************************************************** RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 273 31 January 2008 Editor: Steve Rowland mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com ************************************************** HEADLINE NEWS ************** * Women's team 9th in "Southern", Clare King 32nd * Karen Broadbent and Peter Weir wed * Junior Points Prize Race 3 * RPTT win for Bonnie Webster * Yvonne Hill wins Vets AC W40 championship * All needed for Blackheath mob match in the Park this Saturday SEE HERE ********* PELLING-RATCLIFF CUP MOB MATCH v BLACKHEATH and BROMLEY HAC The last mob match of the season (and our last chance to win one!) is on our own course in Richmond Park on Saturday February 2nd starting at 2.30pm. It's seven and a half miles and as ever in mob matches it's weight of numbers that counts. It's a three line whip for anyone who can manage the distance please to make the effort to come along and help us see off the 'heathen hordes. The race incorporates the Wynne Cup club championship (holder: Duncan Bell) and the various club veterans' championships - the Hastings Cup (holder: Andy Bickerstaff), the McDowell Cup (over 50s - holder: John Barnard) and the Maslin Mug (over 60s - holder: Clive Beauvais). FIRST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH LONG RUN & BRUNCH (OR JUST BRUNCH IF YOU LIKE) Evelyn Joslin writes: "Sunday 3rd February! Meet at 9am at the clubhouse for a long run (about 10 miles), when we'll organise into different groups depending on pace and desired distance, or meet us in Carluccio's in Richmond (opposite the station) between 11.00 and 11.30 if you just fancy a big breakfast". FINAL SURREY LEAGUE DIVISION 1 RACES The men's and women's Surrey League seasons reach their climax on Saturday February 9th. We are the hosts so we will have home course advantage for our efforts. Our women hold a clear lead and must be considered odds-on to clinch the title, but it would be nice to win in style with a victory in the last race. There's no trophy for the winning B team, but we are also ahead in that competition, so let's aim for the double! There's room for all standards in the league and a tide of blue vests in the race would be a great boost to those fighting it out at the front. The men are in fourth place after three fixtures. We are well clear of fifth placed Hercules Wimbledon - though HW, one of the leading clubs in the country back in the 1970s, are enjoying quite a revival of fortunes and cannot be entirely discounted. Our target is third-placed Belgrave. We are 103 points behind, so it's a big ask for us to overhaul them, but unless they produce some of their big guns it is possible. We beat them in the last race despite a depleted team. There will also be an exciting fight for the title, with Thames Hare and Hounds carrying a lead of just 27 points over holders Herne Hill. The fun starts with the senior women's race at 12.15pm and the senior men run at 3pm, with all the junior events in between. If you can't run, come and give our teams some support! TUESDAY NIGHT CAR PARKING - IMPORTANT! Please note that for parking on Tuesday evenings we are only allowed to use the grass area in front of the clubhouse. Please do not use any part of the car park, even if it is empty. The pub owner is threatening to block our access if we use his car park. Think about using a bike or car sharing. RICHMOND MINI-MARATHON TRIAL The trial for the Richmond team for the London Mini-Marathon will be held on Sunday 3rd February, jointly organised by the Richmond Council Sports Development team, St Mary's Richmond AC and ourselves. All those aged between 11 and 17 on London Marathon day (13th April) who live or go to school in Richmond are eligible to take part. The top eight finishers in each age group (11-12, 13-14, 15-17, boys and girls) will be selected for the team. The course is as usual two laps of Sidmouth Wood, and the timetable is: 10am Girls 13-17, 10.30am Boys 13-17, 11am Girls 11-12, 11.30am Boys 11-12. Entries are closed, though late applications might still be allowed in. See the Richmond Sports