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Newsdesk 2021
*************************************************** RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 581 23rd January 2021 Editor: Steve Rowland mailto: sandsrowland@btinternet.com *************************************************** LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT Dear Ranelagh friends I hope you are all keeping well and safe. I know most of us were pleased to see the back of 2020 which will hardly go down as a vintage year in the annals of history. I'm sure we all know someone who has been affected by Covid, either through catching it, being furloughed, losing a job or being unable to work due to lockdown, perhaps dealing with the home-schooling of children (or, for some of our junior members, being taught by your parents!). Despite Wham!'s Last Christmas finally making it to the number 1 spot in the UK singles chart some 36 years after its original release, 2021 hasn't started particularly well either and we're unlikely to see any significant improvement or changes to the current arrangements for quite some time but there are some promising signs. The vaccine roll-out seems to be going well and I hope that a number of you have had yours already. The days are now getting noticeably longer. We had a number of new members join in 2020 and, judging by the results in the virtual races, many of you have been able to stay in great shape despite the lack of races or Tuesday training sessions. Facebook reminded me that I did my very first Ranelagh training session exactly 11 years ago today as I write. I reported that "I was truly exhausted, clearly a long way to go and likely to be rather stiff for the next few days". I'm very pleased I stuck with it and am part of this wonderful club. I feel very lucky to have joined such a great community and, even with the Covid restrictions, have been able to stay in contact with many of you. During these times I'd like to remind you that you have friends at the club, and if you need support or someone to chat to please don't hesitate to get in touch with me or anyone else within the club who will likely offer a friendly ear. Let's make sure we look after each other. Best wishes and stay safe Ted Mockett ranelaghpresident@gmail.com NATIONAL VIRTUAL ROAD RELAY The Qualifying Round for this national virtual competition ended last week. 128 teams entered and the target for us was to finish in the top 50 and thus qualify for the National Round in February. The good news is that we finished 28th, nicely our target. The National Round will take place between Wednesday 10 February and Monday 15 February. Runners from the clubs who have qualified will need to sign-up to the National Round competition on OpenTrack National Round and Open Track. As with the previous round, the distance will be a virtual 5 miles and clubs eligible for the National Round are allowed to have an uncapped number of their runners enter the competition (with the fastest four men and four women scoring). 25 Ranelagh took part in the Qualifying Round, 15 men and 10 women. Times were commendably fast and the standard was high. At the sharp end 23 men recorded times below 25 minutes and 19 women finished inside 30 minutes. Nick Impey and Suzy Whatmough were our fastest and our scoring team of eight comprised Nick, James Riley, Eirin McDaid, James Whistler, Suzy, Sarah Palmer, Emma Harris and Natalie Haarer. Good luck to all who compete in the next round. All are welcome. 1 M Dickinson (Clap) 23.57 79 Nick Impey (Ran) 26.34 160 James Riley 27.24 163 Eirin McDaid 27.25 159 R Johnson (High) 27.36 (1st woman) 199 James Whistler 27.48 205 David Ready 27.50 245 Ted Mockett 28.08 286 Mark Herbert 28.30 290 Gareth Williams 28.31 309 David Lawley 28.38 319 Marc Leyshon 28.42 357 Andy Starr 28.56 358 Rich Kimber 28.57 722 Suzy Whatmough 31.11 889 Sarah Palmer 32.11 995 Emma Harris 33.02 1107 Natalie Haarer 33.44 1162 Kathy Henry 34.02 1162 Neil Rae 34.02 1338 Cecily Day 35.10 1376 Bill Neely 35.27 1484 Rebecca Bissell 36.17 1501 Wiebke Kortum 36.24 1638 Gordon Whitson 37.35 2016 Carol Aikin 42.06 2354 Narissa Vox 49.33 Windsor Slough Eton and Hounslow AC were the winning team with an aggregate time for their first four men and women of 3:41.47. Ranelagh team Nick, James, Eirin, James, Suzy, Sarah, Emma and Natalie finished 28th on 3:59.09. RANELAGH FESTIVE CHALLENGE Report cribbed from Facebook: Back in November we set a lockdown challenge to run Richmond parkrun a lot. That seemed quite popular. What could we do for a Ranelagh Festive Challenge ? More parkruns , fancy dress , selfies , a weird arcane scoring system that gave more beer to the 5th placed competitor than anyone else - could it work? Yes it could! You guys have been at this in . Vying for top spot from the off were the young speedster Pete Smith, and (hardly tortoise-like ?) veteran Richard Willoughby. Richard put in an early statement of intent, running five different parkruns in a day, and began to stretch ahead. Could Pete keep up? Time would tell. A chasing pack of Marianne Malam, Rebecca Bissell and Ann Kearey soon formed, and kept Richard honest. There was no slacking to be had from him as he fought to defend his lead, with a dazzling array of costumes and endless dedication to the cause. Soon only Marianne could get anywhere near him for selfies and volume of runs. Some late ultra-running from James Ritchie (10 parkruns, though cheating by cycling between) and Gareth Wiliams and Bruce McLaren (6 parkruns, honestly done) was in vain - Richard's lead was too great, and he continued to run multiple parkruns to the end. And so, with a phenomenal sixty parkruns in four weeks and 1441 points, we give you, your valiant champion, and winner of entry into next year’s Ranelagh 10km, and a limited edition T-shirt - Richard Willoughby! Richard, you can take a break from parkrun for a couple of days