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Newsdesk 2020
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RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 567 12th March 2020
Editor: Steve Rowland
mailto: sandsrowland@btinternet.com
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HEADLINE NEWS
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* At present all fixtures are scheduled to take place despite the Corona
virus, but the situation is being kept under review
* Ranelagh win the mob match v Blackheath & Bromley H&AC
* Our mob led by Ben Anderson and Bonnie Morgan
* Ben Anderson wins the FB Thompson Medal and the Wynne Cup
* Clive Naish wins the sealed handicap
* Suzy Whatmough and Ben Anderson are our first finishers in the “National”
* James Ritchie and Suzy Whatmough win the club 20 miles championships
* Marathon wins for Ryan Hogan and Nick Twomey
* Many good road results
* Clutton Cup 10 miles handicap this Saturday
* Calling all club trophy holders and trophy winners!
* Book now for our awards presentation on 4th April
* First club road Grand Prix event – the Thames Towpath 10m – filling up
ATTENTION PLEASE
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CORONA VIRUS
The situation is obviously still developing, but so far all races are
scheduled to take place. However, members are requested to take sensible
precautions and in particular should not attend training sessions or races
if they are exhibiting any of the widely publicised symptoms associated with
Covid-19 See the statement from England Athletics here: .
TROPHY HOLDERS
Ted Mockett writes:
“Calling all trophy holders. We now need all the trophies back (and
POLISHED!) in time to be engraved for our annual Baker Cup prize giving on
4th April. If you were lucky enough to win one of our trophies last year
please could you get in touch with me, either on Facebook or by email
tedmockett@hotmail.com
TROPHY WINNERS
All our splendid trophies are on display at the annual awards presentation
on April 4th ready to go to their new owners – see below. We don’t want to
have to take them home again! If you have won a club trophy during the past
twelve months – handicaps, cross country club championships, road club
championships etc do PLEASE try to attend the presentation. It’s very
disappointing when half the trophies are not collected!
BAKER CUP SUPPER AND ANNUAL AWARDS PRESENTATION
This takes place on Saturday 4th April at the Roebuck on Richmond Hill,
starting at 7pm. Book your place now – especially if you have a trophy to
collect! The cost is £25 per head to include a welcoming glass of bubbly,
free beer while stocks last and a buffet supper. There is a limit of 60, so
don’t delay. RSVP to Michele Gibson – your glass of bubbly awaits you!
Please contact Michele at micheleagibson@hotmail.com, mobile:- 07703
518956.
Cheques payable to Ranelagh Harriers and posted / handed to Ms Michele
Gibson, c/o Baker Cup Supper, 79 Thames Side, Staines upon Thames, Middlesex
TW18 2HF or leave in the clubhouse safe with the name Michele Gibson / Baker
Cup on the envelope.
Cash payable to Michele Gibson at the Club on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
Leave in a named envelope in safe / hand to me.
BACS Payments - Ranelagh Harriers, Sort Code 401310, Account 12154501 Ref-
Baker Cup & YOUR NAME
PARTIALLY SIGHTED RUNNER GUIDES REQUIRED
John Herriott writes:
"Thank you for those who have already shown an interest in helping the club
out in this role. For anyone who missed the original request please see the
article below."
“I am part of the team that help the Intermediate 2 group every week
together with Martin Nance, Anna Reichwald and Ian Grange. In Intermediate 2
we have an enthusiastic Partially Sighted Runner, Roger, who comes along
every 2 to 3 weeks and each time he attends a member of I2 guides him on the
training session.
I am looking to get more RH volunteers interested in helping Roger and other
partially sighted runners. I have made contact with a local partially
sighted runner Roy Smith, MBE, via the RNIB Website. He is happy to come
along to the clubhouse to talk to volunteers who would be interested in
taking up this role. The talk would be after a Tuesday training session and
take place in March/April.
If you would like to find out more and/or become involved in making a
rewarding contribution to the club, please send an e-mail to
ranelagh.hon.secretary@gmail.com and I will put together a rota of RH
runners potentially interested in assisting our visually impaired
colleagues.”
CALLING ALL JUNIORS
The club junior championships for the Lotinga Cup (male) and the Camilla Cup
(female) take place on Saturday 28th March in Richmond Park over a 2.7 miles
/ 4km course. Start time is 3pm and all under 20s are welcome. Register on
the day at the clubhouse or at the start. Juniors will run with the Ellis
and Dysart Cups senior race but will finish after one lap only.
