*************************************************** RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 335 10 August 2010 Editor: Steve Rowland mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com *************************************************** HEADLINE NEWS ************* * PBs galore in the Elmbridge 10km * Steve Whitehead and Marie Synnott-Wells are first home for Ranelagh * Ranelagh wins the shield for the most finishers in the Wedding Day 7km * Liz Kipling 11th overall and 2nd woman, Chris Bundhun 13th * Liz cracks 10 minutes for 3000m * County 5km medals for Phil Killingley, Richard Gregory, Nathan Mills, Marie Synnott-Wells and Sonia Rowland * Good turnout in MABAC League * Road Grand Prix wins for Trevor Maguire, Bill Neely, Marie Synnott-Wells and Michele Gibson * Ranelagh men finish second in the Surrey Road League, women third * Ralph Street finishes 7th in the Junior World Orienteering Championships * Handicap success for Alan Davidson * parkrun placings for Clare King, Duncan Mallison, Mark Herbert, Sharon Dooley and Kirsty Bangham SEE HERE ******** ROAD GRAND PRIX and SURREY ROAD LEAGUE The Wimbledon Dash 5km on Sunday 8th August was the final event in both our own Road Grand Prix and the Surrey Road League. Even though he was away for the final race, Trevor Maguire had already done more than enough to secure both the Open and Over 40 titles in the GP. Bill Neely and Duncan Mallison filled second and third places in the Open category, while Paul Rider and Simon Burrell took the minor places in the Over 40s. Bill Neely was the clear winner in the Over 50s section, ahead of Howard Gleave and Wally Garrod. Marie Synnott-Wells was another double winner, taking the Open Women's title ahead of Liz Kipling and Deborah Blakemore and the Over 40s from Lynne Barber and Deborah. Michele Gibson won the over 50s title ahead of Bev Ali and Pat Hewlett. 128 members completed at least one of the ten Grand Prix races. Full scoreboard here:. Unusually we did not provide any winners in the Surrey Road League this year, though we did well to finish runners-up in the men's competition to Herne Hill Harriers, and to take third place in the women's. Individually our best results came from Trevor Maguire, third in the Over 40s, and Lynne Barber, fourth in the Over 45s. League tables:. RICHMOND PARK TRAIL RUN SLOW - South London Orienteers - will be running the last of this summer's Trail Runs from our clubhouse on Tuesday 10th August. These events are somewhere between a cross-country race and an orienteering event. You run with a map round a series of control points but navigation is generally not too difficult. There's a 10km and a 6km event. More details:. Our normal training sessions will take place as usual, but anyone wishing to have a run in the Trail Run will be welcome. OPENING RUN and THOMAS CUP HANDICAP The Opening Run of our 130th season takes place on Saturday 4th September with the traditional Thomas Cup handicap race over 3.8 miles in Richmond Park, preceded by the annual club photograph. All paid-up members will be welcome, the more the merrier. 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 ) Tuesday 10th August Richmond Park Trail Run. 7.30pm start. Details:. Tuesday 24th August Ratchford Relay (women only). 7.30pm start in Richmond Park. Register by 7pm. Details:. Saturday 4th September Thomas Cup 3.8 miles handicap at 3pm preceded by our annual club photograph Saturday 11th September Surrey Road Relay Championships at Wimbledon Park. 12 noon 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 ************** ELMBRIDGE 10km Sunday 25th July at Walton Elmbridge is a pretty flat course and the conditions were comfortable but most people find the loose gravel of the towpath slows them down somewhat. All credit then to a number of fine personal bests right down the field. Steve Whitehead led the Ranelagh charge. His target for the year had been to beat 35 minutes, which he succeeded in doing by a single second at Sutton back in May. Here he ran a great race to hack over half a minute off his personal best with 34.26 in 16th place. Nathan Mills's 35.16 broke new ground by a few seconds, as did Trevor