Ranelagh Harriers Newsdesk 1999

27 December '99 Henty Relay at Richmond
Ranelagh’s Christmas relay saw an exceptionally close finish, with Clive Naish’s team of himself, Tony Tresilian and Mike Rowland just holding off the Paul Graham, Alice Beverly and Wally Garrod trio.

19 December '99 Holly Runs at Reigate
Zoe Vail made her first appearance for the club and came away with three medals: 3rd in the women’s race, 1st Under 17 and winning Under 17s team with Estelle Damant and Louise Webster.

18 December '99 Stubbs Cup match v South London H at Coulsdon
Peter Haarer escaped from his studies at Oxford for the first team this season and pulled off an excellent win. Darryl McDonald, Marcus Gohar and Julian Smith also finished in the top eight, but too many Ranelagh members succumbed to the delights of Christmas shopping rather than racing and SLH’s superior numbers ensured them of a comfortable victory.

11 December '99 Surrey CC League Division One at Wimbledon
Ranelagh finished 6th on the day and remain in an isolated 6th place overall. Dave Benton again led the team in 11th place and other scorers were Darryl McDonald 35th, Marcus Gohar 43rd, Marius Acker 48th, Chris Owens 58th, Paul Beauvais 74th, Giles Marshall 81st, Dave Knight 84th, Andy Bickerstaff 89th and Steve Barber 102nd. In the Under 17s race, Carl Chaney was runner-up, ahead of Gareth Greggains 7th and Bastien Tardy 9th.

5 December '99 Victory 5 miles at Portsmouth
In one of the country’s highest-quality road races, Dave Benton finished 46th in 24.56.

5 December '99 Barbados Marathon
Hugh Jones was outsprinted by St Vincent’s Commonwealth games representative Pamenos Ballantyne, 2.30.04 to 2.30.12.

4 December '99 Ellis Cup at Richmond Park
Marcus Gohar celebrated his 40th birthday by leading the Ranelagh team home in 3rd place and scoring a rare win over Darryl McDonald who finished 7th. Hugh Brasher and Chris Owens were also in the top ten but were unable to prevent their local rivals the Stragglers from taking the trophy. Ranelagh finished a close-up 2nd out of the 12 competing clubs.

4 December '99 Dysart Cup at Richmond Park
Ranelagh’s women made no mistake in dominating their race and retaining their trophy for the third year in succession. Kathleen Harris scored a very convincing individual win followed by four more Ranelagh in the top seven and another three in the top fifteen. The race incorporated the Hugh Jones Salver club women’s championship which goes to Kathleen in her first year of serious running. Pre-race favourite Liz Kipling was off-colour and had to settle for silver with Margaret Auerback taking the bronze. Remaining scorers in the victorious team were Marlene Pautard and Kathy Mallett.

27 November '99 Mob Match v Thames H&H at Roehampton    results
Ranelagh narrowly outnumbered their hosts but the Thames fast men were out in force and filled ten of the first twelve places. Only Darryl McDonald and Dave Benton in 3rd and 4th places were able to get amongst them. This early lead in the team scoring proved unassailable and scoring 47 a side Thames ran out winners by 2051 to 2415.

20 November '99 Surrey XC League Division One at Roehampton    results
A much better result for the men than in the first league race, finishing 4th on the day and moving up to 6th overall. Dave Benton was again the star man in 9th place, but Julian Smith and new member Graham MacFadyen were less than a minute behind at 19th and 22nd. Darryl McDonald 33rd, Steve Day 48th, Andy Bickerstaff 50th, Marcus Gohar 55th, Ian Dent 60th and Chris Owens 62nd followed. In the Under 17s race Carl Chaney scored an impressive victory.

20 November '99 Surrey Ladies XC League at Kingston
A slightly weaker Ranelagh team - led by Liz Kipling in 16th place - finished 8th and dropped back to 7th overall in Division One. However, there was an unexpected win for the Under 17s team, with Alice Beverly 4th, Estelle Damant 5th and Louise Webster 9th. Charlotte Wilson was 6th in the Under 15s race.

13 November '99 Home Countries Veterans XC at Bideford
Margaret Auerback was again selected to represent England in the Over 50s race, where she finished 5th and was part of the winning team.

