> *************************************************************************
> RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 11     1 NOVEMBER 2000
> Web site: http://www.surreyweb.net/rharriers
> *************************************************************************
> Mob Match v Orion Harriers  8 country miles in Epping Forest  28th October
> 
> This was of course David Wright's 100th mob match. Over to you Mr W:
> "Saturday was a very humbling experience for me. Nobody who runs in Epping
> Forest in those conditions can think of it in any other terms. It was a
> good thing that we were able to run in the relative dry before Sunday
> night's great storms! 
> I really did find Saturday's events rather overwhelming and was only sorry
> that Claudie was unable to share the enjoyment because of illness (a
> pretty weak excuse to miss a mob match it has to be said). Clearly a
> number of people went to a great deal of effort to either make contact
> with some long lost Ranelagh souls or, as one of those souls, to attend.
> Only when our President kept phoning in the days leading up to the race
> and at times when he thought I would not be in (I must talk to Claudie on
> this matter and check past itemised phone bills!), did it occur to me that
> something was happening. Having wimpishly missed the SLH match last
> December due to what some would euphemistically call 'flu and thus break
> my streak of consecutive mob matches at 97 (typical me, always out in the
> nineties - never could complete a century), I thought that the matter
> would rest there. 
> The whole reason that Ranelagh is a successful organisation - being in its
> 120th season the club must have something in its favour - has been the
> camaraderie permeating through the entire membership. This was certainly
> true when I joined as a school leaver in 1974/75 and was given a friendly
> welcome and I hope is still the case. By camaraderie I mean all members
> taking an interest in the activities of all the other members. I can
> vividly remember one Sunday in the late seventies when a number of "first
> teamers", all of us in our twenties, went to Parliament Hill just to watch
> the Southern Veterans XC championships - the O50's team of Brasher, Disley
> and Martin (Don) winning medals and the O40's team of Hedger, Kirk,
> Hanscomb, Horne and Green all performing to their best. Equally there
> would always be a big turnout of the elders of the club, Messrs Seconde,
> Martin (John), Sheer, Lofts etc supporting the first team in championship
> events and us all having a beer afterwards. On Wednesday nights in the
> Dysart Arms there were not little cliques of members who kept themselves
> isolated from the rest of the club - there was a really eclectic mix of
> minds, ages and attitudes. 
> I hope that this situation still pervades the club. Living 100 miles away
> in Gloucestershire for the last 10 years makes observation a little
> difficult. Events such as the various long distance relays give me the
> impression of togetherness which is very gratifying. The current success
> of the club at all levels makes excellent reading through the various
> channels of information now utilised (when is the next gazette to be
> published by the way?). It was also very good to see a number of the
> club's newer members, particularly ladies, dipping their toes into [wet,
> muddy] away mob matches on Saturday. I just hope that those that went off
> course didn't mind too much and saw it as part of the bizarre nature of
> the event and thus want to come back for more. There is life beyond
> Richmond Park. 
> It was wonderful to see some faces for the first time in many years on
> Saturday. Particular thanks to the long distance travellers, Steve Mummery
> from York, Dick Hartford from Germany and Simon Hedger from Australia. In
> addition Gordon Whitson rang me from Greece on Sunday apologising
> profusely for not being there, having had to cancel his flight at the last
> moment due to illness (what was I saying earlier about weak excuses for
> missing mob matches?!). Bill Bird, Jim Forrest and Mike Riley - three who
> did not run but still travelled to Chingford, all of whom had profound
> bearings on my Ranelagh career, were also very welcome faces. It seems
> that Mike and Jim spoke on the telephone to virtually every member from
> the last 25 years and passed on some lovely messages from familiar names
> in the club. Kevin Harrison, a past winner of a mob match at Orion, made
> the effort to run despite being unfit. Kevin epitomises the club - so many
> times over the years he has run despite not being at his best or at
> considerable personal sacrifice just to be part of the team. 
