*************************************************** RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 332 31 May 2010 Editor: Steve Rowland mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com *************************************************** HEADLINE NEWS ************* * Liz Kipling wins Dorking 10 miles and county championship * Trevor Maguire is our first man at Dorking * Two teams complete the Green Belt Relay - Rachael Holmes is our only stage winner * Estelle Damant runs 82.06 in the Scottish Half Marathon * Peter Haarer wins Bucks and Oxon 5000 metres championship * parkrun placings for Natalie Middleton and Duncan Mallison * Colin Bishop and Ken Fotherby obituaries SEE HERE ******** ROAD GRAND PRIX The next Grand Prix event is our Richmond 10km on Sunday 20th June - see below. It also features in the Surrey Road League here: and doubles as the county championship. Current GP leaders after five events are Trevor Maguire (open and over 40), Bill Neely (over 50), Carola Richter (women) and Lynne Barber (over 40). There is a three-way tie for the lead in the women's over 55 group! Full details are available on our website here:. BARBECUE We're planning to hold a barbecue at the clubhouse following the Richmond 10km on Sunday 20th June. Reserve the date and watch this space. SUNDAY MORNING TRAINING Martin Wolfson writes: "I would like to try and help develop an informal Sunday morning running group. I have a few names already. My idea would be to get a list of people who might be interested and for anyone of the group to email the rest to say what they are they planning to do and if anyone wants to join them. If you're interested please contact me: martin.wolfson@talk21.com". PHOTOPLOD Louise Piears writes: "Sandra and I have joined a team taking part in PhotoPlod 2010, a 40 mile overnight sponsored walk along the South Downs Way from Steyning to Eastbourne. Although it's meant to be a walk, we do plan to run quite a bit and hope to complete this in under 10 hours. Please would you consider helping us towards our fundraising target - it really is quite a way and will be quite a challenge for us so would appreciate any support to encourage us on our way! Our fundraising website is www.action.org.uk/sponsor/teamcolborne2 " AUTUMN EVENTS Runtolive have sent us details of the following autumn races: Badger Half Marathon 5th September 9am at Leatherhead Bacchus Marathon and Half Marathon 12th September 11am at Denbies Vineyard, Dorking - wine tasting at each water station!! Autumn Spitfire 20 miles and Tempest 10 miles 3rd October 9.30am at Dunsfold Details of all these at www.eventstolive.co.uk SUBSCRIPTIONS... ...were due on April 1st. Please be prompt! Rates remain unchanged: Seniors £40; Under 20 or student £10; Family membership £70; Retired and over 60: £20; Second-claim £20; Non-running £10. You can pay by cheque (payable to Ranelagh Harriers and sent to Membership Secretary, Ranelagh Harriers, 135a Petersham Road, Richmond, Surrey TW10 7AA) or you can download a standing order form from our web site here:. COLIN BISHOP Colin Bishop died on 18th May just a few days short of his 87th birthday. Although Colin had run as a young man it was not until the mid-1970s, when he was already in his 50s, that he started running seriously again and became a member of Ranelagh. Success was not long in coming: in February 1976 he finished 32nd in the National Vets over 50s championship at Parliament Hill and together with Don Martin and Bob Maslin took home a team silver medal. He was unlucky not to win more over 50 championship medals: in 1979 when our team finished 3rd in the Southern event and 2nd in the National he was our fourth man home on each occasion. He was a regular competitor at all distances on the country and road, including several marathons. "Don't forget the time he ran the Birmingham Marathon," writes Ian Milne. "The following Wednesday he reported to me that he had a damaged knee, and thought that might have been the reason why he ran slower than expected. I asked him what had caused the problem and he didn't know. But he added that it might have