*************************************************** RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 316 14 October 2009 Editor: Steve Rowland mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com *************************************************** HEADLINE NEWS ************* * Disappointing results in the Surrey League - men's team 9th, women 7th * Peter Haarer and Jo Ronaldson lead League teams * Gill Clay-Jones wins Page Cup, fastest times by Niall O'Connor and Marie Synnott-Wells * Kerrie O'Connor wins R4W 8km and Kingston 8 miles * Marie Synnott-Wells second (and first vet) in Kingston 16 miles * Martin Halvey first over 50 in Cologne Marathon * Two over 50 top-threes by Bill Neely * Bushy and Richmond parkrun anniversaries * Two mob matches coming up! * Quiz Night at the clubhouse on Saturday 31st October SEE HERE ******** SURREY LEAGUE As you'll see in the race reports, we had disappointing results in the opening Surrey League fixtures and we very urgently need a better showing in the next races which are on Saturday 14th November. The women are at Dorking, the men at Coulsdon. More details nearer the time, but reserve the date now! SURREY VETERANS CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS Saturday 17th October in Richmond Park We are hosting the Surrey Vets Championships in the Park this Saturday. The women's race over 6km starts at 2.30pm followed by the men's 10km at 3pm. Late entries are accepted on the day at £5 but are not eligible for the team competition, QUIZ NIGHT We are planning to hold a quiz night in the clubhouse after the mob match at home to Orion on Saturday 31st October. The plan is to start the quiz at about 6.30pm with a break for a fish and chip supper (or veggie alternative) at about 8pm. The cost will be a tenner per head to include the supper. There will be free beer thanks to Michael White and Fullers Brewery. Please bring along any other drinks you might prefer. Maximum four people per team - either make up your own team or link up with others on the day. Please contact Michele Gibson to reserve a place (micheleagibson@hotmail.com or 07703 518956. CHRISTMAS PARTY We've gone for an early date, to avoid clashes with other Christmas functions. Our party will be at the Strawberry Hill Conference Centre on Saturday 28th November. More details nearer the time. MOB MATCHES Niall O'Connor writes: "Colder weather and darker evenings can only mean one thing - mob match season is approaching! This year our fixture list has thrown up three matches in less than a month (Clive N. is probably wondering how he spent 25 years running 100 and then 3 spring up in a month). The first pair of matches are on consecutive weekends - Sat Oct 24th against South London Harriers in Coulsdon and then at home to Orion on Sat, Oct 31st. Start time is 2:30pm for each. Mike's Peacemobile (i.e.minibus) is available to ferry runners from the clubhouse to Coulsdon. He recently reminded me that the minibus is 'fun'. The bus will depart the clubhouse at 12:15, is free of charge but will fill up quickly so email me on niall_o_c@hotmail.com or Marc (mdsnaith5@hotmail.com). If the minibus is full I will be going by train from Richmond, departing at 12:20 (arriving 13:30) and anyone will be welcome to join me if that is more convenient. Detail of the location of SLH's clubhouse is at www.southlondonharriers.org/where-are-we/ The start is about 10 mins from the clubhouse, which is about 6 mins from the station. SLH are one of the few clubs that are older than us and have a batch of Olympians on their honours board. Luckily for us the days of Gordon Pirie and Derek Ibbotson have passed and our record against SLH in recent years has been good. We have tended to win at home and lose away - however overall they lead us by about 40 wins. Come along and represent the club on the two lap course of the rolling Farthing Downs. Covering 7.5 miles of cross-country will take nearly the same effort as a flat 10 mile road race. Entry is free and this is one of the few occasions where, as a club, irrespective of standards, we