Ranelagh Harriers Newsdesk 2000

16 July 2000 Elmbridge 10km at Walton    
Again it was Marcus Gohar who led the Ranelagh contingent, setting another personal best of 33.25 at the age of 40. Chris Owens was just inside 35 minutes in 17th place and Tim Bacon also set a pb of 36.45 at 32nd. Sonia Rowland, 14th in 43.46, just got the better of Eliete Nascimento, 18th in 44.12.

12 July 2000 Coad Cup 5 miles handicap in Richmond Park    results
Ranelagh's summer return to cross-country running saw a very clear handicap victory for Michael Brandon who recorded a time of 38.02. Matt Gisby and Bill Harvey followed nearly a minute behind. Fastest times were set by Andy Bickerstaff on 28.07 and Linda Cartwright on 31.47.

8 July 2000 Brickmakers Arms Marathon Relay at Windlesham    results
A scratch mixed Ranelagh team led for the half-distance but eventually had to settle for 3rd.

2 July 2000 Harry Hawkes 8 miles at Thames Ditton    results
Marcus Gohar finished 3rd in 43.57 and the women's team of Eliete Nascimento, Sue Healey and Therese Panetta finished 7th, 13th and 18th respectively to win the team awards.

25 June 2000 Dysart Dash 10km at Richmond    results
Ranelagh’s second open road race of the summer attracted a field of some 280 runners. The star performer was undoubtedly Irish international Una English, who smashed the previous women’s record by 44 seconds in a time of 34.14. Only ten men managed to finish ahead of her, led by Elmbridge’s triathlon specialist Tim Don in 31.07. More than 30 Ranelagh runners took part, but injury and holidays meant that few were involved at the sharp end of the race. Marcus Gohar - who seems to get faster with age - ran 33.55 for 10th place and first veteran, and Chris Owens was 16th and 3rd veteran. Tim Bacon was 3rd Ranelagh home in 32nd place, with Stephen Instone close behind. They finished as 2nd team. The only other Ranelagh man to make the prize list was Allan Lang, 2nd over 60 in 40.23. The women outdid their male counterparts by winning their team race, led by Linda Cartwright, 4th in a personal best of 38.56. Sonia Rowland was 12th and Eliete Nascimento 18th.

18 June 2000 Tesco Ealing 10km
Hugh Jones found his slowest-ever 10km of 33.35 still good enough to win, ahead of his clubmate Graeme MacFadyen on 33.51.

4 June 2000 Dorking 10 miles    results
Keen roadies Marcus Gohar and Chris Owens led a smaller than usual Ranelagh entry, with Marcus 7th - and 3rd veteran - in 56.42 and Chris 11th. Marcus’s younger brother Alexis finished 55th in his comeback race and these three surprisingly finished 3rd in the team event. In the women’s race Eliete Nascimento took 4 minutes off her previous best with 74.53 for 14th place and Sue Healey was 26th.

21 May 2000 Richmond Half Marathon    results
It was a case of deja-vu in Ranelagh’s first race promotion of the year, as a South African visitor showed the whole field a clean pair of heels just as in 1999. But it was a different man - this time Trevor James, who set a time of 68.52 to beat Ranelagh’s David Benton by just over a minute. New member Graeme MacFadyen was an isolated 3rd and the ever-present reliables Marcus Gohar, Chris Owens and Mick Lane followed on in 5th, 7th and 8th places. Gohar and Owens again picked up the top two veterans prizes. In the women’s race Muswell Hill’s Jane Laws was a very comfortable winner in 82.20, but Ranelagh’s Linda Cartwright was the clear runner-up some four minutes back. Eliete Nascimento and Lizzie Clifford were 10th and 11th and this was good enough to secure the team prizes for the Ranelagh women to match those won by the men.

13-14/05/2000 Green Belt Relay    results    
Ranelagh’s logistics were stretched as they entered four teams of ten runners in this 210 mile two-day race around London. The event comprises 20 separate stages, 10 on each day, and each team member runs one stage each day. The effort was fully justified as the club pulled off a marvellous triple victory - first overall (in a record time), first veterans team and first women’s team. 19 individual stage wins went to Ranelagh - 13 men’s (including 3 by vets) and 6 women’s. Double stage wins were recorded by David Benton, Julian Smith, Andy Bickerstaff and Linda Cartwright, and all four also set stage records together with David Wright, Chris Owens and Sue Healey.

13 May 2000 World Veterans Road Champs at Valladolid, Spain Margaret Auerback finished 4th in the women over 50 10km championship in a time of 42.48, but won a gold medal with the winning British team.

