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RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 586 27th May 2021
Editor: Steve Rowland
mailto: sandsrowland@btinternet.com
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RANELAGH FESTIVAL OF RUNNING 22nd-23rd May
With Green Belt Relay being postponed another year due to the pandemic, we asked you
what you'd like us to organise instead. We had lots of great suggestions, and Jimmy
Whistler's Ranelagh Festival of Running came out tops.
The format involved 22 stages over the weekend, with each runner completing one on
Saturday and one on Sunday. People could either run on a specific looped course in
Richmond Park on Saturday, and in Bushy Park on Sunday, or run their stages virtually
wherever they wanted. The stages varied from 4.5km to 15km, with short, medium and
long options each day. With 77 of you signing up, and a few swaps due to injury, we
had 7 teams and 7 fantastic team captains. We allocated the teams to be as fairly
matched as possible, but it all came down to tactics and how people performed on
the weekend.
Day 1
Saturday had us running an undulating 4.5km cross country loop in Richmond Park,
involving Sidmouth Wood and Queen's Ride. The long loop runners set off first,
led by Ross MacDonald, initially running with Ed Forbes who was running an early
short loop, and was first and fastest to finish 4.5km that day. Ross was closely
followed by Jonny Smith, both representing the Rebels team. However, the winner of
the long stage that day was James Riley of the Radicals, running from his holiday in
Wales, also earning himself a stack of Strava crowns and trophies. It was cheekily
net downhill, though he got plenty of uphill too and had to cross a cattle grid. In
the middle distance category, Gareth Williams took the win for the Rockets, also
getting a cheeky advantage by running in Bushy Park, though he is recovering from
his 100 mile race so deserves some leniency. The winner on the Richmond Park course
was Rockstar David Ready (sort of, he went off course on the second lap, with Sergio
Stillacci (also navigationally c hallenged) only just behind), and first to cross the
actual finish line for the 9km runners was Alex Ring representing the Rascals.
Meanwhile the top women of the day all made it to Richmond Park, all managed to stay
on the route, and were all representing the Rockstars 🤘Suzy Whatmough won the 13.5km
course, Emma Harris got the gold on the 9km course, and Nic Douglas completed the set
winning the 4.5km distance.
With us allowing some flexibility around when stages were run, and the order, it
wasn;t totally clear which team was winning by the end of day 1. But competition was
certainly heating up between the Royals, the Rascals and the Rebels.
More highlights from Saturday:
1. The Radicals looking awesome in Narissa Vox's purple wigs
2. Marcus Atkins tearing up the course in a purple tutu
3. Rachel Revett rocking the Kiss look with her Rockstar face paint (and bonus
stripy socks)
4. Marianne's amazing cakes and that after running in Richmond Park on
Saturday morning, she ran her Bushy Park stage on Saturday evening.
Day 2
Sunday events were held in Bushy Park along a flat 5k loop. Despite many of us getting
a soaking on the way there, the worst of the rain had cleared by the time we started.
Rockstar Ria Woodfield led the women, cheered on by Pat, Addy and the delightful newest
member of their family Eban, just three months old. Rocket Gareth Williams had a strong
lead for the men, however Rascal Marc Leyshon managed to steal the top spot with his
virtual run.
Next off were the 10k runners, led all the way by Rebel Jonny Smith, briefly joined
by Rocket Ted Mockett who was starting his first loop whilst Jonny started his second.
Rockstar Suzy Whatmough led the women and got the top spot on the day. In the 15k,
Rebel Ross MacDonald and Rockstar Nic Douglas had strong leads all the way.
Once again, the women's podium was dominated by Rockstars. Suzy Whatmough, running
in place of Keeley Phillips, narrowly beat teammate Ria's time and ended up on the
podium twice.
Meanwhile for the men, Nick Impey was a Rascal by name and nature over the weekend.
He ran an outstanding marathon over in Austria, clocking 2:26, and as the rules allowed
runners to compete virtually, his splits were taken to earn himself the top spot in the
speedster podiums for the 13.5km and 15km stages.
More highlights from Sunday:
1. Sally Bamford and Narissa Vox both earning 5km PB's'
2. Phil Andrews's fantastically orange beard and Rachel Revett's awesome
Rockstar facepaint once again
3. Clare Fowler's Royal green cake
4. Drinks with all you lovely folk at The Star
Results
This year's victorious team were the Rebels Though they may not have always won the
individual podium spots, they were consistent and all ran to their best ability on the
day. Well done to Captain James Ritchie and the rest of the team! Royals were
second overall, captained by Clare Fowler, and Rascals were a close third,
captained by Ann Kearey.
Full results can be seen here:
Photos from the weekend can be seen here:
Please add your own photos to this folder too.
Thank you!