compete together. A couple of years ago we managed to get just 21 blue vests down there so, this year, please make an effort to come along even if you want to use it as a training run. The following weekend Orion Harriers come to visit us in Richmond Park. This is a 7.5 mile, two-lap route of our own course beginning opposite King Henry's Mound (where our handicap races begin). Again, the race is free, just register at the clubhouse beforehand. While we have a desperately poor record away to Orion, at home we have been more successful. However two years ago they mugged us by bring a large bus (bigger even than Mike's) of runners with them from Epping Forest. We edge them on overall wins by about 6 but this gap is rapidly closing. Please make an effort to get to the start line - Ranelagh needs you!" FREE CAR Yes, really! Michael Bull is looking for a good home for his old car, a white L reg Peugeot 106. It only has about 40,000 miles on the clock and is taxed and MOT'd. Michael is happy to let it go for no more than a contribution towards the cost of the tax and MOT and, if you wish, a donation to club funds. Michael's father Jeff will be in Richmond Park with the car this Saturday: he is attending a Friends of Richmond Park function in the morning and then staying on for the Surrey vets championships in the afternoon. He'll be parked at Pembroke Lodge. If anyone is interested in taking a look at the car please contact Jeff on 01372 723454 or jeff.bull@virgin.net. ETHIOPIA Richard Gregory writes from Addis Ababa: "When the chance came up to move to Ethiopia with work, I leapt at it: it's an amazing country, with a seemingly endless supply of beautiful landscapes and incredibly rich history (and spectacular ancient rock-hewn churches). I'm finding it an exciting place to work (on the UK's aid programme, which has contributed to Ethiopia making real progress in areas such as health and education in recent years) - and of course to run. It's safe to say I won't be bothering the local running talent - the calibre and depth is phenomenal. There's a steep hill in front of the Hilton hotel in town, and around 6am on a Saturday morning the packs of runners doing workouts there is a sight to behold. They effortlessly glide up the hill; all the more impressive as one of the first things to hit you on reaching Addis is the altitude: at 2400m, even a brisk walk is hard work at first. So I'm still not quite sure what I was thinking to accidentally end up doing an informal half marathon (organised by Richard Nerurkar, who has lived here with his family for several years) my first weekend here - especially as, at that stage, my longest run since several months out injured had been about 6 miles. For those familiar with my knack for occasional race-day wrong turns: I'd wrongly convinced myself it was going to be a two lap course I could just do half of. Other running highlights include trips up to the nearby Entoto hills most weekends (topping out at 3200m - more hard work). Plus the sense of humour of kids, who I'm fairly sure aren't commenting on ability when shouting "Kenenisa!" at wheezing foreigners. It was a real buzz to see (and get a smile and wave from) the great man himself, out for his Sunday morning run on Entoto (just like anyone else - except he had won two gold medals in Berlin the week before). Racing opportunities have so far been limited (perhaps for the best!) but the Great Ethiopian Run (22 November) is firmly in the calendar: a hugely popular 10k, with 30,000 people hitting the streets of Addis. Between the hills and altitude it might not be a PB course (making the sub-29 minute winning times all the more awesome), but I can't wait." STEPHEN INSTONE The following is extracted from the UCL web site: "There will be a memorial service at UCL on Weds 28 October at 3:00 pm, followed by tea at 4:15 pm. The memorial will be held in the Gustave Tuck lecture theatre, accessed through the main entrance to the College on Gower Street WC1. Maps of the College and a route finder can be found at www.ucl.ac.uk/maps/. The programme will