Maguire, running a personal best at the age of 45. Chris Bundhun and Bill Neely also set new bests, Bill's 38.42 elevating him to 20th in the club's all-time over 50 ranking list. And so it continues...apologies that I can't identify every personal best set today! ITV correspondent Bill Neely was featured, complete with action photograph from Elmbridge, in the August 2nd edition of The Sun. He's described as "...running for top athletics club Ranelagh Harriers". Nice one, Bill. Marie Synnott-Wells was our leading woman and won the overall W45 category. Carola Richter was next, in one of her final races before leaving us for Australia; then came Heather Martingell, whose 47.48 (another PB, of course) places her 8th in our W45 ranking list. WEDDING DAY 7km Friday 30th July in Bushy Park First of all, congratulations to each and every one of our 46 finishers. You all contributed to our winning the plate for the club with the greatest number of finishers for the third year in succession. A pat on the back for us all! Liz Kipling continues to set personal bests by such margins that she herself seems in a state of shock. She came to the Wedding Day race fresh from cracking the 10 minutes barrier for 3000m on the track: her 9:54.1 at Kingston on 21st July ranks her 4th nationally in 2010 amongst over 35s. In Bushy Park she sliced no less than 2mins 25secs off her previous fastest on this course to finish 11th overall. Unfortunately it wasn't quite enough to bring Liz first place in the women's race, though she finished only 18 seconds behind the winner Thames's Julia Bleasdale. Chris Bundhun chased Liz all the way and put in one of his best performances to date in 13th place. David Rowe, Duncan Mallison and Jerym Brunton followed one another home a little behind Chris, and then came Chris Owens taking 3rd place in the over 50s section (with Bill Neely not far behind in 4th). Marie Synnott-Wells finished 7th in the women's race, 2nd amongst the over 45s. The Ranelagh team of Liz, Marie and Michelle Davies filled second place and Sonia Rowland was also 2nd in the over 55 category. WIMBLEDON DASH 5km Sunday 8th August at Wimbledon Park This new event replaced the old Belgrave Bolt 5km as the Surrey 5km championship and the final event in the 2010 Surrey Road League. The Belgrave course was notoriously hilly but anyone expecting an easy alternative would have been disappointed at discovering the tough hill up to Wimbledon Village in the opening mile. The course was essentially one lap of that used for the county road relays in September. Phil Killingley ran an excellent race to finish second overall, just outsprinting American visitor Paul Thistle who had won the Wedding Day race the previous week. Phil's 15.48 was beaten only by Belgrave's Ugandan Olympian Paskar Owor. Richard Gregory has been working in Pakistan for most of the past year and was back home on a brief visit. Despite the practical difficulties of training effectively in Pakistan, Richard showed that he has managed to maintain a good level of fitness and finished 17th in 17.13, four places and ten seconds ahead of Nathan Mills. Phil, Richard and Nathan were rewarded with silver medals in the team race. Duncan Mallison was next in, followed by Chris Owens, third over 50 to finish. Liz Kipling would surely have been favourite for the women's race but a slight injury kept her away, leaving Marie Synnott-Wells to lead the Ranelagh women's team. She finished fifth overall in 19.30 but came away with county gold medals in both the over 35 and over 45 categories. To make it a clean sweep in the veterans classes, Sonia Rowland won gold in the over 55's just a few weeks after moving into that category. JUNIOR WORLD ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS Sunday 4th - Saturday 10th July at Aalborg, Denmark Ralph Street faced a tough schedule of five races in seven days as a leading member of the Great Britain team in the M20 class. First up was the 2.675km Sprint event where Ralph finished 18th (3rd Brit) in a field of 153 runners. Next day saw the 11.275km Long Distance race, and Ralph improved to 13th (1st Brit). A day's rest followed before the three qualifying heats