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Newsdesk 2003
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RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 108 29 JULY 2003
Web site: www.ranelagh-harriers.com
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WEDDING DAY 7Km Friday 25th July in Bushy Park
A wet day gave way to the traditional fine evening for this ever-popular
event, though thankfully it was not as hot as often it is. We were presented
with another revised course this year, and some accurate measurements for
the first time. So it seems that the original course for the first 21 years
of the race's life was 7.27km, last year's was 7.38km and the new was the
shortest of the lot at 7.15km. A kilometre off-road section has been
introduced but the grass was smooth and firm so alas I could find no
legitimate excuse for slowing down on it.
We had a pretty good showing of 44 across the line, which was actually
exactly the same as the number fielded by Epsom Allsorts who again won the
"Father Onn" trophy for the highest number of finishers. Unfortunately we
had one or two not registered under the club name so just missed out. It
seems our fate to "just miss" trophies at this race. Our mob invariably
comes up a liquorice stick short of the Allsorts, and we also regularly fall
foul of Stragglers' preference for aggregate times to decide the general
team result. This year our women would have been first team based on the
usual positional scoring, but Thames's first finisher - one Sonia O'Sullivan
- came in minutes ahead of her opposition and gave Thames an advantage that
we could not overcome.
We would have welcomed those team awards because pickings otherwise were
pretty slim. Only Sarah Seal featured at the presentation, 5th overall in
the women's race but third senior. Liz and Eileen were 10th and 11th. There
were more near misses for Mick and Marcus, 4th and 5th vets home, and new
over 55 Carol Barnshaw was third in her category. Pauls D and G showed up
well again, as did Keith Firkin. Continued improvement from Adam and Barry
had the Captain looking worried - or pleased, it's hard to tell.
Come-back kids Robin Drummond and John Herries brought up the rear of the
Ranelagh contingent, jogging and walking and still contriving not to be
last. John did however have the distinction of posting the worst "Age
Grading" score of the 554 finishers with 36.73%. Top with 91.3% was the
afore-mentioned Ms O'Sullivan who finished 8th overall and outscored by
1.05% the men's winner, Australian international Craig Mottram..
ROAD GRAND PRIX SERIES 2003
A raft of new names racing for the first time this summer at Bushy Park on
Friday brought the total number of scorers in our GP to a whopping 105,
which could well be a new record. There's still one race to go, the Surrey
5km at Wimbledon on August 10th. Leading scores:
OPEN: Paul Doyle 93, Stephen Instone 56, Mike Peace 54, Mick Lane 52,
Eileen Church 37, Paul Graham 36, Simon Lawrence 31, Peter Haarer 24,
Darryl McDonald 24, Marcus Gohar 20, Grant Lemke 18, Evelyn Joslin 18,
Adam Tapley 18, Alan Davidson 17, Chris Owens 16, John Hanscomb 16,
Chris Read 15, Andy Bickerstaff 15, Sarah Seal 14
OVER 40: Stephen Instone 36, Mick Lane 29, Simon Lawrence 22, Marcus
Gohar 11, Bob Beatson 7, Andy Bickerstaff 7, David Powell 6, Ken
Fotherby 6, Clive Naish 6
OVER 50: Mike Peace 44, John Hanscomb 21, Alan Davidson 19, David Meaden
15, Chris Owens 12, Tom Reay 10, Alan Meaden 10, John Hughes 6, Brian
Chard 5, Steve Rowland 5
WOMEN: Eileen Church 38, Evelyn Joslin 23, Sarah Seal 18, Thérèse
Panetta 12, Bridget Cuthbert 11, Eliete Nascimento 8, Teresa Segovia 7,
Marlene Pautard 6, Corinne Bishop 6, Jackie Alderton 5, Sophie Timms 5,
Louise Piears 5, Emma Corbett 5, Liz Kipling 5.
Full scoresheets can be found on our website.
GRAND MASTERS
Ed Whitlock writes from Canada:
"I did not go to the World Masters Championships in Puerto Rico for various
reasons, the main ones being lack of initiative and planning.
My injuries seem to be in remission at the moment and as I get some training
behind me my performances are improving. Last weekend I went to the biggest
15k in America, the Boilermaker at Utica NY. The Kenyan caravan was there
because of the prize money. I managed to inveigle myself into the elite
runner category so got to chat with Bill Rodgers and Frank Shorter in the
warm up area. I was very pleased with my race, statistically my best in more
than 2 years at 58:55, 296th of 8832 finishers".
TRIATHLON NEWS
Purely by coincidence we have a lot of triathlon news this week. First from
Chris Spink about the newly-formed Ful-On-Tri Triathlon club:
"I have now successfully set up a triathlon club based in Fulham. Anybody
interested should contact myself 07974 088 543, Gareth Davies or Sophie
Timms as the Ranelagh reps or visit www.fulontri.com
Kristina Semple writes from France:
"I have not been present at Ranelagh for many a month, as my training
schedules, partly due to a knee op in November last year, have been a bit
different recently. However I am still thinking of you, and miss the tough
Tuesday night sessions with you!
