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Newsdesk 2003

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 RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 114             1 OCTOBER 2003
 Web site: www.ranelagh-harriers.com  
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 WONDERFUL WHITLOCK!
 72-year-old Ed Whitlock finally achieved his objective last Sunday of being
 the first over 70 ever to crack the 3 hours barrier for the marathon. He
 recorded 2.59.10 in finishing 26th overall in the Toronto Waterfront
 Marathon. Ed writes: "You can get some details and some truly horrendous
 photos of me finishing at Toronto Waterfront  Marathon
 I was completely spent at the finish and my looks were not enhanced by a 
 face-first fall 5 days before while walking to the store!"
 Many congratulations Ed, you put the rest of us to shame.
 To celebrate his achievement, Ed would like to buy a round for everyone who
 cares to come along to the Rose of York after the Page Cup race this
 Saturday. Ed won't be there in person of course, so I'll be the man with the
 wallet. 

 PAGE CUP  5 miles handicap  Saturday October 4th in Richmond Park
 The season's second cross-country handicap takes place this Saturday,
 starting at 3pm. All members will be very welcome.  

 SOUTHERN ROAD RELAYS  Saturday September 27th (men) and Sunday September
 28th (women) at Rushmoor Arena
 We decided to go for vets teams only in the men's event, giving Marcus Gohar
 the opportunity to mix it with the best of the M40 age group on the opening
 stage. Marcus judged it well, sitting off the hectic early pace before
 working his way through to a clear 2nd at the finish in a new personal best
 time for the course. His 19.44 was the sixth fastest of the whole race. Mick
 Lane applied himself to the difficult task of building on such a great start
 and ran well to hang on to 5th place. On stage 3 Andy Bickerstaff briefly
 moved the team back up to 4th but the wolf pack was in hot pursuit and he
 was swallowed up by half a dozen of them on the second circuit. Kevin
 Jacques, still on his way back from injury, took the final stage and brought
 us home in a creditable 13th place.
 Our Over 50s were never so prominent in their race, but Mike Peace ran a
 good time on the opening stage and the team came home 28th. Injuries
 prevented our over 60s team - silver medallists last year - from making it
 to the starting line this time.   
 The women's teams on Sunday were also slightly depleted by some late
 withdrawals but still had high hopes of a good finishing position. In her
 favourite position as lead-off runner Sarah Seal followed Marcus's tactic of
 staying back in the pack in the early stages and then came through very
 strongly for 12th place in 13.52, our first sub-14 minute clocking on this
 circuit. Though both losing a handful of places, Alice Beverly and Captain
 Clare ran with great determination to stay in contention, leaving Liz
 Kipling a string of targets to aim for on the final stage. Passing runners
 right up to the home straight, Liz came across the line in 15th place and
 the team's time of 58.53 was our best ever on this course by over a minute. 
 Their haste to finish was soon explained by the appearance not only of
 Sarah's famous rock cakes but also of Alice's chocolate brownies!    

 WINDSOR HALF MARATHON   Sunday September 28th
 Bev Ali writes:
 "I think this is notable because I think it is the first time I have run in
 a non-Ranelagh race and not been the last Ranelagh finisher! Yahoo!
 They say that the route is easier than the last two years, but I don't think
 it was any different, though it was easier than the old route that went out
 of the park". Best performance came from Joanne Ronaldson, 11th in the
 women's race.
 (Chip times in brackets)
 1 S Kasimili (Kenya) 1.02.43  (1.02.42)
 114 Grant Lemke 1.28.59  (1.28.47)
 220 Joanne Ronaldson 1.32.48  (1.32.42)
 623 Derek Mason 1.41.59  (1.41.38)
 1294 Evelyn Joslin 1.50.31  (1.46.03)
 2038 David Rowntree 1.59.00  (1.57.10)
 2076 Thérèse Panetta 1.59.17  (1.57.04)
 2308 James Barber 2.01.55  (1.59.07)
 3598 Hazel Carr 2.22.18  (2.15.25)
 3599 Lynne Barber 2.22.18  (2.15.26)
 3843 Bev Ali 2.30.46  (2.23.46)
 3844 Simone Bretherton 2.30.49  (2.26.21) 

 HOVE PROMENADE 5 Miles  Sunday September 21st
 Paul Graham finished 13th in 28.56. 