for the Middle Distance event. Ralph ran in the third heat on a 3.8km course and qualified comfortably in 14th place. The final took place the next day over 4.675km and Ralph produced his best result finishing 7th out of 61, only 17 seconds from a podium place. The final day saw the relay event, and Ralph anchored the British team to 8th place, gaining four places on his leg. Sprint 2.675km Monday 5th July 1 R Hansen (Denmark) 13.04 18 Ralph Street 14.04 Long Distance 11.275km Tuesday 6th July 1 P Kubat (Czech Rep) 78.48 13 Ralph Street 85.28 Middle Distance Qualifier 3.8km Thursday 8th July 1 R Hansen (Denmark) 21.43 14 Ralph Street 24.04 Middle Distance Final 4.675km Friday 9th July 1 G Steiwer (Norway) 23.44 7 Ralph Street 28.27 Relay Saturday 10th July 1 Norway 2:20.44 8 Great Britain & NI 2:34.31 RICHMOND parkrun 5km Saturday 17th July There were some initial glitches with the results, resulting in these two RH being omitted from the version included in the last e-news: 19 Andy Woodhouse 20.40 39 Andrew Brown 22.24 ROUND ARRAN RELAY Saturday 24th July Andy Hayward reports: "A six man Ranelagh Harriers team (Alan Elder, Andy Bickerstaff, Andy Hayward, Chris Owens, Clive Naish and Kevin Jacques) and two supporters (Jo Hope and Michele Gibson) went north of the border for the Round Arran Relay on Saturday 24th July. The Tuesday before, I developed an infection in the knee (probably an infected insect bite) and could barely walk by Tuesday night. Wednesday it was swollen like a balloon, so I went to the doctor who prescribed anti-inflammatories and antibiotics (which started to kick in on Thursday but had a very unfortunate side effect meaning I could not leave the house!). Plane, train, automobile (taxi) and ferry to Arran on Friday. Knee was still swollen but not painful, so I decided not to join the others on a gentle 5 around Brodick on Friday afternoon, instead feeling it would be better to just go for an easy walk with Michele to test it out. Stupidly (as it was our only chance of the weekend, and the only forecasted nice day) we ended up getting tempted into doing a ten mile hike from the hotel, along the beach and up to the top of Goatfell and back, the highest mountain on Arran, at 2866 feet not quite a Munro, but a Corbett. Good news was that the knee was fine - bad news was that it tired the legs out before the race the next day. Doh! The views were stunning though, and well worth the climb. Twenty three teams entered, each running six legs, varying from 7.5 to 11 miles. The race starts on the other side of the island from Brodick, and two legs start off simultaneously, three legs south, three legs north, finishing back in Brodick. All stage 1 and 2 runners were bussed out from the finish to the start, and stage two watched the start of stage one before re-boarding the buses to the start of our own stages. Stage 3 were bussed separately. Chris and Clive were on legs N1 and S1 respectively, and stood with the other forty four runners, back to back in the road when the gun went, and then sped off down the road in opposite directions. Chris had a long fairly flat leg (one short hill) and ran well, finishing just ahead of the first lady on the leg, after a little battle on the hill. Clive ran a solid leg, finishing conveniently at a nice country pub in the middle of nowhere. When the legs were divvied out, I asked for a long but flat leg if possible, being one of the slower runners in our team. I was given North 2, 10.5 miles which was supposed to end at the foot of a long hill, where the last leg north started. Unfortunately for me, since Alan - who was the only one of us who had done this race before, and therefore was our team organiser - had last done the race (1990) they had moved the finish on by three miles. I was in blissful ignorance until getting out of the bus hearing people talking in hushed tones about 'the hill'. I said: 'I thought this leg was fairly flat'. They looked at me as if I was raving mad, and said: 'They lied to you - this is the leg that no one wants to do as it finishes with 2.5 miles uphill, and then half a mile downhill - it is the toughest leg of the race'. Unbeknownst to our intrepid leader, when