One week later we have the last club handicap of the season, the 3 miles
road race for the Baker Cup. Again, all juniors are welcome and the Jack
Ellicock Trophy goes to the first under 18 to finish.
The Stragglers / Ranelagh junior handicap series kicks off on 23rd April –
see below.
CLUTTON CUP 10 miles handicap Saturday 14th March in Richmond Park
NOTE the date is March 14th not the 21st as previously advertised.
Start time is 2pm. This is our longest club handicap and arguably the
easiest to win as it usually attracts a fairly small field. All are welcome,
register at the clubhouse. Note that the course will be flagged but not
marshalled, so please familiarise yourself with it.
RANELAGH CUP SCHOOLS RACE Saturday 21st March in Richmond Park
NOTE the date is March 21st not the 14th as previously advertised. Start
time is 3pm.
ELLIS CUP and DYSART CUP Saturday 28th March in Richmond Park
Start time is 3pm. This is an inter-club race for the Ellis Cup (men) and
the Dysart Cup (women) . It’s two laps of our old League course, totalling
about 5.5 miles. The Stragglers are current holders of the Dysart Cup while
we hold the men’s. All are welcome, register on the day. As detailed above,
the race also incorporates our club junior championships. All under 20s are
eligible. The juniors will start with the main race but will finish after
one lap.
McLEOD CUP and WOMEN’S PERFORMANCE AWARD
These two competitions – for men and women respectively – are based on
points scored throughout the winter season. The men’s competition is still
very close. Peter Haarer has leap-frogged into first place but close behind
only six points currently separate Ed Forbes, Jonathan Smith and Dave
Lawley. In the women’s competition Marianne Malam is streets ahead of
Rebecca Northmore and Rebecca Bissell. Full scoreboards here:.
2020 STRAGGLERS / RANELAGH JUNIOR HANDICAP SERIES
All under-18s are welcome. Dates and venues are shown below. Registration
opens at 6.50pm for a 7.25pm start. Pre-registration is necessary and a
consent form must be completed for any child taking part for the first time.
Thursday 23rd April at the Hawker Centre
Thursday 21st May at the Ranelagh Clubhouse
Thursday 11th June at the Russell School, Petersham
Thursday 25th June at the Hawker Centre
Thursday 9th July at the Ranelagh Clubhouse
Thursday 27th August at the Hawker Centre
For registration and more details:.
RANELAGH RICHMOND HALF MARATHON Sunday 10th May
and
RANELAGH RICHMOND 10k Sunday 21st June
It’s unclear yet whether we will be able to hold these races or not. All big
events are vulnerable including the London Marathon but the situation is
fluid. In the meantime entries are still open at ranelagh-half-marathon.co.uk and ranelagh-10k.co.uk
ranelagh-half-marathon.co.uk/ and Details and entry:.
The next GP event is the London Marathon on 26th April or any spring Marathon up to 10th May.
WIMBLEDON TRAIL RUNS
Andy Bickerstaff is once again organising his three summer evening 5 mile
trail races on Wimbledon Common. They are all on Wednesday evenings at 7pm.
Dates are May 6th, June 3rd and July 1st Details:.
CLUB KIT
Our supplier for club singlets, men’s and women’s, is iProsports. Details and orders:
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.
FACEBOOK
Follow Ranelagh on Facebook
WHAT’S COMING
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<
Our winter fixture list is now up on our website here:.
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 March Clutton Cup 10 miles handicap in Richmond Park. 2pm
start. Register on the day at the clubhouse.
Saturday 21st March Ranelagh Cup schools race 6k in Richmond Park. 2.30pm
start
Sunday 22nd March South of England Road Relay Champs at Milton Keynes
Saturday 28th March Ellis Cup (men) and Dysart Cups (women) inter-club 8km
in Richmond Park incl club junior championships 4km
Saturday 4th April Baker Cup 3 miles road handicap in Richmond Park
near White Lodge. 3pm start. All welcome, register at the clubhouse.