> Sorry to waffle on but it leaves Steve with less to think about in terms
> of his next Ranelagh e-news. Thanks again for the wonderful gifts which I
> don't really deserve. I'm just a boring old fart who has had nothing
> better to do on winter Saturday afternoons for the last 25 years than run
> mob matches. As the club fixture list used to state "all members are
> expected to compete in mob matches". I always thought that this was a
> condition of membership and was too frightened to challenge it!"
> As for the race, some Orion runners were saying it was as muddy as they
> could ever remember. We had 42 starters but they had about 15 more and
> their leading three rapidly disappeared from view. "They'll come back,"
> Julian confidently informed Andy and Darryl. They didn't.  
> With only three RH in the top ten we were always behind in the team
> scoring. This was reduced to 36 a side when we thought we had lost a few
> in the woods, but Joanne, Catherine and Eleanor insist that they DID find
> the finish even if there was no-one there to witness the fact. Did any RH
> finish the course without hesitation, deviation or repetition? I doubt it
> but that's all part of the Orion Experience. Several of our 42 were in
> their first mob match, including Rachel Dixon who led our women very
> impressively. Well, take heart you newcomers - any other course will be a
> doddle after this!  
> 
> So we finished 2nd. One version of the final score is 1094 - 1702 but I
> suspect there may be others. 
> 
> 1 P Tarrier (Orion) 49.20
> 4 Julian Smith 51.03
> 5 Andy Bickerstaff 51.28
> 6 Darryl McDonald 51.53
> 11 Marcus Gohar 52.40
> 12 Simon Hedger 52.41
> 13 Will Graves 52.51
> 14 Paul Graham 53.47
> 16 David Wright 54.18
> 18 Geoff Jones 55.20
> 22 Steve Barber 56.14
> 23 Mike Peace 56.21
> 27 Clive Beauvais 57.19
> 32 Clive Naish 58.42
> 34 Steve Mummery 59.10
> 38 Bill Harvey 60.00
> 42 John Hughes 62.12
> 45 Niels Andersen 63.09
> 47 Matt Gisby 63.59
> 51 Jonny Rowan 64.23
> 54 Chris Read 65.30
> 56 Neil Walford 65.49
> 61 Kevin Harrison 68.03
> 62 Steve Rowland 68.04
> 64 Rachel Dixon 68.35
> 66 Alan Craig 68.54
> 69 John Keep 69.51
> 71 Martin Clark 70.36
> 72 Eliete Nascimento 70.55
> 74 Sue Ashley 71.32
> 84 David Rowntree 76.17
> 85 Laura Burkett 76.30
> 86 John Hanscomb 77.20
> 87 Elly Grant 77.29
> 90 Tom Reay 81.56
> 93 Kylie Rixon 92.12
> 94 Michelle Bordenave 93.45
> 95= Joanne Muirlittle }
> Catherine Carthy } 115.03 ish
> Eleanor Grey      } 
> dnf Dick Hartford, Tony Flavell
> 
> 
> We also had a team in the women's National Road Relay at Sutton Park,
> Birmingham and a few loonies doing the Karrimor Mountain Marathon in the
> Lake District. The things some people will do to avoid running at Orion!
> Sarah Seal reports from Brum: 
> "I'm sure Sutton Park has looked more appealing than it did on Saturday -
> with the wind and rain it was probably more suited to kite flying than
> running! However the Ranelagh ladies made a sterling effort to run their
> best in a very high class field. I volunteered to run the first leg -
> hoping that some of the talent belonging to the rest of the first leg
> runners would rub off on me and also I thought I might benefit from the
> slipstream effect of the fast runners. However, about 3 minutes into the
> first leg it there was an obvious split between  the very fast ( 90% of
> the first leggers!) and then the rest of us. However I did manage to pick
> off a couple of runners on my sprint finish! Clare took over and she ran a
> good leg and looked very strong about 1/2 mile from the finish and she ran
> eyeballs out up the hill to the changeover. Maragaret took over and had a
> fantastic run, the wind and rain had started to pick up somewhat so it was
> not getting any easier! However - despite the wind she managed to pick up
> three places finishing in style. Liz ran the final leg - and she had that
> determined look on her face - very determined in fact as she cruised past
> another three runners to give us a finishing spot of 44th. So well done
> girls!"