run as follows: 3.00 Welcome from the Head of Department (Professor Maria Wyke) 3.05 Stephen as scholar (Professor Pat Easterling) 3.20 Stephen as colleague (Dr Stephen Colvin, Dr Philip de Souza) 3.40 Stephen as teacher (former students) 4.05 Closing remarks (Mrs Shelley Instone) 4.15 Tea in Room 106 Gordon House, Department of Greek and Latin. Stephen Instone Memorial Fund The Department of Greek and Latin at UCL, in consultation with Stephen's family, has created a student travel prize in Stephen's memory. Anyone wishing to donate can contact the Departmental Office at classicsoffice@ucl.ac.uk (0207 679 7522), or donate online at www.ucl.ac.uk/online-giving/giving-to - select Greek and Latin from the menu, then Stephen Instone Fund. Donors (UK taxpayers) are encouraged to use Gift Aid to increase the value of the donation: the link above offers this option, and those who wish to donate by cheque can download a Gift Aid form here: . Copies of Stephen's book Greek Personal Religion: a reader (Aris & Phillips: Oxford 2009) will be on sale at the memorial at a special pre-publication price of £20. All profits from this sale will go to the Stephen Instone prize fund." YOU CAN DRINK TOO MUCH... ...water, that is. This comes from the Daily Telegraph: "After completing the New York Marathon in 2001, I collapsed and woke up two days later in hospital with a drip in my arm. I'd drunk too much water and had diluted all the essential salts in my body. I couldn't talk, hear or see for a while and it was the most terrifying experience.". CORRECTION The second "Richmond parkrun" result listed for September 26th in the last e-news was actually the Bushy parkrun. WHAT'S COMING ************* More details of the following from Marc Snaith (07717 213035 mailto ( mdsnaith5@hotmail.com ) or Marie Synnott-Wells (07983 430264 (After 5pm Weekdays) / mailto nandmwells@aol.com ) Saturday 17th October Surrey Veterans Cross-Country Championships in Richmond Park. See above. Sunday 18th October Cabbage Patch 10 miles at Twickenham. Saturday 24th October Stubbs Cup mob match v South London Harriers. 7.5 miles at Coulsdon, 2.30pm start. See Niall's note above. Saturday 31st October Lee Cup mob match v Orion Harriers. 7.5 miles in Richmond Park. 2.30pm start. Again, see Niall's note. parkruns every Saturday at 9am Bushy Park Diana Fountain car park Richmond Park Richmond Gate Wimbledon Common Windmill car park Banstead Woods Car park off B2219 Park Lane, Chipstead Bedfont Lakes Bedfont Lakes Country Park, Ashford, Middlesex Other venues, more details and registration at www.parkrun.com WHAT'S HAPPENED *************** PAGE CUP 5 miles Handicap Saturday 3rd October in Richmond Park Mike Rowland reports: "At 2:30, Alan, Ken and I were thinking it would be one of the smallest fields ever for a club handicap. After the very encouraging fields for the Coad and the Thomas, we had barely a dozen on the list. But then the 'rush' began and eventually a respectable 45 were sent on their way. Once the last starter Pat Wright had gone, Ivan Boggis and I started taking bets on the possible winner. Ivan had his money on Clive Naish while I'd gone for David Rowe who had inadvertently been sent off 40 seconds early by the starters. Half an hour later and there was Clive turning the last corner and I was facing bankruptcy. But wait... where's he going? How many times had Clive been round that course and there he was taking the wrong path. But the tell-tale wave of the hands told us Clive was dropping out, he'd hurt a hamstring. A short while later and there was guest Paul Rider, well clear of first starter Gill Clay-Jones who'd run way beyond the handicapper's expectations and thoroughly deserved to win the Cup. Another gap before Gill's fellow 'slowie' Annemarie Goodridge appeared and then the rush began. A superb run by Niall O'Connor nearly brought him right through the field but he was rewarded with fastest time. And there was a great run by Marie Synnott-Wells, fastest lady and fourth in the handicap. But it was distressing to see Chris Camacho in all sorts of difficulties