To give you some perspective, I have had the fantastic fortune to be allowed
by the company I work for, Celerant Consulting, to work part time. I have
therefore improved considerably in all 3 disciplines and this has permitted
me to race at international level this year. I have been adopted by the
French Pro Team Montpellier for whom I race in France.
I have just completed the France Iron Tour, which involves 5 triathlons in 4
days. The races are of different lengths, formats, and venues, passing
through Grenoble, Alpe d'Huez, Paladru, and Lyon. The race also coincided
with an unprecedented heatwave in France, which meant that the daytime
temperature never sank below 30 degrees for the entire Tour!
On the 2nd day the race climbs Alpe D'Huez, after a 1200m swim at the
bottom, and is followed by an 8k run at the top, at an altitude of 2000m.
It was an enormous challenge, and wasn't helped by the fact that I came off
my bike on a tricky descent just before beginning the big climb, and rode
and ran the rest of the event missing serious skin on my shoulder, side and
leg. Not that much fun! But limping home was all worthwhile as my team was
2nd overall by the end of the 4 days. The event was up there with my all
time best life experiences, with the beautiful locations, the nerves, the
excitement, the competition and the camaraderie.
You can find more information about the race and results on the web at
www.sportup.fr or www.fftri.com if you are interested".
Geoff Jones is another whose triathlon career seems to be blossoming. He
writes:
"I'm not able to keep in touch as I would like as my increased commitment to
triathlon and now with the Cambridge Tri Club drags me in other directions.
It is interesting to note that near us a high number of the faster runners
are now triathletes. In Cambridge the Tri club have a stronger men's and
women's teams than the local running club C&C.
My season is going well and I managed to qualify for the GB age group team
for the world championships in Queenstown, NZ in December by finishing 46th
overall in the Windsor Triathlon. I have improved swimming and biking to
such an extent that running is in danger of being my weakest event!"
NIKE 10Km
Chris Owens writes that Nike's 10km race in the Park is scheduled for Sunday
September 7th. They will need marshals for which they pay quite well but you
have to be available on both Saturday (Thomas Cup day!) for training and
Sunday for the race. If you're interested contact Chris at
mailto:aachrisowens@yahoo.co.uk or telephone 01932 229680.
SOUTH DOWNS WAY Saturday August 16th
There's still time for anyone interested to join a team for the SDW relay on
August 16th. The route is 70 miles from near Petersfield to Beachy Head,
with three people per team. So each team member has to cover a total of a
little over 20 miles all told, broken up into sections of between 1 and 5
miles. Contact me for more details.
LOST PROPERTY
Clare Nicholson writes:
"There is a substantial number of items of clothing and shoes left in the
clubhouse which have been put into one of two boxes. The first is on the
table by the doll in the Ranelagh vest. The second is by the door to the
boiler room. Anything not re-united with its owner by the end of August
will be laundered and donated to a good cause. The shoes will be given to
the Sweat Shop to be sent to Ethiopian runners, the kit will be put in a
Barnardos bin".
ROAD CLOSURES
I'm told that Petersham Road is to be closed for re-surfacing between Star
and Garter Hill and Sandy Lane most evenings over the next three weeks
between 9pm and 6am. Fridays and Saturdays seem to be excepted.
NEXT...
A provisional fixture list for the 2003/04 winter season is now up on our
web site.
More details of the following from Andy Bickerstaff (07966 552302 /
mailto:andy@norris-hobs.co.uk ) or Clare Nicholson (07710 348030 /
mailto:clarenicholson@hotmail.com ).
See our web site for details and scores in the Ranelagh Road Grand Prix.
Sunday August 10th Surrey 5km at Wimbledon, 10am start. Race 10 in the
Ranelagh Grand Prix series 2003. Entry forms in the clubhouse or send your
details to Derek Crookes, 209 Lynmouth Avenue, Morden, Surrey SM4 4RX. Fee
£3 payable to Surrey CAA. Entries on the day £4 at Belgrave Hall, Denmark
Road.
Saturday August 16th South Downs Way Relay. See above.
Saturday September 6th Thomas Cup Opening Run handicap 3.8 miles in
Richmond Park
Saturday September 13th Surrey Road Relay Championships (men & women,
including vets categories) at Wimbledon Park
Sunday October 19th Cabbage Patch 10 miles road race at Twickenham.
Likely to be popular so get your entries in early to avoid disappointment.
See www.cabbagepatch10.com
Steve Rowland
e-mail: srowland@calor.co.uk
Tel: 01926 318734
Fax: 0870 4006901