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Newsdesk 2006
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RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 206 9 February 2006
Editor: Steve Rowland
mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com
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HEADLINE NEWS
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* Ranelagh wins three Surrey League titles
* Women win Division One for the second year in succession
* Men win Division Two and promotion
* Under 13 boys win Division Two
* Individual League titles for Phil Killingley, Mick Lane and Jo Ronaldson
* Anna McLaughlin leads Welsh team in inter-area 10km at Chichester
* Nadia Fidler, Amelie Hunton, Jamie Taylor-Caldwell and Joss Moran win the
Richmond Mini-Marathon trials
* Over a dozen more Ranelagh juniors qualify for the borough team
* Lauren Shelley selected for the Australian team for the Commonwealth
Games
SEE HERE
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LAUREN SHELLEY
Congratulations to Lauren who has been selected to represent Australia in
the marathon at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne next month. She writes:
" It was definitely a relief - I ran my qualifying time in Tokyo in
November; the team was to be announced in December but was then delayed
until now. There were three women marathon runners to be selected - out of
seven qualifiers - so some tough decisions to be made. So I have had a busy
36 hours - relief has now subsided and I'm just plain excited! The race is
now five and a half weeks away so it's full steam ahead with training. I
must admit I was pretty fired up on my training run last night!!"
COMPUTER KEN
Ken Powley's PC expired last week but efficient as ever he had League
results up on our web site by Saturday evening, and all our individual
records updated by Monday. Roger Wilson speaks for us: "I'd like to mention
Ken's stirling efforts in getting the website updated after the weekend's
events despite IT setbacks. His work is much appreciated by all". If you
haven't delved into Ken's incredibly detailed records, just click on the
Ranelagh Statistics box on our home page and explore!
RUNNING THE NATIONAL?
Anna McLaughlin writes:
"I am still planning on going up to Parliament Hill this Saturday for a
training run around the National course. The plan is to get the 09:14 train
to Gospel Oak from Richmond Station (arriving at 09:45). Lockers and
changing are available at the athletics track, but do bring a change of
shoes (I'm going to wear my spikes to run in). Please can people let me know
if they are going to be joining me, so I have some idea as to who to wait
for!!" Contact details below.
BUSHY PARK TIME TRIAL - ROAD CLOSURES!
Remember that Bushy Park is due to be closed to traffic for the rest of this
month. If you drive there you'll need to leave your car outside the park.
TEDDY HALL RELAY
This is a four-stage relay around a scenic 3.6 mile circuit around the
Oxford colleges. The only drawback is that it's on a Wednesday afternoon -
March 8th at 2pm. If anyone is free and would like to make up a Ranelagh
team please contact Andy Bickerstaff (contact details below).
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? There
are different opinions - see below! Details here:
http://www.hillingdonac.co.uk/.
The popular MABAC League Cranleigh 21 miles road race (with a 15 miles
alternative) on Sunday 26th March is filling up fast. Anyone thinking of
running should get an entry in straight away. Details:
http://www.mabac.org.uk/cran2006entryform.pdf.
Fancy a fast flat 10km? A new event is being organised at Dunsfold Park
Airfield near Guildford on Sunday 5th March. Details:
http://www.209events.com/event.php?event=27.
The ASICS Kingston Breakfast runs ( 8 or 16 miles) are on Sunday 2nd April:
http://www.humanrace.co.uk/breakfast/index.html. The popular Thames Towpath
10 miles will take place on Sunday 9th April. Details here:
http://west4harriers.org/TTT.htm. On the same day is the Reading Half
Marathon, details here:
http://racepayment.mirrorservers.co.uk/readinghalfmarathon/.
THE 20 MILES DEBATE
Marcus Gohar replies to John Barnard's comments last week:
"I hate to criticise someone whose marathon times were several days faster
than mine, and of late has been kicking my butt round the park despite being
ten years older, but Barney must have done his 20s too fast. If you do the
right training beforehand and race the 20 at or slightly below your marathon
pace you won't wreck yourself. If your sole training is the 'Finchley',
you're in trouble whatever you do, so if you injure yourself and can't do
the marathon, it'll be a blessing in disguise!"
But Margaret Auerback says:
"I totally agree with John Barnard's comments on pre-marathon 20 milers.
Legs do not recover sufficiently from a hard 20 on the road and if the race
turns out to be a bad experience for any reason you go to the marathon with
that in the back of your mind. Much better to do a fast 10k or even a half
marathon to keep the speed going. All my road pbs were done in the lead up
to a marathon and that was a real confidence booster. 20 milers were limited
to the Belgrave 20 which was always held on the hottest day in July. I'm
sure older Ranelagh members have fond memories of that race!"
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WHAT'S COMING...
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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 11th February Bushy Park Time Trial 5km. 9am start.
Sunday 12th February Valentines 10km at Chessington.
