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Newsdesk 2005
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RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 177 2 MAY 2005
Editor: Steve Rowland
mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com
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HEADLINE NEWS
* Paul Doyle 3rd in Sutton 10km
* Anna McLaughlin, Marcus Gohar and Kathy Mallett also in the prizes
* Get your entries in for the Richmond Half Marathon
* Green Belt Relay - still room for more runners
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 ).
Wednesday May 4th Thames H&H Parkland relays in Richmond Park.
Start 7pm at the Pen Ponds car park.
Saturday May 7th Ranelagh Bushy Park Time Trial 5km. 9am
start
Sunday May 8th Hogsmill Ladies 5 miles road race. 10am
start at the Harrier Centre, West Ewell.
Saturday May 14th Ranelagh Bushy Park Time Trial 5km. 9am
start
Sunday May15th Richmond Half Marathon. Ranelagh Grand
Prix Race 4. Info http://www.ranelagh-harriers.com.
Sunday June 5th Dorking 10 miles. Ranelagh Grand Prix
Race 5. See below.
2005 RANELAGH ROAD RUNNING GRAND PRIX
The next events are the Richmond Half Marathon on May 15th and the Dorking
10 miles on June 5th. Full details can be found on our web site and entry
forms can be found in the folder at the clubhouse..
GREEN BELT RELAY Saturday May 21st and Sunday May 22nd
There's still room in our teams for more runners who want to see a bit of
new countryside. Any speed! You can find lots about this unique event at
www.greenbeltrelay.org.uk. If you're interested in taking part please
contact me or Anna McLaughlin (details above) or Bev Ali
(mailto:bev.ali@blueyonder.co.uk) as soon as possible.
RANELAGH RICHMOND HALF MARATHON Sunday 15th May
Get your entries in now! Sports Systems are handling the organisation and
entries on the day might not be possible, even from Ranelagh. Details and
forms are at http://www.sportsystems.net/ranelagh/Scripts/default.asp.
DORKING 10 MILES Sunday 5th June
This road 10 miler features not only in our own Grand Prix but also in the
Surrey Road League and incorporates the Surrey Championship. Details at
http://www.dmvac.org.uk/dorking10/.
WHAT'S HAPPENED...
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SUTTON 10km Sunday 1st May
The sudden arrival of summer came as a shock to the system for many. Ken
Powley reports:
"Rather strange conditions, very humid, which resulted in Andy Bicks,
Burkhard Fehsenfeld and Simon Burrell dropping out, as well as the
second-placed man, which allowed a somewhat below par Paul Doyle to move
into third place, just failing to catch the first Over 40, Knut Hegvold.
Marcus Gohar ran far better than he has been running recently, and was 3rd
Over 40. Kathy Mallet won the 1st Over 45 prize, with a PB, in what rather
surprisingly was only her third-ever 10K race. Anna McLaughlin ran
extraordinarily well on the first lap, but then succumbed to the prevailing
conditions.
With a few notable exceptions, the resulting times for most are best
forgotten".
Anna finished 5th overall but third senior woman and there was another 3rd
place for the men's team
BUSHY PARK TIME TRIAL 5km Saturday 30th April
There was a smaller field this week but pbs for Stephen Instone and Darren
Wood.
1 S McDermott (Raheny) 17.42
3 Stephen Instone 18.55
6 Darren Wood 19.41
18 Chris Hunton 21.34
20 Sam Hunton 21.41
22 Roger Wilson 22.23
25 Luke Wilson 25.01
SAM'S RUN 10km Sunday 24th April in Bushy Park
Chris Owens reports:
"Any race involving Sonia O' Sullivan winning from Jo Pavey, and Mo Farah
outpacing Mark Steinle might normally be expected to have an entry of
thousands, balloons and a loud PA. However, since this race was in Bushy
Park, had a limit of 200, and was preceded by a minute's silence, clearly
something exceptional was happening.
Some of the top middle distance runners in England (and a few others) had
turned out to take part in 'Sam's Run' in memory of Sam Haughian, one of the
best young runners in Britain, who was tragically killed in a car accident
while on a training trip to S.Africa a year ago.
Organised by Ben Whitby (Sam's long time friend and training partner), and
The Sweatshop, the event was a 10km trail run over paths and tracks. More
details of the event, Sam's successes, and plans for longer-term
commemoration of his achievements can be found at
http://www.sweatshop.co.uk/samsrun.
