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Newsdesk 2019
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RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 561 5th December 2019
Editor: Steve Rowland
mailto: sandsrowland@btinternet.com
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HEADLINE NEWS
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* We beat Thames Hare & Hounds in our annual mob match
* Our mob of 68 runners led by Pat Wright and Megan de Silva
* Ranelagh women 14th in the London Championships, men 24th
* 2:28.34 Marathon by Nick Impey in Japan
* George Howard wins the “other” Berlin Marathon
* Pat Wright finishes 3rd in the Pirie 10 miles
* All needed for the SLH Mob Match on December 14th
* Henty Relay on December 28th
* Strava Christmas Challenge
ATTENTION PLEASE
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NEXT JOB FOR THE MOB
Our third mob match of the season is on Saturday 14th December against South
London Harriers on their course at Farthing Downs, Coulsdon, for the Stubbs
Cup. Start will be at 2.30pm. We have won our first two “mobs” this season –
can we make it three? Well, that depends on you. As always, we need as many
runners to turn out as possible. The more we have on the starting line the
better our chances of victory. There’s a bit of history too - this will be
the 100th Ranelagh – South London mob match. The first was held back in
January 1909. South London’s website includes a map showing their HQ on
Brighton Road, Coulsdon (CR5 2NF) and the nearest parking just around the
corner in Lion Green Road (CR5 2NL): www.myclubhouse.co.uk/SLH.
Click on “Race Start” for
a map showing the start and finish on the downs, a short jog from the HQ.
Late comers can probably find parking in Downs Road adjacent to the start,
but there must be no parking up on the downs themselves.
Coulsdon South railway station is nearby, but taking the train might not be
the most popular option at the moment, so we've set up a carpool here:
If you're driving and have places to
offer, please add yourself and set the number of spaces available. After
that it's a first-come, first-served deal for passengers.
HENTY RELAY Saturday 28th December 12 noon start in Richmond Park
This is our Christmas relay around Sidmouth Wood. Fun but a hard session!
It’s teams of three, drawn / allocated on the day. All members and friends
welcome, start time is 12 noon – but you must register at the clubhouse by
11.30am to be assigned to a team.
BLACKHEATH AND BROMLEY 150th ANNIVERSARY DINNER
Our President Becky Curtis-Hall reports:
“On 7th of November, 2019, I was courteously invited by Blackheath and
Bromley in my capacity as Club President to attend a dinner celebrating 150
years of the existence of their running club, in the Members Dining Room at
the Houses of Parliament. It was a lovely experience, to celebrate the
continued success of the club, which current members include Dina
Asher-Smith and its new chapter with a new track in development. It was a
lovely meal and a great experience to eat inside the Houses which are very
grand but sadly do not allow photography inside.”
12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE
James Ritchie writes:
“To get you in the Christmas spirit, your Strava Rundown team are laying on
a special festive challenge. The winner will receive free entry into either
the 2020 Ranelagh half-marathon or Ranelagh 10k! This is open to everyone,
whether part of the Ranelagh Strava group or not.
Competitors should try to collect as many Days from the ‘12 Days of
Christmas’ song as possible. Days may be collected by following the rules
below:
When out running, Days may be collected by taking a selfie with a street
sign containing one of the words relating to the gifts given on one of the
days of the song.
On many days there will be a choice of name that can be collected. E.g. on
day one any of Partridge Lane, Pear Street or Oak Tree Avenue would be
acceptable. There are no bonus marks for claiming more than one (though
don’t let that stop you) – each Day can only be claimed once.
Reasonable variations on the words will be accepted, so e.g. Drum Street
would be acceptable for day 12 and Milk Lane on day eight.
Singular versions of the name are also acceptable, e.g. Goose Street or
Geese Lane would both be acceptable on day ten.
The name can be part of a longer word, so MAIDen Lane would be acceptable on
day eight.
A given adjective of the gift is allowed, so Gold Street would be acceptable
on day five.
You can’t claim the Day just by collecting the number – so a visit to Fourth
Cross Road would be in vain on day four.
The Rundown team’s decision on eligibility of street names / signs is final
– although the more humorous the better!