> 1 Sale 58.34
> 44 Ranelagh 71.55
> Sarah Seal 47 17.48
> Clare Nicholson 50 19.16
> Margaret Auerback 47 17.35
> Liz Kipling 44 17.16
> 
> Sarah was 30 on Monday! To quote Clare: "Ha ha ha ha ha..." 
> 
> Chris "Carry Less Next Time" Owens accompanied Mike Hynd in the Karrimor:
> "We MADE it !!! If you call 8hrs:45 the first day and 5hrs:10 the second,
> success - it was more like survival. More about this later, my legs are
> completely solid at the moment, and Saturday is not a day I wish to
> repeat. We missed the gales, but low mist plus driving rain is not a
> recipe for enjoyment. We struggled to get round, but survived, camped in
> semi-darkness, and then I found my sleeping bag was pretty wet - bad
> packing by me. I'll draw a veil over the rest of the night except to say
> it was long, damp and not very warm. Luckily, Sunday was sunny and clear,
> so we could see where we were going, and finished in 58th place. Given 274
> teams registered in our class, and 118 finished this was quite respectable
> - but towards the end we didn't care !
> Alastair Sinclair - Ranelagh stalwart and 50% of another team was 45mins
> ahead of us after 6hrs of day 1 when his teammate suffered a serious ankle
> sprain at the top of the highest part of the course and had to retire.
> We'd have caught him on Day 2 !"
> 
> More on the Great North Run, from Will Graves:
> "Graves Joe and Will also had a plod from Newcastle to South Shields. Much
> excitement in trying to use public transport from Durham (thank you for
> that extra early special service that arrived 10 mins late). But greater
> thanks to middle brother Tim who became Sherpa Tim cos we missed the
> baggage buses. We ran together for 2.5/3 miles then went our separate
> ways. I did an impression of Mike 'Ever Smiley' Peace and thanked the
> crowd, the St Js, Red Cross and smiled etc and was
> happy enough with my watch saying about 85.10 and my legs saying 'that was
> fun'. Joe had a great run for him and ended up less than 4 minutes down
> with 88.50 ish."
> 
> On a sadder note, one of the club's most senior members John Martin died
> last week in his late eighties. He had been a member for over 70 years and
> was club President during the 1970s. A full obituary will appear in the
> next paper Newsletter.
> 
> COMING UP
> Saturday November 4th  Priory Relays at Reigate. Women's race is 3 x 2.5m
> at 1pm, men's is 6 x 3.25m at 2.15pm. We'll have teams in both and all are
> welcome. If you'd like to run contact Paul Graham (0796 7788945 /
> paulgraham28@hotmail.com) or Sarah Seal (020 8995 2380 /
> sarah.seal@haynet.com)
> Saturday November 11th  South of Thames Junior Championship 5 miles at
> Croydon. 
> Sunday November 12th  Colne Valley Way Relay  9.30am  Rickmansworth to
> Staines. Another of those enjoyable point-to-point relays. This one is 19
> miles in all, divided into four stages of between 4 and 7 miles. Again,
> all are welcome. If you'd like to run contact Paul Graham.
> Saturday November 18th  Surrey Cross Country League Division 1 (men) at
> Richmond Park. This is a race for the faster boys but others please come
> along to support, mark the course etc.
> Saturday November 25th  Mob Match v Thames Hare & Hounds at Richmond Park.
> The season's second mob match, on our home 7.5 miles course. EVERYBODY to
> run please!  
> 
> Finally, Zoë Vail (bookbunny) takes over from Lizzie Clifford (bumpty01)
> and Steve Barber (little_b66) as the owner of the best e-mail name so
> far....
>
>Steve Rowland
>e-mail: srowland@calorgas.co.uk