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Newsdesk 2004
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RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 142 9 JUNE 2004
Web site: www.ranelagh-harriers.com
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HEADLINE NEWS
* Gold medal in the World Duathlon Championships (35-39 group) for David Benton
* Inter-counties track bronze and Surrey 10 miles road silver for Paul Doyle
* D-Day victory for Allison O'Neill
CHRIS BRASHER MEMORIAL #1
We urgently need a few more people to help man a water station for the CB
Memorial 10km in Richmond Park on Sunday morning 20th June. Contact Andy
Bickerstaff asap if you can help (mailto:andy@norris-hobs.co.uk ). If you
want to run there's still time to enter. See www.chrisbrashermemorialrun.co.uk
£7 of the entry fee goes towards the Petersham Trust to preserve Petersham
Meadows behind our club house.
CHRIS BRASHER MEMORIAL #2
Over a hundred club members took part in our own Chris Brasher Memorial
"Ponds Run" last summer and it's been decided to repeat the exercise. Mike
Peace writes:
"We have nominated the Tuesday and Wednesday 22nd and 23rd June following
the 10km as our commemorative ponds run evenings. This we hope will be an
annual event when we locally remember Chris's involvement with Ranelagh
Harriers by running anything from 2 to 22 (!) ponds inside Richmond Park.
Simple guidelines: run in groups of 3 minimum or anything upwards. It's a
social run not a race. Any group wishing to run quickly can do so - the
fastest time on record for the 21 ponds (within touching distance of each
and every one) is 57 or 59 mins, depending on who you ask! For the rest of
us it's a great opportunity to wander round those parts of the Park we don't
usually see".
A RUN IN THE COUNTRY Sunday June 13th
Chris Owens is organising a Sunday morning social jaunt around West End and
Esher Common starting at 11am with lunch afterwards at the Prince of Wales
pub. Everybody welcome.
DYSART DASH 10km Sunday June 27th at Ham 10am start
Get your entries in early please - there may not be entries on the day.
Forms are available on our web site and at the clubhouse.
BRICKMAKERS' ARMS RELAY MARATHON Saturday July 10th at Windlesham 2pm
start
This is a low-key fun event based around a pub. Teams of 10, each running
2.6 miles. Contact Mike Peace if you're interested
(mailto:head@frimley.surrey.sch.uk or 07711513745).
GYM'LL FIX IT
Frances Ratchford writes:
"We have linked up with St Mary's College in Waldegrave Road, Twickenham and
one benefit is cheap gym membership. They have a state of the art gym,
which we can use any day any time and every time I go, even in the evenings,
it is EMPTY.
COST £25 for 3 months, up to £100 for a year
APPLY: Send cheques payable to SMUC to Dean Beaver, St Mary's College,
Waldegrave Road, Twickenham, TW1 4SX.
If you have already joined or are thinking of joining there will be an
induction evening on 23rd June at 6.45. Meet at the gym".
DORKING 10 MILES Sunday June 6th Including Surrey championships and
Surrey Road League. Ranelagh Road Grand Prix event 5
Paul Doyle reports:
"The sun shone on Brockham, to such an extent that some people thought it
slow running conditions. It was a bit muggy all right, not but too windy.
For those unfamiliar with the Dorking 10, it's a very scenic one lap race 10
miles deep in the Surrey countryside, along quiet country lanes. This year
saw a large entry, with some pre-race talk of a high quality sharp end.
The nature of this course means it's notoriously easy to 'blow-up': the last
4 miles have some particularly difficult hills and most people learn from
experience to take it easy for the first 5miles (some people never learn!).
The race set off at its usual frenetic pace, after 800m 1st and 2nd place
had been established, with Huw Lobb (Southern XC champ, 2.15 London
Marathon) leading the way, followed by a Highgate runner, followed by a pack
of 4-5 including myself.
We went though one mile in 5min (oops!, short?), then settled into 5.30
pace. After about 3 miles the group had whittled down to Will Cockerell
(Belgrave) and myself. It stayed that way until about 8 miles, when Will
open a gap on one of the hills and I held on for a decent time. Further back
from me the hills caused the usual problems. Poor Stuart Major (SLH, winner
last 6 years) dropped out at 5 miles after never really figuring in the lead
pack. Some of the fast starters were reduced to walking. Mick Lane hadn't
recovered from a cold and ran below par. Steve Instone and Mike Peace are
still to get back on top form, so our team struggled a bit. Anna McLaughlin
was our leading woman.
Post race everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. As regards the men's Surrey
League position, we slipped up here. Lets hope we can get a good turn out
for the Dysart Dash and get back on track to retain the Surrey League Team
title".
