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Newsdesk 2006

 ****************************************************************************
 RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 216                29 May 2006
 Editor: Steve Rowland
 mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com  
 ****************************************************************************
 HEADLINE NEWS
 *********************
 *  Green Belt Relay wins for vets' and women's teams
 *  Chris Owens wins the Great Wall of China Half Marathon 
 *  Jenny Lloyd-Jones 6th in British Duathlon Championship  

 SEE HERE
 *************
 DORKING 10 MILES
 There is still be time to enter for next Sunday's Dorking 10. It is the
 Surrey 10 miles championship and features in our Grand Prix and the Surrey
 Road League.

 DYSART DASH 10km
 The second of our own promotions takes place on Sunday 25th June. The course
 starts a short jog from the clubhouse in Meadlands Drive and finishes at the
 same point as last Sunday's half marathon at the end of Riverside Drive. All
 members are welcome to run, though of course we need some help on the course
 too.

 WALLY WANTED!
 Wally Garrod, who does such a great job of looking after the beginners and
 improvers group on Tuesday evenings, is pleading old age and infirmity and
 would like someone else to take over. Volunteers please see Wally. 

 FRANCES RATCHFORD
 Frances was nominated for the Community Awards 2006 for the Richmond
 Community Volunteer Services. The award specifically is for someone who has
 given several years of service as a volunteer. 
 Bev Ali writes:
 "Over at least the past ten years Frances Ratchford has made a huge
 contribution to the sport of running in Richmond, especially for women and
 children. Under her leadership and the auspices of Richmond Council, the
 women's beginner running courses held every spring by Ranelagh Harriers have
 encouraged hundreds of women in the borough to take up the life enhancing
 sport of running. Some of these women have gone on to a level of excellence
 and represented Richmond and Surrey, but many have simply continued running
 as a healthy lifestyle choice - a choice that is contagious to each woman's
 family and circle of friends. 

 She has led by example - herself a runner and making the commitment to
 complete the training required to become a level 4 coach for athletics.
 Frances donates many hours every week to coaching all levels of runners:
 Ranelagh Harriers men and women and Richmond Borough junior runners. She has
 participated many times in the organisation of marshals and set up for the
 Richmond Race for Life, for the London Mini Marathon trials and she has run
 coaching sessions for groups of runners training for the London Marathon on
 behalf of more than one charity. She has been quite successful with
 enlisting, encouraging and maintaining interest on the part of teenagers and
 young adults typically subjected to many conflicting negative influences. 

 And not least - Frances has not done all of this on her own because,
 although she donates a huge amount of her own time, Frances also has had an
 uncanny ability to induce others to help. All of this has been accomplished
 by Frances concurrent with running her own business and, for the last four
 years, very proactively holding the post of Secretary for Ranelagh
 Harriers". 

 NORWICH UNION GRAND PRIX ATHLETICS  Friday 28th July at Crystal Palace
 For anyone interested in attending the main international athletics event of
 the summer in London, Jim Forrest is liaising a small Ranelagh group. The
 event starts at 5.30pm and tickets for the covered backstraight Jubilee
 Stand are still available at £17. But they are already selling well, so if
 you'd like to go please contact Jim as soon as possible
 (mailto:jim@jimfo.freeserve.co.uk).     

 SUBSCRIPTIONS REMINDER
 Membership Secretary Chris Owens would like to remind us all that subs for
 2006/2007 were due on April 1st. 
 Rates are:
 Adult £30, under 20 or Student £6, Family £60, over 60 AND retired £5,
 County (Non-regular runner) £10.
 Please send or leave a cheque payable to Ranelagh Harriers, with a note of
 your name to:
 Membership Secretary
 Ranelagh Harriers
 135a Petersham Road
 Richmond
 Surrey
 TW10 7AA 

 SAD NEWS...
 ...of the sudden death on May 19th of Bruce Judd. A long time member of
 Walton AC, Bruce had served on the Surrey County AA committee for more than
 30 years and at the time of his death was cross country secretary with
 responsibility for the county championships and young athletes cross country
 relays. The funeral is being held at St Nicholas Church, Cranleigh, at 12
 noon on Monday June 5th. 

