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 ****************************************************************************
 RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 217                7 June 2006
 Editor: Steve Rowland
 mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com  
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 HEADLINE NEWS
 *********************
 *  Men's team wins Dorking 10 and county championship
 *  Individual bronzes for Phil Killingley and Marie Synnott-Wells 
 *  Change of date for AGM 

 SEE HERE
 *************
 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING  Tuesday 11th July starting at 8.30pm in the
 clubhouse.
 The date originally set for our AGM clashed with a semi-final of some
 football tournament or other, so we have put it back a week to Tuesday 11th
 July. This is the same evening as the Coad Cup summer five miles handicap in
 the Park, which starts at 7.15pm. The meeting will commence as soon as
 everyone is back from the run and showered/changed, hopefully at about
 8.30pm. All members are invited and encouraged to attend both! 

 DYSART DASH 10km
 Our 10km race takes place on Sunday 25th June. As usual it incorporates the
 Surrey county 10km championship. Fifty Ranelagh Harriers have already
 entered but there's room for plenty more. The course starts a short jog from
 the clubhouse in Meadlands Road and finishes at the same point as our 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. Contact Alan Hedger
 (01372 740626) if you can help officiate on the day.  

 CHRIS BRASHER MEMORIAL PONDS RUN  Tuesday 20th June in Richmond Park
 Normal Tuesday evening training is cancelled for the day in favour of our
 annual commemoration of our fellow club member and London Marathon founder
 Chris Brasher. Starting as usual at 7pm we'll divide into a few different
 groups and the aim is to visit each of the 20 ponds that can be found in the
 Park. This entails covering about eight miles in all, so some groups opt for
 a shorter route visiting just a few of the ponds. See parts of the Park you
 never normally visit!  

 MABAC LEAGUE 5 miles  Sunday 11th June at Holmwood Common, 11am start.
 All Ranelagh members are welcome at the MABAC League events - just turn up,
 no pre-entry required. This Sunday's is 5 miles cross-country at Holmwood
 Common, which is just to the south of Dorking.   

 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).

 SPECIAL REQUEST
 A Ranelagh member is looking to borrow any of the following items for a
 photo shoot: a defibrillator, a light green vacuum pump, a used heart
 pacemaker, a miniature coffin and a pair of gold-plated tweezers. If you can
 help with any of these items please contact me and I will pass your message
 on. 

 MASTERS TRACK LEAGUE
 Julie Drummond writes:
 "Thanks to all those who turned up for the very wet vets meeting at
 Battersea on the 22 May. Although we didn't have a large number of ladies,
 we had a great time and still managed to retain 2nd place. Well done all of
 you. Results are posted in the clubhouse. The next meetings will be held on
 19 June and 3rd July. Let's see whether we can encourage more of you to come
 along. Hopefully the weather will be better!"  

 The 19th June fixture includes men's 1500m at 8.15pm and women's at 8.25pm.
 The full programme can be found on the St Mary's Richmond web site:
 http://www.smrac.org.uk/index.php?f=data_vets&a=0.

 CARDIAC MRI STUDY - VOLUNTEERS WANTED
 We have received the following request from Matthew Wilson at the Olympic
 Medical Institute at Northwick Park Hospital:

 "I am putting together a study in which the heart is assessed via Cardiac
 MRI before and after running a Marathon. The study is called: Cardiovascular
 magnetic resonance for the assessment of cardiac inflammation following
 prolonged exercise using delayed contrast enhancement.

 You do not have to be a marathon runner to be included in the study, but it
 helps to have run one in the last two years. We are really looking for fit
 and healthy young men (under 35) who could run a marathon tomorrow, but not
 in a fast or comfortable time. The date of the study will be either:
 15th/16th/17th September or 29th/30th September and 1st October, thus we
 would need you for a complete weekend. Timetables are to be confirmed with
 the Brompton Hospital but will go something like this: 

 Saturday: MRI scan, Echocardiography, bloods, etc.
 Sunday: 6am-11am Marathon - Marlow to Windsor and back.
 Sunday: 12pm to finish - MRI scan, Echocardiography, bloods, etc.
 Sunday night: Free Curry and Beer..........

 If you would like to be a participant please let me know which date you
 prefer to do. For more info, call me at 07765 241001".

 BEEN THERE, DONE THAT....
 A company called Wild Frontiers has sent details of three events it
 organises that might be of interest to those 'get away from it all' types: 

 Victoria Falls Marathon in September 2006: www.vicfallsmarathon.com.
 Kilimanjaro Marathon in March 2007: www.kilimanjaromarathon.com.
 KiliMan Challenge in February/March 2007: www.kilimanjaroman.com.

 And another one called Running Crazy conducts trips to various events around
 the world: www.runningcrazy.co.uk.  

 *********************
  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 11th June         MABAC League 5 miles at Holmwood Common (near
 Dorking) 11am start. See above.

 Monday 19th June         Masters track league from 6.30pm at Battersea Park.

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

 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  
 
 Tuesday 11th July         Coad Cup 5 miles summer handicap in Richmond Park
 (7.15pm start) followed by AGM at the clubhouse.

 Every Saturday             Bushy Park Time Trial. 9am start at the Diana
 Fountain car park. See www.bptt.net for details.
   