7 May 2000 Keswick Half Marathon     results
Thirteen Ranelagh members took part, which isn't bad for a race more than 300 miles away. Although Kevin was our first finisher, in a very creditable 14th position, it was even more pleasing to see Linda presented with the prize for the third lady. Although she was about five minutes behind the first two finishers, she had a similar lead over the fourth lady. The times may seem a bit slow for a half marathon, but that's down to the hilly course and the excessive heat that day. Two local runners ended up in hospital having treatment for the effects of the heat and dehydration, while a number of others were in a bad way when they finished, or simply dropped out of the race. All the Ranelagh participants completed the course, which was a significant achievement in itself for everyone. Brian Chard deserves a special mention for his efforts in organising the weekend.
(Bob Beatson)

30 April 2000 Wimbledon 10km Darryl McDonald shrugged off an injury scare to finish 3rd in 33.37. Marcus Gohar put in a particularly fine performance just 17 seconds and two places behind McDonald. Chris Owens was 10th and Gordon Whitson - on a flying visit from his home in Athens - 18th.

16 April 2000 London Marathon     results   
In-form Darryl McDonald led the Ranelagh contingent all the way and finally set a personal best just one second inside 2 hours 40 minutes in finishing 244th overall. This earned him the Winter Cup as the club marathon champ.Chris Owens chased all the way before fading to be passed in the home straight by Ken Fotherby. Both recorded around 2.44, four minutes clear of Mike Peace who is one of just 39 ever-presents in the "London" since the first race 20 years ago. Ranelagh’s other ever-present John Hanscomb survived a bizarre accident at 16 miles when he sneezed and inadvertently jammed a key up his nose causing a copious nose-bleed which lasted for the next three miles. He finally finished just inside 4 hours. The Brasher Bowl for the club women’s marathon champion went to Marlene Pautard with 3.08, seven minutes clear of Katharine Mallett and Bridget Cuthbert.

16 April 2000 London Mini Marathon As usual Ranelagh provided a good proportion of Richmond’s team for the mini-marathon along the final 5km of the marathon course. Best results were in the Girls Under 17 race with Valentina Ceschi, Alice Beverly and Estelle Damant all in the top 25. Charlotte Wilson, Eleanor Moore, Laura Ball and Steve Barber were other top 50 finishers in their respective events.

15 April 2000 Harrow 10km David Benton finished 7th in a high-class race in a time of 31.33.

2 April 2000 Thames Towpath 10 miles at Chiswick     results
The first serious local road race of the season saw Ranelagh dominating the prizes. Darryl McDonaldscored his first win in an open race in a time of 54.05, Marcus Gohar was 5th and first veteran and Chris Owens 8th and second veteran. Mick Lane in 9th place closed in the winning team, followed by Ian Dent and Paul Beauvais backing up in 10th and 11th places. In the women’s event Kathleen Harris was 3rd in 64.35 and with Katharine Mallett and Sarah Seal 11th and 12th Ranelagh completed the team double.

25 March 2000 Baker Cup 3M road handicap at Richmond Park    results
Former club secretary Brian Chard won his first trophy in nearly 20 years of membership when he ran away with the Baker Cup, the traditional end to Ranelagh’s winter season. He had just a few yards to spare over new member Gill Fonteyn, who was competing as a guest, but a good 50 metres on silver and bronze medallists Liz Kipling and Sarah Seal. Liz was also the day’s fastest woman with 18.26 while top man was David Benton on 15.18.

18 March 2000 Massagathon
To celebrate her 50th birthday Hilary Saw completed a "massagathon" in Ranelagh’s club house - treating 50 members and friends in a 10 hour stint and raising over £3000 for breast cancer research in the process.

12 March 2000 Finchley 20 miles road race at Ruislip
This race incorporated the club’s Spendlove Cup 20 miles championship, and it turned out to be a two-horse race between Darryl McDonald and Marcus Gohar. McDonald turned out to be the strongest in the closing stages and finished an excellent 4th overall in 1.59.37, three minutes clear of Gohar in 8th place. Club Captain Chris Owens was 13th. Further back, former club President John Hanscomb completed his 44th consecutive Finchley 20!

11 March 2000 Hec Petersen Trophy 3.8M(6km) at Richmond Park    results
Ranelagh comfortably regained the trophy from last year’s winners Ealing, led by an easy win from John Herries in a time of 21.09. Andy Bickerstaff was runner-up with Chris Owens, John Ricketts, Paul Graham and Milos Dusek all in the top eight.

4 March 2000 Clutton Cup 10 miles handicap at Richmond Park   results
The two fast-improving Ellies - Eliete Nascimento and Eleanor Grant - took 1st and 3rd places in the longest handicap race in the club’s calendar, sandwiching club President Mike Peace. Eliete was also the fastest woman in the race with 78.29 while top man was John Herries on 57.01.

4 March 2000 South of England Veterans Championships at Halton
Margaret Auerback won the women’s over 50 category by over a minute and a half.

