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 ****************************************************************************
 RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 231                24 October 2006
 Editor: Steve Rowland
 mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com  
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 HEADLINE NEWS
 *********************
 *  125th Anniversary Run this Sunday
 *  Duncan Bell wins Orion mob match but Orion take the Lee Cup
 *  Marie Synnott-Wells wins Abingdon Marathon inside three hours
 *  Mick Lane 6th at Abingdon
 *  Kerrie O'Connor 3rd in BPTT
 *  125th Anniversary Mass Mob Match on Saturday 4th November

 SEE HERE
 *************
 RANELAGH'S 125th ANNIVERSARY
 Birthday Run
 At 4pm on Saturday October 29th, 1881, the first-ever run of the
 newly-formed Ranelagh Harriers took place from the Green Man on Putney Heath
 to the Windmill on Wimbledon Comon and back.

 This Sunday at 4pm, 125 years on to the hour, we will be recreating that
 run. We won't be able to follow the exact route our predecessors took -
 there's a busy A3 in the way now - but we will follow it as best we can,
 using the pedestrian underpass. It's a mile and a bit each way.

 All members are welcome to come along, and if possible please come in 1881
 costume: long shorts and plain half-sleeved or sleeved tops for those who
 are running. Crinolines and whiskers...use your imagination! Note that we
 need to be running sharp at 4pm - the clocks go back the night before, so it
 will be getting dark by about 5pm. Aim to arrive from 3.30pm.

 Afterwards there will be a FREE buffet in the pub.  

 Mass Mob Match
 The final anniversary event will be on the following Saturday, November 4th.
 It will be a run in Richmond Park against all our traditional mob match
 opponents - Blackheath Harriers, South London Harriers, Orion Harriers and
 Thames Hare and Hounds. It should be a great day, not to be missed. The
 route will be the normal two laps making up 7½ miles. Start time is 2.30pm.

 All competitors and officials will receive a special commemorative shot
 glass. For those who might not have taken part in a mob match before, the
 idea is that each club fields as many runners as possible and all might
 count towards the final result. So even if you do no other cross-country
 races this winter, please try to get to this one!

 There will be a supper in the evening in the clubhouse, starting at 6.30pm,
 price about £6. Book your place with Jo Turner (mailto:joturner_45@hotmail.com)
 or Marina Quayle (mailto:marina_quayle@hotmail.com).

 SURREY LEAGUE
 The second League fixtures are on Saturday 11th November. We made good
 starts a couple of weeks ago in both the men's and the women's competitions.
 The men, newly promoted back to Division 1, finished 3rd - their best result
 in the top division since 1998. The women are the reigning Division 1
 champions and finished a close-up 2nd to Belgrave in the first race.

 So, there is everything to run for: the men to retain a high position, the
 women to overtake the Belles. Don't forget there are B, C and so on teams in
 the women's competition, and we are running an unofficial B team contest
 against Stragglers in the men's. Everyone will count.

 The men's event is at Coulsdon. HQ is the South London Harriers clubhouse. The
 start is a 5 minutes jog away on Farthing Downs. Start times are 2.30pm (all
 juniors) and 3pm (seniors).

 The women's event is at Lightwater Country Park.   Start times are 12.15pm
 (seniors), 1.15pm (under 17s and under 15s) and 1.45pm (under 13s).

 ERIC NEWBY
 The well-known travel writer Eric Newby, who died last Friday aged 86, was a
 Ranelagh Harrier back in the 1940s and 50s. "A great character in the
 dressing room - I remember his presence well," writes Bill Bird. In his
 account of his wartime activities, "Love and War in the Apennines", Newby
 recounts organising races in his prisoner of war camp.

 *********************
  WHAT'S COMING...
 *********************
 More details of the following from
 Andy Bickerstaff ( 07772 111491 / mailto: andy@norris-hobs.co.uk ) or 
 Mark Middleton ( 07725 119649 / mailto: markjmiddleton@yahoo.co.uk ) or 
 Phil Aiken (07739 035189 / mailto: phil.aiken@rnid.org.uk ) or 
 Anna McLaughlin (07971 606521 / mailto: anna.mclaughlin@talk21.com ).     

 Sunday 29th October      125th Anniversary Run from the Green Man at 4pm.
 See above.

 Saturday 4th November   Mass Mob Match in Richmond Park at 2.30pm. All
 members please try to come! See above.

 Sunday 5th November     MABAC League 5 miles at Puttenham Common. 11am
 start. See http://www.mabac.org.uk/.

 Saturday 11th November  Surrey League Div 1 - men at Coulsdon, women at
 Lightwater Country Park. See above.
 
 Every Saturday               Bushy Park Time Trial. 9am start at the Diana
 Fountain car park. See http://www.bptt.net/ for details.