been caused as he was cycling up to Birmingham on the Friday beforehand, or when he was sleeping in the ditch. He cycled back as well of course." The journey itself had not been uneventful. Colin and bicycle were stopped by the police on the way and escorted off the motorway... Colin recorded 3:22 in the first London Marathon in 1981 and completed his last marathon in the London event ten years later at the age of 68. He competed in over 50 club handicaps but it was not until 1988 that the handicapper smiled on him. After being overtaken at the last corner of the 1988 Clutton Cup and settling for the silver medal Colin won bronze just a few weeks later in the Baker Cup and then in the summer of 1989 he finally got his name on one of the trophies with a win in the Coad Cup. There was no stopping him then - 2nd in the 1990 Page Cup, 3rd in the 1992 Hastings Cup handicap, 1st in the 1993 Page Cup and 1st again in the 1994 Hastings. A lifetime spent working in photographic laboratories sadly had a ruinous affect on Colin's eyesight and he eventually had to give up running. Nevertheless, although virtually blind, he continued to act as a marshal for our cross-country events well into his 80s. Our condolences go to his daughter Corinne, who is herself a Ranelagh member. KEN FOTHERBY Dr Ken Fotherby snr died on Friday 21st May after a long illness. He was 82. Like Colin Bishop, Ken came late to running, though he and his wife Helena had both been enthusiastic walkers all their lives. It was in the early 1980s that Ken and Helena joined Ranelagh and both demonstrated such a talent for the sport that one wonders what they might have achieved had they started younger. They both became prolific winners of veterans prizes in road races - to the extent that Helena had to beg Ken to stop entering the Burnham Beeches Half Marathon..the prizes were invariably young beech trees and their garden simply couldn't accommodate any more! Tall and gaunt, with a deceptive long raking stride, Ken continued to run well through his 50s and 60s. A glance at our club vets rankings give an indication of his prowess: amongst the over 60s he is ranked first at 10km (37.50), 10 miles (62.48) and Half Marathon (81.56) and second at the Marathon (3:06.09). He is also highly ranked at each distance in the Over 50 age group and stands at the head of the Half Marathon list with 76.35 (one second faster than Hugh Jones!). On the country he holds the over 60 record for our one-lap 5 miles course with 31.21 and won many medals in the Surrey Veterans championships including victory in the over 60 group in 1989. Ken was perhaps too consistent to enjoy much success in handicaps and out of 34 attempts he had only one silver medal - for the 1986 Hastings Cup - to show for his efforts. He would surely have put his name on the trophies for our over 50 and over 60 cross-country championships had these been in existence a little earlier. Both were donated in 1996, by which time ill-health was already beginning to restrict his activities. Ken was extremely eminent in the field of gynaecology and, researching at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London, he had many highly-regarded publications to his name. Our condolences go to Helena and their family, including son Ken jnr who has himself twice been the club marathon champion. The funeral takes place at 2.30pm this Friday (June 4th) at Kingston Crematorium. WHAT'S COMING ************* More details of the following from Marc Snaith (07717 213035 mailto ( mdsnaith5@hotmail.com ) or Marie Synnott-Wells (07956 431319 (After 5pm Weekdays) / mailto nandmwells@aol.com ) Sunday 6th June MABAC League 5 miles at Holmwood Common (near Dorking). 11am start. Sunday 20th June Ranelagh Richmond 10km. 9am start. Sunday 27th June Coombe Hill 5 miles at Kingston. 9.45am start. Tuesday 13th July Coad Cup 5 miles handicap in Richmond Park. All members welcome, 7.15pm start. Followed by club AGM in the clubhouse. Saturday 17th July Elmore 7 miles. 