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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ENGLISH NATIONAL CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS Saturday 22nd February at
Wollaton Park, Nottingham
Pheidippides reports:
“It was a pleasure to return to Wollaton Park for the National, a special
favourite with fond memories including the days when it provided the venue
for the Inter-Counties competition (but on a different course which opened
with a charge up the hill towards 'Batman's lodge'). The course repeated
that of 2017 to which I have nothing to add to my previous description, but
there was novelty. Starting pens were abandoned (I avoided the pile-up on
the side where everyone wanted to be first to reach the first turn, and
enjoyed the open spaces to the left). Also, someone had decided to dump
three tree-trunks on the course, two on long fast down-hill stretches but
the third across a quagmire which was a real cadence-breaker. And what a
quagmire it was due to the abundant recent rainfall. Appropriate
descriptors for the mud provided the hot topic of conversation: was it best
to bring up comparisons to food (soup, rice-pudding, porridge) or to pass
through less salubrious comparanda (slurry, semi-solids, worse ...)? - and
the pungent smell should not be forgotten. Nothing can rival Parliament
Hill for overall mud content (with the exception of Alton Towers in 2011)
but the Wollaton mire, when we met it, provided the most challenging matter
I have met: would my leg, knee-deep, ever resurface? Does the intention of
running mean that one is also performing the act, however slow the
cadence? And would my toes fall off? (That mud was colder than it looked,
and my sockless tactic meant that all feeling fled the extremities of my
feet mid-course.).
The women's race was run before the junior men with the advantage of
offering much better opportunities for spectating by the senior men, so we
were able to cheer on Suzy Whatmough as she led the Ranelagh women home
(winning the Aotearoa Trophy), followed not too far behind by the rising
star of Natalie Haarer (is that bias?) and a little further back by Rebecca
Northmore, Marianne Malam (always improbably cheerful when racing) and Ann
Kearey. In the men's race, Ben Anderson was spotted hurtling through the
melée towards a good spot on that first corner thereby contributing to a
decent finishing position to bag the much-coveted Roffey Salver. Graham
Brook hared off to a good start also and finished very creditably, followed
at increasing distance by Peter Haarer and James Ritchie. Culinary delights
were supplied by Marianne and wolfed down by all, and where would we have
been without the support on-course of Phil Aiken?
It was regrettable that Ranelagh was thin on the ground for such a
magnificent course, and that our front-runners were not supported in depth
by a larger turn-out (but all credit to those happy few who were there
sporting the blue and gold). The English National is a terrific day out -
all welcome come next time around!”.
Although there are no official masters categories in the National, it’s
worth noting that Peter Haarer was the third over 50 to finish.
Senior Women
1 Anna Moller (AFD) 32.59
110 Suzy Whatmough (Rane) 39.20
188 Natalie Haarer 41.34
439 Rebecca Northmore 47.39
468 Marianne Malam 48.15
664 Ann Kearey 53.40
Teams (4 to Score)
1 Aldershot F&D AC 48
37 Ranelagh H 1205
Senior Men
1 Calum Johnson (Gates) 43.36
142 Ben Anderson (Rane) 48.57
333 Graham Brook 52.15
460 Peter Haarer 54.12
866 James Ritchie 60.21
PELLING RATCLIFF CUP MOB MATCH v Blackheath and Bromley HAC Saturday 7th
March in Richmond Park
Rich Kimber reports:
“There are no foregone conclusions in running, and only a fool would
completely write off a club that had 70 wins to Ranelagh's 29 in the long
history of this fixture. All the same, with recent form on our side, the
home advantage, an audience of Ranelagh legends including Bill Bird and Hugh
Jones, several returning past winners and the added incentive of free beer,
you had to like us for the win.
Blackheath mustered bigger numbers than they've brought to the fixture for a
while but their 22 were no match for us. With 19 to score, a crushing win of
230 to 744 meant we completed the Grand Slam for the season, winning every
one of our mob matches. So first of all, huge congratulations go to all of
you for giving it everything so consistently.
Just a skim over the full results says it all. By the time our scoring 19
were home (Ross Clayton in 26th), just seven Heathens had finished. And it
was still wave after wave of blue vests after that breaking things up.
Ben Anderson wrote himself into Ranelagh history once again, capping a
season of brilliant performances to take the Wynne Cup for the club
championships and the FB Thompson Medal as race winner. Pat Wright ran a
course PB for 2nd, pulling away from Carl Assmundson at the finish after
running the whole race with him. Special mention to comeback king Jordan
Mungovan, who was next home in another course PB of 44:57 and a whopping age
grade best of 78.6%. Jon Smith also continued his excellent form with
another course PB, and returning winner Chris Illman put in a strong run
just ahead of him. Behind Jon was Peter Haarer, again taking the Harry Sheer
Trophy for first V50.