Photos should be either added to your run on Strava or uploaded to the
Ranelagh community page on Facebook here:. To assist the team you
should use an appropriate run title on Strava or accompanying text on
Facebook, e.g. “Ranelagh Challenge Day 7: Swan Lane”. Note – Days may be
collected throughout December, there is no necessity to try to claim a
specific Day on the correct day of the song (though no harm in trying).
Once the competition is complete, all competitors will be entered into a
draw for the prize, with one entry for each Day collected. So the more Days
you collect, the greater your chances of winning; but even if you collect
only one Day you are still in with a chance.
So dig out your A-Z and get planning. And sing along now – here‘s what you
need to collect:
Day 1: A partridge in a pear tree
Day 2: Two turtle doves
Day 3: Three French hens
Day 4: Four calling birds
Day 5: Five golden rings
Day 6: Six geese a-laying
Day 7: Seven swans a-swimming
Day 8: Eight maids a-milking
Day 9: Nine ladies dancing
Day 10: Ten lords a-leaping
Day 11: Eleven pipers piping
Day 12: Twelve drummers drumming
Good luck, have fun collecting your Days – we look forward to seeing all the
pictures!”
SURREY CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS Sunday 5th January at Denbies Vineyard
If you want to take part, contact the Captains…but Surrey Athletics who
organise the championships are looking for help. They need plenty of
marshals on the course at Denbies Vineyard, Dorking, and are looking for
volunteers. The first race is at 10.30am but volunteers aren’t expected to
cover the whole day. If you can help for part of the day please contact
David Clarke on enduranceofficials@surreyathletics.uk
CLUB KIT
Our supplier for club singlets, men’s and women’s, is iProsports. here:
TUESDAY NIGHT SOCIALS
Don’t forget that we meet for a casual drink after training on the first
Tuesday of each month. Venue is the Roebuck on Richmond Hill. All welcome.
THURSDAY NIGHT TRACK TRAINING AT OSTERLEY
The club is continuing to subsidise track sessions on Thursday evenings at
the Osterley track. All groups and all abilities are welcome. The sessions
are every Thursday 7.30-8.30pm. Link to the map is here:
FACEBOOK
Follow Ranelagh on Facebook: Facebook.
WHAT’S COMING
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Our provisional winter fixture list is now up on our website here:
http://www.ranelagh-harriers.com/fixtures.html.
More details of the following from the men’s Captains (ranelagh.men@gmail.com) or
the women’s Captain / Team Manager ( ranelagh.women@gmail.com )
Saturday 14th December Stubbs Cup Mob Match v South London Harriers away at
Coulsdon 2.30pm start. See above.
Saturday 21st December South of the Thames 7.5 miles Championship. Start
time 2pm at Lloyd Park, Croydon.
Saturday 28th December Henty Relay 12 noon start. See above.
Saturday 4th January Middlesex Championships at Wormwood Scrubs. Men and
women, all age groups
Sunday 5th January Surrey Championships at Denbies, Dorking. Men and women,
all age groups
Saturday 11th January Surrey Leagues – women at Wimbledon Common, men at
Chobham Common
5km parkruns every Saturday at 9am and 2km junior parkruns weekly or monthly
on Sundays.
Venues, more details and registration at www.parkrun.com or
www.parkrun.org.uk/events/juniorevents/.
WHAT’S HAPPENED
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LONDON CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS Saturday 16th November
While London Heathside were completing a whitewash of the individual and
team titles on their home Heath, Ranelagh’s targets were altogether more
modest. We had the bare four counters in the men’s race and half a dozen in
the women’s. Amongst the latter it was good to count new faces Fenella Ross,
Emma Harris and Helen Shires together with Ria Woodfield making up the team
that finished a creditable 14th. In the men’s race Pat Wright led Ross
Macdonald, Mark Herbert and Marcus Atkins to 24th team place.
Women
1 R Piggott (London Hth) 23.12
47 Fenella Ross 26.17
64 Emma Harris 27.07
102 Helen Shires 28.11
123 Ria Woodfield 29.10
141 Marianne Malam 29.33
164 Becky Northmore 30.15
Teams (4 to score)
1 London Heathside 52
14 Ranelagh H 336
Men
1 S Jamaal (London Hth) 36.10
34 Pat Wright 40.07
96 Ross Macdonald 42.32
115 Mark Herbert 43.27
392 Marcus Atkins 53.37
Teams (4 to score)
1 London Heathside 32
24 Ranelagh H 637
MOB MATCH v THAMES HARE & HOUNDS Saturday 23rd November on Wimbledon Common
Men’s Captain Rich Kimber reports:
“Standing in front of the start line with Mike Peace as we attempted to
hobble-gobble Thames Hare and Hounds into submission, I got the feeling that
what their undersized mob lacked in quantity it might just make up for in
quality. Happily, it wasn't to be - but they came close.