2pm start. Sunday 25th July Elmbridge 10km. 9am 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 Kingston The Hawker Centre Other venues, more details and registration at www.parkrun.com WHAT'S HAPPENED *************** DORKING 10 miles Sunday 23rd May Entries were down somewhat for the Dorking 10 this year, probably owing to the change of date which led to a clash with the Green Belt Relay; in addition the Dorking was only a week after the Richmond Half Marathon, both of them county championships - not an ideal schedule. One thing the earlier date did not seem to affect was the weather. As usual it was sunny and warm - one might even venture to say hot. Our own entry was down for the same reasons, and we were unable to contest the team awards as we usually manage to do in this event. But Liz Kipling - another day, another PB - gave us something to cheer about as she romped home the winner of the women's race in 62.55. As well as a fistful of vouchers for winning the open race, this performance also brought her the county senior and over 35 championship medals. Liz used to suffer in the heat..."I think I'm beginning to like it" she said afterwards. Trevor Maguire was our only man to finish ahead of Liz, and to do so he had to record his fastest time on this course. Trevor was the 5th over 50 to finish and behind him and Liz Bill Neely came in as the 5th over 50. GREEN BELT RELAY Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd May Kirsty Bangham reports: "My first GBR since 2007, and my first ever Ranelagh Road Trip - I was very excited about this weekend! I was also looking forward to not organising anything - that didn't work out so well when the team captain of Ham and Cheese, Jo Sinton-Hewitt, had to pull out due to family circumstances. As vice captain I agreed to take over, and actually there was nothing to it, Jo had done all the hard work. All I had to do was let everyone run faster than me as a motivational tool! I became slightly less excited and more apprehensive about the whole thing when I saw the weather forecast - wall to wall blue skies, sunshine and soaring temperatures. Very pleasant - unless you're trying to run that is. Ah well, at least I didn't have to pack any waterproofs! Saturday got off to a good start when I handed in my completed declaration form about five minutes before the race started. It had been touch and go with a few drop outs, but Marie and I both managed to enter a full team. Hoorah. There was an interesting interlude to the pre-race briefing when the Golden Joggers made their entrance in head to toe gold Lycra. I have never seen race director Lynda speechless before! Anyway, stage one got off on time, while I had a lovely pre-race pep talk from my parents (on their way to the Bushy parkrun) and Sharon and David (parked illegally, also on the way to Bushy!). From then on it was all systems go. I am always amazed by the sheer pace of GBR; basically the race moves at the pace of the fastest runner and sometimes it's hard to keep up by car! Sandra had organised a fantastic system of odd and even buses, one to drop you off, and one to pick you up, with Chris R in the car for emergencies (more about them later!). We quickly organised our baggage and I started off in the car with Chris as we had a mission to deliver Howard's bag to Staines. I handed it over to Keith, one of the timekeepers, cheered on Crispy and Andrew at the start of leg two, then jumped in to the odd bus to head for Boveney. Where the first mini-crisis of the weekend happened... We parked up at the start of leg 3, Marie and Bronwen headed for the loo, and my phone rang. (I came to hate the sound of my phone ringing or beeping over the course of the weekend.) It was Mark. Who was running leg 3. In 10 minutes. And had been dropped off at some random location with some spurious instructions as to how to get to the start. We zoomed off to collect him, while I phoned Marie and asked her to beg the timekeepers to let him start late. I couldn't cope with things going wrong this early on! The road to the start was next to a field of cows. With no fence. I said to Iain who was driving - 'If those cows wander into the road, just kill them!' I like cows really! Mark and I leaped out of the bus