as he neared the finish. Well done to Marie, Sharon Rowe and Karen Weir for looking after him so well. For me, the lasting memory of the day lay back in the clubhouse before the race started. It was wonderful to see those two stars of yesteryear, Simon Hedger and Simon Collingridge, meeting up with each other again and chatting over old times. What a couple of stars those two were. Simon C usually came out on top but on a cold, wet day on a muddy Wimbledon Common, my money would always have been on Simon H." Paul Sinton-Hewitt's photos: here:. SWEATSHOP SURREY LEAGUE 5 miles Saturday 10th October at Priory Park, Reigate Howard Gleave reports: "Unfortunately there is not too much of a gloss one can put on the fact that Ranelagh's men finished last in the first Surrey League fixture of the season. Those who did answer the desperate mobilisation effort truly gave their all but with the sole exception of Peter Haarer, who ran a typically strong race to finish in 26th position, Ranelagh was sadly missing all its usual 'top guns' who would have put us in serious contention. The autumn weather was glorious and the course a 'something for everyone' mixture of progressive inclines, fast and level ridge running and one energy sapping pull up, balanced by a most welcome, equal and opposite steep downhill section. As it happened the going was firm and only slightly soft in places although a number of lady runners were spotted during our warm-up who looked as if they had been in their own private mud wrestling competition. The predominant characteristic of the Ranelagh team was its average age, estimated at 43! Six of the scorers were veterans. Peter Haarer went off strongly and was not seen again until the finishing line. Jonathon Stacey, who had been borderline to run, put in a most welcome appearance and was our second man home in 50th place. Alyn Morgan maintained his strong and improving form and, armed with his secret weapon, the Inov-8 Mud Claw, carved out a very useful 69th position. The truly remarkable feature of the remaining seven scoring places is that they were all filled within 53 seconds. Marc Snaith led the convoy, starting strongly and holding his position all the way to the finishing line. Howard Gleave also started well but lacked stamina as a result of a number of injuries that have kept him out of serious training and competitive running from early April to the Surrey road relays. As a result he found himself passed by Paul Nicholl just after the first lap and then by what seemed an endless procession of blue as he was reeled in by Trevor Maguire, Martin Halvey, John Shaw then Chris Owens. It was only on the final run in that he managed just to pip Chris , taking an honourable 9th and 10th scoring position respectively. This consistency at least promises a very competitive scoring tail end if and when Ranelagh is able to muster its usual front and middle ranking runners. Credit has to go to people like Chris Owens and Trevor Maguire who responded to the appeal to turn out and limit the damage and especially to Martin Halvey, fresh (or rather exhausted) from his magnificent V50 victory in the Cologne Marathon, who turned out for his club and gave an inkling of what he could do if he were fresh. The message that comes out of this first fixture is clear. We have everything to do, failing which relegation threatens. Number 10 famously 'does not do God' but we need to start praying that some injuries clear up, and quickly. We also need to remember that Ranelagh's stated priority is the Surrey League, which needs therefore to be each individual's personal priority. And finally, 80% of a 'first eleven' (or rather scoring ten) Ranelagh runner who isn't fully fit is likely to trump even the utmost efforts of our venerable 'Shuttleworth Collection' of the old and bold. The next Surrey League race is November 14th at Coulsdon. See you there!" SURREY LADIES LEAGUE 4 miles Saturday 10th October at Priory Park, Reigate Our women's team was also missing some key runners, and instead of vying for the lead they wound up in seventh