26 February 2000 National Championships at Stowe School   results
The men’s team missed one or two runners from their outstanding ‘Southern’ result but nevertheless filled a sound 24th place. Julian Smith again performed well to make the top 100 in 93rd place, followed by Peter Haarer 142nd, Darryl McDonald 204th, Andy Bickerstaff 294th, Marcus Gohar 338th and Chris Owens 369th. The women fared slightly better in 18th place, and provided another top 100 result in the shape of Kathleen Harris at 97th. Margaret Auerback 131st, Sarah Seal 192nd and Sonia Rowland 226th were the other scorers.

19 February 2000 Surrey Ladies CC League Div One at Brockwell Park
Ranelagh’s women had their best result of the season in finishing 2nd and moving up one place to a final position of 5th overall. The five scoring members of the team also achieved their best individual results of the season - Kathleen Harris 7th, Liz Kipling 8th, Margaret Auerback 21st, Kathy Mallett 24th and Sarah Seal 28th. All three junior teams finished 3rd on the day and two of them - Under 17s and Under 13s - also finished the season 3rd, with the Under 15s 5th. In the Under 17 race Zoë Vail led into the finishing straight after a thrilling race but was narrowly ousprinted. Louise Webster was 4th. The Under 15s were led by Eleanor Moore in 8th place and the Under 13s by Laura Ball in 5th.

19 February 2000 Inter club race at Richmond Park   results
Twenty Ranelagh men travelled over to the other side of the Park from their usual stamping ground to run on the Bank of England club’s course against the Bank and two other clubs. Those ever-presents Darryl McDonald and Marcus Gohar - never ones to miss a race if there’s one going - finished 1st and 3rd and with Paul Graham 8th and Mike Peace 9th, Ranelagh easily won the four-to score team race.

12 February 2000 Pelling Ratcliff Cup mob match v Blackheath H including Wynne Cup club championship at Richmond    results
Three hard races in three weeks was understandably too much for some of Ranelagh’s top runners, but it didn’t seem to affect Julian Smith who controlled the race with ease before moving away to a one minute victory. Southern Champions Blackheath brought a weak team and placed only one man in the top ten. Their 35 starters was also no match for Ranelagh’s 58 and the result was a very surprisingly comfortable win for Ranelagh by 779 points to 1376. Third overall and runner-up to Smith in the club championship was Darryl McDonald followed by Marcus Gohar, Chris Owens, Andy Bickerstaff and Mick Lane. The sealed handicap medal went to Mandy Holliday.

5 February 2000 Surrey CC League Division One at Coulsdon
In the winter’s final League race Hugh Jones made his first appearance of the season and led the team home in 13th place. Julian Smith was only ten seconds but five places behind and a further five back was Dave Benton, still recovering from his "Southern" efforts. Darryl McDonald 32nd, Marcus Gohar 45th, Andy Bickerstaff 52nd, Paul Beauvais 58th, Chris Owens 69th, Giles Marshall 74th and Dave Knight 80th were the remaining scorers. The team finished 5th and remained a solid 6th overall. Steve Barber 98th missed the scoring team this time but did enough to win the overall individual title in the Under 20 age group. In the Under 17s race Carl Chaney won for the second time this season.

29 January 2000 Southern Championships at Parliament Hill   
Ranelagh’s men performed brilliantly to finish in 7th place - their highest "Southern" team position for 64 years. Dave Benton and Julian Smith were outstanding in 18th and 34th places amongst a field of nearly 1000. Peter Haarer 77th, Marius Acker 100th, Darryl McDonald 119th and Chris Owens 143rd were the other members of the scoring six. The women’s team unfortunately lost Liz Kipling with a back injury after less than 2 miles but Kathleen Harris 62nd, Margaret Auerback 105th, Kathy Mallett 120th and Sarah Seal 187th finished in 17th place.

15 January 2000 Surrey Ladies League Division One at Richmond
Kathleen Harris achieved her best result to date at 10th and with Liz Kipling 18th, Margaret Auerback 24th, Kathy Mallett 33rd and Marlene Pautard 35th the team finished 5th, but remain 7th overall. The Under 17 team was at full strength and had a most impressive five runners home in the top ten: Zoe Vail 2nd, Alice Beverly 5th, Estelle Damant 6th, Valentina Ceschi 7th and Louise Webster 10th. Eleanor Moore was top Under 15 in 14th place and in the Under 13s Laura Ball and Tierney Lovell were 8th and 9th.

8 January 2000 Surrey Championships at Croydon
Best result came from Carl Chaney, 4th in the Under 17s race. The men’s team finished 5th, led by Darryl McDonald in 17th place and Marcus Gohar 30th.

1 January 2000 Serpentine 10km at Hyde Park
Several-times winner of this race Hugh Jones could not stay with Ilford’s Kenyan Amin Koikai and settled for 2nd place in 32.20.

1 January 2000 Lauriston 7 miles at Wimbledon
Darryl McDonald also started the new millennium as bridesmaid, 2nd in 37.42.