 *********************
  WHAT'S COMING...
 *********************
 More details of the following from
 Andy Bickerstaff ( 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@talk21.com ).

 Sunday 4th June           Dorking 10 miles. See above. 

 Sunday 11th June         MABAC League 5 miles at Holmwood Common (near
 Dorking) 11am start. No pre-entry - just turn up. Details:
 http://www.mabac.org.uk/fixtures06.htm. 

 Tuesday 20th June        Chris Brasher Memorial Ponds Run
 in Richmond Park.  

 Sunday 25th June         Dysart Dash 10km. See above. 

 Sunday 2nd July           Harry Hawkes 8 miles at Thames Ditton. 10am start.
 Details: http://www.sportsystems.net/hh8/Scripts/default.asp   

 Every Saturday             Bushy Park Time Trial. 9am start at the Diana
 Fountain car park. See www.bptt.net for details.
   
 WHAT'S HAPPENED...
 ***************************
 GREEN BELT RELAY  Saturday 20th / Sunday 21st May
 After failing to win any of the major trophies in 2005 and only - thanks to
 Bev's Bloodhounds - the Toilet Seat for the last team to finish in 2004, we
 returned to winning ways in this year's Green Belt Relay. We ran only two
 teams - the Old Dogs and the Lassies - but they came away with the veterans'
 and women's trophies. 

 There were substantial changes to the organisation this year: 22 stages
 instead of 20, teams of 11 runners instead of 10 and an extra 10 miles in
 distance. So all overall records were off, which sadly means goodbye to the
 marks set by our Greyhounds in 2000 and Old Dogs in 2003. Organiser Sean
 Davis told us afterwards that the course was now pretty much as he wanted
 it, as scenic as possible and as much off-road as possible, and that he did
 not anticipate any more major alterations. 

 The event is a huge undertaking for Sean and fellow-organiser Lynda Howe and
 their team at Stragglers. As ever the organisation was superb and thanks go
 to them from all the runners for a memorable weekend. The only thing they
 failed to arrange was the weather. I'm glad there's a drought on, or it
 might have been really wet....      

 But it was dry at the start in front of Hampton Court Palace. Targets for
 our teams were the Millennium Group composite team in the vets category and
 Serpentine in the women's. Both had registered two consecutive wins so our
 task was to prevent a pair of hat tricks. 

 Liz Kipling made the best of starts for the Lassies on the near-half
 marathon first stage along the Thames. She registered our first stage win of
 the weekend and gained nearly five minutes on the Serpies. They fought back
 a little against Kristina Semple and Sophie Spink as the race progressed out
 along the river to Little Marlow but we still had some four minutes in hand
 as Anna McLaughlin waited to start the notoriously tough fourth stage
 through the Chiltern Hills.  

 At the top of the first climb into High Wycombe Anna was following close on
 the heels of the Old Dogs' Marcus Gohar and looking set to substantially
 increase our lead. But a bout of asthma chose the worst possible moment to
 kick in and Anna was left to struggle in three minutes behind the Serpies.
 Our overall lead was thus reduced to less than one minute. 

 Stage five is almost as tough - and slightly longer - than the fourth and we
 had entrusted it to Marie Synnott-Wells. She delivered a seven minute
 victory over the red and yellow Serpentine vest to give us some breathing
 space again. The lead stretched marginally over the next few sections thanks
 to Sonia Rowland, Sandra Foot and a stage win by Lizzie Clifford, but the
 real damage was done on stage 9 into Epping Forest when Fari Shams put 14
 minutes between herself and the Serpie runner. Sue Ashley, who the previous
 week had spent four hours trying to recce the route through the Forest, had
 no trouble now that the route was marked and gained another five minutes. At
 8pm when Louise Piears sprinted into Blackmore to close the first day's
 activities we found ourselves enjoying a lead of over 20 minutes. 

