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 ****************************************************************************
 RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 189               15 September 2005
 Editor: Steve Rowland
 mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com
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 HEADLINE NEWS
 *  Third successive women's Surrey Road Relay victory
 *  Bronze medals for men's over 50 team
 *  Senior men miss bronzes by half a minute
 *  "Outlying Run" at Ranmore Common on Saturday 17th
 *  South of England Road Relays on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th

 SEE HERE
 *************
 OUTLYING RUN  Saturday 17th September at Ranmore Common
 "A Ranelagh tradition re-visited," writes Clive Beauvais. Anyone who fancies
 a sociable run on the North Downs will be welcome. There will be 6 miles, 9
 miles and 12 miles options, all setting off at 2.30pm from Ranmore National
 Trust car park (200 yds from Ranmore church) near Dorking. Clive adds: "No
 risk of getting lost - easy routes to follow, everyone will get a written
 route description of his / her chosen distance. Afterwards drink / food /
 general joviality at a nearby pub".

 Directions: M25 junction 9. Take A24 towards Dorking. At traffic lights just
 before Dorking turn right on A2003 signposted to Guildford (Ashcombe Road).
 After half a mile go straight on at a mini-roundabout to shortly reach a
 T-junction. Turn right (signposted Ranmore). Ranmore Common car park is
 three-quarters of a mile on your left.

 SOUTH OF ENGLAND ROAD RELAYS  Saturday 24th September (men) and Sunday 25th
 September (women) at Rushmoor Arena, Aldershot
 On Saturday, we have two senior teams of six entered for the men's race and
 one M50 team of four in the veterans event. Start times are 12.30pm for the
 veterans and 2.30pm for the senior men. The B team is not yet complete, so
 if anyone fancies a run please contact Andy Bickerstaff as soon as possible. 

 On Sunday the senior women's race starts at 3.55pm. We have three teams of
 four entered and as for the men there may still be vacancies. Please contact
 Anna McLaughlin if you are interested. 

 THURSDAY TRAINING
 Robin Drummond writes:
 "My Thursday session won't happen on 8th September or 15th September owing
 to holidays but I wilI will be back for the 22nd". 

 WHAT'S COMING...
 ************************
 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 September 17th    Ranelagh Bushy Park Time Trial  5km. 9am start
                                          "Outlying Run" at Ranmore Common.
 2.30pm start. See above

 Saturday September 24th    Southern Road Relays (men) at Rushmoor Arena,
 Aldershot from 12.30pm.
                                         Ranelagh Bushy Park Time Trial
 5km. 9am start

 Sunday September 25th     Southern Road Relays (women) at Rushmoor Arena,
 Aldershot at 3.55pm.

 Saturday October 1st         Ranelagh Bushy Park Time Trial  5km. 9am start.
 The first anniversary of the BPTT - see below.
                                        Page Cup 5 miles handicap.  3pm
 start in Richmond Park 

 Saturday October 8th         Ranelagh Bushy Park Time Trial  5km. 9am start.
                                        Surrey Cross Country League: men
 (Div 2) at Epsom Downs, women (Div 1) at Wimbledon Common

 BUSHY PARK TIME TRIAL FIRST ANNIVERSARY
 On the 1st of October the BPTT will be one year old. Congratulations and
 thanks to Paul Sinton-Hewitt for all his hard work and enthusiasm in making
 this event such a success. There will be awards in a variety of categories
 and a short celebration after the run - please bring a little food and drink
 for a late alfresco breakfast.

 For those who haven't yet tried the BPTT, it's a timed 5km run every
 Saturday morning at 9am. The start and finish are at the Diana Fountain car
 park in Bushy Park. Everyone is welcome - no need to enter in advance, just
 turn up.

 PAGE CUP 5 MILES HANDICAP  Saturday 1st October in Richmond Park
 But don't forget that October 1st also sees the season's second club
 handicap race in Richmond Park. It's 5 miles starting at 3pm and all members
 are welcome.

 CABBAGE PATCH 10 MILES  Sunday 16th October at Twickenham
 No recent news on the number of entries received, but they must be getting
 very close to the limit. So if you want to run, don't delay. Details here:
 http://www.cabbagepatch10.com/Scripts/default.asp.

 WHAT'S HAPPENED...
 ****************************
 SURREY ROAD RELAY CHAMPIONSHIPS  Saturday 10th September at Wimbledon Park
 "A new season... but the same result!!" wrote Anna McLaughlin, and that's a
 nice summary of the women's team's third consecutive victory in the Surrey
 Road Relays. The successes that the squad has enjoyed over the past twelve
 months will take some matching but this was the best possible start - not
 just a win but a win by the huge margin of over a minute and a half.

 The course was slightly longer than in previous years owing to the
 unavailability of the Wimbledon Park track, but only the start and finish of
 each stage was affected, the rest of the course remaining as normal.

 Jo Ronaldson was again entrusted with the opening stage and responded well
 with the second-fastest lap of the day, 17.54. This left her 42 seconds
 behind the leader, Emily Nelson of Epsom, but the Epsom team was incomplete
 and not in contention for the title. In any case Estelle Damant soon cruised
 into the lead on stage two, handing over to Anna McLaughlin with a lead of
 half a minute. Anna extended the lead to 80 seconds, leaving Marie
 Synnott-Wells to run a pressure-free anchor and bring the team home 97
 seconds ahead of Wimbledon Windmilers.