Well done to everyone that ran. We loved seeing so many of you in person, and we loved
seeing you all in your themed running gear. Thank you to Jimmy Whistler, Clare Fowler
and Suzy Whatmough for organising the weekend, and thank you to Team Captains James
Ritchie, Vaughan Ramsey, Ann Kearey, David Ready, Simon Martin, Clare and Jimmy for
all your help organising teams and collating results, with an extra kudos to James
for the results spreadsheet.
1 Rebels 14:30.12 Fastest: 4.5k Ed Forbes & Nic Douglas
2 Royals 14:48.58 9k Gareth Williams & Emma Harris
3 Rascals 14:49.22 13.5k Nick Impey & Suzy Whatmough
4 Rapids 15:03.15 5k Marc Leyshon & Suzy Whatmough
5 Radicals 15:07.47 10k Jonny Smith & Suzy Whatmough
6 Rockets 15:31.04 15k Nick Impey & Nic Douglas
7 Rockstars 16:00.24
MARATHON...¦AND BEYOND
Thames Path 100 miles
Two Ranelagh long-distance types ran the Thames Path 100 miles from Richmond to Oxford
on 8th May. Gareth Williams finished 29th in an impressive 19:25.27 while there was
another great effort from Susan Ritchie who finished 69th in 22:48.12, crossing the
line as 6th woman. She was the leading W50 today and the third fastest ever W50 on
this course. Here is Susan's report:
The forecast for my first 100 mile race was not good and at 8am on the morning in
question it did not disappoint. With an entourage of James, three kids and my
mother-in-law, I was dropped at Richmond Town Hall where I unceremoniously had my
temperature taken, was given a tracker and then sent on my way. The first 50 miles
was supposed to be unaccompanied, but my kids joined me for the first 200m and then
I started on the very familiar route to Kingston. I passed the Handitap group just
outside Teddington and bumped into two other runners who happened to be training
on the route for their Half-Ironmans. It was lovely to run along and chat with
them for a few kilometres. I was cheered on by friends at Kingston Bridge and then
at Hampton Court and It was about this point I teamed up with another participant,
Simon Ainley who was also doing his first 100-miler and seemed to be running to a
similar race strategy.
I had planned to do ½ hour run, 5 mins walking and eating, but Simon was going for
a 15 mins run, 5 min walk strategy and he was good company which made the early miles
pass easily. James was driving the route and popped up at numerous locations, which
was lovely and always a surprise, he was carrying enough food for a family of six
for a week! I think I probably ate more calories than I burnt which is quite an
achievement although the flask of tea was definitely the secret weapon.
My sister and brother-in-law popped up at Chertsey and actually at this point I was
feeling a little tired. I think the adrenaline had worn off and the enormity of the
task ahead had sunk in! Fortunately, by this point the weather had improved and was
near perfect. Warm but not too hot. We settled into a good rhythm. Past London and
the scenery changes considerably. It is a beautiful stretch of the Thames and I was
familiar with the route up to halfway at Henley as I've done the Thames Path 100k
a couple of times.
Over the course of the afternoon and through leafy Berkshire friends popped up to cheer
me on and everything was going to plan. I reached Henley on schedule at about 6.30pm
Now at the 50 mile point I could have pacers for the overnight stretch which was lovely.
Hadi was first up. He quite literally brightened my day turning up in orange day-glo
and encouraged me for a lovely 11k to Reading. It was starting to get serious now as
it was getting dark and I was feeling a little tired and there was still a long way to
go. It was at this point that Sally took over from Hadi. She was so incredibly
organised and supportive (with her chatting and singing) for her 32K stretch, no
mean feat as she had run 30k that morning too! We ran in the dark from Reading to
Wallingford. I think I would have struggled here if I was on my own. Although there
were others running, we were on our own most of the time because of the rolling start
and the massive range of times competitors have. When I reached Reading, the f irst
man was running over the finish line in Oxford having completed in a record 13 hours
43 mins!
Where Sally left James picked up and we ran the last, long 35k through the early hours
towards the finish line. The walk/run strategy had worked as I was actually still
feeling OK at this point and managed to keep my pace up. It turns out I was the fastest
woman over the last two checkpoints and the fastest in my age category overall. There
were a couple of frantic texts to my family at 5am as they were coming out to Oxford
to meet us but needed to get there an hour earlier if they wanted to see me come over
the line! I finished in 22 hours 48 mins. Under 24 hours which was my main aim (along
with finishing). Family and the lovely Centurion organisers cheered me over the line
at 6.45am.
Other Ultras
In the North Downs 50 miler on 22nd May Anthony Taylor completed his first "ultra",
finishing 128th in 10:34.16. In anything but their first Ultra Simon Martin and Bruce
McLaren completed the Country to Capital 43 miles on 1st May, finishing 35th in 6:17.18
and 41st in 6:23.54 respectively. Paul Murphy was out in the North Downs Ridge 50k on
the same day, finishing in 5:01.59. On 22nd May Ashleigh Ferris finished the Ultra X
Spring Trail 50k in 6:14.40.
