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Newsdesk 2004
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RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 163 22 DECEMBER 2004
Editor: Steve Rowland
mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com
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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR READERS
HEADLINE NEWS
* Sarah Seal and Marie Synnott-Wells first and second in South of the
Thames Championship
* Gold medals for Ranelagh women's team
* Junior Points Prize Race 2
* New Handicapper needed!
WHAT'S COMING...
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The fixture list for the 2004/05 winter season, can be found on our web site.
More details of the following from
Andy Bickerstaff (07966 552302 / mailto: andy@norris-hobs.co.uk ) or
Phil Aiken (07739 035189 / mailto: phil.aiken@rnid.org.uk ) or
Anna McLaughlin (07971 606521 / mailto: anna.mclaughlin@itv.com ).
Saturday December 25th Ranelagh 5 km Time Trial in Bushy Park. 9am
start (yes, really!)
Sunday December 26th Social run in Richmond Park. 11am from the
clubhouse
Monday December 27th Henty Relay in Richmond Park. 2.30pm start
but you MUST report to the clubhouse by 1.45pm. See below.
Saturday January 1st Ranelagh 5 km Time Trial in Bushy Park.
9am start
Saturday January 8th Surrey County Championships at Lloyd
Park, Croydon
Ranelagh 5 km Time Trial in
Bushy Park. 9am start
Saturday January 15th Surrey League Division One - men on
Wimbledon Common, women in Richmond Park
Ranelagh 5 km Time Trial in
Bushy Park. 9am start
Saturday January 22nd Inter-club v Bank of England and others
including the Hec Petersen Trophy v Ealing. 5 miles starting at 2.30pm in
Richmond Park on the Bank of England's course from Roehampton Gate. HQ: Map
Ranelagh 5 km Time Trial in
Bushy Park. 9am start
HENTY RELAY Monday 27th December 1.3 miles laps in Richmond Park
This is our Christmas fun relay, the opportunity to run off all that turkey
and alcohol (as if...). All are welcome, including guests and juniors - the
course is the same as for the Junior Points Prize, one lap of Sidmouth Wood.
Teams of three are made up on the day, comprising one "fast", one "medium"
and one "slow". For each team the fast runner has to cover a total of three
laps, the medium two and the slow runs just one lap. The race will start at
2.30pm but you must come to the clubhouse first by 1.45pm at the latest.
This is to allow the teams to be formed up. Please don't go straight to the
start, you might not get into a team.
NATIONAL CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS Saturday 19th February at Cofton Park,
Birmingham
The climax to every club runner's cross-country season! The entry deadline
is not far away. Anyone can run and the club pays entry fees, so if you want
to experience a "National" contact Andy or Anna before the end of the year.
WHAT'S HAPPENED...
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SOUTH OF THE THAMES 7.5 MILES CHAMPIONSHIP Saturday 18th December on
Wimbledon Common
The second of the two South of the Thames races was in many respects a
repeat of the first: supported by the same clubs, though with a few less
runners, and featuring the same two leaders - with the difference that this
time Jermaine Mays of Kent managed to get the better of Hercules Wimbledon's
Ethiopian Dereje Kebede.
Anna McLaughlin takes up the story:
"7.5miles of cross country around Wimbledon Common is never going to be easy
so it was with some trepidation that seven of the Ranelagh ladies lined up
on Saturday afternoon for the start of the South of Thames Championships...
after the rain of the previous week it was never going to be dry underfoot,
but fortunately the three lap route managed to avoid the majority of the mud
except for one particularly squelchy half mile.
The race was held at the same time as the men, so it was never lonely out
there(!) and from the off Sarah and Marie managed to battle their way into
good front positions, a task which in some respects was not dissimilar to
shopping in Oxford Street at Christmas! Running amazingly well all the way
round (and round and round!) they both managed to maintain their leading
places coming home in 1st and 2nd positions respectively... a fantastic
result, which was backed up with the ladies team of six also bringing home
the team gold! Congratulations to everyone that ran, it was a long way but
thoroughly enjoyable!!"
It was somewhat optimistic of the organisers to set the women's race as 6 to
score, and Ranelagh was in fact the only club to muster more than four
finishers. But with Sarah and Marie in the top two places and Anna herself
7th, we would have been hard to beat whatever the number to count. Sandra
Foot, Michele Gibson and Louise Piears were all delighted to complete the
scoring team, even if the gold medals have yet to appear. There was however
an extra gold medal for Marie as the first over 35 to finish.
Amongst the men, Paul Doyle was supposed to be in Wimbledon for shopping but
managed to fit in a "tempo" training run which brought him home in 17th
place. For good measure he ran two more laps! In a somewhat scratch team
Andy Bickerstaff was our second man throughout while not far behind Andrew
McLauchlan was galvanized into action every time Sarah caught him. Watching
the action was Neil Walford and the scoring six was completed by Will Graves
and Graham Quick. We finished 7th out of eleven clubs closing in.
JUNIOR POINTS PRIZE RACE 2 Saturday 11th December 1.3 miles in Richmond
Park
Race 2 of this series was almost a repeat performance of race 1: Nadia
Fiddler, Alex McKenna, Robert Curtis, Matt Hirschler and Dan Jermy all
recorded their second straight wins, though all but Dan were harder pressed
by their rivals this time.
In the Under 13 girls' race Nadia was pushed all the way by Georgia
Miansarow who improved by 26 seconds from the first event and actually ran
faster than Nadia's time in race 1 - but Nadia herself was 12 seconds faster
this time. Rachel Price, Amelie Hunton and Stephanie Croucher all followed
within half a minute.