 WHAT'S HAPPENED...
 ***************************
 LEE CUP MOB MATCH v ORION HARRIERS  Saturday 21st October at Epping Forest
 A rainy fortnight prepared the Forest for our visit, and a couple of
 torrential downpours in the last hour before the start added the finishing
 touches. We enjoyed sunshine for the race itself, but the course was mucky,
 even by Orion's standards. 

 Nowadays, the first half of the one-lap course isn't too bad underfoot, with
 long stetches of surfaced runnable paths. But reality returns in the second
 half, with road sections interspersed with mud of various depths, colours
 and consistencies. Our mob comprised 26 brave souls, and the home side
 outnumbered us by more than 2 to 1. So the team result, and the destination
 of the Harold Lee Cup, was pretty much a foregone conclusion. 

 There was individual glory to be won, however, and Dinger Bell rose to the
 challenge. No visitor ever wins a race at Orion without the odd detour from
 the prescribed path, and Duncan was no exception. He writes: "It was a
 decent multi-terrain course with a few breathers while I waited for the
 Orion runner behind to catch up and hopefully point me in the right
 direction - which a couple of times was not that easy for him as the
 eco-friendly biodegradable paper markers on the course had already
 biodegraded to nothing. But a win's a win and as informed by club captain
 Noddy Holder - sorry 'The Bicks' - I have now joined an illustrious list of
 former Ranelagh (hobble gobble) winners". 

 Mark Middleton finished 10th, and Trevor Maguire and Andy Bickerstaff were
 our only other runners to finish ahead of Orion's 18 year-old starlet
 Danielle Sale. The field was swelled by teams from Dulwich Runners and
 Springfield Striders plus a few individuals. 

 BUSHY PARK TIME TRIAL 5km  Saturday 21st October
 "The conditions couldn't have been better for running but may have been a
 bit soggy for PB's," wrote Paul Sinton-Hewitt on the BPTT web site. Maybe
 so, but that didn't prevent out first four finishers from improving on their
 previous marks. Pride of place again to Kerrie O'Connor, whose 90 seconds PB
 was fairly modest by her recent standards! She was the third woman to finish
 in 19.25. But Jamie Taylor-Caldwell, just past his 15th birthday, was hardly
 less impressive with a sub-18 minutes run, 57 seconds faster than his
 previous best. Hugh Brasher and Niall O'Connor - with his fourth PB in the
 last five weeks - also broke new ground, as did Emma Hughes.

 1 W Clark (Epsom & E) 16.38
 6 Hugh Brasher 17.38
 10 Jamie Taylor-Caldwell 17.58
 14 Niall O'Connor 18.08
 32 Kerrie O'Connor 19.25
 76 Alan Davidson 21.13
 83 Phil Aiken 21.37
 113 Carola Richter 22.39
 141 Paul Bisping 23.36
 142 Evelyn Joslin 23.45
 158 Zuzana Lhotanova 24.42
 160 Roger Wilson 24.52
 184 John Hanscomb 26.37
 209 Emma Hughes 28.35

 ABINGDON MARATHON  Sunday 22nd October
 First across the line in the men's race was disqualified for wearing someone
 else's number, but there was no problem for Marie Synnott-Wells who ducked
 inside three hours for a comfortable win. "It was very well organised and
 very friendly," she told the local newspaper, "It was a fast course but I
 enjoyed it and I would definitely come back". Marie jumps up to 6th in
 Ranelagh's all-time ranking list. Mick Lane was the second veteran home in
 6th place.

 1 T Hunter (Handy Cross) 2.37.05
 6 Mick Lane 2.44.12
 49 Marie Synnott-Wells 2.58.50

 STROUD HALF MARATHON  Sunday 22nd October
 1 S Kasimili (Kenya) 64.51
 107 Ed Barker 86.42  (chip time 86.31)
 393 Chris Brook 99.48  (chip time 99.36)

 CHICAGO MARATHON  Sunday 22nd October
 Iain Wilson ran a well-judged race (10kms of 42.14, 42.34, 42.06 and 43.03)
 but was unfortunate to miss 3 hours by 2 seconds (though on chip times he
 was half a minute inside). His time ranks 11th in Ranelagh's over 50
 marathon rankings.

 1 R Cheruiyot (Kenya) 2.07.35
 947 Iain Wilson 3.00.02  (chip time 2.59.31)

 REGENTS PARK 10km  Sunday 1st October
 Here's a result that eluded me before. Fari and Jenny were 1st and 3rd in
 the women's race. 

 1 A Lindsey (Highgate) 35.02
 27 Fari Shams 39.39
 59 Jenny Lloyd-Jones 41.44

 FINALLY...
 German student Nadine Sonnabend recently won 10,000 euros by winning an 80
 metres sprint in a time of 12 seconds dead. Nothing special? Well, all the
 competitors had to wear stilettos...