Thames were slow with the full results, but the one that really counts was
conclusive: a Ranelagh victory. The suggestion was 653 THH to 608 Ranelagh.
The margin was narrow and it was no mean feat - although Thames fielded a
mob of fewer than 30 to our 68, that included several of their fastest
runners.
If that wasn't enough, things were made even more interesting by some
confusion on course markings, which sent several of our frontrunners and a
few of THH's off course for 100 yards or so. Despite the mishap, the course
delivered as always, with some fast, flat sections and the notorious
up-and-down of the Rifle Butts approaching the finish.
Pat Wright, Ben Anderson, Carl Assmundson, Ted Mockett and Marc Leyshon led
home a fantastic turnout that was testament to how strong we are as a whole
club in the mob match turnout. Very well done to all. We continue the
season's mob matches undefeated, with one home and one away victory.
Victory was made even sweeter by THH's kind hospitality at the post-race
supper in the King's Head. They were magnanimous in defeat, treating us to a
good spread. No doubt they'll be out for redemption in a year's time.”
From a spectator’s point of view in the early stages the likely outcome
seemed to be a clear Thames win. But as the Thames fast starters drifted
backwards, our steadier starters drifted forwards until the situation seemed
to have been reversed. Some useful blue waves cemented it for us. Leading
woman was 15 year-old Ellen Weir (daughter of Thames’s Andy who finished
6th), not far ahead of Megan de Silva.
In fact it wasn’t just a few of the front runners who went off course –
several more RH did a mini tour of the Common before finding their way back
onto the prescribed route while three more inadvertently took a substantial
short cut and found themselves on the finishing field well in advance of the
winner. It was quite like old times…
Thames seemed strangely reluctant to part with the results, which took
several days to appear. You’ll note that there are no times shown. “I feared
the worst”, writes Ken Powley, “when after the first four had finished, the
timekeeper shouted ‘Anyone got a stopwatch with seconds on it?‘ This sort
of thing should just go to make us all the more grateful for Ken’s sterling
work on results and website on our behalf!
1 Richard Ollington THH
2 Pat Wright RAN
3 Tom Goulding THH
4 Carl Assmundson RAN
5 Ben Anderson RAN
6 Andy Weir THH
7 Marc Leyshon RAN
8 Ted Mockett RAN
9 Matt Jones THH
10 James Meiklejohn THH
11 Peter Haarer RAN
12 Joe Gomes RAN
13 Simon Baines THH
14 Rich Kimber RAN
15 Ed Catmur THH
16 Ed Forbes RAN
17 David Lawley RAN
18 James Riley RAN
19 Chris Rye THH
20 Ellen Weir THH
21 Simon Barrett THH
22 James Graham RAN
23 Mark Herbert RAN
24 Alyn Morgan RAN
25 Jonathan Moore RAN
26 Megan de Silva RAN
27 Nik Pugh THH
28 Anthony Doolittle THH
29 Iain Sheridan THH
30 John Shaw RAN
31 Peter Woodburn THH
32 Lauren Major THH
33 Rory Spicer THH
34 David Crowther THH
35 Liz Stavreski THH
36 Bradley Harrad THH
37 Holger Westphely RAN
38 James Ritchie RAN
39 Rick Turner THH
40 Vikki Filsell THH
41 Alberto Esguevillas RAN
42 Chris Hutber THH
43 Michael Morris RAN
44 Jarryd Hillhouse RAN
45 Matt Beaney THH
46 Gary Christie RAN
47 Marcus Atkins RAN
48 Phil Beausang RAN
49 Ria Woodfield RAN
50 Ben Shore RAN
51 Wiebke Kortum RAN
52 Niall O'Connor RAN
53 David Wright RAN
54 Stephen Aikin RAN
55 Alice Littler RAN
56 Mike Farmery THH
57 Amelie Hunton RAN
58 Phil Roberts RAN
59 Andrea Buchannan THH
60 Neil Walford RAN
61 Tim Miller RAN
62 Chris Hunton RAN
63 Fenella Ross RAN
64 Mike Peace RAN
65 Rhodri Davies THH
66 Rue Turner RAN
67 Paul Wapshott RAN