almost while it was still moving, sprinted down the path to the start, and everyone was still there! The GBR gods were smiling on us and the start had been delayed by five minutes. The lovely timekeepers accepted that I'd given Mark a safety briefing and off they went. Panic over. For now... Next stop was Great Kingshill where Marie and Bronwen were starting stage 5. The excitement here was the prospect of tea and cakes in the village hall. Well it took three old ladies about 20 minutes to provide us with a cup of coffee two sausage rolls and a piece of cake. Very nice though! The other exciting moment was that I was reunited with my marmite sandwich which I'd left on the wrong bus. We dropped off the girls and were about to head off for some marshaling when I suddenly had a thought. Weren't we due to collect Chris B and Louise? Yes we were! Hoorah for Chris R and his car. We found the marshaling spot with no problem, we being Iain as he'd been there before. We gave out a lot of water. It was very hot. Did I mention that? Then it was on to St Albans to drop off Iain, pick up Ali and Sandra, and change drivers. A small navigational error on the motorway - we need junction 7. Ah, that would be the one we just passed - nearly caused another crisis, but we made it in time not only for the start but for the briefing! Jar and Iain set off, Sandra and Mike came in. Sandra did not stop running for a moment after the race, except to arrange a lift with someone else! Luckily Mike came with us as he was our new driver. Now it was my turn for the pre-race faffage as we headed to Dobbs Weir and stage 9. Thankfully we arrived in plenty of time, I used the time to sit in the shade. It was now 5pm but had not cooled down at all. I offered to pace Graham Brook but he didn't seem interested... We set off along the towpath and in no time at all I was last. Which was fine by me. After 7 miles of said towpath I had reeled in 3 people ahead of me and was ready for some new scenery. Which was good as we came off the towpath at this point. Unfortunately it was also at this point that I decided the official route wasn't interesting enough and I should add a bit more, in a different direction. Oops. I ran round in circle, stopped to consult the map, asked some passers by if they'd seen several runners, and was not much the wiser. Eventually after running around the same field three times one of the people I'd overtaken appeared. We climbed over two fences that weren't supposed to be there, and were back on track. By this point I felt slightly demoralised as I had run enough distance to be nearly there, and wasn't. So you can imagine how glad I was to discover that the last mile or so was one massive hill. I walked up most of it. Swearing. Half a mile from the end, when I'd really lost the plot, Iain appeared from behind a tree and ran the last bit with me, which definitely helped. I was very very happy to see the finish but very very not happy with my awful run. I did not feel too good either, which was to become more apparent later in the evening. We then headed for the finish at Blackmore where I was bizarrely cold, as all my spare clothes were in the wrong bus. Note to self - concentrate harder when packing. Rachael stormed in to win the stage, Ali had a great run too and we headed to The Leather Bottle for dinner. Of which I managed four chips and a pint of coke. I felt rather ill. As did Bronwen. Too much sun. Luckily Jar tidied up my dinner for me! Back in the buses and off to Chelmsford Travelodge. I slept the whole way there and felt a bit better when we arrived, sadly this did not last and I felt rather ill all night. Sorry Vicci who had to share a room with me! Up early and everyone felt better - hooray. Small trainers-in-wrong-bus trauma for Bronwen, but that was soon resolved. Back in the odd bus for me and off to Thorndon Park to drop off Bronwen and Sandra, and pick up Marie and Mike. Next stop was a petrol station as we had been driving on fumes all morning up to this point. Then we headed to Davy Down but this kind of passed me by. After having some breakfast at the service station