 The Old Dogs meanwhile had made a slower start compared with their
 opponents. At the end of stage 1 Mike Peace had crossed the line in Staines
 with Liz, but two minutes behind the Millennium runner. Steve Rowland and
 Chris Read both finished well up on their stages but at the end of stage 3
 the deficit had stretched to some seven minutes. Then we weighed in with our
 big guns. Marcus Gohar and Hugh Jones 3rd and 1st respectively on the
 difficult stages 4 and 5 transformed the deficit into a 22 minutes
 advantage. Iain Wilson 3rd, Peter Weir 4th and Andy Bickerstaff 3rd on the
 next three stages lengthened the lead before Mick Lane put the boot in with
 a stage win on stage 9, after which our lead stood at 49 minutes. John
 Pratt, the only over 60 in the team, completed the penultimate stage through
 the Forest for the loss of just a few minutes.  

 There might have been a crisis then at the end of the day as team manager
 Clive Beauvais was down to run but was suffering badly with a torn calf.
 Fortunately Paul Sinton-Hewitt was on hand as team manager for the BPTT.com
 team and he stepped in to replace Clive at literally the eleventh hour. Our
 lead at the end of day one stood at 44 minutes. 
 
 Bright and early on Sunday morning Lizzie Clifford set off for the Lassies
 and duly completed her second stage win. Sonia Rowland, Anna McLaughlin,
 Marie Synnott-Wells, Fari Shams and Liz Kipling kept the ball rolling, each
 of them defeating their Serpies opponent to give us a lead of 55 minutes at
 the end of stage 17. By now the rain, which had set in for the day by
 mid-morning, was getting serious. It was near-monsoon conditions as Sophie
 Spink set off with Andy Bickerstaff to run from Merstham up to Box Hill and
 it barely eased off for the rest of the afternoon. "It saves time to have
 your shower during the race," says Andy. "Sophie reckoned it was more like
 having a bath but that's just an exaggeration". Sue Ashley, Louise Piears
 and Sandra Foot splashed through their stages leaving Kristina Semple to run
 the glory stage into the finish at the Hawker Centre in Ham. And the sun
 came out... 

 In the vets contest the Millennium Group began day two by fighting back
 against Steve Rowland and John Pratt, but Iain Wilson stopped the rot on
 stage 14 and GBR specialist Mick Lane completed his second stage win on
 number 15. Mike Peace couldn't quite stay with Fari on the never-ending
 climb up to Tatsfield for the finish of stage 16 but lost only a few minutes
 on the Millennium runner. On stage 17 through the North Downs Peter Weir
 repeated his 4th place from day one and then Andy Bickerstaff waded home 2nd
 at Box Hill.  

 Hugh Jones was up next, and thus far he had never been defeated in the Green
 Belt Relay. But even Hugh is human and he had to give best to BPTT's Dave
 Symons who had finished 3rd in our Half Marathon a week previously. But
 Hugh's 2nd place still gave us ten minutes over the Millennium Group. Paul
 Sinton-Hewitt, Chris Read and Marcus Gohar brought the team home and the
 final margin of victory for the Old Dogs was all but an hour. They finished
 4th overall, 83 minutes behind the winning BPTT.com composite team but only
 an hour down on the leading club team, Serpentine. 

 The Lassies had at one time been as high as 10th overall but wound up in
 13th place, the leading women's team by a margin of nearly 40 minutes. But
 the overall women's title was not their only interest. Last year they had
 won the "Queens of the Mountains" title, which is based on the total time
 for the four toughest stages, numbers 4, 5, 16 and 19. Could they retain it?
 Again it would be Serpentine who would be the main opponents. Anna's bout of
 asthma had spoiled what should have been a good start but Marie had turned
 that three minutes deficit into a three minutes lead. Fari gave us another
 six minutes and Sue's brave run on 19 lost only 90 seconds to the Serpies
 and ensured that we retained the title.  

