*************************************************** RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 317 29 October 2009 Editor: Steve Rowland mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com *************************************************** HEADLINE NEWS ************* * Surrey Vets - Chris Owens is first over 55, men's over 50 team wins silvers * Niall O'Connor and Kate Comisso lead the Ranelagh pack at the Cabbage Patch 10 - Martin Halvey finishes 3rd over 50 * South London Harriers beat us in Stubbs Cup mob match * Peter Haarer and Marie Synnott-Wells lead our mob * Gavin Jones run 2:38 for second over 45 in Frankfurt Marathon * Bill Neely first over 50 in Wimbledon 10km * parkrun places for Nick Wright and Duncan Mallison * Mob match v Orion Harriers in Richmond Park this Saturday * Quiz Night at the clubhouse after the mob match SEE HERE ******** LEE CUP MOB MATCH v ORION HARRIERS Saturday 31st October at 2.30pm in Richmond Park Niall O'Connor writes: "Next Saturday (31st Oct) we welcome Orion Harriers to Richmond Park for our second mob match of the season. Orion will be aiming for their fourth consecutive mob match win against us and the whispers from Epping Forest are that they have rustled up a large contingent of 'good, young' runners. In 2007 they outnumbered us at the start line by 55 to 53, and last year, at Epping, they maintained their run of home successes against us that stretches back to 1984 (hope I haven't given away one of Satorday's quiz answers!). Usually they bring a large bus load of runners so, despite the long journey from Chingford, we expect to see plenty of white vests on the start line. Here's a brief recap on what a 'mob match' is: consisting of about 60-100 runners and covering a distance of 7.5 miles these races should not be daunting and are a good introduction to cross-country. Think of them as a 'good run in the countryside', or an extended version of the Saturday morning time trials. This is perfect for anyone who has run a 10k and wants to step up to either 10 miles or a half-marathon. There is no fee to enter and it's perfectly acceptable to use it as a training run if you don't feel like racing. Everyone on the start line contributes to the scoring so the more Harriers in attendance the better our chances are. The mob races are for all standards (60min 10k runners won't finish last!) and both sexes, and, in general, the club with the most representatives wins the cup that goes with each race. One great aspect of these races is that everyone counts towards the overall score, so if you are one of the many that struggles to feature among the Ranelagh 'counters' at races this is a great chance to don the Ranelagh vest, take part in a club event, and contribute to the scoring. Saturday's race will be two laps of our course (7.5m/12.5km), beginning close to King Henry's Mound at 2:30pm. Registrations will take place at the clubhouse before 2:00pm and entry is free. Our course is one of the driest around so will be generally solid underfoot. The race doubles as our veterans club championship with prizes for various age-groups. Dave Wright was the first vet last year but his title could be on the line, especially with the youthful Peter Haarer looking very interested. The subplot that is the over-50's race could be the most competitive if the Ranelagh silver-fox collective that is Halvey, Gleave, Wilson, Robinson and Owens appear. Let's hope they remain injury free for the Surrey League! This will be the 83rd mob match against Orion, with us leading by 6 wins (44 to 38). With home support, and the quiz afterwards, it will be great opportunity to experience a mob match. Come along on Saturday 31st October and represent Ranelagh in a classic race on our scenic course!" QUIZ NIGHT There is still time to book for the Quiz Night in the clubhouse this Saturday (31st October) after the Orion mob match. We'll aim to start the quiz at about 6.30pm or as soon as possible afterwards, 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 and drinks. There will be free beer thanks to Michael White and Fullers Brewery. 