Development website: here: CONGRATULATIONS... ...to Karen Broadbent and Peter Weir who were married on Saturday 26th January. A little thing like a wedding at 1.30pm didn't stop Karen and Peter - plus members of the wedding party - from appearing on the start line for the Richmond Park Time Trial at 9am. Karen of course is the director of the RPTT and performed her usual meeting and greeting duties before setting a course PB, despite being encumbered with wedding veil and tiara. Peter, in kilt, wig and Tam o'Shanter, came in 8th. Finishers were greeted with a plastic cup of champagne! See the RPTT website for some entertaining photos: RANELAGH HARRIERS GAZETTE Some of you will not have seen a Ranelagh Gazette, because for various reasons one has not been published for two years. We are promised a bumper "catch-up" edition in the not-too-distant future. The Gazette covers all the major results and club news in a more permanent form than the e-news. It is actually celebrating its centenary, the first edition having been published in January 1908. We are fortunate to have a complete set in our archives, though some of the older ones are now in a very fragile state. It has been proposed that the full set should be made into a series of nine bound volumes to ensure their preservation in good condition. These will cost about £50 each to produce. A number of members have kindly agreed to sponsor a volume, and we would be delighted to hear from anyone else who would be prepared to do the same. Please contact me if you are interested. RUN BARBADOS Michele Gibson writes: "The Barbados Tourist Board is trying to increase the numbers of visiting runners at the Run Barbados festival in December 2008. To this end they are offering an incentive of £100 off the price of the package to go to Barbados in December to take part. Details below:- The Barbados Marathon and Half-Marathon will take place on Sunday 7th December 2008. The Barbados 10km will take place the day before. FLIGHTS Depart Gatwick on Virgin or British Airways to Barbados - Grantley Adams Airport. ARRIVE Barbados Friday 5th December. DEPART Barbados Friday 12th arrive back at Gatwick am on Saturday 13th December 2008. Other dates can be available i.e. Depart on Monday December 1st or Tuesday 2nd and return a week later on 8th or 9th December but once people make a booking the finer details can be confirmed. PRICE OF PACKAGE - flight and accommodation Price is per person based on two people sharing a studio apartment for 7 nights no meals included. Hotel will be Dover Beach £699 per person Allamanda £740 per person Coconut Court £730 per person PACKAGE DISCOUNT £100 - incentive to go but must give name by 29th February 2008. Any one giving their name as a possible before 29th February will receive £100 off the package they choose. A deposit of £150.00 will be required to confirm your chosen package. Barbados Tourist Board Website - here: The Barbados Tourism Authority will have brochures available in about a month - i.e. in March. CONTACT DETAILS Any interested parties please send your contact details:- Name, Home/Mobile phone number and email address to:- Michele Gibson at micheleagibson@hotmail.com Please include the package and dates you are interested in or would prefer. Michele will then forward your details to the organisers who will contact you to confirm details and make booking". ROAD RUNNERS CLUB Belated congratulations to Hugh Jones, who has been appointed President of the RRC. **************** WHAT'S COMING... **************** More details of the following from Andy Bickerstaff ( 07772 111491 / mailto: andy@norris-hobs.co.uk ) or Marie Synnott-Wells (07956 431319 / mailto: nandmwells@aol.com ). Saturday 2nd February Mob match v Blackheath Harriers incl Wynne Cup club championship, 7.5m in Richmond Park. 2.30pm start. See above. Sunday 3rd February Richmond Mini-Marathon Trial in Richmond Park. See above. MABAC League 5 miles at Farley Heath. 