place, though only 40 points behind third. Individually, Captain Marie enjoyed one of her best runs for some time and finished only five seconds behind Jo Ronaldson. Jo and Marie gave us two in the top eight and the scoring five was completed by Bonnie Morgan - who had only returned to the UK from holiday that morning - Daniela Mingham and Kathy Mallett. Evelyn Joslin, Kirsty Bangham and Sharon Rowe also flew the flag for Ranelagh, but it would have been nice to have seen a few more joining them. R4W WINDSOR WOMEN'S 8km Sunday 27th September in Windsor Great Park An impressive win by two and three-quarter minutes for Kerrie O'Connor. 1 Kerrie O'Connor 32.40 BUSHY parkrun 5km Saturday 3rd October An unprecedented 806 runners took part in the fifth anniversary Bushy parkrun. Danny Norman writes on the parkrun website: "If parkrun was a five year illustrated history book, the foreword would be Paul Sinton-Hewitt, and the opening chapter would be those first 13 runners on October 2nd 2004. Each letter would be the landing step of a running foot, each word would be the 30,000 parkrunners, chapters and titles encompassing new events around the country and abroad, photographic pages full of the best images of the smiling, grimacing and exhausted faces, the statistical index awash with the facts and figures, a section devoted to all the names of the essential volunteers, and the closing chapter would be the appropriate suffix of yesterday's 20 parkruns and the closing page highlighting the 800+ runners at the Bushy parkrun Anniversary event. But whereas the book could be closed, parkrun carries on. Bushy parkrun has run for five years, and this we know is only just the beginning. Five years. One year for each kilometre we cover each week. We can only imagine what it will be like in another five years and how much stronger the parkrun community will be". Danny made a special presentation to Paul S-H: "An A1 framed mosaic of the 13 first ever parkrunners. Comprised of 4000 squares, made from 991 Bushy parkrun archived images supplied by David Rowe. The plaque says 'To PSH. For all you have given us. parkrun 5th Anniversary - 03/10/09'." For the full article see: www.parkrun.org.uk/bushy/News.aspx. 1 M Skinner (Black & B) 15.02 11 Nick Wright 17.30 16 Luke Wilson 17.51 18 David Rowe 17.53 34 Charlie Pedlar 18.27 40 Iain Wilson 18.37 46 Darren Wood 18.49 48 Chris Owens 18.52 72 Ben Matthews 19.33 146 Adam Wright 20.56 157 Paul Sinton-Hewitt 21.08 166 Andy Woodhouse 21.13 199 Roger Wilson 21.43 231 Peter Fordham 22.15 256 Karen Weir 22.38 264 Phil Aiken 22.43 453 Chris Wright 25.25 460 Michael White 25.38 512 Sophie Spink 26.34 675 Kirsty Bangham 29.41 680 Wally Garrod 29.44 686 John Hanscomb 29.48 719 Sharon Rowe 31.05 RICHMOND parkrun 5km Saturday 3rd October 1 D Ashfar (unatt) 18.08 8 Bill Neely 19.19 97 Johannes Prosser 26.49 100 Wiebke Kortum 27.37 BEDFONT LAKES parkrun 5km Saturday 3rd October 1 N Hall (unatt) 20.11 12 Andrew Brown 22.33 GLASGOW parkrun 5km Saturday 3rd October 1 T Owens (Shett) 16.30 108 Jonny Rowan 26.49 COLOGNE MARATHON Sunday 4th October Martin Halvey put in a great performance to win the over 50 class. 1 E Ruto (Kenya) 2:08.36 (chip time 2:08.36) 72 Martin Halvey 2:50.56 (2:50.42) GEOFF MOULDEN 10km Sunday 4th October at Wimbledon Bill Neely was 3rd over 50. 1 B Moreau (AFD) 31.10 24 Bill Neely 39.38 JULIAN FARRELL 10km Sunday 4th October at Camberley 1 T Doran (AFD) 33.29 137 Alan Meaden 59.21 149 David Meaden 62.05 RICHMOND parkrun 5km Saturday 10th October This was the Richmond parkrun's second anniversary. The following comes from the parkrun website: "A very special celebration of 104 parkruns in Richmond Park was made even more moving by the presentation of the first Stephen Instone Memorial Cup for the men's points prize. Karen Weir should have received an award herself, however, for remembering and presenting the greatest number of prizes in one Saturday. First we had the t-shirts for Junior 10 runs; adult 50 (Andrew 'Kew' Brown and James Flood among the recipients) and then the second only 100 t-shirt