I felt the need for a small power nap. (I'd slept very badly on Saturday night). I woke up as we were driving off from Davy Down. Are we not stopping here? I asked, only to be told we'd been there for 20 minutes! I then noticed we'd picked up Jar and Rachael too! I also noticed Mike's lovely and very flattering new stage winner t shirt he had availed himself of... A very quick stop at Lullingstone Park to say good luck to Ali and Iain, then off to Tatsfield to drop off Andy W and Chris B. I've decided I don't like Tatsfield, it has very bad karma! It all started very pleasantly, with a sandwich in a pub, then the dreaded phone began to ring. This time proper disaster had struck. Vicci had tripped over a tree root, dislocated her shoulder and had to go to hospital. We were just digesting that bit of bad news when the phone rang again... Ali had been overcome by the heat and needed rescuing. Jar and Mike zoomed off and brought her to the finish. She looked pretty bad but was recovering all the time. By the time we got to Box Hill she was sitting up and eating crisps and an ice cream, which seemed to be just what she needed. We arrived at Box Hill just in time to shout good luck to Crispy and Andy B out of the window, then picked up Burkhard. Next stop was Ripley for my stage. I had made a much more concerted effort to stay right out of the sun all day, and also decided to implement a run/walk strategy from the beginning - run a mile, walk a minute and drink. Drink water, not sports drink which is soooo disgusting when it's warm it turns my stomach. Or so I discovered on Saturday. This strategy, along with stopping at every marshal to have water poured over me, worked very well, and I finished feeling a hundred times better than the previous day. I also went the right way! And beat five whole people! (My walk breaks may have gone a bit free form around mile seven, but we'll gloss over that...). Then it was time to head to the finish! The finish of the whole race! How did that happen so quickly? We made it in time to see some runners finish, but in all honesty I was more excited about the ice lolly Sharon bought me! We attempted a team photo; in the end we took a couple as various people came and went. I just about managed to keep my eyes open for the prizegiving then home, food, bath and bed. What a fantastic weekend, I can hardly wait for next year. I really enjoyed getting to know some club members better, the camaraderie and support is just brilliant. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed in any way shape or form." As Kirsty says, our only winner of one of the coveted "stage winner" t-shirts was Rachael Holmes on Saturday's final stage. There were, however, a number of near-misses: Marie Synnott-Wells scored a brace of second places and other runners-up included Rachael Holmes on her Sunday stage, Kerrie O'Connor and Howard Gleave. Chris Bundhun, Andrew Forth and Bronwen Fisher all recorded third places. There was actually one other Ranelagh stage winner, though not in our colours: this was Steve Whitehead who ran a nifty pair of stages for the Stock Exchange team including a win on stage 2. In addition a few Ranelagh runners took part in the team put together by the Richmond parkrun, including event director Karen Weir. Stage 1 12.7 miles 1 C Minis (Beck) 1:12.39 4 Howard Gleave 1:17.21 25 Wyn Williams 1:39.27 Stage 2 10.15 miles 1 Steve Whitehead (SE) 59:51 7 Andrew Forth 1:05.44 33 Chris Wright 1:28.55 Stage 3 11 miles 1 B Paviour (Serp) 1:06.47 9 Mark Herbert 1:14.56 21 Kerrie O'Connor 1:22.31 Stage 4 12.2 miles 1 A Barnes (Stock Ex) 1:13.15 10 Chris Bundhun 1:29.36 26 Louise Piears 1:53.18 Stage 5 13.5 miles 1 A Greenleaf (Serp) 1:14.23 17 Marie Synnott-Wells 1:40.53 28 Bronwen Fisher 1:49.05 Stage 6 8.4 miles 1 H Torry (Serp) 46.06 19 Sandra Prosser 1:01.52 20 Lee Coole (Rpr) 1:04.37 24 Michael White 1:10.37 Stage 7 12 miles 1 S Whelan (London F) 1:09.16 12 Iain Wilson 1:21.36 31 Jar O'Brien 1:40.12 Stage 8 10.65 miles 1 B Reynolds (Clap) 1:00.59 16 Burkhard Fehsenfeld 1:17.20 26 Andrew Brown (Rpr) 1:30.42 38 Vicci Randle 1:41.41 Stage 9 10.2 