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Newsdesk 2014
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RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 440 18 December 2014
Editor: Steve Rowland
mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com
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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR READERS
HEADLINE NEWS
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* Ranelagh women finish 11th in the second Surrey League race
* Ranelagh wins the Stubbs Cup mob match v South London Harriers
* Individual winner Ralph Street takes the Wynne Cup club championship
* Lloyd Camp wins the Sealed Handicap
* First Surrey vest for Megan de Silva
* Sacha Kennedy finishes 3rd in the U13s Holly Run
* parkrun placings for Lydia Louw, Leonie Kennedy and Craig Maclellan
* London Marathon draw result
* Last chance to respond to our Members' Survey
ATTENTION PLEASE
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CHRISTMAS PARTY and LONDON MARATHON DRAW
Many thanks to Michele Gibson and Andy Hayward for all their work in
organising our Christmas Party at the Richmond Hill Hotel. It was a great
evening, by all accounts. As usual, we took the opportunity to make the draw
for our three guaranteed places in the 2015 London Marathon. Ten names went
into the hat and the lucky winning trio were Peter Faull, Bruce McLaren and
Chris Hunton. Get training, lads!
FIRST MEMBERS' SURVEY
Trevor Maguire writes:
"Dear Members,
We want to be an inclusive club with a great social environment that is able
to deliver fantastic coaching and racing. Therefore we want to understand
what our members think and hope that the following survey (our first) will
help improve how we manage the Club. The structure of the survey is to
first of all find out about you, so it is important to answer the survey on
a personal basis as a member of the Club. This means one response per
member please (family or multiple member households should complete separate
responses for each individual, including junior members who have a few
questions that only relate to them). The rest of the survey is broken down
into three sections (club facilities, coaching/racing and social events).
Each section asks about your personal interaction with the club and then a
follow-on question asks how you rate this interaction; with a text box for
any other thoughts. Please follow the link below to carry out the survey.
The survey will close on the 21st December and we plan to feed back results
early in 2015." Web-link.
HENTY RELAY Saturday 27th December in Richmond Park
You're all welcome to our Christmas relay on the Saturday after Christmas
starting at 12 noon. The teams are sorted out on the day, so please register
at the clubhouse by 11.30am. Each team consists of three runners, one
"fast", one "medium" and one "slow" (the categories being somewhat elastic
in interpretation!). Between them, the teams have to cover six laps of
Sidmouth Wood - that's the wood beside which our cross-country races start.
It's about 1.4 miles per lap. Generally the "fast" runs three laps, the
"medium" two and the "slow" one - in any order. Bring guests if you wish -
the more the merrier - but you must report to the clubhouse to be assigned
to a team..
THURSDAY NIGHT TRACK TRAINING AT OSTERLEY
The club will be subsidising track sessions on Thursday evenings at the
Osterley track. All groups and all abilities are welcome! The sessions will
run for three months from 8th January 2015, every Thursday 7.30-8.30pm.
Link to the map is here:.
GREAT LIVES - EMIL ZATOPEK
The latest episode of the BBC Radio 4 series Great Lives features the
outstanding Czech runner Emil Zatopek, whose feat of wining the 5000m, the
10000m and the marathon at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics will surely never be
repeated. The programme's presenter is former MP Matthew Parris, himself a
former 2:32 marathon runner, and also featured are two other former runners,
the comedian Arthur Smith and the journalist Pat Butcher. You can catch up
with it here:.
VIOLET PIERCY
The latest edition of Track Stats, the newsletter of the National Union of
Track Statisticians, features a detailed history of the pioneering marathon
career of Violet Piercy, written by Peter Lovesey. Piercy has been credited
with running the distance in 3:40.22 in October 1926. Thanks to
appropriately thorough detective work led by the award-winning crime
novelist, Lovesey reveals that the solo run in question was from Windsor to
Battersea Town Hall and the distance covered was, according to a report in
the Westminster Gazette, "just over 20 miles". In 1928 she ran over the
Polytechnic Harriers' course from Windsor to London on a very hot day but
retired after covering 20 miles in 3:31 and her best time for a full
marathon appears to be 4:25 from Windsor to the stage of the Shepherds Bush
Empire (just up the road from the White City) in 1933, a time she replicated
on the Windsor to White City course in 1936 when she was aged 46.