 TUESDAY NIGHT SESSIONS
 Look on our web site for full details of the sessions, which all start at
 7pm from the clubhouse.
 7 Oct 1 x 10min effort, 3 x 4min efforts
 14 Oct 3 x 3 x Ham Gate hill
 21 Oct 2 x 7min efforts, 2 x 5min efforts
 28 Oct 3 x 3 x Holly Lodge Hill  
 Wednesday night (6.30pm) training continues from the clubhouse too, plus
 Sunday morning runs at 10am.

 VETERANS (or MASTERS if you prefer)
 Margaret Auerback writes: 
 "Entries for the Surrey Vets cross country champs being held in Richmond
 Park on 11th October have now closed but if you meant to enter and forgot
 you can still enter on the day. Women run at 2.30 over 6km. and the men run
 at 3.00 over 10km. Entries on the day are £4.
 Also coming up are the BMAF National XC relays at Glastonbury on Saturday,
 25th October. We did very well in this event last year. If you are
 interested please let me know as soon as possible. Men should contact Andy
 B. Please note that this event no longer clashes with the Hastings club vets
 champs.
 The South of England Masters champs are on Sunday 16th November at Margate
 and are taking place within the Reebok Cross Challenge. A chance to see how
 you measure up against the top names! As the seniors and masters are running
 together anybody who fancies it could come and run although obviously in the
 right age group.
 Again, contact me (mailto:margaret.auerback@virgin.net  or Andy Bickerstaff
 (mailto:andy@norris-hobs.co.uk ) so we can see if we are likely to get teams 
 although you can of course run as individuals".  

 FOUNDERS' CHALLENGE  Sunday October 19th 26 miles "go as you please" from
 Peaslake in Surrey
 Peter Saw writes:
 "You may be interested to know that my colleagues from the London Group of
 the LDWA and I walked the route on Saturday, checked the route description
 and were very impressed by the views from the hill tops. All in all we found
 it a very attractive walk and look forward to welcoming anyone who, having
 recovered from the Surrey League races the previous day (which everyone will
 want to run in!), fancies a ramble (or something faster) in the Surrey
 Hills. Going round in a group means only one needs to worry about the route
 description. Full details were included in an earlier edition of e-news, or
 see www.ldwa.org.uk  

 NEXT...
 A full fixture list for the 2003/04 winter season is available on our web
 site. 

 More details of the following from Andy Bickerstaff (07966 552302 /
 mailto:andy@norris-hobs.co.uk ) or Paul Graham (mailto:paulgraham28@hotmail.com)
 or Clare Nicholson (07710 348030 / mailto:clarenicholson@hotmail.com ).  

 Saturday October 4th        Page Cup 5 miles handicap in Richmond Park at
 3pm 

 Saturday October 11th          Surrey Veterans Cross-Country championships
 in Richmond Park. Women 6km at 2.30pm, men 10km at 3pm. 

 Sunday October 12th            Kingston Running Festival - marathon, 16
 miles or 8 miles events. See www.humanrace.co.uk  
  
 Saturday October 18th        Surrey Cross-Country League Div 1 in Richmond
 Park (Kingston Gate). Women from 12.30pm, men from 2.30pm. 
 
 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   
   Also today, the Founders' Challenge 26 miles at Peaslake. See above.

 Saturday October 25th         Lee Cup mob match v Orion Harriers  7.5
 miles in Richmond Park. All members encouraged to run please! 

 FINALLY
 Ed Whitlock's run was not the only marathon record on Sunday. There was of
 course the small matter of Kenyan Paul Tergat's world record of 2.04.55 in
 Berlin, followed in 4th place in the same race by Mexican Andres Espinosa
 who ran 2.08.46 for a new M40 record. But the list doesn't end there.
 Finishing behind Ed in Toronto was Brit Fauja Singh who ran 5.40.01 for a
 new world best for the over 90s....    

 Steve Rowland
 e-mail: srowland@calor.co.uk
 Tel: 01926 318734
 Fax: 0870 4006901