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Newsdesk 2006
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RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 233 9 November 2006
Editor: Steve Rowland
mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com
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HEADLINE NEWS
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* Thames win the 125th Anniversary Mass Mob Match, with Ranelagh runners-up
* Over 100 Ranelagh Harriers take part, led by Paul Doyle
* Hugh Jones wins Richard Clay-Jones Pint
* Important Surrey League races this Saturday
SEE HERE
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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). There will be transport
leaving our clubhouse at 12.30pm. Let Andy Bickerstaff know if you will be using
it (contact details below).
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). There will be transport
leaving our clubhouse at 10.30am. Let Anna McLaughlin know if you will be using it
(contact details below).
SOUTH OF THE THAMES 5 miles CHAMPIONSHIP
This takes place on Saturday 25th November on Epsom Downs, starting at 2pm here:
The men's team is not planning to make the South of Thames events a priority
this year, but anyone who would like to run is welcome to do so. On the
other hand, the women's team are the title holders so they will be taking
part. In either case, entries have to be in by November 18th, so anyone
interested should contact Andy or Anna.
DYSART CUP and ELLIS CUP
We host these two inter-club races on Saturday 2nd December in Richmond
Park. The women's race goes first, at 2pm. It's over 4 miles and
incorporates both the Ranelagh's women's club championship for the Hugh
Jones Salver and the women's veterans (over 40) championship for Trish's
Trophy. The winning team takes the Dysart Cup. The men's race follows on at
about 2.30pm over 5½ miles and the winning team takes the Ellis Cup. The
Stragglers are the current holders of both trophies. All members are welcome
to take part - just turn up on the day.
CLUB KIT - WINTER KIT and SPECIAL ORDER 125th ANNIVERSARY TOPS
Evelyn Joslin writes:
"A range of smart club kit is available designed for winter training needs:
Fluorescent long sleeved training tops (£21)
Flashing armbands (£3 a pair)
Waterproof/windproof/breathable winter training jackets (£40)
Ranelagh 1/2 marathon long sleeved tops - still some remaining, ideal for
the winter and ONLY £2 each
Special Order 125 year Anniversary Tops: a special order celebrating our
125th anniversary, featuring our new club design. Blue technical t-shirts
(£18) and fluorescent long sleeved technical tops (£21) are in stock now,
but selling fast.
Regular stock items such as club vests, cotton t-shirts and sweatshirts etc.
remain available in stock.
More details from mailto:joslinem@yahoo.com".
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WHAT'S COMING...
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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 ).
Saturday 11th November Surrey League Div 1 - men at Coulsdon, women at
Lightwater Country Park. See above.
Saturday 25th November South of the Thames 5 miles Championship (men and
women) at Epsom Downs. See above.
Saturday 2nd December Dysart Cup (women) at 2pm and Ellis Cup (men) at
2.30pm in Richmond 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...
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125th ANNIVERSARY MASS MOB MATCH Saturday 4th November in Richmond Park
This was the final event in our 125th birthday celebrations. We invited all
our traditional mob match opponents to visit us at once - Blackheath and
Bromley Harriers AC, South London Harriers, Orion Harriers and Thames Hare
and Hounds - and the result was a field of over 250 runners. The idea was
actually a repeat of one of our Centenary year celebrations, when none of
the participating clubs provided less than 40 starters. Sadly, this time
Blackheath mustered barely half that number and so the scoring was
restricted to 18 a side.
We provided by far the biggest mob. 88 Ranelagh took numbers for the main
event and a further 13 opted for the one-lap 125 Challenge - meaning that we
just cleared the "ton" in all, an excellent effort. But Thames's strength at
the front of the field was always going to prove decisive. John Macfarlane
and Ian Harkness were soon away clear, and though Paul Doyle held third for
Ranelagh for most of the race, he lost out on the sprint finish to Nick
Altmann, giving Thames a clean sweep of the first three places. Duncan Bell
finished 5th not far behind Paul and our next man home in 7th was Hugh
Jones, just past his 51st birthday and professing himself well pleased with
his efforts. Peter Haarer gave us four home in the top eight but then the
opposition began to pack in. Andy Bickerstaff at 20th was our next man
across the line, and behind him it was Ed Barker and Hugh Brasher 34th and
35th. We had six more in the top 50, but the three Thames men in 51st to
53rd positions were already closing in their scoring 18, ensuring a clear
win for them.
However, it was a tight thing for second in the team contest. Our 18th
scorer was Tim Sizeland in 71st place, one place and one second ahead of
Orion's 18th. When the maths had been done, it was found that we had
prevailed by just seven points. South London and Blackheath were well tailed
off in fourth and fifth places.
Thames's Naomi Warner was the leading woman in 29th place, a little over
half a minute ahead of Orion's junior international Danielle Sale. Marie
Synnott-Wells was over two minutes back in third place and Anna McLaughlin
and Kerrie O'Connor were seventh and eighth.
11 year-old Amelie Hunton and 12 year-old Luke Wilson were the first of the
"one-lappers" to finish, both just inside the half-hour.