RIVER THAMES SPRING HALF MARATHON
Roy Reeder of Stragglers writes:
"I organised the River Thames Half Marathon in October and it went so well
that I'm organising a Spring version on 15th March 2015. Start is in
Walton-on-Thames and a fair bit of the route is along the towpath, so it's
scenic. I'm offering £4 off the entry fee to Ranelagh runners till 15th
January. Use the entry code RANonly4 at the Sport Systems store. Full
details here:.
MARATHON FOCUS WINTER WORKSHOPS at St Mary's University Clinic.
Wednesday 28th January 2015, 7pm - TBC Warm Ups, Injury Prevention, &
Recovery
Wednesday 25th March 2015, 7pm - TBC Race Day Preparation
£10 per workshop. Both are to be held at St Mary's University on campus. To
book your place please call 0208 240 4070 or email clinic@smuc.ac.uk.
OBITUARIES
Apologies for the delay in publishing full obituaries for the two senior
members who died during 2014. That for Mike McDowell in included below. Jack
Ellicock's will follow soon.
MIKE MCDOWELL
Charles McDowell - better known in Ranelagh as Mike or Mac - died on 11th
July after a long illness. He was 86 years old and had been a member of the
club for some 63 years. Remarkably his running career spanned 68 years, from
his first school cross-country event at the age of 9 to his final race aged
77. At school he showed considerable promise as a runner and won the
Huntingdon county under 17 track titles at 800 metres and 1500 metres. He
was very proud to echo that achievement fifty years later by winning the
same two events in the over 65 category of the Surrey track championships.
After National Service he studied at University College, London, where he
captained the cross-country team, and was four times selected for represent
Beds and Hunts in inter-county events.
He became a member of Ranelagh in 1951 and made an immediate impact by
setting the second fastest time in that September's Thomas Cup handicap.
Work then took him to Tanganyika but by 1954 he was home and
enthusiastically returning to regular running - and was smiled on by the
handicapper when he won the sealed handicap in that year's Wynne Cup club
championship race. He was selected for that season's Southern Championships,
where he was the sixth Ranelagh man home in 300th place - the first of many
such appearances as Mike threw himself into club activities.
Mike essayed his first Marathon in 1956 on the classic Windsor - Chiswick
route and finished in 3:28. It was not until 1982 that he was tempted to try
again, running the second London Marathon in a time just a minute slower
than he had recorded 26 years earlier. In the intervening years he racked up
a surprising number of successes in club events, particularly handicaps -
his name appears twice on both the Thomas Cup and the Page Cup and once on
the Baker Cup. He also won the Points Prize and a couple of sealed
handicaps.
On turning 40 he became a member of the Veterans Athletic Club, and later
served as President of that club for two years. He was a great enthusiast
for the vets movement and became a regular competitor in vets championships
at home and abroad. He competed in the first ten World Masters Championships
and as the only Brit to have done so he was given the honour of carrying the
Union Jack at the opening ceremony of the tenth championships in Japan. He
won county, area and national track titles at a variety of distances in all
vets age groups up to the over 70s. On retirement from his job as a senior
partner in a firm of international consulting engineers he moved to
Gloucestershire where more county championships came his way. By then he had
been appointed a Freeman and Liveryman of the City of London.
Mike was a Vice President of Ranelagh and in 1991 generously donated a cup
to be awarded to the club's over 50 cross-country champion.
FACEBOOK
Follow Ranelagh on Facebook
WHAT'S COMING
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More details of the following from the men's Captains ( e-mail Phil, Duncan
or Trevor ) ranelagh.men@gmail.com
or the women's Captain / Team Manager ( e-mail Becky or Phil ranelagh.women@gmail.com )
Saturday 20th December South of the Thames 7.5 miles Championship. 2pm
start at Coulsdon.
Saturday 27th December Henty Relay - our Christmas fun relay starting at
12 noon. All welcome. Report to the clubhouse by 11.30am to be assigned to a
team.
Saturday 3rd January Surrey County Championships at Lloyd Park,
Croydon
Saturday 10th January Surrey Ladies League 8km on Wimbledon Common.