 The B team was not to be overlooked either. Newcomer Jenny Lloyd-Jones ran a
 strong opener and Clare Gutch, Rachel Rowan and Kerry McLoughlin kept the
 team in contention for "virtual" bronzes (only virtual, because as a B team
 they were ineligible even had they finished third). And the Cs finished 9th,
 led off by Anair Beverly who is about to join her sister Alice at Oxford
 University.

 It was a largely new-look men's A team, with only Ed Barker having contested
 the event before. But they all performed with great credit. South London,
 Belgrave and a non-scoring Thames H&H team were well away from the pack from
 the early stages, but the Ranelagh squad was never much more than a minute
 from the bronze medal position. Duncan Bell finally anchored the team into
 5th place in the Surrey championship (6th overall) just 29 seconds behind
 3rd placed Guildford. Phil Killingley on stage 2 ran the team's fastest
 time, 16.04, with Mark Middleton and Duncan within half a minute of Phil.

 John Atkinson ran an excellent opener of 18.09 for the B team, just a couple
 of seconds slower than Neil Walford who was the fastest 'C' discounting Phil
 Killingley who ran 17.12 on his second circuit of the course. We had
 expected to uphold the Ranelagh tradition of bringing up the rear of the
 race with our 'C' team, but two teams actually trailed in well behind us. We
 were, however, the first (and only) 'C' team to finish in the men's as well
 as the women's race. Good work, Captains!

 We were the defending champions in the men's over 40 race but with all of
 last year's quartet either injured or on holiday we put out a scratch team
 led off by over-65 Pete Warren! Keith Firkin was fastest in the team that
 finished 11th.

 In last year's over 50s race we just missed the podium in 4th position, but
 this time we stepped up one place to win the bronze medals - just! After
 Dave Powell and Steve Rowland had done the initial spadework, Chris Owens
 whizzed round in the third-fastest M50 time of the day, 17.43, to hand over
 to anchor man Mike Peace in 3rd place. With all age groups running together
 Mike and the rest of the team were quite oblivious of the fact that he was
 in a medal position, nor that he was steadily closing on Hercules in 2nd
 place. More crucially Mike didn't know that the day's fastest M50, Archer of
 Reigate, was catching him hand over fist! It was only after the results were
 displayed that we learnt that Mike had held onto 3rd place just four seconds
 ahead of Reigate.

 You can see full results and some race photos on our web site. Thanks to
 Julian and Sarah for tea and cakes after the race.


 BUSHY PARK TIME TRIAL 5km  Saturday 10th September
 Nick Wright continued his third place habit and there was a big 45 seconds
 improvement from Sara Nakielny.

 1 G Billington (Unatt) 15.48
 3 Nick Wright 18.18
 7 Stephen Instone 18.51
 15 Roger Wilson 20.51
 18 Adam Wright 21.21
 19 Sara Nakielny 21.32
 24 Martin Clark 22.27
 27 Chris Hunton 23.27
 28 Amelie Hunton 23.27
 33 Julie Naismith 26.20
 37 Simon Quayle 27.11

 A correction to the 3rd September BPTT result shown in e-news #188:
 34 Roger Wilson 21.16
 45 Luke Wilson 24.40

 DRY HILL 10 miles  Sunday 4th September at Lingfield
 1 A Green (Dartford) 59.03
 50 Darren Wood 81.43

 ROBIN HOOD HALF MARATHON  Sunday 11th September at Nottingham
 1 P Langat (Kenya) 63.25  (chip time 63.24)
 118 Hugh Brasher 84.16  (83.49)
 494 Kerry McLoughlin 94.54  (94.30)

 TRAINING
 ************
 Coaching for juniors is re-starting at the St Mary's College track on
 Saturday mornings at 10.30am. Contact Frances
 (mailto:grapevineproductions@compuserve.com) for details.

 Tuesday sessions continue year-round, with speed work for various groups and
 Wally's beginners' club, at 7pm from the clubhouse.

 Robin Drummond's  "Improvers Sessions" continue on Thursday nights at 7pm
 from the clubhouse, concentrating on speed and technique (but no sessions on
 September 8th and 15th).

 Also Wednesdays at 6.30pm and Sundays at 10am at the clubhouse for a steady
 run in the Park.

 Don't forget the Bushy Park Time Trial every Saturday morning at 9am. It's a
 timed 5km run on the cycle track and grass in Bushy Park, starting and
 finishing at the big car park by the Diana Fountain. All are welcome - no
 need to enter in advance, just turn up and run.

 NELSON FUNERAL PROCESSION
 *****************************************
 Friday will see the largest flotilla on the Thames in recent times as
 Nelson's waterborne funeral procession from Greenwich to Whitehall is
 re-created. Look out for Paul Gregory, who will be taking part in the
 procession as a crew member in either "Cam" or "Old Balliol" which are
 replicas of the gigs used for the original Oxford/Cambridge Boat Race.

 FINALLY
 ***********
 Thanks to Pete Mulholland for this extraordinary story. Three-year-old
 Budhia Singh of Orissa in India apparently runs for up to seven hours a day,
 covering as much as 30 miles. A local judo coach, Biranchi Das, said he
 noticed Budhia's talent when scolding him for being a bully. "Once, after he
 had done some mischief, I asked him to keep running till I came back," Mr
 Das told the BBC. "I got busy in some work. When I came back after five
 hours, I was stunned to find him still running."  Here's the full story:
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4241958.stm.