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). SURREY LEAGUE Our men's and women's teams both need better results in the next League race on November 14th. The Captains are looking to all potential members of the scoring teams to be there if they can. The men at running on South London Harriers' course at Coulsdon, the women are trying out a new course at Denbies Vineyard, Dorking. CLUB PLACES FOR THE LONDON MARATHON Hon Sec Simon Burrell writes: "Each year at the Christmas party, a draw is held for five guaranteed entries to the London Marathon. From 2011 the entry criteria will change and there will be an interim change for 2010. For the 2010 race, fully paid up members will need to have been rejected in the main ballot or have represented the Club in a Mob Match during the current or previous season to be eligible. For the 2011 race, fully paid up members will need to collect 10 or more qualifying points in the current or previous season: 5 points - Representing the Club at one of the four annual Mob Matches 3 points - Volunteering to help at an open event (half marathon or 10k) 2 points - Volunteering to help at a club event (e.g. handicap race) The Club committee wants to reward members for supporting the Club and to encourage participation at Mob Matches, which are one of the few events where all standards can participate and compete together - they are a real opportunity for us all to run as a Club and wear the Ranelagh vest with pride! To ensure that newer or slower runners do not get lost, we will aim to clearly mark/marshal the course and encourage group leaders to run the course in training. We will also look at race times for mid-winter home races to ensure everyone finishes before dusk. Mob Matches are great social events and have a long tradition within the Club. We want all members to run and would encourage everyone to drop back after finishing and encourage those behind them as they come in to the final stretch. More details of the process for entering can be found on the notice-board at the clubhouse. To put your name down for the 2010 event, please email (simon_burrell2000@yahoo.com) any time up until the day before the Christmas party on 28th November, stating your name, contact number, address and whether you were rejected or have/will run a Mob Match to qualify. ED WHITLOCK Thanks to Pete Mulholland for drawing our attention to an article about Ed Whitlock's comeback at the age of 78. Ed apparently has the over 80s world marathon record in his sights (3:39.18!): 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 31st October Lee Cup mob match v Orion Harriers. 7.5 miles in Richmond Park. 2.30pm start. See Niall's note above. Saturday 14th November Surrey League Div 1 (men at Coulsdon, women at Dorking) Saturday 21st November Mob match v Thames Hare & Hounds. 7.5 miles at Kingston Vale (Wimbledon Common). 2.30pm start. 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 *************** SURREY VETERANS CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS Saturday 17th October in Richmond Park In each of the past two years Ranelagh has provided the individual winner of this race. Paul Doyle won in 2007, Darryl McDonald in 2008, but victory seems to come at a price. Both were unable to defend their titles through injury and Paul was missing again this year. Interestingly, his 2007 winning time was identical to that of Andy Weir who won for Thames Hare & Hounds this year. Wisely no Ranelagh men elected to tempt fate by vying for the lead and our first man home in 14th place overall was Howard Gleave. Howard, of course, was competing in the over 50s section, in which he was the title holder. However, injuries have restricted his training too and he needed the best part of an extra minute to complete the 10km as compared to 2008. This was sufficient to shunt him back to 4th place and out of the medals. But Howard was not to leave empty handed as with Chris Owens 5th and Steve Rowland 17th Ranelagh finished 2nd in the Over 50s team race. There was another medal for Chris, a gold one this time, as he won the over 55s section after a gruelling fight with Hercules Wimbledon's Hugh Saxby. Our over 40s team finished in 4th place, leading finishers John Shaw (7th over 45) and Peter Weir (6th over 40). Newly qualified as an over 60, Mike Peace finished 6th in that age group. The women's race over 6km had begun the proceedings but we were represented by only three runners. Sandra Prosser (9th over 35), Karen Weir and Kirsty Bangham followed the afternoon's trend by just missing the medals in 4th place. CABBAGE PATCH 10 miles Sunday 18th October at Twickenham The Cabbage Patch has become renowned as a fast course and was famously the scene of Richard Nerurkar's UK road best of 46.02. This year's race was blessed with perfect running weather and enabled 69 of the 1500+ starters to best the one hour barrier. 