 WHAT'S HAPPENED...
 ***************************
 DORKING 10 MILES  Sunday 4th June
 We've become quite accustomed to our women's team winning Surrey county
 championship events - indeed, over the last year or two it has become worthy
 of comment when they fail to win, as was the case on Sunday. But there
 haven't been so many gold medals coming the way of the men's team. We did
 pull off a double victory at our Half Marathon last month, but on Sunday it
 was the men's turn to bathe alone in the limelight. 

 A warm day and the hilly course encouraged the leaders to set no more than a
 steady pace, and two miles had passed before the eventual top two, Ian
 Horrocks of Hercules Wimbledon and many-times winner Stuart Major of SLH,
 broke clear. At the same time Phil Killingley in third place established a
 significant lead over Paul Doyle in fourth. The gap was never very
 substantial but Paul was unable to close it and spent the rest of the race
 watching Phil's back a few dozen metres ahead. 

 Third and fourth was a good start in the team reckoning and Phil was also
 rewarded with the individual county bronze. Not far behind followed Mick
 Lane in 12th place. Mick was beaten by just a few metres for the leading
 veteran's prize, but had the consolation of receiving the over 40s county
 gold medal. Nathan Mills was never far behind Mick and crossed the line in
 14th place. This secured us not only the three-to-score county team race but
 also the four-to-score open event. 

 Peter Weir, Trevor Maguire, Andrew Forth and Colin Frew finished in the top
 hundred and ensured we could also boast the leading 'B' team.

 We had only four women taking part, led by 2005 Dorking winner Marie
 Synnott-Wells. Epsom's Emily Nelson was in front all the way, but her
 winning time was actually slower than Marie's last year. With little shade
 available on the course Marie wilted in the heat and after running in second
 place for most of the distance she finally had to settle for third and the
 county bronze medal. But as leading veteran she still came away with a gold.
 Liz Kipling is no lover of warm conditions either, and in 8th place was also
 unable to match last year's time. Kerrie O'Connor and Karen Broadbent
 completed the team which finished just out of the prizes in 4th place.
  
 BUSHY PARK TIME TRIAL 5km  Saturday 3rd June
 As the number of runners climbs inexorably towards 200 (193 this week), Jo
 Ronaldson was the star turn for Ranelagh, first woman home in a time that
 ranks her 9th on the event's ranking list. John Hanscomb got the better of
 Wally Garrod in the battle of the septuagenarians.

 1 J Goulis (Unatt) 16.00
 10 Nick Wright 17.49
 11 Jo Ronaldson 17.50
 30 Stephen Instone 19.25
 49 Chris Wright 20.17
 52 Andy Morris 20.23
 56 Chris Hunton 20.27
 81 Edward Smith 21.56
 83 Alfie Purdue 21.59
 86 Ray Smith 22.05
 87 Paul Bisping 22.09
 90 George Hutchinson 22.13
 122 Gill Wilson 24.32
 142 Elly Grant 25.46
 160 Steve McClune 26.59
 165 John Hanscomb 27.21
 168 Wally Garrod 27.40 

 WORLD LONG DISTANCE DUATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS  Sunday 28th May at Frederica,
 Denmark
 Roger Wilson reports:
 "Tom Davies of Britain easily won the 45-49 men's age group by 12 minutes,
 in a time that would have put him 22nd in the elite race. This was my first
 race longer than an Olympic distance triathlon. Conditions were cold, wet
 and very windy... the course was advertised as fast and flat, but the run
 included some undulating cross-country on puddled footpaths, and the bike
 became very technical on rural roads exposed to the sea and wind. Quite a
 few crashes, punctures and withdrawals. Happily doing OK until the second
 run when an ill-advised swig of a local energy drink sent the head swimming,
 leading to a walk, jog and then run to the finish while family and friends
 wondered whether I'd decided to go shopping instead. Finished 23rd of 27
 starters, so happy enough. Duathlon is a little bit hard, but at least you
 get to keep your socks on. Info at www.triathlonfredericia.dk". 

 15.6k run, 89.5k bike, 7.5k run
 Overall (Run 1, T1, Bike, T2, Run 2)
 1 Tom Davies (GBR) 3.52.47    (56.41,  0.55,  2.24.16,  0:56,
 30,00)
 23 Roger Wilson (GBR) 4.59.55    (70.19,  1.09,  2.55.13,  1:45,
 51.31) 

 SURREY HILLS RACES  Monday 29th May at The Nower, Dorking
 'A' Course (30km)
 1 J Green (Chigwell OC) 2.13.31
 19 John Pratt 3.14.25
 'B' Course (16km)
 1 J Edwards (Warrior OC) 1.06.10
 17 Simon Burrell 1.30.57 

 RON WHEELER  2.6 miles  Wednesday 31st May at Wapping
 1 S Roberts 13.10
 8 Colin Frew 14.46
 12 Chris Read 15.27
 14 Andy Hayward 16.00
 16 Alan Davidson 16.05 

 KINGFIELD CANTER  2.85 miles  Wednesday 7th June at Woking
 In the six Kingfield Canters held so far this year, Steve Rowland's times
 have varied by four seconds!

 1 I Chitson (Unatt) 24.26  (actual time 22.26)
 10 Sonia Rowland 26.44  (actual time 20.14)
 16 Alan Davidson 26.58  (actual time 18.28)
 23 Steve Rowland 27.08  (actual time 17.23)

 FINALLY...
 The "Nike+iPod Sports Kit" mentioned last week has one more horror in store.
 Apparently it can be set to play a faster music track into your earphones if
 it detects that your pace is flagging. How did we ever get by without it...