 We're not finished yet! The Tony Hopkins Trophy goes to the best age-graded
 performance of the weekend and the winner was Hugh Jones for his Saturday
 run. Altogether we clocked up three stage wins for the men - two by Mick and
 one by Hugh - and six for the women - two each for Lizzie and Marie and one
 for Liz and Fari.  

 We can claim an interest too in the winning BPTT.com team. This was put
 together by Paul Sinton-Hewitt from regulars at the Saturday morning Bushy
 Park Time Trial and always looked to be the team to beat. Paul was team
 manager and Nick Wright was one of the runners. The third-placed Stock
 Exchange team also featured two Ranelagh men, Andrew McLauchlan and Steve
 Whitehead. 
 
 Thanks go to team organisers Clive Beauvais and Anna McLaughlin for a great
 job in getting two strong teams out; and to Clive, Mike P, Mick, Iain and
 anyone else who helped with driving the team mini-buses over the weekend;
 and more thanks to Mike P for providing one of the buses and Marathon
 Windows (aka Clive) for sponsoring the other one. 

 It was great to win the vets' and women's categories but it would be nice to
 see a non-vet men's team taking part next year!    

 Andy Bickerstaff adds:
 "I'd like to thank the organisers especially Sean Davis. I've often done the
 relay and thought it a bit of a chore but must say again really enjoyed it
 this year. The team spirit was excellent as was the driving and navigation
 and to keep bumping into cheerful runners at a load of unlikely venues
 around the country was a pleasure. I thought the atmosphere was particularly
 good this year". 

 Overall
 1 BPTT.com 22.51.32
 2 Serpentine 23.12.31
 3 Stock Exchange 23.34.14
 4 Ranelagh Old Dogs 24.14.31  (1st vets' team)
 13 Ranelagh Lassies 26.47.35  (1st women's team)  

 Stage 1  Hampton Court - Staines  12.8m
 1 G Stevens (SE) 74.43
 11 Liz Kipling 86.19
 12 Mike Peace 86.19 

 Stage 2  Staines - Boveney  9.7m
 1 T Kingsnorth (BPTT) 61.18
 2 Steve Whitehead (SE) 61.42
 6 Steve Rowland 68.31
 17 Kristina Semple 75.49 

 Stage 3  Boveney - Little Marlow  11.2m
 1 J Goulis (BPTT) 63.13
 7 Andrew McLauchlan (SE)  69.53
 13 Chris Read 75.10
 21 Sophie Spink 86.43 

 Stage 4  Little Marlow - Great Kingshill  13m
 1 D Symons (BPTT) 77.04
 3 Marcus Gohar 85.08
 13 Anna McLaughlin 93.04 

 Stage 5  Great Kingshill - Chipperfield  13.8m
 1 Hugh Jones 78.23
 7 Marie Synnott-Wells 90.57 

 Stage 6  Chipperfield - St Albans  8.4m
 1 N Shearn (Bath) 49.43
 3 Iain Wilson 52.30
 4 Nick Wright (BPTT) 52.38
 12 Sonia Rowland 61.39
 
 Stage 7  St Albans - Letty Green  12.2m
 1 S Barrett (Serp) 69.07
 4 Peter Weir 73.21
 9 Lizzie Clifford 80.25

 Stage 8  Letty Green - Dobbs Weir  10.6m
 1 D Coates (Bath) 63.01
 3 Andy Bickerstaff 65.34 
 19 Sandra Foot 81.00 

 Stage 9  Dobbs Weir - High Beach  10.5m
 1 Mick Lane 61.14
 9 Fari Shams 68.38 

 Stage 10  High Beach - Toot Hill  9.75m
 1 R Tuddenheim (Serp) 63.35
 12 Sue Ashley 74.36
 15 John Pratt 77.09 