Congrats to Clive Naish, who took the sealed handicap, narrowly beating
James Russell. Chapeau to Andy Hayward too, whose commemorative Celebration
Ale went down a treat after the race.
It was especially pleasing to see so many Ranelites slogging it out right to
the bitter end, from the intra-club battles at the front to Rue Turner's
spectacular sprint finish to beat a Blackheath runner on the line. As this
extends our mob winning streak to six (seven including the Stragglers mini
mob), the same feat next season would take us to double figures. Now there's
a target.”
This was the 100th mob match between the two clubs, and so it was thought
that some small celebration was called for. As mentioned above, Andy Hayward
and his Thames Side Brewery produced a special commemorative brew of best
beer and all runners and officials were presented with a bottle.. As many
former winners of the mob match as Hon Sec Gordon Whitson could locate were
invited to come along for the morning. Not everyone could make it (and we
managed to rouse none from Blackheath), but amongst those who did was a
veritable panoply of the great and the good from Ranelagh’s recent history.
We welcomed as spectators Bill Bird, Alan Hedger, Hugh Jones, Tim Woods,
Dave Daniels, Phil Killingley and Eirin McDaid, plus taking part David
Wright , Peter Haarer, Chris Illman, Simon Collingridge and of course coming
right up to date Ben Anderson. Leading women were not left out and we were
pleased to see Margaret Auerback, Sonia Rowland, Sue Colver, and Becky
Curtis-Hall in attendance, plus Marie Synnott-Wells, Wiebke Kortum and Anna
Reichwald taking part in the race. Nice to see you all!
This was David Wright’s 180th mob match, and Mike Peace’s 149th. Clive Naish
moved into third place in the mob match count with 142. Clive also won the
sealed handicap ahead of James Russell and Neil Walford, only 15 seconds
covering the three of them. Well done Mr Handicapper!
THORPE AND AND EGHAM HALF MARATHON Sunday 2nd February
In the results in e-news #565, James Ritchie was credited with a time of
1:15.38. I’m sure he would have been delighted with this, but unfortunately
the correct time was 1:25.38
RUNTHROUGH HYDE PARK 10km Saturday 22nd February
1 A Ugarte (unatt) 32.49
244 Roger Wallace 56.18
QUICKSILVER HAMPTON COURT HALF MARATHON Sunday 23rd February
A PB and a 4th place for the second week in succession for Pat Wright.
1 A Blyth (Herc Wimb) 1:11.41
4 Pat Wright 1:13.38
55 Sam Dalgleish 1:22.32
67 Gareth Wlliams 1:23.13
97 Will Harding 1:25.01
188 Neil Rae 1:29.39
189 Alex Ring 1:29.44
395 Ross Clayton 1:30.22
940 John Reece 1:45.40
957 Rebecca Bissell 1:45.49
1068 James Ritchie 1:48.38
1069 Susan Ritchie 1:48.38
1230 Camilla Mignot 1:50.09
1690 Karima Graham 2:00.25
2009 Anne Lotter 2:05.22
2018 Colette Doran 2:14.12
2060 Margie Harrison 2:07.07
2136 Ian Harrison 2:09.47
GRAND BRIGHTON HALF MARATHON Sunday 23rd February
1 K Moore (Brighton & H) 1:09.05
416 Alun Thomas 1:33.32
2415 Melanie Thomas 1:54.27
2782 Danni Croucher 1:54.44
3322 Ella Stanbrook 1:56.36
3737 Ally Salisbury 2:05.51
WOKINGHAM HALF MARATHON Sunday 23rd February
1 J Cornish (Herc Wimb) 1:07.13
67 Marc Leyshon 1:17.22
75 James Whistler 1:17.49
665 Phil Roberts 1:37.31
HILLINGDON 10km Sunday 23rd February
John Shaw is flying since he turned 60, and here he won the overall masters
first prize in 7th place. His time of 37.35 places him top of our all-time
10km rankings for over 60s, displacing at last the late Ken Fotherby senior
whose 37.50 had stood since 1989. It should be noted however that the
legendary Ed Whitlock ran 37.33 as an over 70!
There was also a PB of 36.16 for David Ready who finished in third place.