62nd of those was Niall O'Connor whose 59.43 brought him home the comfortable winner of the Callis Cup club 10 miles road championship. Almost a minute back came Martin Halvey who placed third in the over 50 category, and another half minute in arrears Iain Wilson finished 5th in the same category. Several personal bests followed: David Rowe, Andrzej Bockowski, 18 year-old Nick Harrison and Grant Hibbert all broke new ground, as did Kate Comisso whose time of 66.22 represented a huge improvement on her previous performances since joining the club. 17 year-old George Inman also put in a good performance just inside 69 minutes. I'm sure there were plenty more PBs down the field - congratulations to everyone. STUBBS CUP MOB MATCH v SOUTH LONDON HARRIERS 7.8 miles Saturday 24th October at Coulsdon Well, it wasn't much of a mob on either side. We mustered only 23 but the home team were not much better with 30 starters, of whom one failed to finish. Perhaps the weather put people off. It was certainly wet overnight and the rain continued into the morning, but by race time it had cleared and we were faced with a warm and bright afternoon. However, as far as the underfoot conditions were concerned, the rain had done its unwelcome job. A week ago we would have enjoyed firm going throughout, and even now much of the course was dry and springy grassland. But the ploughed field was fresh plough and the newly turned clay had that tacky consistency that within a few yards convinces you that you are wearing house bricks on your feet instead of running shoes. Peter Haarer set everyone a good example by travelling all the way from Oxford, and although only arriving five minutes before the start Peter was the only man to stay for any length of time with SLH's Stuart Major. At the end of Happy Valley on the first circuit Peter was compelled to let Major go and instead concentrate on securing an excellent second place. Niall O'Connor and Andy Bix were the only other blue vests in the top ten, though the fast improving Andrzej Bockowski was only just outside. Marie Synnott-Wells in 17th place was the leading woman. Five of our mob match centurions added to their tallies: David Wright, after several weeks out with injury, completed his 136th, Steve Rowland his 121st, Jim Forrest his 111th, Mike Peace his 106th and Clive Naish his 103rd. Tre Roux in 47th place is a friend of Andy Hayward's who had flown in that morning from New Orleans. Tre had never run anything like this before and rated the experience as one of the most memorable of his running career. With such a small turnout from SLH we had a real opportunity to pull off a rare away mob match victory. But of course it didn't happen. BUSHY parkrun 5km Saturday 17th October 1 J Goulis (Strag) 16.05 9 Marc Snaith 17.34 36 Luke Wilson 19.11 37 Darren Wood 19.16 38 David Rowe 19.17 46 Kerrie O'Connor 19.29 110 Chris Camacho 21.20 132 Roger Wilson 21.53 169 Peter Fordham 22.41 253 Chris Wright 24.11 295 Jose Scheuer 25.04 317 Wally Garrod 25.30 364 Gill Wilson 26.57 460 John Hanscomb 29.57 490 Sharon Rowe 31.53 BEDFONT LAKES parkrun 5km Saturday 17th October 1 Danny Norman (Strag) 17.04 5 Duncan Mallison 21.01 12 Chris Wilson 22.48 14 Paul Martingell 23.56 RICHMOND parkrun 5km Saturday 17th October 1 J Brame (RG Active) 17.48 10 Bill Neely 19.17 24 Ben Shore 20.57 45 Karl Garvey 22.03 98 Johannes Prosser 26.39 102 Janet Turnes 27.00 129 Pat Hewlett 30.56 158 Wiebke Kortum 35.24 WIMBLEDON AUDI 10km Sunday 18th October First over 50 prize went to Bill Neely. 1 S Amaidane (Sand) 32.42 (chip time 32.41) 18 Bill Neely 39.18 (39.16) 359 Rebecca Sinclair 52.13 (51.41) BUSHY parkrun 5km Saturday 24th October Third place for Nick Wright. 