The Marathon is far enough
On 23rd May Nick Impey ran the S7 Marathon at Bad Loipersdorf in Austria. He placed
36th in 2:42.43. Closer to home Liam Joyce ran a Marathon in Battersea Park in 3:09.57.
Get on your bike
In the Marlow Olympic Duathlon on 23rd May Pat Wright won by over 5 minutes in 1:52.58.
Gill Sanders Triathlete
Gill was competing last weekend in the World Cup event in Yokohama, Japan, hoping to
score sufficient points to qualifFy for the South African team in the (possibly)
upcoming Olympic Games. Unfortunately the race didn't go as well as hoped but Gill
has another couple events coming up shortly which will give her another chance to
secure the points.
FIXTURES SECRETARY
We're still looking for someone to take over the role of Fixtures Secretary. It's no
an arduous job, most of the work being carried out in the Spring. Present incumbent
Rick Jenner will provide assistance. The essential duty is the creation and maintenance
of the club fixture list each year: the key races for the club including mob matches,
club handicaps, Surrey League XC, and other local races of interest to members.
It does NOT involve organising any of the races yourself! Could any member interested
in taking on this role or wanting further information please contact Gordon Whitson,
Hon Secretary, in the first instance via email at ranelagh.hon.secretary@gmail.com
SOCIAL SECRETARIES
We're pleased to welcome new Joint Social secretaries Rebecca Bissell and Hadi Khatamizadeh.
FREE TICKETS FOR NATIONAL RUNNING SHOW SOUTH 17-18 July
Simon Martin writes:
The show is at Farnborough International. Tickets are normally £10 but you can go for free!
Go to nationalrunningshow.com/south then click on
GET MY £10 TICKET and enter the code XEMP&AYOSO which will take the ticket price to zero.
The deadline for free tickets is Tuesday 1 June when the code expires. Feel free to share
this code with running friends and/or on social media as the organisers are happy to give
out free tickets across the running community.
OTHER RESULTS
JOIN THE KEW...
There's something in the air at the picturesque Kew Gardens. On Saturday 15th May there
was a 10k held there. On Sunday 16th May there was another 10k held there. Ranelagh's
representation was spread fairly evenly over the two events, and only Mel Thomas opted
to run both - there;s always one...
On Saturday James Riley came in 4th overall in 34 minutes dead and 2nd M40. A little
further back Paul Murphy and Jarryd Hillhouse were pleased to crack 40 minutes. And a
little further back still came Rebecca Bissell, 1st in the W45 age group . Mel Thomas
was 1st W55 in the first of her private double header.
This race was called the AIR 10k...
4 James Riley 34.00
61 Paul Murphy 39.41
56 Jarryd Hillhouse 39.47
186 Rebecca Bissell 45.41
218 Hadi Khatamizadeh 46.47
224 Mel Thomas 46.53
352 Chris Read 49.53
491 Carol Aikin 52.53
584 Colette Doran 54.44
639 Sue Camp 55.58
whereas Sunday's went by the plain moniker Kew Gardens 10k. Here Rick Jenner led us
just missing his PB but taking 3rd in the M40 age group. A couple of minutes back
Thomas Cameron and Neil Rae battled it out to the end. Emma Harris was impressive,
finishing close to 42 minutes and she and Karen Campbell placed 1st and 3rd in the
W50 age group. Mel Thomas enjoyed her second tour of Kew Gardens, marginally slower
than yesterday's but 1st W55 again.
16 Rick Jenner 36.35
36 Thomas Cameron 38.29
43 Neil Rae 38.40
69 Alun Thomas 39.53
74 Philip Scard 40.16
96 Shaun Griffith 41.26
119 Emma Harris 42.29
183 Matt Aikin 45.12
227 Mel Thomas 47.02
231 Karen Campbell 47.11
236 Ann Kearey 47.16
326 Rachel Revett 51.26
568 Dick Johnson 62.07
571 Andrew Brown 62.11
THAMES VALLEY SPRING RACES Saturday 17th April at Dorney Lake
Yet more races at Dorney Lake but the organisers should not be confused with Thames
Valley Harriers. Mick Lane was clear winner of the M60 category, 19th in 41.31.
HENLEY TRAIL HALF MARATHON Sunday 2nd May
Marc Leyshon ran well for second place.
2 Marc Leyshon 1:19.17
154 Gavin Hillhouse 1:58.48
156 Rebecca Bissell 1:59.00
281 Tom Reay 2:56.31
COAST TO COAST COPPER TRAIL11.6m TRAIL RUN Saturday 8th May from Portreath on the
North Coast of Cornwall to Devoran Quay on the South Coast.