1 M Mohamed (Hill) 31.43
3 David Ready 36.16
7 John Shaw 37.35
UP AND RUNNING LAST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH 10k TIME TRIAL Sunday 23rd February
at East Sheen
Cecily Day finished third overall and first woman.
1 S Struthers (unatt) 41.00
3 Cecily Day 44.16
8 Jess Harbert 48.34
9 Jeremy Day 48.37
16 Clare Day 54.30
LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH 5k Friday 28th February in Hyde Park
1 O Newton (TVH) 15.52
104 Andrew Kew 20.35
VITALITY BIG HALF MARATHON Sunday 1st March in London
1 K Bekele (Ethiopia) 1:00.22
99 Ross Macdonald 1:15.18
319 Kris Davidson 1:18.10
1279 Felix Adams 1:29.56
2796 Simon Martin 1:39.55
3292 Emma Lloyd 1:41.54
3979 Hadi Khatamizadeh 1:45.12
4693 Richard Gurd 1:48.17
5984 Melanie Thomas 1:53.17
7496 Fiona Pugh 1:58.32
9089 Roger Wallace 2:04.56
10003 Colette Doran 2:09.30
15097 Siobhan Sharp 2:51.49
RUNTHROUGH VICTORIA PARK 10km Saturday 7th March
1 J Van Deventer (Clapham) 31.27
242 Roger Wallace 54.56
HILLINGDON 20 miles Sunday 8th March at Ruislip
This race incorporated our club 20 miles championships, which were won by
James Ritchie and Suzy Whatmough.
1 George Suthon (Serp) 1:56:57
51 James Ritchie 2:18:15
78 Ross Clayton 2:25:15
172 Suzy Whatmough 2:43:11
253 Ann Kearey 3:03:11
RUN THROUGH RICHMOND PARK HALF MARATHON Sunday 8th March
Ryan Hogan was an impressive winner in his build up to the Brighton
Marathon.
1 Ryan Hogan 1:13.34
SURREY HALF MARATHON Sunday 8th March at Woking
1 B Cole (Tonbridge) 1.10.17
36 Ed Perry 1:16.47
60 David Ready 1:19.28
2278 John Herriott 2:10.17
BIDEFORD HALF MARATHON Sunday 8th March
Ross Macdonald reports:
“8th place at Bideford Half Marathon (1:14:54) on Sunday. An undulating
first half in wind and heavy rain, followed by a pan-flat second half in
sunshine and with a tailwind. This followed last weekend's Big Half time of
1:15:15. Heading in the right direction!”
1 R Richmond (Bideford) 1:07.39
8 Ross Macdonald 1:14.54
MARRIOTT’S WAY TRAIL MARATHON Sunday 8th March at Norwich
Rich Kimber writes:
“Some runners would lose their nerve after their target marathon was
rescheduled due to adverse weather. What if they'd peaked? How would they
train for the next two weeks? Not Nick Twomey. The Marathon Man put in an
impressively paced solo run, without company from start to finish, to win
the Marriott's Way trail marathon in 2:49:56, a mere 36 minutes ahead of his
nearest competitor”.
Nick Twomey adds::
“Delighted to win the Marriott’s Way Trail Marathon today in just under
2hours 50mins. I was on my own from start to finish but it was a great
marathon. My first marathon running wearing a hydration vest!”
1 Nick Twomey 2:49.56
CAMBRIDGE HALF MARATHON Sunday 8th March
Rich Kimber again:
“James Riley ran an amazing 1:13:50 for a top 50 finish (4th V40) at the
highly competitive Cambridge Half. He jumps six places to 7th on the club's
Half
Marathon leaderboard".”
1 J Escalante (C&C) 1:05.36
45 James Riley 1:13.50
1096 Sally Minchella 1:33.21
1283 Jonathan Martin 1:35.13
2640 Paul Hodges 1:43.44
SECOND SUNDAY 5 miles Sunday 8th March on Wimbledon Common
1 A Ismaili (Fulham) 31.55
50 Carol Aikin 49.41
THAMES MEANDER MARATHON Sunday 8th March at Kingston
1 J Groves (unatt) 2:55.17
22 Bruce McLaren 3:18.08
191 John Reece 4:16.21
275 Ian Grange 5:02.00
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…
Wally Garrod writes:“I know self-praise is no recommendation but follow this
link to Bushy parkrun news for 22nd February ..and be ???impressed ??”
Video:.