68 Jeremy Day RAN
69 Natalie Haarer RAN
70 Gavin Hillhouse RAN
71 Simon Hedger RAN
72 Robert Andrews RAN
73 Amrut Sharma RAN
74 Kevin Knowles RAN
75 Ann Kearey RAN
76 Patrick Beausang RAN
77 Chris Read RAN
78 Susan Ritchie RAN
79 James Russell RAN
80 John Tovell RAN
81 Rebecca Bissell RAN
82 Lloyd Camp RAN
83 Anna Reichwald RAN
84 Jeff Armitage THH
85 Perry Rendell RAN
86 Chris Owens RAN
87 Carol Aikin RAN
88 Paul Newby THH
89 Keeley Philips RAN
90 Sally Bamford RAN
91 Paula Maguire RAN
92 Fiona Pugh RAN
93 Chris Camacho RAN
Clare Day, Ian Grange and Dave Kew all ran off course
TEAMS: (25 to Score)
1 Ranelagh Harriers 608
2 Thames Hare & Hounds 653
WELWYN AUTUMN HALF MARATHON Sunday 22nd September
This handy win for George Howard back in September escaped the reporting
net.
1 George Howard 1:18.13
SCB GRUNEWALD MARATHON Saturday 16th November at Grunewald, Germany
George Howard reports:
“The SCB Berlin Grunewald Marathon was the best I've run to date. To cut a
long story short it was me versus this other guy. Having assured me before
the race he'd not be quick today, he ran off in the second mile and built a
two minute lead - I only saw him again at half way, where the course
included a lap of the track before starting the second 21km loop. I just
tried to keep it steady and see if I could reel him in. I was really
enjoying running by feel instead of obsessing about splits as one does (and
will again!) on flat city marathons. At about km40 I'm feeling strong and
happy not to have done my usual caving-in number, and think - fair play to
the lad, no shame in second and still on course for the old course record
(my original goal). But then I look up and there he is near the top of the
incline 100m away! Well, I managed to stay calm and stop myself from
sprinting, pulled him in methodically, and won it with a decisive burst in
the last 800m, lowering the (his) course record by over a minute: 2.43.38.
It was totally totally brilliant - and to say: "I won a marathon" (OK, one
with 80 competitors... but how many are on the startline at the Olympics?)
is very special. It is a fantastic course/event which I can wholeheartedly
recommend. (After all, it was designed by me and the club president eight
years ago as the Berlin Marathon alternativ.)
1 George Howard 2:43.39
WINDSOR AUTUMN HALF MARATHON Saturday 16th November
Fourth place and second vet went to the Rocket.
1 P O’Callaghan (Tad) 1:12.45
4 Ted Mockett 1:15.56
BRIGHTON 10km Sunday 17th November
1 F McNally (Brighton Ph) 30.23
1139 Janet Turnes 60.59
1178 Julie Naismith 60.47
BEACONS ULTRA TRAIL Saturday 16th November in the Brecon Beacons
Rich Kimber writes:
“James Ritchie led our ultra contingent, finishing a very impressive 39th
overall in the Brecons Ultra on Saturday 16th. He was shortly followed by
Gareth Williams and Bruce McLaren who bashed out a very punchy final 10km to
finish the 47-mile (ish?) course inside nine hours. Commiserations to
handicapper extraordinaire Simon Martin who had to drop out with illness,
having still completed the first lap of the two-lap course - almost a full
marathon.”
1 C Harpur (Highgate) 5:51.15
39 James Ritchie 8:55.30
42 Gareth Williams 8:59.08
43 Bruce McLaren 8:59.11
ALAN’S JAUNTS
Alan Davidson reports:
“These were my annual running breaks from the British winter in Portugal
(Monte Gordo/Vila Real) and Cyprus (Paphos), but the Algarve Running
Challenge (4 races in 7 days) although sunny had an incessant very strong
cold blast leaving the beach deckchairs unopened and unsold! The worst
racing impact was on the track mile a battle 4 times into the back straight
wind too tough for me to do much under 9 minutes (actual 8.50).