Eirin McDaid finished 4th in 1:15.19 with Keeley Phillips 207th in 2:11.55.
SECOND SUNDAY 5 miles virtually on Wimbledon Common April 11th and May 9th.
Mr and Mrs Aikin are regular contestants, along with Hon Sec Gordon who usually wins
the M65 age group. He finished 24th in 39.31 and 21st in 40.09. Steve Aikin was 18th
in 39.27 and 38th in 42.04, while Carol Aikin was 46th in 46.45 in the May race.
Subbing was Sue Camp, 64th in 49.02.
RUNTHROUGH BATTERSEA PARK 10k Saturday 15th May 15th May
Jonny Smith continues in great form with a 33.45 10k, ahead of Toni Borreda on 34.44,
Jonathan Moore first over 50 with 36.23 and Roger Wallace on 56.15.
LONDON MARATHON REUNION 5ks at Kempton Park on Saturday .
This was one of the government’s test events welcoming back a little bit of racing
normality, with a proper mass start for at least one of the two races. In the 'A'
race James Whistler set an official road PB of 17:09, David Ready also set a PB of
16:56 and Paul Murphy “took it chilled†coming home in 19:02. In the 'B' race
Alex Ring recorded 19.41,Clare W ran a PB of 23.15 and London Marathon boss Hugh Brasher
showed he still has some pace running 18.57.
DORNEY LAKE HALF MARATHON Saturday 22nd May
Back to Dorney Lake once more, where Andy Starr finished 20th in 79.34.
MAVERICK COTSWOLDS TRAIL RACE Saturday 15th May.
Ashleigh Ferris and Mike White finished together in 2:37.10.
RUNTHROUGHS
Roger Wallace ran through the Olympic Park on the 22nd in 60.53 and Brixton in 57.01
on the 23rd.
NEXT
DORKING 10 miles - later than usual on Sunday 11th July. Options of 10k or 10 miles
on a very scenic road loop. The 10 mile race is a popular one amongst our runners
since it is usually part of our summer road grand prix (TBC if some form of this will
go ahead this year). Entries and info here:
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND REGISTRATION
As we don't know individual's circumstances, the club will extend the policy we applied
last year on subscriptions:
- we'd like those who can pay the full amount to do so, and we will register those who
pay a full senior sub with EA-so they get the membership benefits listed here:
- if you would find it difficult to pay, please pay what you can (or not) but keep
taking part in training and club events. You won't be able to represent the club in
public races unless you ask us, and send at least the EA fee - the cost is £15.
The club gets no income at that level, so we will only do this if you are representing
the club at County level or above. (typically Surrey cross country leagues, Surrey or
Middlesex champs, or Inter-counties/National champs). You can still enter public races
as an individual.
- Ranelagh is financially stable, but has lost two thirds of its annual income in the
last year as we have not been able to organise our popular 10k and half marathon races
in 2020. What will be allowed in 2021 is still not clear - so please support us if you
can, either by paying your subscription or supporting training and racing activities.
Our club culture is worth much more than money - keep that going!
- If you have any questions or queries on this please contact the membership secretary
Chris Owens (aachrisowens@yahoo.co.uk)
Fees for the 21\22 season are Senior £50, Family £90 (two Seniors+) Junior (u20) or
student or second claim £20, o60 AND Retired £25, non-running or outside M25 (county
member) £10. Please do a transfer to the Ranelagh account, as below, and add your name
as we cannot see who has paid.
Beneficiary Bank: HSBC
Sort code: 40-23-29
Account Number 81109847
Account name Ranelagh Harriers
RANELAGH HARRIERS GAZETTE
The club Gazette is the main publication charting the history of the club. We have
copies dating back to the very first in 1908. Unfortunately there was no publication
between 2005 and 2010, leaving a serious gap in our historical record. The present
editor Julian Smith has been working for some time on filling the gap and Gazettes
covering the missing period have now been published. Only a relatively small number
have been printed but they are available to anyone who would like copies. Just reply
to this e-news giving your postal address.
THURSDAY TRACK TRAINING AT OSTERLEY PARK
You should be receiving a weekly email in which you can sign up for the following
week's Thursday track session.
Any queries should be directed to Gordon Whitson at ranelagh.hon.secretary@gmail.com.
WIMBLEDON COMMON TRAIL RACES
Andy Bickerstaff's popular Wednesday evening events on Wimbledon Common are expected
to take place again this year, albeit slightly later in the summer than usual. Dates
are 7th July, 4th August and 1st September, distance 5 miles. Details:.
SURREY ROAD LEAGUE
As most of the usual League races have been cancelled, the League competition has
been suspended until 2022.
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: Ranelagh Harriers
Insta: @ranelaghharriers
FINALLY
"If you start to feel good during an ultra, don't worry, you will get over it."
Gene Thibeault
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