On the day, a cool and sunny morning saw the 200 runners set off down a
vista worthy of a National's start, after some words from Sam's coach, and a
thoughtful silence. I remembered Sam and Ben turning up at Ranelagh on a few
Wednesday evenings several years ago as teenagers, and casually disappearing
into the distance after a few miles.
Full details on the results can be found on the site - most people treated
it as a Sunday morning run, although the winning time of 32 mins is a bit
faster than my Sunday pace. A small Ranelagh contingent (where were you
all?), cheered on by John Herries, finished somewhere in the middle of the
pack, and after waiting for those who had decided to do two laps, most of
the field and spectators headed for the Lion's Gate Hotel to commemorate Sam
by indulging in another of his favourite activities - propping up the bar.
Apart from seeing some of Britain's rising stars do a fair impersonation of
Tuesday night at the Dysart, it was also the place to learn about Sonia's
race tactics from another Irish legend - John Downes - who had run round
with her. 'First three km were four minutes even each one, then the pace
picked up to 3:22 on the last k, and all the talking stopped about 5km.'.
This and other tales were rudely interrupted by the results, which at least
gave the bar staff, freshly imported from Eastern Europe that morning, some
respite. Ben Whitby and Hugh Brasher demonstrated new techniques in prize
giving and by starting at the top of the field, and working down the order
until they hit someone who was actually present - Sonia was - Mo Farah was
not - swiftly disposed of the awards, and a few spot prizes. We were
reminded that donations to Sam's Fund, aimed at supporting promising young
runners were still possible by post, and then serious conversation resumed.
At least it did in my corner of the bar, where John Downes fixed John
Herries with his glittering eye (Ancient Mariner grade), and announced '.and
oi remember the day oi went training after drinking three bottles of Bailey's
the night before..'. John rattled his crutches nervously, only two more
days and he could have walked away. I did, and thus ended a most memorable
morning.
'So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other
side..'"
1 M Farah (Newham) 32.24
62 Hugh Brasher 38.06
75 Chris Owens 39.25
82 Steve Bird 39.57
83 Sara Grosvenor 39.59
113 Sandra Foot 46.52
117 Roger Wilson 47.34
153 Alan Meaden 56.28
154 David Meaden 57.17
SHAKESPEARE MARATHON Sunday 24th April at Stratford-upon-Avon
Martin Harrison reports:
"3,000 entrants started the joint Half and Full Marathon events. Instead of
the overcast skies and rain we were 'promised' at start time it was 16 deg,
sunny and not a cloud in the sky. A fresh breeze gave some relief. The two
lap course wound round some fairly up and down terrain to the south west of
Stratford, finishing with a long straight 6 mile run back into town along an
old disused railway track. The finish line was by the river in front of the
RSC Theatre. The best T shirt slogan of the day goes to 'PB or not PB?'"
This was the third of Simon Tyler's four marathons in a month to raise funds
for an operation for his daughter Olivia. You can see more details at
http://www.paulsh.speedy.uk.net/olivia.html.
1 T Komatsu (Camb & C) 2.31.43
270 Martin Harrison 3.56.55
313 Simon Tyler 4.02.26
RON WHEELER 2.8 miles handicap Wednesday 30th March at Wapping
1 K Grealy (Unatt) 19.21 (actual 15.21)
2 Chris Read 19.38 (16.08)
6 Alan Davidson 19.59 (16.29)
THAMES TURBO TRIATHLON SERIES RACE 2 Monday 2nd May at Hampton Pool and
Bushy Park
1 S Bayliss (Fit-For) 54.48 (438m swim 6.05, 21km bike 32.00, 5km run
16.43)
60 Roger Wilson 71.09 (10.10, 37.55, 23.04)
SCOTT DUNN POLAR CHALLENGE
Francisco Barratta is taking part in this 320 mile team race in the Arctic
to the 1996 location of the Magnetic North Pole and beyond. The event
started on April 23rd and is expected to take two to three weeks. You can
follow the race and Francisco's team (Cotswold Polar) at
www.polar-challenge.com/race/active.asp.
TRAINING
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Tough Tuesdays continue as normal, with speed work for various groups and
Wally's beginners' club, at 7pm from the clubhouse. Full details are on our
web site, the next few sessions for the faster groups are shown below.
Robin Drummond's "Improvers Sessions" continue on Thursday nights at 7pm
from the clubhouse, concentrating on speed and technique.
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.
Also Wednesdays at 6.30pm and Sundays at 10am at the clubhouse for a steady
run in the Park.
Tuesday sessions. Each also includes a steady run warm up and warm down.