6 November '99 Veterans Mob Match at Coulsdon
Ranelagh finished in second place, led by Chris Owens 5th and Mike Peace 10th.

30 October '99 Lee Cup Mob Match v Orion Harriers at Richmond    results
Ranelagh’s 50 starters outnumbered the opposition by 10 and provided a good base from which to build a victory by nearly 300 points. Darryl McDonald was the individual winner, with Marcus Gohar 3rd. New members Jason House and Giles Marshall impressed in 5th and 9th places and there was a comeback from injury by Mick Lane in 7th. The race incorporated the club veterans championship, which went to Chris Owens in 8th place overall. The over 50s award went to club President Mike Peace, just three weeks after his 50th birthday, and leading over 60 was Allan Lang.

30 October '99 National Women’s Road Relay at Birmingham
Margaret Auerback, Kathleen Harris, Liz Kipling and Sonia Rowland - the same team as for the Southern, but in a different order - finished 38th.

24 October '99 Chicago Marathon
Bridget Cuthbert missed the 3 hour barrier by a frustrating 12 seconds.

23 October '99 Surrey Ladies Cross-Country League at Milford    results
n Torrential rain made papier mache of many of the runners’ numbers, but when the results were finally sorted out Ranelagh were in 6th place out of the ten teams in Division One. Liz Kipling 17th, Kathleen Harris 24th, Marlene Pautard 36th, Kathy Mallett 38th and Sonia Rowland 44th were the scorers. Angharad Hughes and Charlotte Wilson were 6th and 7th in the Under 15s race.

16 October '99 Surrey XC League Division One at Brockwell Park    results
With a number of their top runners unavoidably absent, the men’s team’s result - 7th out of the nine clubs in the top division - was as good as could be expected. Dave Benton had an excellent run in 8th place, but Darryl McDonald was the only other Ranelagh man in the top 30. Remaining scorers were Marcus Gohar 55th, Chris Owens 59th, Ian Dent 75th, Giles Marshall 84th, Dave Knight 91st, Paul Beauvais 93rd, Steven Barber 103rd and Stephen Instone 108th.

9 October '99 Surrey Veterans Cross-Country Championships    results
As usual Ranelagh played hosts to the county’s veteran runners, and his year came away with three medals: gold for Pat Hewlett and silver for Margaret Auerback in the women’s over 60 and over 50 categories respectively; and bronze for Allan Lang in the men’s over 60s.

3 October '99 Wimbledon 10 miles
Another good performance from the tireless Darryl McDonald, second in 54:34.

2 October '99 Page Cup 5 miles handicap in Richmond Park    results
Andy Bickerstaff, one of the last starters in the handicap, achieved the unusual feat of running through most of the field to win the Cup and also set the day’s fastest time of 28.07. Second and third in the handicap were Paul Perry and John Hughes and fastest women was Margaret Auerback on 33.49.

26 September '99 Cabbage Patch 10 miles at Twickenham    
n This race incorporated Ranelagh’s 10 miles road championship for the Callis Cup. Darryl McDonald finished nearly two minutes ahead of his nearest clubmate, 5th overall in 54:31. Chris Owens 17th in 56:28 and David Wright 31st in 58:08 combined with Darryl to win second team prizes. Best Ranelagh woman was Brazilian Eliete Nascimento, 443rd with 81:57.

25/26 September '99 Southern Road Relay Championships at Aldershot
A scratch men’s team could finish only 40th, but Kathleen Harris, Liz Kipling, Margaret Auerback and Sonia Rowland were an excellent 17th in the women’s event.

19 September '99 Wimbledon Half Marathon    
A personal best for Darryl McDonald, 3rd in 72:27.

18 September '99 Thomas Cup 6km handicap in Richmond Park    results
This is the traditional curtain-raiser for Ranelagh’s winter season and nearly 70 members took part. New recruit Michael Beverly, competing as a guest, was first across the line but the Cup itself went to Ian Grange, who thereby earned himself a small niche in club history: having won the Coad Cup handicap back in the summer, Ian is believed to be the first member in the 119 year history of the club to fool the handicapper twice in succession! Only five seconds behind in 2nd place was 17-year-old Steven Barber and 3rd another six seconds back was Roger Brankin. Fastest times were set by Chris Owens with 22.09 and Kathleen Harris with 25.22.

