BA Athletics Club News Digest 4th March 2013
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Forthcoming Events
Don't forget the following priority club events:
-
Wednesday 13th March - Club In-house Event - event details dependant on
road works! - Concorde Centre 18:00
-
Sunday 24th March - Track&Field Championships and Family Fun Day - Eton
from 12:00
-
Wednesday 10th April - "Watersplash" 10k followed by social with food -
Concorde Centre 18:00
New members and non-members of all fitness levels and abilities are welcome
at all of these events.
The full events diary is on the club website at:
http://www.barunner.org.uk/Event Diary.shtml.
Major BAAC Events Approaching
The following three club hosted events are really important for the future
of the club. Please do all that you
can to publicise these events to attract additional participants.
The British Airways Athletics Club Annual Awards for 2012
The following awards have been presented to BAAC members for their
achievements over 2012:
Award |
Presented For |
2012 |
Male Athlete of the Year
|
This guy has become a legend in our running team. After twenty years of
trying to break the bonds, he remains the young man of the team, and the
person to be relied upon to pull out an excellent performance when most
needed.
As an organiser, he has managed the Concorde 10K for many years, helping
it grow to a hugely popular event. He is part of the team working to make
its replacement, the Concorde Five, another great success. He is one of the
club’s fastest performers over just about every distance, and produced a
three hour marathon in 2012. |
Paul Knechtl |
Female Athlete of the Year |
This year’s winner had is a constant presence in the ladies cross country
team, and a regular competitor at our in house events and runs of the month.
She continues to produce great times, she encourages everyone around her to
take part, and she always has a smile on her face. |
Marion Woodhouse |
Brian Forrester 10K Trophy |
Special mention should go to Joe Nolan, Steve Newell and Brian Bennett for
their competitive times, but they will not be going home with the trophy
this time.
Our winner competed on hot days, and on wet days, on flat courses, and on
tough courses. As usual, he gave the races his maximum effort. |
Tony Barnwell |
Most Improved Athlete |
For some exceptional five mile running last year, and with our good wishes
for 2013 |
Simon Turton |
Veteran’s Trophy |
This year’s winner has continued to provide evergreen performances. He
monitors our performances in the popular Saturday morning 5k runs, as well
as showing good improvement in his own times. He is the driving force behind
our major quarterly in house races. He also ensures that we have angels and
wise men running a mile at Christmas. He organises a swim in the Thames
which attracts competitors from far and wide. What’s more, he continues to
adjudicate in major Triathlon events. |
Steve Newell |
Chairman’s: |
Presented by the Chairman to the club member whose efforts
have done most to progress the club. Tom Rowley has been supporting
the club for many years including the reliable marking for hosted cross
countries and the Speedbird Ladies race. |
Tom Rowley |
Men’s
T&F Grand Prix: |
Presented to the male club member who has contributed most
to the club's track&field events over the year.
Our winner posted strong performances in 13 disciplines through the
summer. He won several Grand Prix events, and was ever present at inter club
competitions.
Once again, he led the small team to qualify for the final of the
Rosenheim League at Tooting Bec. He looks forward to leading the team to
more success in the Veterans League in 2013. |
Eddie Giles |
Round The Block Trophy: |
Presented to the club member who has devised, marshalled
and taken part in most BAAC events throughout the year. This is worked
out using a complex league table based on participation at club featured
events. |
Steve Newell |
Men’s XC Trophy: |
This trophy is presented to the man who had most success
last year with our cross country team. We had a tough winter, but twenty-two
athletes turned out to run for BA in really testing conditions.
The calculation of the award winner takes account of age, appearances and
placings, with this year’s result being the closest ever.
Despite the best efforts of Gary, Denis, John and Mark, the 2011 champion
showed his consistency to retain his trophy. |
Barry Walters |
Ladies XC Trophy: |
There are rumours that being a member of our ladies cross
country team is all about wine tasting, eating sweet treats and enjoying
yourself. Nothing could be further from the truth. This dedicated bunch of
athletes have spent the winter months representing BA in the cold and wind
on the Surrey hills, cheered on by Tom Rowley.
As with the men, there was a very close battle in the ladies competition,
although this was for second place. There was one, clear winner. |
Helen Smith |
Photographs from the awards evening:
Awards Evening
To see the previous years' results visit the website:
News_Trophies.shtml
Roderick Hoffman
Winter Handicap Update
Over the winter months there are a series of "handicap" runs from the
Concorde Centre. The course is that of the "Concorde Five" (actually about 4.8
miles or 7.7 km) run clockwise and the event is designed so that we start spaced
out but finish together.
