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Newsdesk 2003
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RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 102 5 JUNE 2003
Web site: www.ranelagh-harriers.com
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GREEN BELT RELAY SPECIAL
Other results and reports held over until next week.
DORKING 10 MILES Sunday June 8th at 10.45am
This Sunday sees race number 5 in the Ranelagh Grand Prix series and the
event also incorporates the Surrey 10 miles championship. Entries are
usually accepted on the day - see www.dmvac.org.uk for more information.
A RUN ON THE NORTH DOWNS Saturday June 14th 3pm
This is a sociable run on some scenic bits of the North Downs on Saturday
week: running at 3pm-ish from near Shere and heading across to St Martha's
Hill and back. The overall pace will be pretty easy with some sections for
the gazelles to stretch their legs if they feel the need. Distance will be
about 10 miles, with short cuts available on request. Lots of views, flora
and fauna, some hills. Just come for the run if you like but for those
wishing to see a bit more Surrey countryside there will be the additional
options of tea and showers at Steve and Sonia's in Cranleigh (10 mins drive
from Shere) and then later beer and dinner at a country pub. Contact me for
more details: mailto:srowland@calor.co.uk
GREEN BELT RELAY Saturday May 10th and Sunday May 11th Hampton Court to
Ham (the long way)
As you have probably already read, we successfully negotiated four teams of
ten runners around the 210 miles of the Green Belt Relay and came away at
the end of a tiring but enjoyable weekend with two trophies. First of all,
some thanks: to Brian Chard and Cheval Properties for providing valuable
sponsorship; to team captains Bev Ali (Bloodhounds), Sarah Seal (Lassies),
Alastair Sinclair (Mongrels) and Steve Rowland (Old Dogs) for their hard
work in getting their teams together and organised; to Sonia Rowland for a
lot of logistical work; to mini-bus drivers Clive Beauvais, Niels Andersen,
Alan Hedger and Alastair Sinclair for getting everyone to their starts and
not leaving any wing mirrors behind; and to the inventor of e-mail which
makes all the above substantially easier! And above all to the Stragglers
who somehow manage to organise the whole thing with startling efficiency as
well as running three teams themselves.
The biggest and therefore of course the most important trophy is the Toilet
Seat for the team that finishes last. Securing this has become Bev's
personal crusade and it's not as easy as it might sound. To qualify for the
award a team must finish every stage: miss a start or fail to finish and you
get you the "cut-off" time for the stage but you're out of the reckoning for
the trophy. Bev thought she had rounded up a sufficiently slow and steady
team but there was a fright in store. Up to Saturday lunchtime her team
members simply refused to finish last and after five stages they stood one
minute clear of the Serpentine Hamm-Starr Hill Sprinters. But happily they
thereafter took up their rightful place at the rear and finished the day
nearly fifty minutes adrift. Despite Julie D finishing as high as 15th on
her Sunday stage they managed to extend the deficit to over two hours at the
finish. Much credit to all the team members for their - mostly - fine
navigation. Stephen McClune took a wildly eccentric route on stage 15 but
generally the steady and sure approach paid off. When a Bloodhound failed to
be the stage "whipper-in" it was often because an opponent had gone
wandering off into the countryside. The honour of anchoring the team fell to
Catherine Carthy who brought them safely home to the Hawker Centre and so
Ranelagh occupies the Toilet Seat for another year!
With few of our faster male non-vets willing or able to take part this year
we decided to put all our venerable eggs into one elderly basket and go for
the veterans prize - the Walking Stick of course. It turned out to be the
right decision, for the composite "Sunday Night Shandies" team was only some
five minutes slower than our course record of last year and we would have
needed a strong team to beat them.
Things didn't look too promising for the Old Dogs early on. Stragglers' own
vets team started strongly and for us on the jinxed stage 2 Clive Beauvais
injured his hamstring and could do no more than jog to the finish. Kathy
Mallett for the Lassies also acquired her injury on this one. This left us
way back in 11th place overall after two stages, behind both the Lassies and
the Mongrels. Stragglers' vets meanwhile were in 2nd place over 16 minutes
ahead. Mike Bruce and Chris Owens set about repairing the damage but it
wasn't until our not-so-secret weapon Hugh Jones had swept to victory on
stage 5 that we overtook the Straggs. Hugh in fact hauled us right up to 2nd
overall and from there on it was a tussle between ourselves and West 4
Wombats for that runner-up position.
At the end of day 1 we trailed them by three minutes and this was extended
to 13 minutes two stages into day 2. Over some beers at our overnight stop
in Chelmsford stages had been reassigned to overcome the loss of Clive B and
it was Chis Owens who volunteered to be the hero and tackle two stages on
Sunday. Stage 13 was his first and he halved the deficit on West 4 to tee up
Hugh on stage 14. Hugh obliged with another yet stage win and put us over
seven minutes clear of the Wombats. Meanwhile the Shandies' lead was already
over an hour. We held on to second place for most of the afternoon but West
4 finished strongly and by the time CO stepped up for his second stint on
the final stage along the Thames tow path they had pulled nearly five
minutes ahead. Their star man Mark Critchlow put the icing on the cake for
them by winning the last stage, but Chris's 6th place brought us safely home
3rd overall and most importantly almost half an hour clear of the
Stragglers' vets. Surprisingly he didn't need the Walking Stick trophy to
stand upright afterwards!