1 J Goulis (Strag) 16.34 3 Nick Wright 17.49 34 David Rowe 19.37 100 Roger Wilson 21.53 117 Ian Grange 22.13 215 Phil Aiken 24.35 264 Wally Garrod 25.43 297 Holly Wilson 26.40 363 Peter Lowman 28.36 365 Val Lowman 28.38 387 Gill Wilson 29.15 421 John Hanscomb 30.44 424 Sharon Rowe 31.04 RICHMOND parkrun 5km Saturday 24th October 1 J Flood (Strag) 17.29 15 Bill Neely 19.31 47 Rachael Holmes 21.44 68 Wiebke Kortum 22.45 70 Andrew Brown 22.48 102 Philippa Shaw 25.16 124 Rob Kitchen 27.56 130 Johannes Prosser 28.52 133 Stacey Barber 29.30 150 Bronwen Northmore 32.56 152 Rose Constantine 33.23 BEDFONT LAKES parkrun 5km Saturday 24th October Duncan Mallison was the runner-up. 1 S Nicholl (unatt) 18.30 2 Duncan Mallison 20.19 27 Heather Martingell 28.15 ROUNDSHAW DOWNS parkrun 5km Saturday 24th October 1 R Ward (Belgrave) 17.41 24 Paul Sinton-Hewitt 24.32 25 Jo Sinton-Hewitt 24.36 BRIGHTON & HOVE parkrun Saturday 24th October 1 M Furber (Crawley) 16.50 70 Chris Wright 24.37 FRANKFURT MARATHON Sunday 25th October Gavin Jones reports: "I was fearing the worst at the line-up, with all my hard training threatened by a tight chest and a slight temperature that reared their ugly heads about three days before the race. I spent most of the first 8k feeling weak, silly for trying to run with a temperature, and mulling the best point to pull out. But that was as bad as it got. Rather than deteriorating as expected I just stayed on the planned 2:40 pace schedule and gradually started to feel a bit better, despite the odd cough. My hopes rose the longer I stayed on the pace, in fact about 40 seconds ahead of it, as we passed the 15k, 20k, half marathon mark and so on. The anticipated collapse never came and I finished about a minute faster than planned at a totally even pace, passing half way in 79:08 and the second half in 79:29, for a 2:38:37 finish that got me 2nd place among the V45s. And I would certainly have signed up for that before the start. Conditions were great and it's a fast, flattish course (not particularly scenic) that I'd recommend for anyone trying for a PB. We all know that it's fun as long as you're improving! Frankfurt was 8 minutes faster than my last effort in Prague in May, 10 minutes faster than Rome in March and 16 minutes faster than Berlin the previous October - and more than half an hour better than my debut 'comeback' effort in Rome in 2008. I only have about 13 minutes to shave off now and I'll be threatening my old PB set before hanging up my racing togs in 1995! (not really serious there I hasten to add. I think it's back to semi-retirement now, or at least a more laid back approach and shorter distances). Strange to think it all got rolling again with getting into training for that 125 year centenary mob match celebration in Richmond Park a few years ago! Aware that I'm now going to sound like one of those people making a rare telly appearance, can I just take this opportunity to say hi to old mates and training partners from those halcyon days (for me at least) like Dave Wright, whom I'm thankfully still in touch with, Jim Forrest, Simon Hedger, Steve Rowland, Simon Collingridge, Bill Harvey and many others. It was an important time for me even though I think I was only a regular at the Dysart for around a year. Last but not least, let me reiterate an invitation to any Ranelagh people who fancy a weekend in Rome any time. We have a big spare room and it would be a pleasure to put people up, maybe for the Rome marathon, the Roma-Ostia half marathon - or perhaps more probably just for any old weekend of Rome sightseeing. And I can lead you to my local park for those wishing to get in a bit of training too!" 1 G Kirwa (Kenya) 2:06.14 93 Gavin Jones 2:38.46 (chip time 2:38.37) BUPA GREAT SOUTH RUN 10 miles Sunday 25th October at Portsmouth 1 M Farah (N&EB) 46.25 1335 John Pratt 77.43 6448 Sharon Dooley 96.09 6450 Danny Hobbs 96.10 RONHILL SURREY CLASSIC 10km Sunday 25th October at Oxshott 1 A Robinson (HW) 34.18 49 Roger Wilson 44.51 168 John Hanscomb 67.11 HAMMERSMITH RIVERSIDE 3.3 miles Handicap Tuesday 27th October Alan Davidson reports on the stats for this event: Alan Howard holds the age bests for 71 year-olds (23.14 in 2007) and 72s (23.11 this year). Ken Powley still holds the record for 73s (25.50 in 2003) and 74s (24.42 in 2004). 1 T Harran (HHH) 19.12 8 Alan Davidson 23.14 11 Alan Howard 24.53 FINALLY... "I became a great runner because if you're a kid in Leeds and your name is Sebastian you've got to become a great runner." Sebastian Coe