Last Wednesday February 27th was the February heat. Fifteen of us took
part and the results are listed below in the order of closeness to their target
times:
27-Feb-13 |
|
Handicap |
run time |
Time gap |
Month Points |
Total points |
Next Handicap |
Eddie |
Giles |
38:30 |
38:26 |
00:04 |
15 |
52 |
38:30 |
Gary |
Rushmer |
31:30 |
31:23 |
00:07 |
14 |
36.5 |
31:30 |
Paul |
Knechtl |
30:00 |
30:13 |
00:13 |
13 |
13 |
30:00 |
Steve |
Newell |
49:00 |
49:19 |
00:19 |
12 |
51.5 |
49:30 |
Richard |
Ruffell |
33:00 |
33:23 |
00:23 |
11 |
37 |
33:30 |
John |
Scaife |
38:00 |
37:04 |
00:56 |
10 |
10 |
37:00 |
Paul |
Goldsmith |
49:00 |
47:56 |
01:04 |
9 |
9 |
48:00 |
Roderick |
Hoffman |
47:30 |
48:35 |
01:05 |
8 |
23 |
48:30 |
Denis |
Foxley |
37:30 |
38:53 |
01:23 |
7 |
13 |
39:00 |
Steve |
Hillier |
51:30 |
49:24 |
02:06 |
6 |
11 |
49:30 |
Joe |
Nolan |
44:00 |
40:56 |
03:04 |
5 |
21.5 |
41:00 |
Barry |
Walters |
31:30 |
34:52 |
03:22 |
4 |
25 |
35:00 |
Alan |
Anderson |
48:00 |
44:26 |
03:34 |
3 |
14.5 |
44:30 |
Neil |
Frediani |
47:30 |
42:40 |
04:50 |
2 |
2 |
42:30 |
Helen |
Smith |
52:00 |
dnf |
|
1 |
1 |
|
Clearly Eddie delivered a masterfully timed finish and managed to get a very
significant two other runners between himself and Steve Newell. In the
middle field it was great to see Paul Goldsmith taking part - even if he did
beat me by just one second. Alan Anderson had an unusually slow run last
time out but recovered this time hence resulting in two bad handicap finishes in a
row - the yo-yo effect. He should do better next time. Neil, running the
event for the first time,
allowed himself time to get lost on the course but didn't whereas Helen
did...but still managed to get a point and thereby take the lead amongst the
Ladies this year.
This is how the totals stack up with just one heat left:
|
Total Points |
Eddie Giles |
52 |
Steve Newell |
51.5 |
Richard Ruffell |
37 |
Gary Rushmer |
36.5 |
Graham Taylor |
26.5 |
Barry Walters |
25 |
Roderick Hoffman |
23 |
Simon Turton |
22 |
Joe Nolan |
21.5 |
Colin Haylock |
17 |
Steve Taylor |
17 |
Chris Kelly |
15.5 |
Alan Anderson |
14.5 |
Denis Foxley |
13 |
Paul Knechtl |
13 |
Steve Waite |
12.5 |
Matthew Stratful |
12 |
Steve Hillier |
11 |
John Scaife |
10 |
Paul Goldsmith |
9 |
Jeremy Short |
4.5 |
Neil Frediani |
2 |
Alan Friar |
1 |
Piers Keenleyside |
1 |
Helen Smith |
1 |
So you can
expect to see some very competitive behaviours on the final handicap heat on
25th March! This is because just half
a point separates Eddie and Steve for first place and also Richard and Gary for
third. There is then the potential for a close finish for fifth place with any
one from Graham through to Joe able to win it depending on other finishes.
Don't be surprised if there are some tactical dead-heats over the last few yards
of the course!
Roderick Hoffman for Paul Brandon
parkrun Update for 2nd March 2013
There were two notable club achievements at parkruns on 2nd March.
Brian Bennett, running at Nonsuch, finished in a time of 22:50 to
achieve the VM70-74 age category record and thus may simultaneously hold that
record at ten different parkruns. Steve will need to ratify that status
and speculate as to its uniqueness.
Roderick Hoffman achieved his unique record of completing 50 different parkruns in his
first 50 parkruns. He was featured in the parkrun Newsletter issued on
February 28th (http://www.parkrun.org.uk/news/2013/02/27/weekly-newsletter-27th-february-2013/
). His 50th run was an the familiarly named Concord parkrun in
Sheffield. There is a picture from each parkrun on his facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3800364006149.2168190.1188765022&type=3
and, given time, he may produce a write-up featuring the most memorable of the
50.
Of more immediate use note that Roderick has arranged to be handed his "50"
shirt at Bedfont Lakes parkrun on Saturday 23rd March on which occasion he
will run at that parkrun for a second time. Other BA runners are invited
to provide support that day - Roderick's first parkrun was on 25th June 2011
which was the first BAAC featured parkrun run.
Roderick Hoffman
PS Alan Friar is still on 99. Ian Cunningham is catching him and now has
95.
Running Thoughts
Think about this the next time you line up in a race you think you can't
win. Scientists believe that there is a finite possibility that upon the
starter's pistol firing all of the atoms in your body could simultaneously
jump to a new location 99 metres down the track enabling you to break the
world 100 metres record. True, it's unlikely, and if it were to occur you
might fond that ratification of the new record would take considerably
longer...but it
is possible. |
Perhaps it's time someone sent in some more running jokes?
News for the next BAAC News Digest?
Please let us have your ideas for how club
communications can be improved and please send us items for inclusion in the
next Digest. Results, news, feedback, jokes, stores - send it to us at
news@barunner.org,uk.
Club website:
www.barunner.org.uk.
|