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Newsdesk 2001
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RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 42 24 OCTOBER 2001
Web site: http://www.surreyweb.net/rharriers
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Lots of results to catch up with, so I'll keep the chat to a minimum. In
very un-cross-country-like summery weather on October 13th both our men's
and women's teams started their Surrey League division one campaigns with
solid mid-table results. The men at Brockwell Park finished fifth out of
nine, just behind newly-promoted Reigate but ahead of the likes of
Aldershot, SLH and Boxhill. It was good to see 18 RH on the starting line.
The ageless Hugh Jones led our pack, there was an impressive debut from
South African Doug Bitcon and a welcome return from fat boys Vaughan and
Clark.
The women's race was on Wimbledon Common, and our team - with a long list of
absentees - just failed to match the men with sixth out of ten. Our nine
runners included three League debutantes. Kathy Mallett was our first home
and rapidly-improving Eileen Church was fourth scorer in her first league
race. The junior age groups have been compressed into two races and Jessica
Harvey and Anair Beverly led our teams to impressive 3rd and 4th places.
Under 20s / Under 17s
1 S Fairhead (Guildford) 17.34
5 Jessica Harvey 19.12
8 Alice Beverly 20.27
11 Hannah Turnes 22.47
4 to score:
1 Guildford & G 10
3 Ranelagh 48
Under 15s / Under 13s
1 M Knepsl (Herc Wimb) 14.19
3 Anair Beverly 14.37
8 Alex Hook 15.10
25 Laura Ball 16.13
31 Francesca Molyneux 16.30
36 Emily Ball 17.01
46 Stacey Barber 20.25
4 to score:
1 Sutton & Dist 47
4 Ranelagh 67
On Saturday 20th we hosted the Surrey Veterans cross-country championships
in Richmond Park. In the men's 10km race injuries and holidays kept a
potentially medal-winning RH team out of the running in the over 40s, but
individually Marcus Gohar ran strongly to take the bronze. Further back
Allan Lang won gold in the over 60 category, though he was first to point
out that he was actually well behind Thames's 68-year-old superman Keith
Spacie who won the over 65s.
Similarly in the women's 6km race Kathy Mallett won over 45 gold though
beaten by an over 50. Sonia Rowland was 3rd over 45 and Kathy, Sonia and
Corinne Bishop won silvers in the over 45 team.
We had a few participants amongst the 1500 or so who took part in one of the
four races in the Kingston running festival on October 14th. Best
performance came from Anne Fallows who was the 5th woman to finish in the
half marathon.
Half Marathon
1 H Lobb (Bedford) 74.03
28 Adam Tapley 87.18
108 Anne Fallows 95.15
176 Fabio Scarpello 99.12
379 Nick Lawrence 111.16
386 John Hanscomb 111.33
687 Jenny Steadman 136.00
8 miles
1 K Chebouki (Serp) 42.33
161 Corinne Bishop 64.39
299 Alan Meaden 72.01
342 Walter Wickham 74.23
353 Frances Ratchford 74.51
389 David Meaden 77.17
509 Hazel Carr 84.15
519 Mei Fei Wickham 85.06
Pete Warren and Ken Powley were respectively first over 60 and first over 70
in the Serpentine 5km on September 28th, with times of 19.42 and 23.28.
Mike McDowell writes: "After a traumatic year in which I have been able to
do very little training or racing I have just, at 73 years old, celebrated
being an active member of Ranelagh for 50 years. I ran in the national 10km
road race at Cheltenham on September 9th, finishing 2nd over 70 in 60.46. I
was then the only Ranelagh to run in the British vets cross-country at
Swansea on October 6th and ran with 16 over 70s and 7 over 75s entered. I
finished 10th, covering the tough 5km course in 32.54".
Ray Auerback writes: "There are two London Marathon places available as of
today for people who are willing to run for a charity called Saltmine Trust,
which is a Christian charity active throughout the world. I am getting hold
of some literature to show what they do, and will get it to Ranelagh when I
do. However, Flora have charged Saltmine £1000 per place, so they need
someone who can raise reasonably significant sponsorship in order to make it
viable. The head of Saltmine is called Pope, so redemption is guaranteed
for the lucky participant, unless he or she fails to finish!"