11 September '99 Surrey Road Relay Championships at Wimbledon    results
Ranelagh’s women were the only team to get into the medals this year, finishing in second place. The squad was Kathleen Harris, Margaret Auerback, Linda Cartwright and Sarah Seal. The veterans finished 4th in their event while on the men’s side the seniors were 10th and the veterans 7th. This event also formed the final leg of the Surrey Road League, and for the second year in succession Ranelagh’s men were pipped at the post for the title, finishing 2nd to Boxhill. Consolation came from individual gold medals for Chris Owens and Clive Beauvais in the over 40s and over 50s categories respectively. The women’s team was 4th in their competition.

8 August '99 Surrey 5km road championship at Wimbledon
Silver team medals went to Dave Benton, 5th in 15.52, Darryl McDonald 10th in 16.26 and Chris Owens 17th in 17.28. In the women’s race Mel Bird finished 13th in 22.15. n This was the final fixture in Ranelagh’s own road Grand Prix series, and category winners were: (Open) Darryl McDonald; (Over 40s) Chris Owens; (Over 50s) Clive Beauvais; (Women) Marlene Pautard.

30 July '99 Wedding Day 7km at Bushy Park    
Two team wins for Ranelagh: the men’s race thanks to Dave Benton 5th, Darryl McDonald 10th and Chris Owens 27th; and for the second year in a row the special "mob match" award for the club with most finishers - 27 of them. Linda Cartwright in 13th place was the club’s first woman home.

18 July '99 Elmbridge 10km    
An impressive result for Ranelagh with three runners in the top five - Dave Benton 2nd in 32.38, Peter Haarer 3rd in 32.49 and Darryl McDonald 5th in 33.27 - and three more (Ian Dent, Chris Owens and David Wright) in the top twenty. Sarah Seal was Ranelagh’s leading woman in 15th place with Sonia Rowland and Joanna Allam also in the top 20.

16 May '99 - Sutton 10km
A pb too for Darryl McDonald, 9th in 33.12. Chris Owens and Christian Vaughan followed 23rd and 28th in 35.04 and 35.40 respectively.

16 May '99 - Town and Gown 10km at Oxford
Peter Haarer recorded a pb of 31.47 in 7th place, with Ian Dent 22nd in 34.42.

15/16 May '99 - Green Belt Relay
This unique event is a 220 mile relay around the outskirts of London, comprising 20 stages spread over two days. The team consists of ten runners, each of whom runs one stage each day. Ranelagh’s women put in a great performance to finish 9th overall and 2nd women’s team. Wendy Jones, Bridget Cuthbert and Louise Trainor each recorded women’s stage wins; the rest of the team was Catherine Gadd, Sonia Rowland, Joanna Allam, Kathy Mallett, Julie Drummond, Sarah Seal and Ellie Grant.

9 May '99 - Concorde 10km at Hounslow
Dave Benton secured a good victory in 32.31.

5 May '99 - Parkland Relay in Richmond Park
An unofficial Ranelagh team of Julian Smith and Dave Benton finished 3rd, each running twice in this four-stage relay. The "official" Ranelagh scratch team of Dave Knight, junior Steven Barber, Neil King and Will Graves finished 8th.

2 May '99 '99 - Barry Jones 10km at Wimbledon
Prolific racer Darryl McDonald finished 6th in 34.02.

25 April - Crouch End 10km
Hugh Jones was runner-up to Kenyan Benson Masya in 32.48

18 April '99 - London Mini-Marathon 2.8 miles
Carl Chaney returned the best result amongst the Ranelagh juniors, finishing 2nd in the Under 15 race. Valentina Ceschi and Angharad Hughes were 11th and 12th respectively in the Under 18 and Under 15 events and other top 50 finishes came from Charlotte Wilson, Amy Andrew, Estelle Damant, Alice Beverly, Michael Owens and Steven Barber.