The race incorporated our annual mob match with Thames alone. They had
brought more than 50 to the race, so the scoring was a respectable mob size
of 49 a side. Our weight of numbers enabled us to haul back a lot of the
deficit that we had incurred at the sharp end of the field. Jim Forrest in
179th place was our number 49, exactly fifty places ahead of Thames's 49th.
But sadly it was not quite sufficient and Thames came out on top by 2377
points to 2524. The Richard Clay-Jones Pint trophy goes to the first
Ranelagh over 50 in the Thames mob match and this was duly presented to Hugh
Jones.
All finishers received a commemorative anniversary shot glass. Most of the
field found a slurp of Port in their glasses, but sadly supplies ran dry
before the tail-enders made it home!
Always tidy-minded, mob match king David Wright contrived this 125th
anniversary celebration to be his 125th mob match. Referring to the contest
against Thames, he adds an unwelcome statistic: "It is now 24 years since
Ranelagh had the individual winner in this fixture! Thames have won the last
23 since Mike Riley won in 1983!"
A few more stats: in the Centenary Mass Mob Match in 1981 (which did not
include Thames), there were 247 finishers, just two less than in 2006. Hugh
Jones won the Centenary race; others who feature in both include David
Wright (13th in 1981), Bill Harvey (17th), Gordon Whitson (18th), Paul Keen
(32nd), Ian Milne (60th), John Hanscomb (102nd), Ivan Boggis (126th) and
Stephen Instone (168th). Present today but not competing in the main event
were Jeff Bull (63rd), Steve Rowland (87th), Ken Powley (98th), Colin
Gostelow (105th), Alan Hedger (146th) and Michael Brandon (214th). Others,
including Bill Bird, officiated at both.
In the evening the clubhouse was bulging at the seams for the mob match
supper. It was mostly Thames and Ranelagh, with only one or two from the
other clubs, but the food was plentiful and a good time was had by all.
Thames Captain Simon Wurr adds:
"Many thanks for all your hard work yesterday and over the preceding days
and weeks in organising a superb mob match in Richmond Park. You even had
the weather to perfection and I was impressed with the hot showers and how
well fed we were after the race, both at the tea and supper. It takes a huge
amount of planning to put an event like that on and it was very much
appreciated by all at Thames. Long may matches of this type continue!"
Joanne Hope has put the pre-race Hobble Gobble onto youtube, here:
The full result and photos can be seen on our website.
BUSHY PARK TIME TRIAL 5km Saturday 4th November
Not surprisingly. there were few RH amongst the 248 finishers this week,
though a number of the Thames Turbo juniors appear in the results. New
member David Rowe was first home for us.
1 D Ndiso (Kenya) 14.44
36 David Rowe 19.46
55 Phil Aiken 20.17
105 Alfie Purdue 22.07
115 Luke Penney 22.34
117 Martin Harrison 22.43
120 Ollie Penney 22.51
122 Alex Rowe 22.53
158 Holly Clemens 24.20
160 Stephanie Croucher 24.27
196 Bea Purdue 26.33
205 John Hanscomb 27.34
241 Sharon Rowe 34.53
MABAC LEAGUE 5 miles Sunday 5th November at Puttenham
Puttenham Common is one of the more spectacular of the MABAC courses,
perched on the edge of the Hog's Back. Six hardy souls from Ranelagh turned
out, all of whom had also run in our Anniversary race the day before (and in
Phil's case, also the BPTT on Saturday morning!).
1 J McMullan (Epsom O) 27.48
49 Phil Aiken 38.36
57 Alan Davidson 39.54
One lap (2½ miles)
1 A Mountain (BVR) 20.15
24 Deborah Blakemore 36.25
26 Ann Murray 37.08
27 Bev Ali 37.45
30 Pat Hewlett 38.02
REGENTS PARK 10km Sunday 5th November
1 B Southin (Serpentine) 34.09
84 Jenny Lloyd-Jones 42.42
305 Zuzana Lhotanova 54.40
MARLOW HALF MARATHON Sunday 5th November
1 M Trees (Maidenhead) 1.15.21
301 Pete Warren 1.46.46
447 Tom Reay 1.54.00
SURREY CLASSIC 10km SERIES Sunday 5th November at Oxshott
1 T Doran (Elmbridge) 32.58
263 Alan Meaden 56.40
266 John Hanscomb 57.32
284 David Meaden 60.09
CRYSTAL PALACE 5km Tuesday 7th November
Alan Davidson 20.09
Yvonne Hill 20.56
RAINFOREST FOUNDATION 10km Sunday 29th October in Regents Park
Kevin Jacques finished 3rd in the over 40 category.
1 S Farah (NEB) 32.08
38 Kevin Jacques 39.30
69 Niall O'Connor 41.08
125th ANNIVERSAY BIRTHDAY RUN Sunday 29th October at Putney Heath
There are some photos of the event up on our website.
FINALLY...
"The trouble with a rat race is that even when you win, you're still a rat".
Lily Tomlin.