12 noon start
Men's Surrey League 8km on Streatham
Common. 2.30pm start
Saturday 17th January v Bank of England and others 4.7m in Richmond
Park (Roehampton Gate). Note start time is 2pm not 2.30pm as originally
shown in our Fixture list
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
Old Deer Park Pools in the Park on the A316
Crane Park Near the Hospital Bridge Roundabout
on the A316 in Twickenham
Other venues, more details and registration at www.parkrun.com
2km junior parkruns for under 14s take place on the first Sunday of each
month from Bushy Park's Teddington Gate (11am start) and from Savill Garden
car park, Windsor Great Park (9.30am start), and also every Sunday at 9.30am
in Wimbledon Park.
WHAT'S HAPPENED
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SURREY LADIES LEAGUE Saturday 6th December at Nonsuch Park
We were well below full strength on this occasion but finished in a solid
11th place out of the 15 first division clubs. However, we were close behind
the four clubs ahead of us and little damage has been done overall as we
find ourselves in 9th place after two races, well clear of the relegation
zone. Numbers were down a little too, with ten Ranelagh starters - and only
nine finishers as Louise Piears unfortunately suffered an injury during the
race.
The good news, though, was that there was another strong run from Megan de
Silva who thanks to a fighting finish just scraped into the top ten. Bonnie
Morgan was our second finisher in 59th place and she was followed home in a
little over half a minute by the other three members of the scoring team
Marie Synnott-Wells, Becky Hall and Julia Bailey. Lara Werrett, Wiebke
Kortum, Sonia Rowland and Annemarie Goodridge made up the B team which
finished 10th amongst the Bs.
Frida Roper ran well as our only representative in the Under 13s race.
STUBBS CUP MOB MATCH v SOUTH LONDON HARRIERS Saturday 13th December in
Richmond Park 7.67 miles
Phil Killingley reports:
"Three mob matches, three spectacularly sunny days, three stunning
victories.
South London Harriers had more than enough talent to beat us on Saturday but
they didn't really turn up. Perhaps they were put off by the lack of warm
showers [make a note for future home mob matches]. At the sharp end, SLH's
Stuart Major was seeking a 43rd mob match individual victory, but absent
were all the stars that have helped the club to third place in the men's
Surrey League. Nor could they get out the numbers. Admittedly 32 was better
than the teens that they managed a few years ago, but no match for
Ranelagh's mob-tastic 70.
So it was that Mike Peace led a confident Hobble Gobble at 2.30pm. The
captain, on crutches with a broken foot, participated in this chant -
someone spotted a wordplay somewhere...and then they were off racing down
Queen's Ride, chasing down a record sixth consecutive mob match victory.
They came round the first lap and it was Ralph Street beadily eyeing SLH's
lead man Major, waiting to make his move, and Jackson Creegan only seconds
off the pace. Then a sea of blue, and more blue, swarmed up the hill,
punctuated by a rare white vest from the visitors. And if the match was won
at halfway, by the end it was even more convincing. Ralph had stormed
through to win by 70 seconds from Stuart Major, and is the new Club
Champion. Jackson trailed Stuart by eight seconds to take the last podium
place.
Ranelagh had 7 of the top 10; 14 of the top 20; 21 of the top 30; closing
our 29th and last scorer in 46th place. Today was one of the earliest
sunsets of the year: the flaming star was setting over Pembroke Lodge as
more of the Ranelagh contingent streamed in to a massive victory of
613-1196. Many of the runners who had tackled Thames two weeks before beat
their times by astonishing margins. Particular mention to:
- David Ready - 2 minutes quicker
- Corinne Bishop - nearly 4 minutes quicker;
- Michele Gibson - 2.5 minutes quicker (but no mushrooms this time, which
surely attracts a time penalty);
- Andy Hayward - nearly 5 minutes quicker (perhaps he ate Michele's
mushrooms as a pre-race snack this time?)
- Chris Read - 2 minutes quicker
- Ellen Clague - 3 minutes quicker
- Rob Curtis - 4 minutes quicker
- Andy Bickerstaff - nearly 3 minutes quicker
- Lars Lundqvist - 3 minutes quicker
- Henry Evans - 2 minutes quicker
- Most consistent was Alex Harrison, 2 seconds quicker this time.