Saturday 18th February v Bank of England and others in Richmond Park
(Roehampton Gate). 2:30pm start.
Bushy Park Time Trial 5km. 9am start.
Saturday 25th February National Cross-Country Championships at Parliament
Hill, Hampstead Heath.
Bushy Park Time Trial 5km. 9am start.
Saturday 4th March Hec Petersen Trophy inter-club 6km race in Richmond
Park. 3pm start.
Junior Points Prize final race in
Richmond Park. 2pm start. Followed by prize presentations.
Bushy Park Time Trial 5km. 9am start.
Sunday 5th March MABAC League 5 miles in Richmond Park (Isabella
Plantation car park). All Ranelagh welcome. 11am start
WHAT'S HAPPENED...
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SURREY LADIES LEAGUE DIVISION 1 Saturday 4th February in Richmond Park
Well, technically we could still be caught by Belgrave. No celebrations,
please, until we have our second successive Surrey Ladies League title in
the bag. Let's wind it up in style. The response was our strongest - and
biggest - team of the season. Twenty-two Ranelagh vests assembled on the
start line followed about six minutes later by the tardy Sandra Foot...and
at the end of the first short lap the first five of those vests - the
scoring team - were all in the first eight. Stupendous!
It didn't last, but only because of bad luck for Clare Gutch who had to drop
out on the second lap with stomach problems. Jo Ronaldson - just back from
Australia - kept flying to 3rd place chased all the way by Anna McLaughlin
and Marie Synnott-Wells. Liz Kipling was no more than a hundred metres
further back in 8th.
Clare's misfortune opened the door for Sharon Laws, who ran strongly to make
the scoring team in her first race for Ranelagh. She finished a great 15th
but didn't have an easy ride, as Sara Grosvenor and Fari Shams were never
far behind. This was the third time in this season's League races that Sara
has been the sixth woman home, just missing out on an A team place. But she
and Fari - with Rachel Rowan close behind in 24th followed by Yvonne Hill
and Sonia Rowland - spearheaded the B team which finished an amazing 7th,
beating nine A teams!
Oh yes, did I mention that our A team won? They did. With their best score
of the season, 50 points clear of Belgrave, giving an overall lead of 136.
And Anna duly received the League trophy from Frances Ratchford. Hooray!
On the day we had the leading B, C, D and E teams too. It doesn't come much
better! Well done to all who ran. Overall the Bs and Ds led all their
rivals.
We had another winner too: Jo took the individual over 35s title, with Marie
in second place, and Anna was runner-up in the seniors.
With the Richmond Mini-Marathon trials following on Sunday we had a small
representation in the junior events, and none at all in the Under 15s. We
kept the flag flying in the Under 13s and Under 17s, led respectively by
Amelie Huton and Rebecca Clayden, and the teams ended the season in 4th and
6th places.
Captain Anna writes: "Thank you to everyone who ran and supported the team
throughout the season, especially Robin Drummond and Tim Gutch, without
whose patience and organisational skills I would never have made the start
line! There have been a lot of fantastic gutsy performances over the four
matches and to win it by such a huge margin is credit to everyone involved,
so roll on next year! (steps down from podium clutching tissues to
eyes!!!)".
Bev Ali adds: "A big thank-you to all who helped with the marshalling,
timekeeping, catering and cheering - it could not have happened without
them!"
SWEATSHOP SURREY LEAGUE DIVISION 2 Saturday 4th February in Richmond Park
In contrast, the men's team was already so far ahead that they could
scarcely fail to secure the Division Two title. Calculations suggested that
if Phil Killingley ran and won again, the rest of the team could take the
day off, line the course to check he didn't slack, and we would still win.
Fortunately this was not put to the test. Like the women the men had their
biggest league turnout of the season - 28 - and like the women they
registered their best score of the season - 163, over a hundred clear of the
opposition. And this despite a long sick list including at least three
likely top tenners. Our overall total score was barely half that of
second-placed Stragglers. They and Dulwich Runners will join us in Division
One next year while Kingston & Poly and Walton make the drop to Division
Two.
Phil obviously had a second successive win in mind. By half way round the
first lap Peter Haarer and the other front runners had to give up the chase
and Phil swept on to win by over 20 seconds. Peter had to work hard to
secure third place and only 16 seconds further back in 6th came Michael
Black with a highly impressive Ranelagh debut.
Duncan Bell narrowly missed a top ten finish and behind him Mick Lane, Peter
Weir and Nathan Mills were all home in the top twenty. Mark Middleton 25th,
Captain Bicks 33rd and Robert Pagnamenta 34th completed the scoring ten.
This left runners of the calibre of Chris Owens, Marcus Gohar and the fast
returning to fitness Paul Sinton-Hewitt outside the scoring team. Our
"virtual B team" would have beaten only British Airways, but they would have
finished within twenty points of both West 4 and Croydon. Excellent work all
round!
