 3pm. Contact Paul Graham for more info. 
> Saturday October 14th  Surrey Ladies Cross-Country League Div 1 at
> Tilford. This is a double-header with one of the men's league lower
> divisions, and the women's races are all earlier than usual - Under 13s at
> 12.30pm, Under 15s at 1pm, Under 17s at 1.30pm, Seniors at 2pm. All are
> welcome to take part, travel directions are at the clubhouse or contact
> Sarah Seal.
> Saturday October 21st  Surrey Veterans Cross-Country Championships at
> Richmond Park. Individual and team championships for men over 40 / 50 / 60
> and women over 35 / 45. Note that you must enter in advance to be eligible
> for teams. Men contact Paul Graham, women Margaret Auerback.   
>  
> Olympics - our correspondents in Oz are evidently still in recovery mode,
> but what a good job the Sydney organizing team made of the Games. Good on
> yer mates. 
> 
> TV coverage (1). I am starting a campaign to shoot the next commentator
> who tells us that so-and-so "has got a lot of work to do".
> TV coverage (2). I have a theory that the Brendan Foster who commentates
> is not the erstwhile world record holder and gold medallist, but is in
> fact a chubby chipmunk who has never run a step in his life. Here's a
> typical Foster folly from the men's marathon. Well after halfway the
> leaders toiled up the steep incline of the Anzac Bridge into the teeth of
> what appeared to be a howling gale that reduced them almost to a jog.
> "They were having a bit of a breather there," says Foster....
>  
> Steve Rowland
> e-mail: srowland@calorgas.co.uk