 Stage 11  Toot Hill - Blackmore  7.6m
 1 M Caldecourt (BPTT) 49.06
 7 Paul Sinton-Hewitt 50.51
 22 Louise Piears 64.31 

 Stage 12  Blackmore - Thorndon Park  10.9m
 1 T Woodthorpe (SE) 63.12
 8 Lizzie Clifford 74.47
 13 Steve Rowland 78.53 

 Stage 13  Thorndon Park - Thames Chase  6.9m
 1 K Darcy (Serp) 41.10
 3 Nick Wright (BPTT) 42.36
 15 Sonia Rowland 51.31
 18 John Pratt 54.24 

 Stage 14  Thames Chase - Davy Down  8m
 1 B Corlett (Bath) 49.50  
 8 Iain Wilson 53.09
 9 Anna McLaughlin 53.28 

 Stage 15  QEII Bridge - Lullingstone Park  9.2m
 1 Mick Lane 61.11
 6 Marie Synnott-Wells 64.42 

 Stage 16  Lullingstone Park - Tatsfield  13.3m
 1 J Goulis (BPTT) 83.57
 12 Fari Shams 97.17
 15 Mike Peace 100.13 

 Stage 17  Tatsfield - Merstham  10.5m
 1 G Stevens (SE) 62.33
 4 Peter Weir 65.40
 14 Liz Kipling 72.52 

 Stage 18  Merstham - Box Hill  8.9m
 1 A Reeves (Serp) 52.07
 2 Andy Bickerstaff 55.00
 24 Sophie Spink 71.04

 Stage 19  Box Hill - West Hanger  10.5m
 1 D Symons (BPTT) 60.54
 2 Hugh Jones 64.29
 7 Andrew McLauchlan (SE)  71.29
 12 Sue Ashley 83.58 

 Stage 20  West Hanger - Ripley  5.7m
 1 D Cummins (BPTT) 31.04
 7 Paul Sinton-Hewitt 34.22
 21 Louise Piears 43.01 

 Stage 21  Ripley - Walton Bridge  8.4m
 1 W Smith (BPTT) 49.25
 8 Chris Read 56.17
 21 Sandra Foot 64.57 

 Stage 22  Walton Bridge - Ham  9.5m
 1 T Kingsnorth (BPTT) 52.08
 4 Marcus Gohar 56.43
 16 Kristina Semple 66.17 

 GREAT WALL OF CHINA HALF MARATHON  Saturday 20th May
 At the age of 53 Chris Owens registered his first-ever open race victory.
 His 1.40.35 for the gruelling course which took in sections of the wall
 itself brought him home some three minutes clear of his nearest opponent. We
 are promised a full report to follow. 

 BUSHY PARK TIME TRIAL 5km  Saturday 20th May
 Charlie Pedlar finished 3rd in his first BPTT appearance and Chris Brook in
 9th place hacked a few more seconds off his pb.
 1 B Thursby (Letterkenny) 16.47
 3 Charlie Pedlar 17.33
 9 Chris Brook 18.54
 22 Darren Wood 19.51
 25 Stephen Instone 19.56
 26 Max Bridger 20.00
 41 Chris Wright 21.11
 57 George Inman 22.31
 100 John Hanscomb 26.15
 108 Wally Garrod 27.48 

 EPSOM 10km  Sunday 21st May
 Another over 70s prize for John Hanscomb.
 1 K Quinn (Herne Hill) 32.43
 101 Phil Aiken 46.59
 192 John Hanscomb 55.13 

 STAINES 10km  Sunday 21st May
 1 C Dettmar (Headington) 32.46
 45 Kevin Jacques 40.40
 307 Alan Meaden 57.01 

 LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH 5km  Friday 26th May in Hyde Park
 1 R Cousins (Lon Heath) 15.34
 79 Alan Davidson 20.13
 93 Sara Grosvenor 20.45
 115 John Pratt 21.49
 163 Mike Rowland 25.23
 179 John Hanscomb 27.01 