May 3rd 6 squares and 6 triangles
May 10th Fartlek around the Park: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 min efforts.
May 17th 7 x Queen's Ride loops in pairs
May 24th 25 mins continuous relay around grassy triangle at Sidmouth Wood.
MASTERS TRACK LEAGUE
Margaret Auerback writes:
"The date of the first match is fast approaching - Monday 9th May. I have
already signed up some of you and I will be contacting all those who
competed last year but I still have plenty of spaces to fill. If you haven't
done anything like this before don't be put off - you don't have to be a
Kelly Holmes or Steve Backley to take part. We have some fast runners who
win things but it's also about covering all the events. If you think
Ranelagh runners aren't really made for track and field then come down and
see Bev Ali throwing a very respectable discus and Frances and Marcus
scoring valuable points in the triple jump.
These are low key events and an excellent introduction to track and field
athletics, they also make a very good change from the marathon. We can also
run non-scorers in most track events so you will be assured of a run.
You can contact me on m.auerback@btinternet.com. I am away until 8th May but
you can leave a message or talk to Frances at Ranelagh on Tuesday. All
meetings are at Battersea Park and start at 6.30.
Dates are:
9th May
23rd May
20th June
11th July
Nearest stations are Battersea Park or Queenstown Road which is on the
Waterloo mainline from Richmond and is about 10 minutes walk from the track.
Let's make the first match a good one!"
A LITTLE STORY...
...from Bev Ali:
"This is a true story about a runner who was raising money for a charity for
running a half marathon. He didn't want to disappoint those who were
sponsoring him by not running when he was not feeling well.....
He's a thirtyish year old chap who's normally fit and well. Not a long term
runner, but he'd done all the appropriate training for his half marathon. In
the two to three days prior to his run, he felt a bit grotty and was a bit
rundown but wasn't in dire straits. So not wanting to waste the training
and the sponsorships, and not wanting to be a wimp, he ran anyway.
Halfway through the run he collapsed.
On arrival at hospital he was found to have a CK of 250,000. Creatine
Kinase (CK) is a muscle enzyme released into the bloodstream when muscles
are damaged. In a normal healthy man of his age it shouldn't be much higher
than 100. His astronomically high CK has had a few knock-on effects. The
muscle breakdown products permeating his bloodstream have clogged off his
kidneys and he is now on dialysis three times weekly. We hope he'll
recover. In addition, the heavy damage done to his thigh muscles caused
such extensive swelling that they've had to relieve the pressure by cutting
open both of his legs. He'll need skin grafts to repair the damage. Maybe
in a year or two he'll be able to run again.
All because a little bug said 'atchoo'...It really pays to listen to your
body".
FEELING STIFF?
Jeff Bull provides the following from 'The Guardian' of 21st April:
"Your immune system has taken a battering, your muscles are torn in lots of
places and you won't fully recover for a few weeks. But if you're one of the
35,000 or so people who ran the 26.2 miles on Sunday, you're probably aware
of all of the above.
The severity of the damage and speed of recovery after a long distance run
depend on how fit the person is to start with. For the casual runner who has
spent several months training properly, the physiological damage during the
marathon would have started as a gradual congestion of waste products in
the body.
The fatigue leads to soreness and tightness in the muscles. This means that
the runner starts to move slowly and inefficiently. In addition, about
halfway through the race, the constant pounding of the feet on the road
starts to cause pain in the joints.
At about 20 miles, levels of glucose in the bloodstream start to drop and
the stores of carbohydrate energy in the body are almost depleted. Runners
will become more aware of the distress signals that the various parts of the
body are sending to the brain.
Dehydration is also a risk. Runners drink water en route to replace the
fluid lost tyhrough sweat but can't fully replace it, simply because of the
time it takes to get water through the digestive system into the
bloodstream.
All this adds up, effectively, to major trauma. After the race, runners are
left with microscopic tears in their leg muscles, which leak proteins such
as myoglobin into the bloodstream. The body's defence mechanism sees these
tears as damaged tissue and sets up an inflammatory response. Part of this
response is that free radicals are released, which also attack the tissue.
This leads to the familiar soreness.
Runners often pick up a cold or an infection afterwards, as the immune
system tends to be suppressed for several hours after the marathon. It takes
weeks for the body to return to normal".
FINALLY
Which country has the fittest politicians? In Portugal, both President Jorge
Sampaio and Prime Minister Jose Socrates took part in the 7km race
supporting the Lisbon Half Marathon on March 13th.