they changed the start/finish, the result was that this leg instead of finishing at the bottom of the hill, goes all the way up it, and over the top. I spent the first 7.5 miles dreading the last 3. The first 7.5 were fairly benign - just a few undulations. I was surprised to find myself in last place after half a mile, even suffering the ignominy of being overtaken by someone from Troon Tortoises! I consoled myself with the thought that as this was the toughest leg of the race, the teams had put their stronger runners on it. I managed to get two places back by six miles (including the Tortoise). Then at the 7 mile mark we turned inland for a gentle half mile uphill. At 7.5 it becomes steep, and at 8.5 we turned a corner where you can see the next 1.5 stretching out and up before you. ****! Reminiscences of Chapman's Peak in the Two Oceans in Cape Town filled my head. I had to resort to power walking some of this (probably partly due to the stupid mountain exploits of the day before) but still managed to overtake a couple of people on the hill. Determined to hold on to a top twenty place, I ran the last (downhill) half mile in just under three minutes, terrified that the tortoise would turn into a hare and come back to haunt me. I finished 19th in 1:27 (had averaged about 7:45 until "The Hill"). Alan meanwhile was just hoping to be able to finish his leg, before his leg finished him, having had some hamstring problems just before the race. Ex Cap'n Bicks anchored us on N3, being as surprised as I was at the changed course, and therefore to be starting near the top of the hill coming down, instead of having to climb it. His leg now involved a four mile downhill start, followed by six on a twisty road round to the finish. Kevin anchored S3 and also had a good if somewhat undulating run. The team finished 11th of 23 in 6:50:48, almost an hour and a half behind the winners, but only four minutes off 7th. We were however, first (only!) English team, and possibly first fully vets team (no ages given, but only one of our team was even under 50). We have already signed up for next year (when I will be doing a different leg!). Supporters - Michele Gibson (also ran the S3 leg as a training run), Jo Hope (recorded the whole thing in journals, on cameras and videos - watch out for her hilarious low budget film debut on DVD soon!" 1 Central AC 5:21.48 11 Ranelagh H 6:50.48 Chris Owens 5 70.42 Andy Hayward 19 87.52 Andy Bickerstaff 10 67.22 Clive Naish 16 59.51 Alan Elder 7 64.57 Kevin Jacques 9 60.04 GROVELANDS parkrun 5km Saturday 24th July This was one of two additions to the parkrun family this week, in Enfield... 1 R Stewart (Highgate) 19.01 10 Paul Sinton-Hewitt 22.17 18 Jo Sinton-Hewitt 24.01 BRUETON parkrun 5km Saturday 24th July ...and this was the other one, at Solihull. 1 P Bryan (Kenilworth) 17.03 16 Andrew Brown 20.57 BLACK PARK parkrun 5km Saturday 24th July 1 G Nisbet (Hayes & H) 22.11 28 Jar O'Brien 25.53 32 Alison Dicks 26.13 DOWN TOW UP FLOW HALF MARATHON Sunday 25th July Eton to Marlow 1 I Selby 1:24.21 197 John Herriott 2:02.22 JACK AND JILL 5 miles Sunday 25th July at Clayton ...Jack and Jill being the two windmills atop a fearsome hill on the South Downs Way. 1 J Baker (Chichester) 31.58 96 Pete Warren 54.30 HAMMERSMITH RIVERSIDE 3.3 miles handicap Tuesday 27th July 1 D Williams (WG&EL) 19.06 3 Alan Davidson 22.47 GATTON PARK 10km Wednesday 28th July at Reigate Sonia Rowland was the leading over 55 in this off-road race which twice climbs Reigate Hill! 1 D Robinson (Rei P) 37.40 23 Steve Rowland 49.18 45 Sonia Rowland 53.17 LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH 5km Friday 30th July in Hyde Park 1 C Holgate (Ely) 16.01 105 Alan Davidson 21.45 210 John Hanscomb 31.37 RICHMOND parkrun 5km Saturday 31st July 1 J Flood (Stragglers) 16.53 5 Peter Weir 18.36 7 Jerym Brunton 19.07 9 Bill Neely 19.20 16 Colin Brett 19.55 51 Karen Weir 22.35 55 Donna Mason 23.12 57 Karl Garvey 23.22 99 Lynne Barber 28.41 111 Christine Goodsell 32.13 119 Penny Merrett 34.28 120 Pat Hewlett 35.02 BUSHY parkrun 5km Saturday 31st July Clare King was the first woman to finish. 