which was presented to Duncan Brown (more of later). Following the run, which must have come close to the Richmond parkrun record for number of runners (191), there were further presentations. The first ever presentation of the '100' t-shirt was back at the beginning of this year and to Stephen Instone. Stephen had not only run more runs than anyone else at Richmond parkrun (accumulated at both Richmond and Bushy Park) but was also streets ahead in the men's points league. Very sadly, Stephen died suddenly in July but it is testament to his talent and dedication that it wasn't until Duncan Brown's last Richmond run in September that Stephen was beaten by just 2 points. Shelley Instone, Stephen's widow, was there to receive the original points cup but also to present the new Stephen Instone cup to Duncan. This is the cup which will now be presented each year to the men's points winner. The winner of the women's points prize this year was Alison Dicks - who has not only run a lot and fast but has also regularly volunteered." 1 Danny Norman (Strag) 17.19 5 Peter Weir 18.24 7 Jerym Brunton 18.42 10 Bill Neely 18.58 13 Darren Wood 19.16 29 Chris Read 20.38 35 Karl Garvey 21.14 52 Paul Sinton-Hewitt 22.13 54 Andrew Brown 22.15 57 Alison Dicks 22.26 63 Jar O'Brien 22.40 65 Alan Davidson 22.43 72 Roger Wilson 23.08 108 Chris Wright 25.00 109 Joanne Sinton-Hewitt 25.04 117 Lorna Smith 25.48 119 Michael White 25.57 122 Rob Kitchen 26.24 127 Philippa Shaw 26.45 128 Johannes Prosser 26.50 143 Louise Reeder 28.21 148 Molly Smith 29.20 156 Marina Quayle 30.59 158 Tanya Allen 31.09 162 Pat Hewlett 31.34 168 Natasha Taroghion 32.05 169 Annemarie Goodridge 32.20 173 Bronwen Northmore 32.53 184 Wiebke Kortum 33.54 185 Heather Martingell 33.59 189 Yvonne Howie 36.13 BUSHY parkrun 5km Saturday 10th October 1 J West (unatt) 16.39 8 Iain Wilson 18.22 110 Chris Camacho 22.07 117 Peter Fordham 22.14 309 Wally Garrod 26.49 BEDFONT LAKES parkrun 5km Saturday 10th October 1 R Phillips (unatt) 18.03 43 John Scally 28.02 RUN KINGSTON 16 miles and 8 miles Sunday 11th October Kerrie O'Connor was the leading woman in the shorter event, while Marie Synnott-Wells was second woman and first veteran in the 16 miler. Jerym Brunton finished 22nd in the 16 after a very strong second half. 16 miles 1 T Bedford (Shaft B) 1:28.30 (chip time 1:28.28) 22 Jerym Brunton 1:46.33 (1:46.29) 48 Marie Synnott-Wells 1:51.03 (1:50.59) 351 Roger Wilson 2:16.04 (2:15.54) 400 Jose Scheuer 2:19.44 (2:19.31) 8.2 miles 1 G Sobrczyk (unatt) 42.14 (chip time 42.13) 22 Kerrie O'Connor 53.52 (53.51) 405 Catherine Murray 69.12 (68.48) DULWICH 10km Sunday 11th October 1 B Wilder (Herne H) 33.01 6 Steve Whitehead 35.59 PEAS RUN TO SCHOOL 10km Sunday 11th October at Chiswick Bill Neely won the Over 50s category. 1 C Pearson (unatt) 33.39 4 Bill Neely 38.10 20 Pete Warren 45.24 79 David Meaden 59.24 ROYAL PARKS HALF MARATHON Sunday 11th October in London 1 P Sandali (unatt) 1:09.31 (chip time 1:09.31) 100 Nick Harrison 1:26.52 (1:26.20) 191 Ben Matthews 1:30.22 (1:28.53) 9691 David Rowntree 3:00.26 (2:49.45) WORLD DUATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS Saturday 26th September at Concord, North Carolina, USA Chris Owens was in second place in the 55-59 age group after the initial 10km run but unaccountably hit the wall during the bike ride and struggled through the final 5km run to finish 21st. 1 W Martin (USA) 1:59.34 10km run 39.21, T1 0.43, bike 57.30, T2 0.52, 5km run 21.07 21 Chris Owens 2:13.12 10km run 36.57, T1 1.06, bike 69.13, T2 1.24, 5km run 24.32 UK IRONMAN TRIATHLON Sunday 2nd August at Bolton Justin Webb, who finished just inside ten and a half hours - including a three and a half hour marathon - was one of the non-professional competitors featured in Channel 4's coverage. 1 P Graves 8:45.52 swim 51.09, T1 3.21, bike 4:57.23, T2 1.42, run 2:52.19 42 Justin Webb 10:27.41 Swim 73.16, T1 5.52, bike 5:34.52, T2 2.15, run 3:31.28 FINALLY... "To a runner, a side stitch is like a car alarm. It signifies something is wrong, but you ignore it until it goes away." Anon.