But the efforts of the above pale in comparison with the sealed handicap
winner Lloyd Camp, whose 57:52 was ELEVEN minutes quicker than against
Thames. At this preposterous rate of improvement in just two weeks, Lloyd
will have no trouble picking up the Club Championship in a year's time.
This is a golden era for Ranelagh's mob. Six wins in a row is, the old
hands assure me, unprecedented. Whatever happens away at Blackheath in
mid-February, those running today, and against Thames and Orion earlier in
the autumn, have written a new and proud chapter in the club's history. At
Blackheath, another record waits, if we can secure, for the first time, four
out of four mob wins in a season. (Sunday 15th February - 11am early start
time - put it in the diary!)."
As Phil mentioned above, Ralph's win has earned him the Wynne Cup club
championship, in a new record time for the revised mob match course. Jackson
Creegan, as a second-claim member, is ineligible for the championship so
silver and bronze go to George Howard and Eirin McDaid. Lloyd Camp's mighty
improvement gave him a huge victory in the sealed handicap, with Andy
Hayward and Rob Curtis filling second and third places more than six minutes
adrift.
Leading woman today was guest Hannah Oldroyd in 31st place overall. Becky
Hall was 4th, Wiebke Kortum 6th and Gemma Cory 7th.
Back in the clubhouse - chilly and lacking hot water owing to a boiler
failure - the Stubbs Cup for the mob match was presented to Trevor Maguire -
Captain Killingley being a sad sight on crutches and with no hands free to
receive the trophy! This was not only our sixth consecutive mob match win
but also our fifth in a row against South London Harriers. The opportunity
was also taken to present this year's President's Prize to Clive Naish in
recognition of his work for the club but more especially for his remarkable
record of never having missed a mob match, home or away, since 1983 -
currently 124 consecutive!
MABAC LEAGUE 5 miles Sunday 7th December at Ockham Common, Wisley
1 K Macintosh (Wimb W) 32.50
23 S Pickford (Wimb W) 38.28 (1st woman)
112 James Barber 49.57
185 Lynne Barber 71.18
186 Christine David 71.18
1 lap
1 J Ward (Wimb W) 26.01
18 Cindy Croucher 34.40
19 Tracey Small 34.41
REGENTS PARK 10km Sunday 7th December
1 H Wyber (WG&EL) 33.17 (chip time 33.17)
18 J Harvey (unatt) 37.37 (37.32)
167 Phil Jackson 49.16 (48.25)
FRANCKEISS CUP RUNNERS' ROWING RACE Sunday 7th December
Despite Paul Gregory's best efforts we were again unable to find a crew to
compete for the Franckeiss Cup, which is rather a shame as it is our trophy.
Paul reports:
"The Franckeiss Cup originated in the 1920s as a rowing competition for
cross-country runners. It was the brainchild of R H Franckeiss a member of
both Ranelagh Harriers and various rowing clubs, and it was revived last
year using Thames racing skiffs. The races on Sunday were between Hercules
Wimbledon, Thames Hare and Hounds and Walton AC in both men's and mixed
doubles.
The men's final was a win for Hercules Wimbledon, who had a very powerful
start, in a time of 2.43. It was very much a family affair with C D Riches
(twice winner of the Silver Goblets at Henley) partnered by his son Peter
with daughter Rebekah as cox The fight between the second and third was
extraordinarily close with Thames Hare and Hounds just edging the second
Hercules crew.
The mixed doubles final was fought right to the finish, with the Walton AC
crew level with Hercules Wimbledon until the final strokes - the time tells
it, faster by 3 seconds than the men's doubles. Hercules won again against
the Walton crew which included Kevin Sheppard, a GB javelin thrower,
partnered by Lisa Adams and coxed by Rachel Workman
The prizes were presented by Alan Hedger."
SOUTH OF ENGLAND AA MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS Saturday 13th December at
Horspath, Oxford
Women 40-44
1 R Masser (Woodstock) 23.20
11 Liz Kipling 27.02
Women 45-49
1 L Elliott (Winch) 22.36
11 Marie Synnott-Wells 25.33
25 Evelyn Joslin 32.06
SOUTH OF ENGLAND AA INTER-COUNTIES Saturday 13th December at Horspath,
Oxford
Megan de Silva was selected for her first county vest and was the eighth
finisher in the winning Surrey team.