1 J Lock (Thames T) 15.59 32 David Rowe 19.08 52 Clare King 20.09 260 Roger Wilson 25.59 275 Chris Wright 26.24 279 Gill Wilson 26.30 406 Wally Garrod 29.54 408 Mary Hickson 29.57 471 John Hanscomb 33.41 BEDFONT LAKES parkrun 5km Saturday 31st July Kirsty Bangham was second woman home. 1 B Martin-Dye (Brac F) 17.29 4 Duncan Mallison 19.38 27 Kirsty Bangham 24.40 60 Deirdre Inman 32.19 61 Cindy Croucher 32.38 68 Tanya Allen 34.40 KINGSTON parkrun 5km Saturday 31st July 1 R Reeder (Stragglers) 18.33 20 Julie Naismith 25.46 24 Janet Turnes 29.25 BLACK PARK parkrun 5km Saturday 31st July 1 D Martin (unatt) 17.06 30 Michelle Davies 22.32 47 Mike White 24.01 EDINBURGH parkrun 5km Saturday 31st July 1 R Ward (Hunters BT) 16.37 111 Philippa Shaw 27.56 112 Rob Kitchen 27.57 FRIMLEY LODGE parkrun 5km Saturday 31st July 1 D Symes (unatt) 18.01 12 Darren Wood 21.04 MABAC LEAGUE 5 miles Tuesday 3rd August at Wimbledon Bev Ali reports: "Thirty-one Ranelagh runners and 'joggers' (defined by distance) participated in the Wimbledon Windmilers' MABAC race on Tuesday 3rd August. Steve Barber had a great result - although initially identified as first woman finisher, he was actually 5th (man) overall with a time of 28:53. Look out for the future WW endurance runner, George Daniels. At only five years old he was pacing me and Pat for most of our first lap! The weather was perfect for the well organised, well marshalled scenic route, with the usual speed merchants co-existing happily with those of us at the back...and the icing on the cake (literally) was waiting to be eaten after the finish! Congratulations and thanks to the Wimbledon Windmilers for an enjoyable event that always gets record numbers of Ranelagh to participate and perhaps entices more to try the Sunday races. Thanks also to young Peter Martingell for his assistance with handing out the numbers before the start." 1 M Donnery (Epsom O) 26.08 5 Steven Barber 28.53 58 Sandra Prosser 35.19 65 Andrew Brown 35.49 82 James Barber 37.20 90 Simon Burrell 38.26 101 Paul Martingell 39.32 115 Sharon Dooley 42.17 116 Heather Martingell 42.17 126 Sue Camp 43.39 133 Tony Clark 44.40 134 Wally Garrod 44.41 136 Lynne Barber 44.49 150 Lorna Smith 47.18 155 Michelle Pipe 48.05 168 Christine Goodsell 50.40 169 Deborah Blakemore 51.30 174 Deirdre Inman 53.05 178 Beverly Walsh 54.45 179 Cindy Croucher 54.48 180 Penny Merrett 55.17 181 Helena Hanratty 56.32 186 Pat Hewlett 58.54 187 Bev Ali 58.54 One lap (2.5 miles) 1 I Ionescu (DMV) 21.10 5 Danny Hobbs 25.13 13 Allison Peach 30.38 17 Joan Summerfield 32.01 19 Nora Harrigan 34.11 22 Yvonne Howe 40.02 24 Margaret Fehn 42.25 25 Eileen Woodley 42.26 26 Lindsey Simmonds 42.26 KINGFIELD CANTER 2.85 miles handicap Wednesday 4th August at Woking Alan Davidson scored a rare win in his 234th run in this monthly event! 1 Alan Davidson 23.51 (actual time 20.06) 5 Sonia Rowland 26.26 (20.56) 13 Jim Forrest 27.09 (23.09) RICHMOND parkrun 5km Saturday 7th August 1 L Hasell (TH&H) 17.59 42 Andrew Brown 22.26 44 Tony Appleby 22.59 57 Stewart Anderson 24.10 103 Rob Kitchen 27.57 122 Val Lowman 29.16 131 Lynne Barber 31.01 132 Christine Goodsell 31.02 141 Pat Hewlett 32.55 142 Penny Merrett 33.02 149 Stacey Barber 35.26 152 Bev Ali 36.24 BUSHY parkrun 5km Saturday 7th August 1 W Cockerell (Belg) 16.20 60 Adam Wright 20.17 214 Roger Wilson 23.56 216 Holly Wilson 23.57 342 Alison Salmon 27.05 453 Teresa Segovia 30.18 493 John Hanscomb 32.33 KINGSTON parkrun 5km Saturday 7th August 1 R Reeder (Stragglers) 18.11 10 Chris Camacho 20.49 11 Alan Davidson 21.49 27 Janet Turnes 29.46 BEDFONT LAKES parkrun 5km Saturday 7th August Duncan Mallison, Mark Herbert and David Rowe followed each other home in 2nd to 4th places and Sharon Dooley was second woman, beaten by just two seconds. Kirsty Bangham followed in third place. 1 J Chang (26.2 RRC) 18.07 2 Duncan Mallison 18.45 3 Mark Herbert 18.52 4 David Rowe 19.13 29 Sharon Dooley 23.52 30 Kirsty Bangham 24.17 37 Paul Martingell 24.50 FINALLY... "Being a runner, to me, has made being depressed impossible. If ever I'm going through something emotional and just go outside for a run, you can rest assured that I'll come back with clarity and empowerment." Alanis Morissette, singer-songwriter