miles 1 G Brook (Strag) 1:00:05 5 Andy Bickerstaff 1:07.42 38 Kirsty Bangham 1:51.23 Stage 10 9.7 miles 1 J Cunningham (Serp) 56.36 15 Chris Read 1:11.21 17 Andy Woodhouse 1:11.51 Stage 11 7.5 miles 1 J Marshall (Thrift G) 46.01 9 Rachael Holmes 53.52 19 Alison Dicks 59.29 Stage 12 10.9 miles 1 B Reynolds (Clap) 1:01.37 15 Marie Synnott-Wells 1:18.21 26 Michael White 1:32.16 Stage 13 6.9 miles 1 J Nugus (Serp) 42.17 14 Sandra Prosser 49.41 17 Bronwen Fisher 50.39 Stage 14 7.9 miles 1 J Flood (Strag) 47.44 12 Rachael Holmes 58.20 22 Jar O'Brien 1:03.34 Stage 15 9.2 miles 1 J Cunningham (Serp) 56.24 19 Chris Read 1:13.18 37 Vicci Randle 1:39.20 Stage 16 13.3 miles 1 H Torry (Serp) 1:20.33 18 Iain Wilson 1:44.57 39 Alison Dicks 2:26.00 (cut-off time) Stage 17 10.5 miles 1 B Paviour (Serp) 1:00.34 3 Chris Bundhun 1:09.54 18 Andy Woodhouse 1:20.06 Stage 18 8.7 miles 1 A Greenleaf (Serp) 47.10 4 Steve Whitehead (SE) 52.15 18 Burkhard Fehsenfeld 1:05.09 24 Karen Weir (Rpr) 1:08.33 26 Louise Piears 1:11.29 Stage 19 10.5 miles 1 A Barnes (Stock Ex) 1:02:27 12 Andy Bickerstaff 1:17.41 33 Andrew Brown (Rpr) 1:40.11 35 Chris Wright 1:46.38 Stage 20 5.6 miles 1 S Barrett (Serp) 29.17 12 Kerrie O'Connor 37.43 16 Wyn Williams 39.08 Stage 21 8.4 miles 1 P Clarkson (T Maybel) 52.07 3 Andrew Forth 53.24 9 Peter Weir (Rpr) 56.39 34 Kirsty Bangham 1:25.10 Stage 22 9.15 miles 1 A Jackson (Strag) 53.59 2 Howard Gleave 55.39 12 Mark Herbert 1:01.39 HOLYMOORSIDE 10km Sunday 9th May Phil Aiken reports: "Holymoorside is a little village lying just to the west of Chesterfield, at the foot of the Pennines. I used to run out there on my training runs, from where I had a choice - turn left onto my 5½ mile route and return home or turn right to add in a 6 mile loop. The distances were, of course, approximate. This was a pre-Garmin age when results were produced on a typewriter and distances were measured using pieces of string and a map's scale. It was the same 6 mile loop (a quite accurate measurement as it turned out) that was used for this 10k and the reason I wanted to go back and run it. Starting outside the village hall (altitude 140m) a short descent led to the right turn onto Loads Road and the start of the climb. It was steepest at the bottom but, once out of the village, the road headed up in a dead straight line, steepening as the summit - and the Peak District National Park - approached at 3km (330m). Except it wasn't the high point of the race. A descent to cross the Hipper Sick (315m) was followed by a drag up to the highest point (360m) just after 4km. Of course, what goes up must come down and the final 6k were pretty much all downhill. The profile made for some interesting split times. Through 4k in 26mins yet the last 6k took just 90 seconds longer. Inevitably, that hallowed holy grail - a negative split - was impressively achieved with the second half 8 minutes faster than the first. If my sums are right, the opening 4k yielded 750 feet of ascent. Not the sort of thing you get in your average road race, but home from home to local fell runner Stuart Bond, who romped home in 33:29 - a staggering 4½ minutes ahead of second place! The race photos showed him well clear inside the first kilometre. This was the first running of the Holymoorside 10k and the organisers, the 1st Holymoorside Scouts, must be congratulated on their bold and welcome addition to the racing calendar and they were rewarded with perfect weather for the race, showing the gorgeous setting at its best." 1 S Bond 33.29 98 Phil Aiken 53.30 BRIDGES 2.3 miles handicap Wednesday 12th May at Westminster 1 K Burnett (SoC) 20.02 (actual time 23.02) 10 Alan Davidson 21.02 (16.32) 25 John Hanscomb 22.08 (23.38) COUNTY TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS Saturday 8th / Sunday 9th May In addition to the results already reported, Peter Haarer was in action in the Bucks and Oxon championships. Peter writes: "I suspect I won the V35 1500m title (7th overall in 4.16), but I had much more fun the following day regaining the 5k title as outright winner in 15.31 (fastest time for about five years or so)". EASTLEIGH parkrun 5km Saturday 15th May 1 M Shepherd (Kennet) 17.26 6 David Rowe 19.46 50 Sharon Rowe 34.38 CROUCH END 10km Sunday 16th May John Pratt was the leading over 60. 