18 April '99 - London Marathon
Ranelagh had some 30 starters amongst the thousands and their private battles for the club championships were very tight. Amongst the men the experienced Chris Owens came out on top in a time of 2.43, but Neil King, Ken Fotherby, Darryl McDonald and Christian Vaughan were all home within another five minutes. Marlene Pautard led the Ranelagh women most of the way but struggling in the closing stages she was passed by Bridget Cuthbert who went on to record 3.13.16 to Pautard’s 3.21.58. Kathy Mallett, Joanna Allam and Julie Drummond were all inside 3.40.

17 April '99 - Harrow 10km
Dave Benton with 31.57 and Mick Lane with 34.40 were 7th and 37th in a high-quality race.

5 April - Thames Towpath 10 miles at Chiswick
Hugh Jones and Marcus Gohar were both in the frame, 1st and 3rd respectively in 52.23 and 54.57.

2 April '99 - Maidenhead 10 miles
Darryl McDonald (11th, 54.20), Christian Vaughan (15th, 55.43) and Chris Owens (20th, 56.03) won the team prize.

28 March '99 - Baker Cup 3 miles road handicap at Richmond Park
Alan Craig came out on top of the nearly 50 starters, recording 20.49 and with 16 seconds to spare over Anne-Marie Hickey and Steve Rowland. Fastest times came from Julian Smith with 15.12 and Wendy Jones on 18.57.

13 March '99 - National Cross-Country Championships at Newark
Ranelagh’s men finished 18th out of an entry of over 300 clubs - their best for 30 years. Peter Haarer broke into the top 100 for the first time in 97th place and the other scorers - all in the top 350 of 1600-odd starters - were Dave Benton, Darryl McDonald, Julian Smith, Marcus Gohar and Chris Owens. In the women’s race Sonia Rowland and Eliete Nascimento finished 255th and 376th and in the various junior age groups Vicky Sennitt, Angharad Hughes, Valentina Ceschi, Alice Beverly, Amy Andrew and Charlotte Wilson all made the top 200.

6 March '99 - Southern Veterans Championships at Uxbridge
Margaret Auerback finished 2nd in the over 50s section.

6 March - Inter-club 6km at Richmond Park
Ranelagh dominated a low-key event, with Mike Peace, Steve Bird and Clive Naish 2nd, 3rd and 4th and Louise Trainor, Catherine Carthy and Carol Barnshaw the first three women.

27 February '99 - Surrey League Division 1 at Coulsdon
The men's team were desperately close to a best-ever 2nd place overall but instead had to settle for 4th, just 25 points behind 2nd place and 2 behind 3rd - and this over total scores of more than 1500 points! Dave Benton 14th, Peter Haarer 16th, Hugh Jones 18th and Darryl McDonald 25th led the team. In the overall individual competition Jones and Haarer finished 2nd and 3rd, and in the veterans section Jones and Chris Owens topped this with 1st and 2nd. Carl Chaney and Michael Owens were 10th and 11th in the Under 17s race and Chaney won the overall title in the Under 15 section.

27 February '99 - Surrey Ladies League Division 1 at Croydon
The three Ls - Linda Cartwright, Liz Kipling and Louise Trainor - spearheaded a strong team in 6th, 8th and 16th places. With Kathy Mallett and Sonia Rowland also in the top 30 the team closed in 4th, but were unable to improve on their overall 6th. In the Under 13s race Amy Andrew made the best possible league debut with a victory by 20 seconds, with Charlotte Wilson in 4th place. In the Under 15s Anghrad Hughes and Valentina Ceschi were 4th and 7th and in the Under 17s Estelle Damant finished 7th.

20 February '99 - Inter-Counties Cross-Country champs at Nottingham
Peter Haarer represented Middlesex in the senior race, finishing 124th. In the junior races Carl Chaney, Estelle Damant, Angharad Hughes and Charlotte Wilson won Surrey vests.

20 February '99 - Clutton Cup 10 miles handicap at Richmond Park
It was nearly a Drummond benefit day, with Julie leading into the final 2 miles only to be passed by her husband Robin, who went on to win with a time of 73.14. Paul Perry and David Wright took the minor places as Julie Drummond had to settle for 4th. Fastest on 56.51 was Darryl McDonald, with Linda Cartwright top woman on 65.48.