now! Deserving no less plaudits, in second place, with forty parkruns and 786 points is the always impeccably selfied Marianne Malam. Courtesy of his cycling ultra, the final spot on the podium goes to James Ritchie with 25 parkruns and 622 points. In the penultimate prize spot is Claire Warner. Quietly amassing runs, she climbed the ladder, to seal fourth on the final day. And what of the venerable fifth spot? Turns out Pete had been playing the long game all along, and gets to go home with all the beer . Nicely done! Claire Warner and Alex Ring win a bonus prize of alcoholic beverages for their fantastic New Year photo (see below). Thank you to everyone who took part. In all with 47 runners we managed 421 parkruns in four weeks. With some brilliant costumes and selfies, we've loved seeing you all take part and having so much fun. All the results are here:, And all the pictures are here: Plus check out the fab collages Kathy Henry has been posting on Ranelaghs Instagram - here: Have a great 2021! x LONDON YOUTH GAMES Richmond Borough won the LYG Virtual Cross-Country team title and in the Under 13 Girls, congratulations go to Ranelaghs Siena Lepine who was fastest on the 2km course with a time of 6.54. LONDON MARATHON From the London Marathon website: On Sunday 3 October 2021, 50,000 runners will have the chance to be a part of the biggest marathon ever staged anywhere in the world. The virtual Virgin Money London Marathon will return this year, giving participants the opportunity to take on the worlds greatest marathon on the course of their choice from 00:00:00 to 23:59:59, wherever they are on the planet. Runners in the virtual event will join a record 50,000 participants who will run the traditional Virgin Money London Marathon from Blackheath to The Mall. The virtual Virgin Money London Marathon was held for the first time in 2020, when more than 37,000 runners, from all corners of the world, completed the race. The final finishing total of 37,966 means it has been awarded an official Guinness World Record title for the 'Most users to run a remote marathon in 24 hours'. How to enter Everyone who entered the ballot for the 2021 Virgin Money London Marathon will find out on Monday 8 February if they have been successful or not. Unsuccessful applicants will have an exclusive window from Tuesday 9 February to Tuesday 16 February to enter the virtual event. General entries will open on Tuesday 16 February, on a first-come, first-served basis. SPORTING FEET We have created a discount code for Ranelagh. Its Harriers10. This will entitle all of your members to a 10% discount with us online. We have already reduced the prices of most of our key running shoes online anyway, due to Covid. So in many cases, your members will actually get double discount. Heres a link to the special offers section of our website, and most of our key running shoes are in here: Dominic Stead at Sporting Feet 3, Lacy Road, Putney, SW15 1NH 020 8780 0558 9, King Street, Richmond, TW9 1ND 020 8948 6059 CARROT This comes from Nick Wright: Introducing my new 5km running ‘game’ mobile app - carrot.run... I would like to invite all Ranelagh members to become some of the first consumers to download and play it in its beta form. And Its free! Essentially I have created a handicap method game, mixed it with social competition (private leagues) within a weekly 5km format. Runners follow their friends (like Strava), upload their best time the week (before Sat 18:00), create their own private leagues (like WhatsApp groups) which are gamified within a points system (like a fantasy football league)... Runners can now compete anywhere, but together, on a level playing field, thanks to the Carrot Target Time method. Anyone can win. The app (on Apple and Android) is in final testing stage and is hopefully available for download next week. Have a look at the website / holding page. www.carrot.run PhDs Georgia Dunn writes: I am a PhD researcher from Anglia Ruskin University. My research is focused on those who require the use of spectacles, and how these spectacles could impact their running gait. I was wondering if you had any members that would fit the inclusion criteria and would be willing to fill out my online survey? The participation would be greatly appreciated for furthering my PhD research as it would further my understanding of running experiences with and without spectacles. Here is the link for the survey:. Thank you in advance and happy new year! Alex Ehlert writes: I am a PhD candidate studying the effects of various factors on gastrointestinal issues during running. One of my dissertation studies is evaluating how factors such as nutrition intake, psychological factors, and gastrointestinal symptoms interact with each other. Specifically, I am asking runners to track some info about their runs for one week and complete a 10-15 minute electronic survey. As I am sure you can imagine, completing a dissertation in 2020 has been a challenge and I am looking for help! Id be happy to answer any questions you have or provide additional information about the study. If you'd be prepared to take part please contact me on aehle003@odu.edu. Thanks. KEEP IN TOUCH 1. Join the Strava Group: 2. Log your run and give it a catchy title. 3. Give our segments a shot! 4. Check back every week for highlights 5. Note that Activity and Profile Privacy settings will need to be set to Everyone if you want the rundown team to be able to see your individual runs Follow us elsewhere on social: Twitter: @ranelaghharrier FB: Insta: @ranelaghharriers FINALLY How helpful are the Nike Vaporfly shoes in lowering marathon times by their wearers? A new study from Cornell University suggests that the benefit to elite athletes is between 1.5 and 2.9% (2.1 to 4.1 minutes) for men and between 0.8 and 2.4% (1.2 to 4.0 minutes) for women. TO STOP RECEIVING the Ranelagh Harriers e-news, please reply with the word UNSUBSCRIBE