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Newsdesk 2003
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RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 91 26 FEBRUARY 2003
Web site: www.ranelagh-harriers.com
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NATIONAL CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS Saturday 22nd February at Parliament
Hill
For once, it was our men's team instead of the women that stole the day's
thunder, though meteorologically speaking there was no thunder to steal - it
was as fine a day as has been seen at a National in many a year, sunny and
almost warm. Much of the going was fast though there were some muddy
man-traps around the course to catch the unwary. Clerk of the Course Hugh
Jones devised some additional loops in order to squeeze the advertised 12km
distance (probably a bit further than this, judging by the times) into two
testing laps which met with our captain's approval: "...in my opinion the
best National course I've ever run on, and I've run the last thirteen.
Fantastic course, no let up and no chance of it getting tedious. Nice one
Hugh".
If there was spring in the air it was in Peter Haarer's legs too. He was
behind Do-or-Die Darryl for the first mile or so but then worked his way
into the top 100 and held on for an outstanding 88th, his best National ever
and collecting some notable scalps along the way. Darryl battled on grimly
for 187th with Andy B also showing up well at 274th. Then came the real
revelation of the day, Grant Lemke. A relaxed approach to the event - he
didn't even know it was the National until he got to Parliament Hill! -
carried over into the race itself as he cruised round to a place in the top
350. Paul Doyle and Kevin Jacques were not far behind to close in our
scoring team at 374th place and Mick Lane gave them excellent backup also
inside the top 400. Our team position was a highly respectable 24th out of
100 teams closing in.
Further back Marcus ran a steady race following recent illness and it was
good to see some new faces turning out plus one very old face: that of John
Hanscomb, 49 years after running his first National and warming up for the
50th anniversary next year!
The women's team was not at full strength but nevertheless did well to
finish only two places lower than the men albeit in a much smaller race. If
Sarah Seal - suffering with a cold and a niggling hamstring - was
disappointed with her 128th, it is a measure of her improvement over the
past year that this was exactly 50 places higher than 12 months ago. Kathy
Mallett was gradually closing her down without really getting close and then
came Clare Nicholson and Eliete Nascimento to close in the team, with Jenni
Kruse and Louise Piears having their own private battle behind.
Peter and Sarah, as the leading Ranelagh finishers, earned themselves
respectively the Roffey Salver and the Aotearoa Trophy for their afternoon's
work.
Frances Ratchford reports on the junior events:
"The Nationals this year were exceptional not only because they took place
in sunny conditions with minimum of mud available to the competitors but
because we had boys in some of the races for the first time for over 10
years.
The U15 boys was the first race of the day. Richard Simm was our
representative. His comment as he stood on the start line was 'There are
lots of good runners here', nearly 300 to be exact and they all wanted to
win. The opening sprint up the hill was exhilirating to watch. Richard,
coming back from a knee injury, ran a strong race and finished in a
creditable 25.18.
Anair Beverley and Estelle Damant ran in the U17s and U20s, run as one race
but with separate results. Both finished strongly in 59th and 45th places.
Anair took 25.11 to cover the course and Estelle 24.36.
Alex Hook was next and looking calm and controlled even at the start ran a
very mature race coming 49th in a very good time of 15.13.
Last but not least Ben Gately in his first Cross Country season followed his
success in the Surrey League (where he came 3rd overall) to finish in 15.53,
209th".
Under 15
1 M Burgess (Wood G) 17.50
261 Richard Simm 25.18
Under 13
1 C Booker (Halesowen) 12.22
209 Ben Gateley 15.53
Under 20
1 L Damen (Bourne) 19.55
45 Estelle Damant 24.36
Under 17
1 K Hawitt (Warrington) 20.36
59 Anair Beverly 25.11
Under 13
1 S Simpson (Luton) 13.34
49 Alex Hook 15.13
Meanwhile Allison O'Neill was in Londonderry...
"Here's a piece of nostalgia for the Ranelagh News as I know Darryl McDonald
likes this sort of thing. Last Saturday I did something I haven't done for
19 years - ran a race in my home country of Northern Ireland. Since getting
injured at 19, I never again dared show my face at a race in Ireland. I
couldn't bear the embarrassment of my transformation from thin, fit and
really quite fast (9:31 for 3000m at 18) to somewhat heavier, injury-ridden
and a whole lot slower! But in my new guise as a Ranelagh runner, I've put
together some injury-free training, run some Surrey Leagues and recovered
enough confidence to do the unthinkable - run the N.Ireland X-Country
Championships. The sense of time passing hit home at the start when the
announcer said: "Welcome back to Allison O'Neill, the champion here in 1982
and 1983" and I noticed that the girl next to me probably wasn't born then!
But what the hell, I had a good run, came through from 7th to 4th and
finished not far behind Ann Paul - 43rd in the Inter-counties earlier this
month. But, most of all, it was a huge psychological boost to have finally
dared to go back - and my dad loved it!"
1 S McCormick (Finn V) 20.50
4 Allison O'Neill 21.23
INTER-CLUB at Roehampton Gate, Richmond Park Saturday February 15th
We had fifteen starters who first had to see some unusual bits of Richmond
Park before they could sample the sumptuous comforts of the Bank of England
clubhouse. Paul Doyle writes: "I was pretty tired going in to the race, but
when I found myself in second I decided to try to hold on to it. Mission
acomplished but the winner was a youngster way ahead".
RICHMOND MINI-MARATHON TRIAL in Richmond Park Sunday 16th February
As usual, the trial for the Richmond team for the London Mini-Marathon was
held on a two-lap course around Sidmouth Wood. Anair Beverly and Alex Hook
both won their races and Ranelagh should be well represented in the
Mini-Marathon itself.
