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 ****************************************************************************
 RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 202                11 January 2006
 Editor: Steve Rowland
 mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com  
 ****************************************************************************
 HEADLINE NEWS
 *********************
 *  Women's team retains Surrey Cross-Country title
 *  Jo Ronaldson 3rd and Anna McLaughlin 6th qualify for club honours
 *  Marie Synnott-Wells, Phil Killingley, Sam Perkins and Jordan Mungovan
    also earn county vests
 *  Nadia Fidler 3rd across the line in Under 15s but ruled ineligible for
    Surrey
 *  Vital men's and women's league races on Saturday
 *  Mob match v Blackheath Harriers on January 21st

 SEE HERE
 *************
 SURREY CROSS-COUNTRY LEAGUES  Saturday 14th January
 Please note the HQ for the men's event at Croydon is NOT the Archbishop
 Tenison School used for the Surrey Champs last week. Read on for details.  

 Our men's and women's teams both carry convincing leads into this, the third
 of the season's four league fixtures. The women head Division 1 with 110
 points to Belgrave's 164 and Thames H&H's 235. The men are on top of
 Division 2 with 364 points to Stragglers' 737 and Dulwich's 765. They are
 convincing leads but there's no room for complacency. Anna McLaughlin's
 comments apply just as well to both teams: "I believe that this is the big
 one.if we can nail it this week, we can all enjoy the last match at home!!"

 We shouldn't forget that our under 13 boys are also leading the division.
 The combined under 17/under 15 boys team is 4th, the under 13 girls are 5th,
 the under 15 girls are 2nd and the under 17 girls are 7th.

 The start and finish points for the men in Lloyd Park, Croydon are the same
 as for the Surrey Championships, but the HQ is not at the school. Apologies
 for the incorrect information given before. It is actually the Striders of
 Croydon clubhouse at the Addiscombe Cricket Club in Sandilands Road, a short
 distance from the school, U17s/U15s/U13s all run at 2pm followed by the seniors
 at 2.30pm. There will be cars leaving from the Ranelagh clubhouse at 12.30pm
 - please let Andy Bickerstaff know if you will be using them. Contact details below.

 The women's event is at Merrow Downs near Guildford. Car parking and toilets
 are at the Newlands Corner Countryside Centre on the A25 between Guildford
 and Shere, The start times are 12 noon for seniors, 12.45 for U20s /U17s and
 1.15pm for U15s/U13s. Cars for this one will be leaving from the clubhouse at
 9.45am.

 MOB MATCH v BLACKHEATH HARRIERS  Saturday 21st January in Richmond Park.
 Our mob match record this season stands at won 1, lost 2. This is the last
 one and we should have a good chance of levelling the tally. But as ever,
 it's weight of numbers that's most important. We need as many runners as
 possible, regardless of speed. You can race or treat it as a training run,
 but just being there is the thing. The race is at home in Richmond Park over
 7.5 miles starting at 2.30pm. The Pelling-Ratcliffe Cup is at stake for the
 winning team and the race also incorporates the club championship for the
 Wynne Cup and a sealed handicap.  Don't miss it!

 JUNIOR POINTS PRIZE RACE 3  Saturday 21st January at 2pm.
 The third of the four points prize races will take place before the mob
 match at 2pm over the usual course around Sidmouth Wood.

 LONDON MINI MARATHON
 As usual the London Marathon on April 23rd will include a Mini Marathon for
 juniors over the final 4km of the course. Each borough can enter a team in
 each age group and the trial for the Richmond teams will take place in
 Richmond Park on Sunday 5th February. The course is over two laps of
 Sidmouth Wood, the circuit we use for our Henty Relay and Junior Points
 Prize events. The timetable is: girls 13/14 and girls 15/16/17 at 10am, boys
 13/14 and boys 15/16/17 at 10.30am, girls 11/12 at 11am and boys 11/12 at
 11.30am. Entry deadline is Friday 27th January. There are forms at the
 clubhouse or you can call the Richmond Sports Development Group on 020 8831
 6133.

 ROAD RACES
 Our club 20 miles road championship will be with the Finchley 20 at Ruislip
 on Sunday 12th March - an ideal build-up race for London marathoners.
 The popular Thames Towpath 10 will take place on Sunday 9th April.   
 Fancy a fast flat 10km? A new event is being organised at Dunsfold Park Airfield
 on Sunday 5th March. 