1 L Deadman (Essex) 20.48
25 Megan de Silva (Surr) 23.40
HOLLY RUNS Sunday 14th December at Reigate
Sacha Kennedy finished third in the Under 13 girls race, with sister Leonie
8th.
Under 13s 2m
1 D Corradi (Sutt & D) 11.49
3 Sacha Kennedy 12.24
8 Leonie Kennedy 13.04
Senior Women 3.6m
1 J Locker (Walton) 25.48
17 Ali Kennedy 32.01
Senior Men
1 G Grundy (G&G) 31.10
36 Richard Kennedy 40.00
TELFORD 10km Sunday 14th December
In a very high quality race, Marc Snaith found 35.31 only good for 99th
place.
1 J Beattie (N&EB) 29.55 (chip time 29.55)
60 R Robinson (Kendal) 33.27 (33.23 - 1st woman)
99 Marc Snaith 35.31 (35.25)
BUSHY PARK parkrun 5km Saturday 6th December
1 A Villard (Strags) 16.07
3 M Courtney (Shaft B) 16.44 (1st woman)
14 Nick Wright 18.41
132 Paul Hodges 22.04
212 Ben Shore 23.21
241 Ian Grange 23.48
437 Kirsty Bangham 27.07
744 John Hanscomb 44.31
RICHMOND PARK parkrun 5km Saturday 6th December
1 P Lowe (Strags) 16.29
6 Kris Davidson 17.28
11 Marc Snaith 18.06
12 Ted Mockett 18.10
14 David Lawley 18.16
16 Michael Everard 19.02
21 Nick Twomey 19.20
23 Tom Bradley 19.30
30 Bill Neely 19.50
32 Vaughan Ramsay 19.53
34 Mark Herbert 19.58
35 Bruce McLaren 19.59
36 Peter Weir 20.00
53 A Green (unatt) 21.10 (1st woman)
54 Simon Ogle 21.11
79 Paul Noel 22.55
93 Colin Lloyd 23.30
98 Amrut Sharma 23.40
112 James Rushby 24.00
124 Alberto Esguevillas 24.44
129 Simon Taylor 25.02
130 Sally Yau 25.05
136 Maia Rushby 25.24
157 Kevin Kearey 26.43
158 Ann Kearey 26.44
160 Josie Kearey 26.45
184 Andrew Brown 27.30
187 Cathy Holman 27.37
190 Karl Garvey 27.40
212 Tony Clark 28.47
214 Leeanne Bryce 28.47
228 Jackie Dunkley 29.14
234 Louise Atkinson 29.30
239 Val Lowman 29.38
252 Claire-Louise French 30.40
259 Cindy Croucher 31.00
365 Peter Lowman 31.37
288 Bev Ali 40.10
289 Pat Hewlett 40.44
CRANE PARK parkrun 5km Saturday 6th December
1 A Jackson (Sitting) 17.46
8 Colin Brett 19.35
13 Eric Plue 20.14
20 Daniel Chiechi 21.35
25 Z Riding (Strag) 22.17 (1st woman)
66 Rachel Allen 28.04
70 Mary Hickson 29.05
78 Christine David 32.21
79 Lynne Barber 32.22
80 Tanya Allen 32.22
81 Tracey Small 32.23
84 Stacey Barber 35.22
87 Lexi Slaughter 36.23
88 Clare Hulacki 36.39
OLD DEER PARK parkrun 5km Saturday 6th December
Craig Maclellan finished 3rd.
1 J Smith (Strag) 19.02
3 Craig Maclellan 19.50
12 Stephen Hurton 22.37
15 Phil Roberts 23.02
16 R O'Connor (unatt) 23.06 (1st woman)
26 Julian Holden 26.34
30 Wyn Williams 27.57
KINGSTON parkrun 5km Saturday 6th December
1 F Allen (Herc Wimb) 18.40
14 Chris Camacho 20.58
5 A Baccardax (unatt) 23.13 (1st woman)
45 Peter Wright 24.47
50 Mike White 26.02
58 Jar O'Brien 27.08
OTHER parkruns (Saturday 6th December)...