Girls 13 - 17
1 Anair Beverly 18.58
2 Jessica Harvey 20.04
5 Emily Ball 20.24
16 Laura Ball 26.23
Girls 11 - 12
1 Alex Hook 19.44
3 Clare O'Neill 20.58
16 Alice Keohane 27.49
Boys 13 - 17
3 Dan Jermy 17.10
6 Richard Simm 17.22
7 Jordan Mungovan 17.31
14 Matt Hirschler 18.50
26.2 RRC WINTER 10km at Hook Arena Sunday 16th February
1 E Prickett (Notts U) 30.17
228 Brian Chard 47.23
247 Simon Burrell 48.44
259 Wally Garrod 49.14
286 Brian Coles 50.27
287 John Hanscomb 50.30
415 David Meaden 58.09
428 Alan Meaden 59.34
Allan Lang was second over 60 home in the Chichester Priory 10km on February
9th in 40.38.
Alice Beverly ran 3rd stage for the Oxford University team that finished 2nd
in the prestigious Hyde Park Relays on February 15th.
John Hanscomb was the leading over 65 in 31.48 in the Vets AC 6km event on
Wimbledon Common on February 15th.
Mick Lane was runner-up in the Met Police championships on February 19th,
recording 31.01 on the familiar country of Richmond Park. Seventh in the
women's race was former Ranelagh junior Claire McKenna.
BAKER CUP SUPPER AND PRIZE GIVING
Don't forget to book your place for the Baker Cup Super and Prize Giving to
be held at the Hawker Centre in Ham on Saturday April 6th. All are welcome
and there should be plenty of room. Prize winners especially should please
make every effort to attend. Tickets are £16 from Carol Barnshaw - 020 8898
9285 (home), 020 8547 6600 (work) or c_barnshaw@yahoo.com.
JO SHEARSMITH...
...sends a farewell greeting:
"I am now writing this from my new home in Geneva! As some of you will know
my job was moving to Geneva so Dave and I thought - ummmm skiing in the
winter and summers on the lake - OK let's go!! So thank you all for some
really good Tuesday night sessions and races. No doubt I will be back in
London from time to time so I may well see you. Hopefully I will be able to
join a running club out here so if there are any good races then I will let
you know - but be warned they will be hilly!"
BMC RANKINGS
Paul Doyle points out that the British Milers Club has produced in depth
national track rankings for 2002 (they should get out more), from which we
may glean the following:
5000 metres men
230 15:21.8 Peter Haarer 8 June
296 15:31.8 Hugh Jones 4 May
446 15:55.2 Paul Doyle 4 May
3000 metres women
223 10:31.88 Liz Kipling 12 May
ALL KITTED OUT?
Margaret Auerback writes:
"Just bought a new pair of running shoes? Please don't throw your old ones
away-- the Sweatshop is collecting used running shoes to send to Ethiopia
where they will be distributed to young athletes. You can take your old
shoes to the Sweatshop and they will give you 15% off a pair of Puma shoes
or you can leave your shoes - preferably clean or at least with the mud
brushed off - in the box provided in the clubhouse.
Any sort of running shoes - men's, women's, trainers, racers or spikes -
would be very gratefully received. I met a lot of young Kenyan athletes when
I was training out there and they find it really difficult to get any sort
of kit. The lucky ones were all using kit that had been given to them by
other athletes. Your old shoes could just spark off a glittering
international career for somebody".
CORRECTIONS...
...to the details of two upcoming fixtures listed in the last e-news: the
inter-club race in Richmond Park on March 1st will not incorporate the Hec
Petersen Trophy as our opponents in that competition, Ealing, Southall and
Middlesex AC, are now unable to attend on that date. The trophy will for
this year only be awarded to the club with the higher finishing position in
last Saturday's National Championships. This turns out to be Ranelagh, our
24th being ten places ahead of Ealing.
The South of the Thames Senior Championship on March 8th is to be held on
the South London Harriers course at Coulsdon and not at Brighton. Apologies
for any confusion!
RANELAGH ROAD GRAND PRIX 2003
The first event will be the Thames Towpath 10 miles at Chiswick on Sunday
30th March. There doesn't seem to be an entry form available on the web, but
there are some in the clubhouse or if you send me an e-mail I'll forward one
to you. Alternatively just send in your details to the race organiser at
Flat 3, 15 Grosvenor Road, Chiswick, London W4 4EQ. Entry fee is £7 payable
to West 4 Harriers. Entry on the day is £10.
NEXT...
More details of the following from Andy Bickerstaff (07966 552302 /
mailto:norris.hobs@ndirect.co.uk ) or
Sarah Seal (020 8995 2380 / mailto:sarahs@walker.co.uk ).
Saturday March 1st Inter-club 3.9 miles in Richmond Park
starting at 3.00pm. A nice low-key event and all are welcome.
Saturday March 8th South of the Thames Senior Championship at Coulsdon.
Saturday March 15th Clutton Cup 10 miles handicap in Richmond Park
starting at 2.30pm.
Sunday March 23rd Worthing 20 miles road race incl Spendlove Cup club
20 miles championship
Sunday March 30th Thames Towpath 10 miles road race at Chiswick. Race
1 in the Ranelagh Grand Prix series 2003.
FINALLY
Do badly-shod runners suffer the agony of defeat?
Steve Rowland
e-mail: srowland@calorgas.co.uk
Tel: 01926 318734
Fax: 0870 4006901