 DAVE TAYLOR...
 ...writes from Stockport:
 "Dave Locke's item last week refers to endorphin addiction, a phrase that I
 used to explain my behaviour for many years.  I can remember the time in my
 late twenties when I quite suddenly became addicted to rugby training,
 having previously just suffered it.  However, I came across a learned
 article in 'Scientific American' about a year ago which purported to show
 that it is not endorphins that we are addicted to but cannaboids. There were
 elaborate graphics to show how cannaboids, produced naturally by the body,
 moderate activities at nerve synapses.  The article pointed out that these
 cannaboids have the same base as the more famous cannabis and have very
 similar effects in terms of pain relief and mood.  Happy New Year indeed!

 On a more serious note, only this morning the Home Secretary was reported as
 linking cannabis use with mental health problems which explains even more
 about distance runners, that was previously only guessed at". 

 NOEL STODDART...
 ...also comments on Dave Locke's contribution:
 "Just wanted to correct something in the e-news - I wouldn't want fellow
 Ranelonians being misled! Lydiard was a fan of Long STEADY Distance, not
 Long SLOW Distance. In fact, Lydiard states that runners when in a good
 state of fitness should be covering their long runs at their 'best aerobic
 effort' - that certainly isn't slow! Whether all runs should be undertaken
 at this intensity is open to debate but what is certain is that merely
 running Long and SLOW, whilst it will bring about an increase in fitness,
 will not have people reaching their potential. There isn't a (long and) easy
 route to the top, so no excuses people, the work has to be done! It is
 always good to see people interested in and discussing training methods -
 none of us should ever think there is nothing more to learn". 

 *********************
  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 14th January        Sweatshop Surrey League Div 2 at Lloyd Park,
 Croydon. See above.
                                         Surrey Ladies League at Merrow
 Downs, Guildford. See above.
                                         Bushy Park Time Trial  5km. 9am
 start.
 
 Saturday 21st January        Mob match v Blackheath Harriers for the
 Pelling-Ratcliffe Cup. 7.5 miles in Richmond Park at 2.30pm
                                         Junior Points Prize Race 3 in
 Richmond Park at 2pm.
                                         Bushy Park Time Trial  5km. 9am
 start.
 
 Saturday 28th January       South of England Championships at Exmouth
                                         Bushy Park Time Trial  5km. 9am
 start.
 
 Saturday 4th February       Sweatshop Surrey League Div 2 in Richmond Park
 from 2.30pm.
                                         Surrey Ladies League in Richmond
 Park from 12.30pm.
                                         Bushy Park Time Trial  5km. 9am
 start.

 Sunday 5th February         Junior Mini-Marathon Trials in Richmond Park
 from 10am.
 
 WHAT'S HAPPENED...
 ****************************
 SURREY CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS  Saturday 7th January at Lloyd Park,
 Croydon
 Our women's team were the title holders but of last year's scoring team only
 Anna McLaughlin was present this time. But our current strength in depth is
 more than up to the challenge and we packed five home in the top twenty to
 retain the cup with some ease.
 
 Individually Jo Ronaldson made her intentions clear from the start, racing
 into a 10 metres lead inside the first 400 metres and quickly extending this
 to some 30 metres. At this point Anna McLaughlin was leading the chasing
 pack with Marie Synnott-Wells - just back from six weeks out injured - not
 far behind. If Jo had her opponents worried, they did not panic. Former
 county junior champion Genevieve Gardner of Guildford made gradual inroads
 into Jo's lead and passed her towards the end of the first of the two laps.
 Aldershot's Emily Adams followed soon afterwards but Jo held on for a clear
 third place and the individual bronze medal.

 Anna suffered breathing problems in the closing stages but held on grimly to
 6th place. The reward for both Jo and Anna will be the club honours award -
 congratulations both! Despite the lack of training Marie gained a couple of
 places on the second lap to finish 8th and Liz Kipling closed in the scoring
 four in 17th place, half a minute ahead of Jenny Lloyd-Jones. Sonia, Sandra
 (who missed the start) and Louise provided backup. The team result was a
 clear win for Ranelagh on 20 points to runner-up South London's 40. Jo, Anna
 and Marie all received their call-up papers for the Surrey team for the
 Inter-Counties championships in March.