Gunnersbury: 39 Steve Aikin 21.44, 82 Carol Aikin 24.10, 97 Phil Jackson
24.50
Black Park: 186 Luke Wilson 26.41
Southsea: 71 Alan Davidson 24.00
Bere Island: 9 Paul Sinton-Hewitt 20.33, 34 Jo Sinton-Hewitt 26.24
Brighton and Hove: 252 Sue Camp 27.11
Brentwood: 75 Peter Fordham 29.48
Bournemouth: 74 Eugenio Carmo 24.46
Valentines: 83 Tamsin Burland 30.51, 95 Su Clark 32.31
BUSHY JUNIORS parkrun 2km Sunday 7th December
Lydia Louw and Leonie Kennedy were 2nd and 3rd in the girls category.
1 O Coppellotti (Walton) 6.56
8 J Grist (unatt) 7.50 (1st girl)
11 Lydia Louw 8.12
15 Leonie Kennedy 8.19
32 Arthur Louw 8.57
45 Matthew Beal 9.37
80 Oliver Beal 10.59
81 Ciara McLaren 11.01
82 Eilidh Sinclair 11.01
85 Campbell McLaren 11.05
152 Sam Doyle 14.58
158 Theo Doyle 15.49
SAVILL GARDENS JUNIORS parkrun 2km Sunday 7th December
1 A Gambrill (Cookham) 8.07
4 K Repper (Chilt) 8.13
44 Connor Scally 14.41
BUSHY PARK parkrun 5km Saturday 13th December
1 Unknown 15.43
36 J Rodriguez (Woking) 18.54 (1st woman)
113 Nick Wright 20.43
271 Nick Fordham 22.57
390 Adam Wright 24.22
460 Neil Surtees 25.23
668 Ashleigh Ferris 28.28
683 Leeanne Bryce 28.35
751 Jackie Dunkley 29.20
998 Wally Garrod 37.31
RICHMOND PARK parkrun 5km Saturday 13th December
1 J Cornish (Herc Wimb) 16.35
5 K Brown (SMR) 18.00 (1st woman)
17 Tom Bradley 19.30
60 Paul Noel 22.38
84 Karl Garvey 24.20
104 Sally Yau 24.55
113 James Rushby 25.21
128 Karen Weir 26.22
162 Colin Rogal 28.00
171 Michael Sikora 28.37
178 Val Lowman 29.14
193 Claire-Louise French 29.49
230 Peter Lowman 32.16
240 Louise Atkinson 33.28
242 Katie Walton 33.42
261 Bev Ali 40.41
263 Pat Hewlett 40.57
266 Carol Aikin 41.11
CRANE PARK parkrun 5km Saturday 13th December
1 M Hollywood (Thames T) 18.32
16 Tom Kearey 22.10
21 Paul Wapshott 22.34
27 K Coombes (Runnymede) 23.35 (1st woman)
48 Kevin Kearey 25.34
49 Josie Kearey 25.35
61 Tamsin Burland 27.49
63 Rachel Allen 27.55
65 Nigel Coombes 28.13
67 Mary Hickson 28.49
74 Cindy Croucher 30.29
77 Tanya Allen 31.35
79 Christine David 31.54
81 Tracey Small 32.27
82 Su Clark 32.30
90 Deirdre Inman 35.02
92 Clare Hulacki 36.37
OTHER parkruns (Saturday 13th December)...
Gunnersbury: 88 Phil Jackson 24.16, 140 Sue Camp 26.56
Southsea: 60 Alan Davidson 24.19
Old Deer Park: 25 Jo Sinton-Hewitt 26.56, 25 Lorna Smith 27.53
Newbury: 205 Lynne Barber 28.58
Kingston: 15 Chris Camacho 20.54, 28 Ben Shore 22.29, 78 Alison Dicks
30.59
Bournemouth: 75 Eugenio Carmo 24.41
Preston Park Brighton: 86 John Pratt 24.10
FINALLY...
The first sub-5 minutes "Beer Mile"...plus a few other oddities including
the
"Moon Walk 100 metres":