11am start. Details: Saturday 9th February Final Surrey League races in Richmond Park. See above. Saturday 16th February Junior Points Prize Final Race in Richmond Park. 2pm start. Inter-club at the Bank of England (Richmond Park, Roehampton Gate), 6m. 2.30pm start. Saturday 23rd February National Cross-Country Championships at Alton Towers. Time Trials, every Saturday at 9am Bushy Park Diana Fountain car park Richmond Park Pembroke Lodge car park Wimbledon Common Windmill car park Banstead Woods Car park off B2219 Park Lane, Chipstead More details and registration at www.parkrun.com WHAT'S HAPPENED **************** SOUTH OF ENGLAND CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS Saturday 26th January at Parliament Hill For our women's team last year's bronze medals were always going to be a hard act to follow. We are still below full strength owing to injuries, and throwing in the higher standard in depth to be found when the championships are at Parliament Hill made it inevitable that we would slip a bit. But we retained our top ten placing, which was a good result. Hampstead Heath was bright and breezy and the going was heavy as usual. Clare King was very relaxed about the race on the train up to Gospel Oak and carried that into the race itself. She was all smiles after a mile, despite the fact that she was running in the mid-twenties at the time! By the end of the first lap she had drifted back to the mid-thirties but pulled back a few on the second circuit to finish in 32nd place, a great run and certainly her best of the season. Skipper Marie was in the fifties throughout and finished just over a minute behind Clare. Estelle Damant has been finishing ahead of Clare this season but she had joined the ranks of the walking wounded, having injured an ankle earlier in the week. She was obviously uncomfortable but plugged on to finish another minute back in 77th. Kerrie O'Connor missed the top hundred by a few seconds but closed in our team in 111th, with Sandra Prosser, 127th, stealthily sneaking up on her in the closing stages. Carola Richter was our last finisher, 206th of the 326 who made it home. It's interesting to note that the number of finishers here only exceeded those at the last Surrey League race by some twenty runners. There's not much to say about the men's race. 832 finished but only three of them were from Ranelagh (all credit to them!). 86 teams closed in, Ranelagh didn't. JUNIOR POINTS PRIZE RACE 3 Saturday 19th January in Richmond Park Owing to fixture clashes there was a disappointing turnout of only eight runners for the third Points Prize event. There were however some new faces amongst them, including an impressive Chloë Hutney in the Under 17s, who gave overall winner George Inman a good run for his money. Tilly Hearty and Danielle Croucher registered their third straight 1-2 in the Under 13 girls, Danielle's big sister Stephanie extended her points lead in the Under 15s and in the Under 17s Rhian Lewis - though beaten by Chloë - moved clear of the absent Victoria Elbourne at the head of the table. There was only one boy contesting each age group. Another newcomer Rishal Dyas thus scored maximum points in the Under 13s, but the overall points title could go to any one of four. George Inman and Jay Cash both stretched their leads in the older age groups. The full scoreboard can be seen on our website: here:. The final event in the series, followed by tea and prize presentations in the clubhouse, will be on Saturday 16th February at 2pm. Girls Under 13 1 Tilly Hearty 10.23 2 Danielle Croucher 11.10 Girls Under 15 1 Stephanie Croucher 10.07 Girls Under 17 1 Chloë Hutney 8.46 2 Rhian Lewis 11.14 Boys Under 13 1 Rishal Dyas 9.53 Boys Under 15 1 George Inman 8.44 Boys Under 17 1 Jay Cash 9.44 EPSOM ODDBALLS 2000 PERCH 10km Sunday 27th January at Epsom 1 V Van Woerkem (Eps O) 36.44 251 Geoff Bell 52.19 367 Anne Baker 57.02 369 Lynne Barber 57.09 404 Lorraine Clifton 58.37 433 Wally Garrod 60.51 479 Tanya Allen 62.54 512 David Meaden 65.12 521 Christine Goodsell 66.00 531 Cindy Croucher 68.20 VETERANS AC CHAMPIONSHIPS Saturday 19th January on Wimbledon Common Yvonne Hill won the W40 class. 