 We weren't expecting a great team result for the men, though their final 6th
 out of 18 complete teams was respectable enough. The excitement came from a
 great individual performance from Phil Killingley, who quickly established
 himself in the top ten and ran a mainly isolated race to come home 9th. He
 too should be inside a Surrey vest in March. Behind Phil, Nathan Mills was
 also putting in a good run despite losing a good deal of ground retrieving
 his shoe from the mud on the first lap. Nathan wasn't the only one to meet
 with misfortune: after a promising start Mark Middleton took a fall, injured
 his hip and spent the rest of the race drifting back through the field.
 Julian Smith, running gingerly to protect his hamstring, was our third man
 home and fast finishing Andrew McLauchlan finished right behind Mark.
 Captain Bix closed in the scoring six and Messrs Snaith, Peace and Aiken
 followed on in a large field of exactly 200 runners.

 We had two starters in the Men's Under 20 race. Three Aldershot runners
 cleared off rapidly from the start while Sam Perkins and Jordan Mungovan
 settled into 4th and 5th places. Sam - still a week short of his 18th
 birthday and with two more years in this age group - looked stronger and
 stronger as the race progressed and a late charge left him just two seconds
 adrift of the bronze medal. Jordan was himself 4th last year but this time
 had to settle for 6th despite running almost exactly the same time as he did
 on this course 12 months ago.

 Sam and Jordan should also feature in the county teams and we thought there
 would be one more in the shape of Under 15 Nadia Fidler. Fast-improving
 Nadia ran a great race to cross the line in 3rd place only to be
 subsequently excluded because she lacks the necessary county qualification.
 Without Nadia the team of Georgia Miansarow, Rachel Price, Arabella Skinner
 and Victoria Elbourne just missed the bronze medals. Amelie Hunton and Becky
 Withycombe were our two under 13 girls in 19th and 41st places and Taylor
 Nunn was the sole under 13 boy in 23rd.

 BUSHY PARK TIME TRIAL 5km  Saturday 7th January
 There was some class at the front of the field as track international Faye
 Fullerton ran the second fastest women's time seen on the course so far,
 only 25 seconds slower than record holder Sonia O'Sullivan. The only man
 ahead of Faye, Bristol's Tom Kingsnorth, ran 16 minutes dead.

 Peter Weir ran 17.41 in his first BPTT to move into 6th place in the
 Ranelagh rankings on this course. Behind him Darren Wood extended his lead
 in the points competition with Chris Wright not far behind in 5th place.
 Joss Moran led a small contingent of juniors.

 1 T Kingsnorth (Bristol) 16.00
 2 F Fullerton (Havering) 16.47
 6 Peter Weir 17.41
 20 Darren Wood 19.36
 24 Stephen Instone 19.54
 25 Chris Read 19.59
 26 Chris Brook 20.09
 28 Joss Moran 20.19
 35 Chris Wright 20.48
 38 Kerry McLoughlin 21.07
 43 Adam Wright 22.06
 56 Sam Hunton 22.46
 61 Tony Appleby 23.02
 69 George Hutchinson 23.50
 75 Karen Broadbent 24.21
 76 Julie Drummond 24.22
 77 Evelyn Joslin 24.23
 82 Robin Drummond 24.57
 86 Holly Clemens 25.07
 101 John Hanscomb 27.09
 112 Steve McClune 29.08

 TADWORTH 10 miles  Sunday 8th January
 Fari Shams was 5th woman home and John Hanscomb was the leading over 70.
 1 I Boneham (Notts) 56.43
 54 Fari Shams 69.13
 519 John Hanscomb 98.16
 536 Geoff Bell 100.17

 REGENTS PARK 10km  Sunday 1st January
 1 D Bickham (Highgate) 33.00
 31 Steve Rowland 40.53
 69 Sonia Rowland 45.56 

 HENTY RELAY  Saturday 31st December in Richmond Park
 It was Josh Smythe who partnered Duncan Bell and Georgia Miansarow in the
 winning team.

 FINALLY...
 According to 'Which?' magazine, Puma trainers have marked on the box
 "Average contents 2".