If you're interested, look out for Ray's leaflets at the clubhouse.
Kristina Semple fills out some details of her experiences in the World
Triathlon championships in Edmonton back in the summer:
"The Triathlon World Championships in Edmonton this year was a fantastic
event. Edmonton is a small friendly city; very green with a huge area of
parkland running through the heart of it. This is where the triathlon took
place. A swim in a little lake, which had been emptied and refilled with
drinking water(!), and chlorinated for the event, a 3 lap bike course that
went up three hills in the middle of the town, and a flat out and back 3 lap
run round the lake. Lovely!
I was taken by surprise at how much pressure I felt to perform really well
at this event. I have never experienced a race with such a long build-up.
We got there 4 days before and had nothing but the race to think about. I
was conscious of every niggle and pain and imagined I was getting a cold at
every rain shower. And everyone knew I was racing here - all my running
(and drinking) mates at Ranelagh, my work colleagues, and my company
Celerant Consulting had very generously paid for my flights! The worst part
was on race day itself where we had to be out of transition by 6.30 am and
my age group were not racing till 9.30 am. By the time it had got to the
race I was almost jaded.
The swim was comparatively civilised. I was ducked and scratched last time
I raced internationally but there was good wide start which made dirty
tactics unnecessary. I had a good first lap, ran round the tree dived in
and lost my goggles and concentration so my second lap was a bit messy. The
run to transition was enormously long and by the time I got to transition,
my wetsuit had suckered itself to my legs. I finally managed to remove it
and get on my bike. The bike course had looked easy, but that was
completely deceptive. The hills were incredibly wearing, but I just kept in
my mind that if I was finding it hard then so was everyone else - the bike
is my strongest event.
Finally the run. I felt pretty good and maintained a decent pace, in spite
of the fact that the sun had come out and was doing its best to cook us. As
it was 3 laps of an out and back run I could see everyone else in the race,
and their progress. Some of the British girls were flying, and others were
obviously suffering in the heat. Claire, one of my team mates made it round
one lap and then gracefully fainted at the side of the road with heat
exhaustion. I passed her on stretcher, and it made me feel grateful for
feeling as good as I did, which was not that good at the time. There were
UK girls behind me.Catherine ran past me with 200m to go, I fought back and
we sprinted for the line, after 2 hours 21 minutes of racing! She just
edged me out by a second, unfortunatley. However, I was so glad to have
finished the race in good health, and having gone reasonably, although I
hadn't felt brilliant. To survive without a crash or a puncture, or
anything else was a good thing. There are so many things that can happen in
a triathlon because there are so many parts to it! But that's half of the
fun! I made 26th place out of 50 which I am pleased with."
We had another competitor in Edmonton: Anne Fallows finished 40th in the 20
- 24 age group in 2.33.54, with split times of 25.14, 80.16 and 48.26.
COMING UP
More details of all the following from Andy Bickerstaff (07966 552302 /
norris.hobs@ndirect.co.uk) or Sarah Seal (020 8995 2380 /
sarahs@walker.co.uk).
Saturday October 27th Page Cup 5 miles handicap in Richmond Park. Start
at 3pm.
Saturday November 3rd Priory Relays at Reigate
Saturday November 10th South of the Thames "Junior" Championships at
Coulsdon
Saturday November 17th Surrey League - men at Wimbledon Common (juniors
2.30pm, seniors 3pm), women at Tilford nr Farnham (u15s 12 noon, u20s
12.30pm, seniors 1pm)
Saturday November 24th Mob Match v Thames H&H at Putney Vale (Wimbledon
Common)
FINALLY
Julian Smith recently ordered some new trainers to be delivered to his
office at BP in Sunbury. The mail-order firm omitted Julian's building and
room number on their address label, so BP's post room directed the shoes to
Jeremy Smith, another BP employee - in Baku, Azerbaijan.....
Steve Rowland
Telephone: 01926 318734
Fax: 0870 4006901
e-mail: srowland@calorgas.co.uk