1 V Maughan (HHH) 32.24 17 Yvonne Hill 40.17 BUSHY PARK TIME TRIAL 5km Saturday 19th January 1 B Markham (AFD) 16.44 16 Darren Wood 19.03 27 Nick Wright 20.27 44 Chris Hunton 21.17 53 Roger Wilson 21.37 60 Geoffrey Fisher 21.51 87 Adam Wright 22.34 96 Alan Davidson 22.51 97 Layla Smith 22.52 143 Paul Bisping 24.10 225 Luke Wilson 26.18 237 Wally Garrod 26.50 240 Gill Wilson 26.58 252 Sharon Rowe 27.21 334 John Hanscomb 31.17 RICHMOND PARK TIME TRIAL 5km Saturday 19th January 1 R Simms (PACE) 18.03 5 Sean Paynter 19.27 8 Burkhard Fehsenfeld 19.45 11 Graham Quick 19.54 12 Stephen Instone 20.07 29 Kath Phillips 21.34 30 Bonnie Webster 21.41 50 Andy Woodhouse 23.04 103 Penny Merrett 31.12 111 Pat Hewlett 34.32 WIMBLEDON COMMON TIME TRIAL 5km Saturday 19th January 1 D Coetzee (Herc Wimb) 17.45 61 Catherine Carthy 29.39 LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH 5km Friday 25th January in Hyde Park 1 P Martelletti (Unatt) 16.24 98 Alan Davidson 22.06 148 Wally Garrod 25.52 178 John Hanscomb 31.26 RICHMOND PARK TIME TRIAL 5km Saturday 26th January As reported above, this was Karen and Peter's wedding day, and a bright and breezy morning greeted the wedding party and over 130 others. Alyn Morgan finished 3rd overall and Bonnie Webster was the leading woman. 1 K Goulding (Unatt) 17.58 3 Alyn Morgan 18.24 6 Chris Owens 18.45 8 Peter Weir 19.08 10 Sean Paynter 19.31 13 Nick Wright 20.08 17 Stephen Instone 20.45 22 Bonnie Webster 21.14 28 Chris Wilson 21.41 32 Steve Rowland 21.55 38 Ian Grange 22.17 40 Martin Clark 22.35 44 Karen Broadbent 22.50 45 Clive Naish 22.52 47 Sonia Rowland 23.03 48 Evelyn Joslin 23.05 49 Andy Woodhouse 23.05 63 Tony Appleby 24.42 66 Vicci Randle 24.49 71 Louise Reeder 25.11 81 Alan Craig 26.19 92 Lorna Smith 27.09 100 Janet Turnes 28.29 110 Tanya Allen 29.51 128 Jo Turner 32.54 129 Marina Quayle 32.54 130 Penny Merrett 34.17 BUSHY PARK TIME TRIAL 5km Saturday 26th January 1 C Bradfield (Datchet) 16.37 13 Darren Wood 18.53 33 Simon Rothwell 20.06 43 Grant Hibbert 20.42 54 Roger Wilson 21.04 74 George Inman 21.43 75 Alan Davidson 21.44 173 Ivan Boggis 24.31 287 Daniel Hobbs 29.02 333 John Hanscomb 34.10 BANSTEAD WOODS TIME TRIAL 5km Saturday 26th January 1 R Ward (Belgrave) 15.55 32 Yvonne Hill 21.22 BOX HILL KNACKER CRACKER Tuesday 1st January at Dorking Simon Burrell reports on the ideal way to start the new year: "The Knacker Cracker 10k and its sister race the Midsummer Munro Half Marathon are not for the faint hearted. They are also great second-time events for those with an extremely bad memory or very high pain threshold. Luckily the race involves a handicapped start and even more luckily I managed to find my way into the first set of runners. I have run very little in recent months for one reason or another, so I had to train hard even to be able to run/walk slowly round the course. Unfortunately for Louise Pears she had to start a few groups behind me although she managed a better clock time. The event starts with a climb from the bottom of Box Hill to the top and then proceeds to find a further three routes to descend and ascend the hill (total of 1500ft of climb over 10k). The banning of MP3 players, the staggered start, the down and back routes and the instruction to offer support to your fellows at every point made for one of the most friendly and fun events I have run in. Some took the fancy dress very seriously, even to the point of our very own Borat lookalike - you guessed correctly: he wore a wig, moustache and just a Borat-style swimsuit - boy that's got to chafe! This is a fantastic way to blow out the Old Year cobwebs and kick-start the New Year training and I would recommend it to anyone. However, I can't imagine what it would be like doing this one with a hangover, so only for the abstinent or those with an iron constitution. The sister event doubles the course and is run as near to midsummer as possible - real pw territory but great fun and sense of achievement". 1 D Rollins (AFD) 44.57 97 Louise Piears 69.10 121 Simon Burrell 72.55 HAMMERSMITH RIVERSIDE HANDICAP Tuesdays 18th December & 29th January 71 year-old Alan Howard recorded an impressive 23.48 and 23.22 to finish at the top of the age-graded ranking with a score well above 80%. Alan Davidson ran 22.34 and 22.32.