It was a similar story with the Under 15s where another battle between Alex
McKenna and Victoria Elbourne resulted in improved times for both of them,
with Rebecca Clayden also quicker in 3rd place.
Robert Curtis ducked inside the 9 minute barrier for the first time in the
Under 13 boys ahead of newcomer Luke Penny and Luke Wilson, while in the
Under 15s Matt Hirschler had Dan Jermy's brother Scott for company with
David Ready another big improver in 3rd place. Dan himself was unopposed in
the Under 17s.
Full details of the scores to date can be found on our web site
(http://www.ranelagh-harriers.com/results/041211pp.html). Unfortunately race
3 will NOT now be on 22nd January as originally planned, because the Surrey
Schools championship is scheduled for the same date. The next race will be
on February 28th.
BUSHY PARK 5Km TIME TRIAL Saturday 18th December
Twenty-two runners this week on a freezing morning.
1 J Desmond (Stragglers) 19.37
6 Darren Wood 21.24
7 Roger Wilson 21.31
8 Chris Read 21.48
9 Chris Hunton 23.24
10 Amelie Hunton 23.25
13 Karen Broadbent 24.23
14 Luke Wilson 24.47
17 Carol Barnshaw 25.36
18 Gill Wilson 25.52
19 George Coates 28.17
McLEOD CUP
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This is a winter season-long competition with points scored based on
finishing positions in all Ranelagh club races. Full rules and current
scores are on our web site
(http://www.ranelagh-harriers.com/ranelaghstats/mcleod/mcleod1a.html) but
the leaders after eight races are:
Men: Marcus Gohar 784, Andy Bickerstaff 675, Mike Peace 595, Phil Aiken
490, Chris Owens 474, Will Graves 462
Women: Sonia Rowland 666, Corinne Bishop 633, Kathy Mallett 582, Michele
Gibson 474, Sandra Foot 471, Sarah Seal 393
HANDICAPPER REQUIRED
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Will Graves writes:
"Your chance to help out! After several years (not as many as Ken though) of
handicapping I have decided to hang up the club laptop and pass on the reins
to someone new and hopefully more capable. As I have decided to leave the
country (not because of my handicapping!) we will need to find a new
Handicapper following the 2005 Baker Cup. Ideally someone might want to join
me in producing both the Clutton and Baker Cup handicaps so that they can
get a feel for the role.
There are nine handicaps every year which require work produced for them and
of these five require some on the spot handicapping for new runners and
guests. The Thomas Cup, Page Cup, Henty Relay, Clutton Cup, Baker Cup and
Coad Cup potentially all require on the spot work on the day of the race.
The others - Hastings Cup Vets Sealed, Hugh Jones Salver [Ladies] Sealed and
Wynne Cup Sealed do not require work on the day but the presence of a
handicapper has been useful to clear up any minor issues. My methods (finger
in the air and a particularly handy random number generator) currently mean
that each handicap involves about 3 hours of work.
I am available for any queries regarding the task on 020 8944 5948 and will
be happy to discuss most things that do not give away too many handicapping
secrets. I have really enjoyed handicapping and will certainly miss the
excitement of watching the runners come through the line all at the same
time".
TRAINING
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Robin Drummond's "Improvers Sessions" continue on Thursday nights at 7pm
from the clubhouse, concentrating on speed and technique. See below for an
outline of the next session. Full details can be found on our web site.
As an alternative on Thursday nights, Margaret Auerback and Frances
Ratchford are holding Strength and Conditioning coaching sessions at 7.30pm
in the free-weights room at the gym at St Mary's College, Waldegrave Road.
Coaching at the gym on other days is negotiable. For more information
contact Frances at mailto:grapevineproductions@compuserve.com.
Tuesday nights continue as normal, with speed work for various groups and
Wally's beginners' club. Full details on our web site.
Also Wednesdays at 6.30pm and Sundays at 10am at the clubhouse for a steady
run in the Park.
Thursday sessions. Each also includes a steady run warm up and warm down.
Dec 23rd 4 x 60 secs and 3 x 60 secs in Ranelagh Drive
LONDON MARATHON 2005
Frances Ratchford writes:
"Congratulations to everyone who got places in the marathon. If you need any
coaching or help I am more than happy to coach you as my specialism is the
marathon distance. It doesn't mean that you have to leave your coaching
group on a Tuesday or a Wednesday, that will be incorporated into my
training schedule for you. If you want help or advice or a training
schedule then contact me by email
(mailto:grapevineproductions@compuserve.com) or at the club on Tuesdays".
LONDON MINI-MARATHON 2005
The trials for the Richmond team to take part in the London Mini-Marathon
will take place in Richmond Park on Sunday 6th February. The 5km
Mini-Marathon takes place on part of the London Marathon course on the
marathon day itself, Sunday 17th April. Competitors must be aged between 11
and 17 on April 17th and to represent Richmond you must either live or go to
school in the borough. There are four races in the trial - girls 13-17 at
9.30am, boys 13-17 at 10am, girls 11-12 at 10.30am and boys 11-12 at 11am.
Entry forms are in the clubhouse or can be obtained from the Sports
Development Team, Regal House (1st floor), London Road, Twickenham TW1 3QB.
FINALLY
Anthony Eady and Mike Rowland both wrote in response to last week's
"Finally" which featured a claim for a world record for overtaking runners
in the course of a marathon - 9,150 by two late-starting Ethiopians in this
year's Berlin race. They recall a charity run by British international Ian
Thompson in the 1989 London Marathon, where he deliberately started at the
back of the field and was sponsored for the number of runners he could pass.
The total was 19,489...