 BUSHY PARK TIME TRIAL 5km  Saturday 27th May
 Not too many Ranelagh competitors again this week but PBs for Edward Smith,
 Jo Turner and Alastair Sinclair.
 1 M Pierson (Holmfirth) 15.47
 30 Stephen Instone 19.37
 38 Stewart Ward 20.05
 51 Andy Morris 20.56
 71 Edward Smith 21.55
 73 Jo Turner 22.03
 96 Alastair Sinclair 23.45
 108 Alan Craig 25.02
 138 Wally Garrod 27.30 

 ELITE BRITISH DUATHLON CHAMPIONSHIP  Saturday 13th May at Edinburgh
 Jenny Lloyd-Jones reports:
 "I came 6th overall (10km run - 40km cycle - 5km run) and a couple of weeks
 before that did the Cambridge duathlon (7km run -35km cycle - 7km run) where
 I was 5th overall woman, but first in my age group which qualified me to
 represent GB at the Age Group World Duathlon Championships in Canada at the
 end of July".
 1 C Morrison (Stirling) 1.53.49  (30.53 - 62.52 - 18.52)
 6 Jenny Lloyd-Jones 2.09.10  (35.49 - 70.03 - 21.46) 

 NATIONAL YOUNG ATHLETES LEAGUE  Sunday 21st May at Perivale
 St Mary's Richmond AC made an impressive debut in the National Young
 Athletes League Southern Division Two South last Sunday at Perivale. Here
 are some excerpts from Noel Stoddart's report on the SMRAC website: 

 "And you thought athletics was a summer sport? Blimey it was wet! Many
 thanks to everyone who came along and competed, especially to those athletes
 who competed in extra events and to the U17 girls who completed relays in
 torrential rain - you made the difference between us finishing 3rd and 6th.
 3rd place on our debut in the league was a fantastic performance and with
 some top athletes still to come in to the team for the next fixture we can
 be even closer to the top 2 clubs. 

 Top point scorer of the day was Alex McKenna who won the 800, and finished
 2nd in the 100mH, SP and 4x100 relay. The only downside of the day was a 13
 point fine for not supplying the full compliment of officials. Parents, we
 need you to volunteer!!" 

 AAA Grade 2 standard was achieved by Nadia Fidler in the U15 800m, Grade 3
 by Josh Keisler in the U13 800m and there were Grade 4 performances from
 Matt Wilson, Richard Crowther, Joss Moran, Georgia Miansarow, Rachel Pryce,
 Eve Edmunds and Alice Picton amongst others. 

 The next fixture is at Uxbridge on Sunday 4th June. 

 MASTERS TRACK LEAGUE  Monday 22nd May at Battersea Park
 Bev Ali reports:
 "It was wet, but thankfully not windy or very cold. Due to other races on
 the weekend and the weather, participants were a little thin on the ground.
 It was getting so desperate that there was even talk of having me run some
 distance or other! In an effort to minimise the time standing in the rain
 for everyone, a policy of accelerated schedule was enacted. At one point, as
 we were registering for the ladies long jump, and the 3000m race was still
 underway, a voice over the tannoy called for all members of the men's and
 ladies' 4X400 relay teams to get to the start! At that moment, at least one
 of our ladies' relay team members was still running in the 3000m, and was
 expected to be on the runway for her first round long jump any minute!
 Beverley Walsh literally ran off the track from the relay, and down the
 runway to perform her first jump in the second round of the long jump!" 

 The next fixture is at Battersea Park on Monday 19th June. 

 FINALLY...
 Nike are to launch the "Nike+iPod Sports Kit" later this year. This will
 enable you, should you be so inclined, to capture information on time,
 distance, pace and calories burnt via a sensor in the insole of your shoes.
 The info can be retrieved via the earphones of an iPod Nano or can be
 downloaded to the nikeplus.com website. Or you could just go for a run....