Sarah Seal reports for the Lassies:
"All in all, one of the most enjoyable and memorable weekends of running you
could possibly have. Ten pairs of legs belonging to Sue Ashley, Catherine
Gadd, Eliete Nascimento, Clare Nicholson, Kathy Mallett, Anna McLaughlin,
Louise Piears, Sonia Rowland, Sophie Timms and me, ran the 20 stages that
make up the GBR course. And this is how we did it: 2 lassies ran 1 stage
each; 6 ran 2 stages and 2 very very crazy lassies ran 3, YES 3! stages
each. Just a few sniffs short of victory, Ranelagh Lassies finished the most
fantastic 2nd ladies team. Notable and awesome performances came from: Clare
winning leg 16, her 2nd run of day 2 and 3rd run of the weekend!; Anna, the
double stage winner; Kathy, stage winner day 1 and Sue, who stood in for
Kathy(injured knee) on day 2 with less than 10 minutes notice and only an
hour and a half after completing her previous 13 mile leg. Despite having a
very close encounter with the pavement a short way into the run (nothing
whatsoever to do with the passing of a Ranelagh mini bus at that very
moment) Sue completed her 3rd stage, followed by a trail of blood dripping
from her knees! Respect.
All the girls got to the start of their races on time (you are all
superstars, and thanks to mini-bus drivers too) and all finished, with not
too many wrong turnings along the way. Sore legs and a few blisters, but
jolly good fun - same time, same place, next year".
Alastair Sinclair for the Mongrels:
"Compared with last year, the Mongrels started with a distinct advantage: a
full team of ten runners! Even though there was one less Ranelagh team
competing this year, the struggle to fill the team lasted until 36 hours
before the event began. Milos Dusek started with stage 1, and put the team
into 11th position. Throughout the event the position changed a number of
times, going as high as 9th, as low as 16th, then finishing with Milos on
stage 20 to end up in13th position. The best results of the team were from
Giles Marshall who finished fourth on stage 8, and second on stage 19 after
narrowly losing out on an entertaining sprint finish to Walton bridge. Paul
Graham also registered a creditable fourth place on stage 6. Bus driver
Niels Andersen managed to navigate the one of the minibuses round the whole
route in exemplary fashion, but when it came to running stage 7, he finished
in 20th place, almost 9 minutes behind Ranelagh Lassie Anna McLaughlin.
Apparently Niels got lost because he left his stage map behind in the bus.
Everyone started and finished the stages they were supposed to, except Chris
Spink, who missed the start of stage 14, resulting in the cut-off time being
awarded for that stage. The rest of the team (John Hughes, Alan Craig, Sandy
Clark and Darren Wood) contributed respectable performances. In a final
position of 13th, the Mongrels were 5h 9mins behind the race winners, and 3h
39mins behind Ranelagh's Old Dogs".
TRAINING
Robin Drummond's training course aimed at improving 5k and 10k times started
this week but will continue for another five weeks every Wednesday at 7pm
from the clubhouse. The sessions will address speed, running economy and
injury reduction. They will be suitable for all levels and all are welcome.
Bring spikes or racing flats if you have them and a stop watch.
The regular speed and hill sessions also continue on Tuesdays at 7pm from
the clubhouse. Details are on our web site but the next few sessions are:
June 10th Henty Relay course (Sidmouth Wood) time trial followed by 4,
3, 2 and 1 min efforts.
June 17th Sand hills. 3 x (2 short and 1 long)
June 24th Ratchford Relay loop (opposite clubhouse) - 3 x (double and
single loop)
Also sessions at Barn Elms track on Thursday evening and Sunday morning.
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 ). See our web site for details and scores in
the Ranelagh Road Grand Prix.
Sunday June 8th Dorking 10 miles road race. Race 5 in the Ranelagh
Grand Prix series 2003. 10.45am start. Entry form can be downloaded from
www.dmvac.org.uk
Sunday June 29th Dysart Dash 10km at Ham, Richmond. Race 6 in the
Ranelagh Grand Prix series 2003. 10am start. Entry forms in the clubhouse or
from our web site.
Sunday July 6th Harry Hawkes 8 miles at Thames Ditton. Race 7 in the
Ranelagh Grand Prix series 2003. Entry form can be downloaded from
http://members.aol.com/tdcc1234/hh8.htm
Saturday July 12th Brickmakers Arms Marathon Relay (10 x 2.5 miles) at
Windlesham. 2pm start. A low key fun event based around an excellent country
pub! More details nearer the time.
Wednesday July 16th Coad Cup 5 miles handicap in Richmond Park. 6.45pm
start.
Sunday July 20th Elmbridge 10km at Walton. Start 10.30am. Race 8 in
the Ranelagh Grand Prix series 2003. Entry form can be downloaded from
www.elmbridgeroadrunners.co.uk
Friday July 25th Wedding Day 7km in Bushy Park, Teddington.
7.30pm start. Those entered last year should receive an entry form in the
post; otherwise they can be downloaded from www.stragglers.org
Note there will be no entries on the day.
Steve Rowland
e-mail: srowland@calor.co.uk
Tel: 01926 318734
Fax: 0870 4006901