1 G Stewart (Lon Hth) 34.16 143 John Pratt 46.04 RICHMOND parkrun 5km Saturday 22nd May Natalie Middleton was the leading woman in her first outing at the Richmond parkrun. 1 P Marteletti (VP&TH) 16.15 6 Jerym Brunton 18.54 12 Bill Neely 19.27 36 Natalie Middleton 21.21 56 Alan Davidson 22.27 81 Tony Appleby 24.13 84 Jo Sinton-Hewitt 24.20 159 Christine Goodsell 28.57 161 Lynne Barber 29.23 185 Bronwen Northmore 33.18 BUSHY parkrun 5km Saturday 22nd May 1 A McGeoch-Williams 17.11 19 David Rowe 18.47 280 Andrew Brown 24.35 552 Teresa Segovia 30.47 565 John Hanscomb 31.24 654 Sharon Rowe 35.06 BEDFONT LAKES parkrun 5km Saturday 22nd May 1 R Brookling 16.57 30 Roger Wilson 24.31 36 Sharon Dooley 25.17 58 Gill Wilson 29.29 KINGSTON parkrun Saturday 22nd May 1 R Reeder (Strag) 18.15 8 Chris Camacho 21.11 19 Louise Gill 27.14 23 Hannah Doyle 30.06 WIMBLEDON COMMON parkrun 5km Saturday 22nd May 1 C Scott 17.15 73 Alexander Fordham 22.44 90 Peter Fordham 23.29 FRIMLEY LODGE parkrun 5km Saturday 22nd May 1 M Rix (Farnham) 17.29 6 Darren Wood 19.26 BLACK PARK parkrun 5km Saturday 22nd May 1 S Gardner 17.22 88 Danny Hobbs 26.36 SCOTTISH HALF MARATHON Sunday 23rd May in Edinburgh Estelle Damant had a great run to finish 6th in the women's race and take almost two minutes off her previous best for the distance. 1 D Webb (Leeds) 64.44 (chip time 64.44) 34 Estelle Damant 82.06 (81.59) EDINBURGH MARATHON Sunday 23rd May 1 S Littler (Wesham) 2:26.30 4877 Jose Scheuer 4:26.44 SELF TRANSCENDENCE 5km Monday 24th May in Battersea Park Alan Davidson reports: "It was a very uncomfortable experience in the breezy conditions because of all the stuff coming off the trees and going into the eyes and mouth. At the end it sounded like a smokers' convention with everyone coughing loudly!" 1 C Peach (Herne Hill) 15.24 73 Alan Davidson 21.47 93 John Pratt 22.47 HAMMERSMITH RIVERSIDE 3.3 miles handicap Tuesday 25th May 1 D Williams 19.13 6 Alan Davidson 23.02 10 Alan Howard 24.55 LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH 5km Friday 28th May in Hyde Park 1 S Collins (Enf & Har) 15.40 41 Simon Hedger 19.13 103 Alan Davidson 21.44 206 John Hanscomb 31.38 BUSHY parkrun 5km Saturday 29th May 1 J Trapmore (Shaft B) 16.07 20 Darren Wood 18.41 51 Luke Wilson 19.50 59 Adam Wright 20.07 93 David Rowe 20.59 124 Bronwen Fisher 21.51 144 Clare King 22.19 282 Chris Wright 24.40 348 Kirsty Bangham 26.00 351 Tamsin Burland 26.04 417 Holly Wilson 27.22 423 Gill Wilson 27.26 515 Teresa Segovia 29.58 595 John Hanscomb 32.31 RICHMOND parkrun 5km Saturday 29th May 1 M Hunt (Trafford) 16.38 9 Jerym Brunton 18.54 15 Bill Neely 19.25 43 Grant Hibbert 21.21 111 Rob Kitchen 25.14 129 Philippa Shaw 26.22 147 Lynne Barber 27.26 151 Sally Bamford 27.45 162 Sue Camp 28.40 170 Christine Goodsell 29.13 193 Bronwen Northmore 32.21 195 Pat Hewlett 32.41 209 Bev Ali 36.20 217 Andy Woodhouse 44.19 KINGSTON parkrun 5km Saturday 29th May 1 R Reeder (Strag) 17.38 7 Chris Camacho 20.44 18 Wiebke Kortum 23.07 26 Paul Sinton-Hewitt 24.34 31 Louise Gill 28.35 BEDFONT LAKES parkrun 5km Saturday 29th May Third place for Duncan Mallison. 1 V Gill (Thames T) 18.29 3 Duncan Mallison 18.59 15 Lee Davies 22.14 31 Paul Martingell 24.28 WIMBLEDON COMMON parkrun 5km Saturday 29th May 1 G Brook (Strag) 16.46 92 Peter Fordham 23.43 FINALLY... Two more stories from Mike McDowell: "In Germany rules are rules. At the Veterans World Champs in Hanover, competitors were allowed into the stadium providing they had a competitors' card round their neck. Spectators were supposed to pay. If you went in with your card, and then handed it to your wife through the chain link fence - in full view - and she put it round her neck, she was allowed in. Rules are rules! I took my wife to her first Veterans road race on a Tuesday night at Battersea Park. The first thing she saw was two very elderly vets warming (hobbling) up, 'My God,' she said, 'If ever there was a case for euthanasia, this is it!'"