Cyprus had 20/21C sunshine but the Aphrodite 5k had a revised course due to
a road closure and unhelpfully the police sent diverted traffic amongst the
runners. This perhaps helped me to a better time than expected (28.42) as
for some distance on a narrow road I was chased by a bus! I witnessed a
crazy sight in the half marathon where a leading group of runners suddenly
found traffic sent on by the police coming head on and they hastily had to
string out to squeeze between the kerb and cars and buses. I got home tired
late evening from a long day of travel to freezing England so perhaps it was
a good thing rail engineering works prevented me from getting to the Victory
5 the next day!”
RUNTHROUGH BATTERSEA PARK 10k Saturday 23rd November
1 L Johansson (Sweden) 33.11
15 David Ready 36.43
346 Roger Wallace 55.01
CALL THAT A HILL SESSION? Sunday 24th November in Richmond
Rich Kimber reports:
“Stealing the numerical limelight this weekend was James Riley with his wife
Sally. 4:43 hours of running. 28.6 miles. 9,121ft of elevation. The pair of
them ran 100 reps of Nightingale Lane today. Just cos. And don't think he
tapered for it - vice captain James had still turned out for a slog around
the mob match on Saturday. Among other epithets, the words ‘insane’ and
‘nuts’ feature prominently in the Strava comments. Personal assessment:
‘awesome’. Kudos also to James Ritchie, who went for the Half-Riley (50
reps).”
RUN SILVERSTONE HALF MARATHON Sunday 24th November
Rich Kimber reports
“Ed Perry ran a stunning PB of 1:18:31 at the Silverstone half - he was
rightly delighted with an extremely well paced run.”
1 M Bennett (Soton) 71.12
14 Ed Perry 78.31
KINGSTON 10k Sunday 24th November
1 L Carpenter (Wolv & B) 36.06
8 Pete Smith 38.13
16 Alex Kew 40.25
LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH 5k Friday 29th November in Hyde Park
1 N Greenleaf (Serp) 15.26
7 Carl Assmundson 16.20
33 Rick Jenner 17.35
82 Mick Lane 19.05
162 Steve Aikin 21.33
216 Carl Aikin 24.32
SELF TRANSCENDENCE GRIZZLY BEAR 10k Saturday 30th November in Battersea
Park
Paul Doyle was the leading over 50 by a margin of three minutes. He writes:
“I had a good run in a Battersea Park 10K . My result was 36:50, a bit more
like my old self!” This run places Paul 14th in our all-time M50 list.
1 A Ramsie (SLH) 32.28
39 Paul Doyle 36.50
RUNTHROUGH LEE VALLEY VELO PARK 10k Saturday 30th November
1 S Wheatley (unatt) 37.23
40 Roger Wallace 53.45
FUKUOKA MARATHON Sunday 1st December in Japan
Nick Impey hacked another minute off his PB in this classic Marathon. Nick
moves up to 19th in Ranelagh’s all-time list.
1 El M Dazza (Morocco) 2:07.10
120 Nick Impey 2:28.34
PIRIE 10 miles OPEN CROSS-COUNTRY Sunday 1st December at Coulsdon
Pat Wright finished a strong but isolated 3rd.
1 N Torry (Serp) 55.42
3 Pat Wright 58.23
VALENCIA MARATHON Sunday 1st December in Spain
This race is rapidly acquiring a reputation as a fast one and hundreds of
Brits travelled over to Spain for it. Alex and Claire recorded PBs.
1 K Alayew (Ethiopia) 2:03.51
Alex Ring 3:19.13
Jarryd Hillhouse 3:41.14
Claire Warner 4:23.57
parkrun results...
Follow this link for the latest Ranelagh results:. Then follow
the “Previously” link at the bottom of the parkrun screen to access previous
weeks’ results.
FINALLY…
We have previously mentioned the extraordinary strength in depth in Japanese
distance running. Here are some more unbelievable figures: in a recent Half
Marathon in Ageo City, the winner recorded 61.23. 50th place was at 63.53,
100th at 64.37 and 200th at 66.15!
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