There was more to celebrate as with one 3rd place, one 2nd and two wins Phil
won the individual senior title; and Mick Lane took the over 40s.
Our third League title went to the Under 13 boys. They took a good lead into
the final fixture and although narrowly beaten on the day their comfortably
retained their overall advantage. Taylor Nunn. Josh Keisler and Joss Moran
followed each other home in 3rd, 4th and 5th places with Matthew Wilson not
far behind in 9th. Congratulations to them and also to Richard Crowther,
Toby Piachaud, George Inman, Max Bridger, George Hutchinson, Robert Curtis
and Charlie Withycombe who contributed to the teams in the earlier races.
There was only a handful of runners in the under 17 event but two of them
were Morgan Evans and Steven Downie and they finished 3rd and 5th. The team
ended the season in 4th place.
LEAGUE PHOTOS
You can see plenty on our web site courtesy of Paul Sinton-Hewitt and Jo Turner.
BUSHY PARK TIME TRIAL 5km Saturday 4th February
Numbers held up at 128 this week, despite the Bushy Park road closures and
the league races later in the day. The Ranelagh contingent was accordingly
small but Jo Turner set a 33 seconds PB and won a t-shirt for her trouble.
An interesting competitor was Joanne Beckett, one of our leading women
runners in the 1980s now returned from the States. She recorded 20.59.
1 R Ward (Belgrave) 15.17
12 Stewart Ward 19.02
42 Robert Curtis 21.32
44 Max Bridger 21.45
47 Adam Wright 22.00
56 Jo Turner 22.20
76 George Hutchinson 23.53
92 Andrew Wilson 25.14
94 Gill Wilson 25.20
103 John Hanscomb 26.30
CHICHESTER PRIORY 10km Sunday 5th February
This event incorporated the AAA of England championship and an inter-area
race, for which Anna McLaughlin was selected for her second Welsh
international vest. "My legs were a little tired from yesterday and the
course was slightly more undulating than expected," said Anna. Nevertheless
she equalled her PB of 37.09 for 14th place in the women's race and led the
Welsh team home. Neil Walford, running for Brighton, finished a few seconds
ahead.
RICHMOND MINI-MARATHON TRIALS Sunday 5th February in Richmond Park
There was a great turn-out of nearly 150 young runners on a bright Sunday
morning. The course was two laps of our Henty Relay circuit around Sidmouth
Wood. The first eight finishers in each age group would qualify for the
borough team to run in the London Mini-Marathon which is held over the last
4km of the London Marathon course on marathon day, April 23rd.
Ranelagh juniors featured prominently in the results, especially in the
girls 13-14 category where seven of the eight qualifiers plus the first two
reserves are all members. In all some 17 Ranelagh Harriers should be in the
Richmond teams. We provided four of the winners in Nadia Fidler, Amelie
Hunton, Jamie Taylor-Caldwell and Joss Moran. All but Joss were clear
winners too, by 50 seconds or more. Joss had to work hard to stay in front
of the biggest field of the day, 47 runners in the boys 11-12 group.
Full results can be seen in the junior section of our web site.
Girls 15 - 17
1 C Mollett 20.23
3 Victoria Elbourne 20.35
5 Emily Ball 21.09
Girls 13 - 14
1 Nadia Fidler 17.58
3 Georgia Miansarow 18.53
4 Alex McKenna 19.04
5 Rachel Pryce 19.12
6 Becky Culverwell 19.25
7 Arabella Skinner 19.44
8 Anna Mallett 20.40
9 Alina Mingham 21.21
10 Stephanie Croucher 21.30
17 Rhiannon Lewis 24.46
Girls 11 - 12
1 Amelie Hunton 18.26
2 Emily Johnston-Purvis 19.15
7 Eve Edmunds 20.01
11 Holly Nicholds 21.39
15 Lara Denaro 22.31
Boys 15 - 17
1 J Redshaw 14.44
3 Matt Hirschler 15.49
12 Steven Downie 21.13
Boys 13 - 14
1 Jamie Taylor-Caldwell 16.15
3 Taylor Nunn 17.33
10 Alexander Cater 18.39
19 George Inman 21.01
Boys 11 - 12
1 Joss Moran 17.08
7 Charlie Withycombe 17.59
11 Richard Crowther 18.34
19 Luke Wilson 20.10
24 Alex Rowe 20.32
30 Toby Piachaud 21.25
BUSA CHAMPIONSHIPS Saturday 4th February at Stirling
Anair Beverly was the sixth finisher for Oxford University in a field of
over 200 runners.
1 E Baker (Brunel) 21.44
112 Anair Beverly 26.13
FINALLY...
"Finland has produced so many brilliant distance runners because back home
it costs $2.50 a gallon for gas". Esa Tikkannen, 1979.