Two of those ahead of Paul would appear not to be Surrey qualified so he
should be picking up a county silver medal in due course.
WORLD DUATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS
Allison O'Neill reports:
"Last weekend David joined the small group of Ranelagh 'Age Group' World
Champions (currently including Margaret Auerback and Kristina Semple, plus
world record holder Ed Whitlock) when he emerged victorious in the World
35-39 Age Group Duathlon Championships in Belgium. Looking seriously lean
and mean, David developed a significant lead on the initial 10k run, lost it
briefly to two Belgians during the bike leg (a bit too flat for David's
tastes) and powered home on the second run to record the fastest 5k of the
day across all 900 age group competitors - by over 40 seconds! David's
'second run' is certainly proving to be his secret weapon, as he has
recorded the best time by quite a way in all 4 of his duathlons so far this
season. He certainly plans to make good use of it at the British Duathlon
Championships in July when he will finally go head-to-head with the 'Elite'
GB runners and attempt to earn his full GB vest for the European
Championships in Wales at the end of September. Keep your fingers crossed!"
1 David Benton 1.51.27 (run 32.43, bike 62.55, run 14.22)
D-DAY 10km Sunday June 6th at Portsmouth
Allison herself was busy on Sunday with a 23 second win at Portsmouth.
Athletics Weekly's Martin Duff quotes her as saying: "I found the going
quite hard as I had a bit of a sore knee".
Women
1 Allison O'Neill 37.06
INTER-COUNTIES TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS Sunday May 30th / Monday May 31st at
Bedford
Paul Doyle reports:
"I got a late call-up as a non-scoring runner in the 10000m. I was thrilled
to have the chance to represent Surrey, even though I'm not quite at the
proper standard to do that. Upon arrival at the Bedford stadium (quite
impressive), I was told that I was the only Surrey runner, furthermore when
I saw the start list, only 5 counties had produced runners. Obviously the
event has fallen from grace, which is a shame. Our own Kevin Jacques won
this in 1984 in 29.29. Kevin considers the time quite slow, as it was a
tactical race. This year's race was also tactical, but would bring a whole
new definition to a slow IC 10000m.
The first 5000m went according to plan, clocking 16min, tucked in 4th place,
the leading two having broken away. The last 5000m descended into a tactical
race, with the three runners attempting to grab the 3rd spot. In the end it
was straightforward, I kicked at the bell and pulled away 7 secs from 4th
place. The Surrey team bagged some cheap points, I got a medal as a memento
and didn't get lapped or finish last. My time of 32.29 was disappointing,
nevertheless I enjoyed my little adventure".
1 J Trapmore (Middx) 31.36.67
3 Paul Doyle 32.29.62
NEAR AS DAMMIT 10km Thursday May 27th at Coulsdon
1 S Major (South London) 35.30
4 Mick Lane 37.28
CONFESSIONS OF A NOVICE TRIATHLETE
Angus Cater writes of his experiences in the Eton Super Sprint Triathlon on
May 16th 2004:
"I was warned by my international tri friend, Ian, to arrive 2 hours early:
to register; get my helmet checked; get all my kit in position etc. I
ignored the advice, of course, so spent the hour before running around like
a blue-arsed fly trying to get everything done. I managed - but only just
and was therefore highly stressed - just what you need!
The crowds and the organisation were staggering. It all took place at the
Eton Dorney rowing lake, just off the M4, and my wife said she hadn't seen
so many 'Ronnies' (Ronnie the racing Snake) gathered in one place before
(obviously she hasn't been to a Ranelagh race day for a while!).
My first mistake was not to have swum in open water, wearing my wetsuit,
before the race. (This was the first bit of advice I ignored from Ian). I
felt fine when I got in the water but within a few seconds of starting to
swim I found I couldn't breathe. I was convinced that it was my massive,
running induced chest being over constrained, but the lady in the tri shop a
few days later said it was probably panic at the thrashing humans, the cold
and the abnormal buoyancy. 'Quite common', she said. (Common - really!) The
net result was that I struggled around the 400 metre triangular course
(mostly on my back!) in about twice the time it had taken me in the pool.
The next area where I lost time was in the changeover. Ian said he reckoned
that I lost 4 minutes getting out of my wetsuit and onto my bike. I didn't
care - I was knackered already. The bicycling went quite well. 19.5 K seemed
to fly by and the purchase of a new bike really paid off: on my timed 12.5
mile course at home in Sussex I cut my time down from 63 minutes to 48 by
changing from my ancient velo to a high speed racing ronnie bike. (More
advice from Ian. Yawn, yawn).
I wore the same kit to run in but nearly got disqualified by a bossy young
man for taking my crash helmet off as I walked/ran my bike back to its
allotted slot. The 5K was flat and Ian (we're getting married next month on
a beach in California in our tri kit) got a photo of me with both feet off
the ground! I am told (by Ian) that this shows how fast I was running!!
My overall time was 1.24.05 with the swimming and bicycling taking 59
minutes and the running 24 minutes (really fast!!). I was 48th out of 55 in
my age group (wave) and as Ian said...'There is some room for improvement'.
Overall verdict: excellent fun and not too knackering. As for a full
triathlon - forget it".
RANELAGH NEEDS YOU
Frances Ratchford writes:
"Could you help organise races or keep the clubhouse in working order?
We need an assistant race manager or better still managers to organise the
marshals for races through the year. Ideally you and your team will
job-share the responsibility for Ranelagh races.
You won't be alone as Alan Hedger has said that he will help anyone taking
on this job.
If you are interested please contact Frances Ratchford by June 23rd so she
can put it in the AGM papers".
FLAT TO LET
Large one-bedroom flat, new kitchen, plenty of storage space, bike shed, 2km
max from Sheen Gate, 2 miles from club, 1km from towpath, close to
stations, supermarket, and bus routes. £750 month + bills. Contact Marcus
Gohar (mailto:marcus.gohar@brunel.ac.uk or 020 8876 0369).
PROF. TIM NOAKES SPEAKS ON ATHLETIC PEFORMANCE
Prof Tim Noakes, author of "The Lore of Running" and other books, is to be
the principal speaker at an evening to raise money for the Leukaemia
Research Fund, to which all are invited. The date is Monday 21st June and
the venue is the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, 27
Sussex Place, Regent's Park, NW1 4RG, near Baker Street and Marylebone tube
stations. It's a 7.30 start and the entry fee will be £10.
The speakers and topics are
Prof. Tim Noakes: "Hydration and the athlete"
Dr Les Ansley: "What stops us exercising?"
Dr Paula Robson: "Prolonged Exercise, infection and supplementation"
Evening to be opened by Kelly Moir, 19 year old South African leukaemia
survivor and sports enthusiast.
See www.lrf.org.uk for more information.
RICHARD CLAY-JONES
Terry Marks writes on behalf of the Pope's Grotto five o'clock club:
"Richard, an active club member for many years, died on 27th November, 2003,
aged 56 years. One of the ways we will remember him is by producing a silver
pewter trophy in the form of a Young's straight pint glass. This will be
known as The Richard Clay-Jones Memorial Pint.
It will be presented to the over 50's category winner in the annual Ranelagh
v Thames H & H mob match at the end of November. Young's have agreed to
donate £100 towards the cost of the trophy (£370). If you would like to
make a contribution to help purchase the trophy, please notify Terry Marks
(terry.marks@alcan.com or 07702 826203) or Wyn Williams (07703 286412).
Richard's wife Gill will hand over the trophy to Ranelagh at The Popes
Grotto pub in Twickenham at a ceremony to which all members are welcome, the
date of which will be notified in due course".
A WARM WELCOME...
...to the following new members:
John Kipps, Morgane de Verdiere, Sanda Foot, Michael Coombs, Dympna McNally,
Tony Appleby, Stephen Arneil, Alison McLaughlin, Elna Slabbart, Molly Smith,
Matthew Morgan, Edric Cove, Josey Smith, George Coates, Alexander Cater,
Peter Wright, Alicia Loughton.
NEXT...
The 2003/04 fixture list, together with details of the 2004 Ranelagh Road
Grand Prix, can be found on our web site.
More details of the following from Andy Bickerstaff (07966 552302 /
mailto:andy@norris-hobs.co.uk ) or Anna McLaughlin (07971 606521 /
mailto:anna.mclaughlin@itv.com ).
Sunday June 20th Chris Brasher Memorial 10km in Richmond
Park. See www.chrisbrashermemorialrun.co.uk for details.
Thursday June 24th Summer Junior Handicap Series 2km race 3.
7pm at the Hawker Centre, Kingston. All under 17s welcome.
Sunday June 27th Dysart Dash 10km. Ranelagh Road GP race 6
and Surrey 10km Championship. Start 10am in Meadlands Drive, 5 mins from
our clubhouse. Forms available from our web site.
Sunday July 4th Harry Hawkes 8 miles at Thames Ditton.
Ranelagh Road GP race 7. Start 10am. See www.hh8.org.uk
for details.
Saturday July 10th Brickmakers' Arms Relay Marathon at
Windlesham. Start 2pm - see above.
Sunday July 25th Elmbridge 10km at Walton.
See www.elmbridgeroadrunners.co.uk for details.
Steve Rowland
e-mail: srowland@calor.co.uk
Tel: 01926 318734
Fax: 0870 4006901