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BA Athletics Club News Digest 9th March 2020

Events:

  • Wednesday 25th March - 5 Mile Handicap @ Bedfont Club from 18:00 #
  • Thursday 2nd April Parkland Mile, Harmondsworth Marsh at 12:45
  • Sunday 26th April London Marathon #

Our next Bedfont Club meeting will be on Wednesday 25th (Handicap). All members are welcome.

New members and potential members of all fitness levels and abilities are welcome at most of our events. The full diary of club featured events is on the club website at: http://www.barunner.org.uk/Event Diary.shtml. Last updated: 8th January.

* Club Event Map: [Clickable link to Google Maps] (parkrun details updated 12th February 2020) / # Club Points event.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BARunnerUK/ (formal "front window" club page), BA Runner Facebook Group (informal "back office", ask to join).

Inclusions, with photos, please to Roderick Hoffman at news@barunner.org.uk.


BAAC 2019 Awards as presented on 4th March 2020

BAAC 2019 Awards

Photos Paul Brandon, with a background from Roderick Hoffman (I'm sure that we can agree an improvement from the Bedfont Club firedoors). The original photographs are available on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/636199849751546/permalink/2900974013274107/ ). The awards presented on the evening, from left to right, were:

The chairman's award this year is to Joe Nolan. Joe lives a busy life and has had health challenges over the last year but still finds time to attend club events and take on coaching responsibilities, and always with a smile (or well disguised grimace).

Across 2019 there were 51 club points scoring events and 1089 points were shared by 275 individuals (including non-members).  24 members achieved ten points or more and particular credit has to go to Steve Hillier who scored a total of 44 points in 35 of the club's 51 events. However Roderick Hoffman finished at the top of the club points table with 48 points from 26 events to win the Round-the-Block Trophy.

In Men's Track and Field Steve Hillier accumulated points in a range of events, with his best results achieved in the throwing cage.

John Williams, the club's president, presented most of the awards.

In the Ladies Track and Field Julie Barclay tackled every distance on the track from 100m to 3000m.  She always finished first or second in her own age group, and she was always prepared to compete in the younger age groups, if necessary, to collect good points for the team.

The parkrun award also goes to Julie Barclay for her dedication to parkrun, and for flying the BA flag around the world.  She is approaching run number 200, and consistently achieving an 80% performance at hilly, tight and congested courses alike.  She’s a tourist as well, with a recent ladies first finish at a course new to BA, in Poland.

Across the 2018/19 Men's Cross-Country season Mark Taylor represented BA in the most Surrey League events, was never out of the top six BA runners, and led the team home at both Sandhurst and the BA Championships.

Most improved this year is Mike Ball. He has come late to competitive running, but has been determined to improve each week.  He mixes road running, gym work and track intervals with a busy family schedule, and this winter he has been out on the muddy hills representing the club in league cross-country events.   His first love is sprinting, and he has steadily lowered his times while tackling races from 100m up to 800m.  This has proved an important factor in our track team’s performances in 2019.

Female Athlete of the year is Christine Munden who has involved herself in all aspects of the club.  She has been a regular contributor to our cross-country success, and is a regular Track & Field competitor, prepared to fill in if a three-kilometre walker or a shot putter is needed.  She is a regular at our Wednesday events, exploring the streets of Bedfont and providing ideas for future events.   Another string to her bow is Orienteering, joining our Street-O squad to explore West London’s byways.

Male Athlete of the Year is Ian Cunningham who has been trudging around the Surrey hills picking up points for our Cross-Country team.  As a current employee of BA, he’s been busy at Waterside, cajoling fellow staff members for lunchtime runs.  He has now taken on the project of transferring the monthly Bath Road Dream Mile event to the Parkland in Waterside. Individual highlights include four marathons, all sub-four hours, with the best in Berlin clocked at 3:37.  He conquered the 54 mile Comrades Marathon in under ten hours.

This year's Veterans award goes to Mike Dennison who has passed his 60th birthday, but is giving the thirty-somethings a run for their money.  He has had great success in parkrun, with 5K times consistently dipping under twenty minutes, and an age ranking of over 80%.  His times have improved significantly in the past decade, giving us all hope.  Not satisfied with the short stuff, our winner finished in the top ten in the Vitality 10K, completed half-marathons in 1:33, and the Seville marathon in 3:34.  He also performs for the club in the Surrey League Cross-Countries and helps us with marshalling at the big events.

Other awards were also presented in the evening and these will be covered next week. Some award recipients were unable to attend last week and their award details will be held over until there has been an opportunity to present their awards to them. Details of the awards given out can be found on the website page: http://www.barunner.org.uk/News_Trophies.shtml

Words Steve Hillier / Roderick Hoffman


Parkland Mile - Thursday 5th March on Harmondsworth Moor

Harmondsworth Moor PuddlesThree of us did venture out last Thursday for the second Parkland Mile whereas many others found convenient excuses to be absent. Conditions were atrocious both above and below our feet - as shown in the photograph from another part of the moorland. Times were correspondingly slower than at the inaugural event in February.

Matthew Stratful finished in 06:51, Ian Cunningham in 08:40 and Roderick Hoffman in 09:20.

Come rain or shine, but hopefully shine, the next Parkland Mile will be held on the lunchtime of Thursday 2nd April.

Roderick Hoffman

Cancellation

Please note that the BA Sports Relief event, scheduled for Tuesday 10th March, has been cancelled or postponed due to the poor conditions on the moorland.


 Big Half - Marshalling # and Running...

I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who came out to help today in Greenwich.  It was cold, windy, and we had a couple of angry customers to deal with, but the operation went brilliantly.  A special thank you to Eddie Ketterick for keeping us so well organised.  I hope you all got home safely.  As ever, if you have any comments or feedback, do send them to me.

Steve Hillier

As well as Eddie and Steve the following scored valuable club points, and had a great time, by marshalling for us at the Big Half:

David Duggan, Gary Rushmer, Graham Taylor, Alice Banks, John Banks, Mike Thorn, Zara Thorn, Peter Dollman, Melanie Miller, Harjit Jhooti, Tejinder Singh Modaher, Sukhdev Singh Modaher, John Wright, Tracey Mills.

And we also had some runners:

Name Position Position in Age Group Position in Gender Total Time Comment
Mike Dennison 1442 5 1300 1:31:02 ½ Marathon PB
Maria Jovani 1492 18 152 1:31:31 ½ Marathon PB
Jain Reid 8012 51 2279 2:00:20 ½ Marathon PB
Davinder Bhambi 11324 1100 7189 2:15:57
Big Half runners

After volunteering with BAAC for the first two "Big Half" events in the last two years, Maria Jovani and Mike Dennison decided to see it from the other side and run it this year. We were very lucky with the weather conditions, sunny and a bit windy, but it seemed to be helping for more of the race than it was hindering.  It was especially nice to spot the familiar faces from the BA crew as we were getting close to the finish line.  We were both very happy to get new half marathon PBs as well - Maria with 1:31:31, almost 5 minutes better than her previous PB, and Mike with 1:31:02, almost a minute better than his.

It may have been the largest race I'd run in, with 15968 reported finishers (7333 female, 8635 male).

Photo of Maria and I with Nick Rowe (of SHAEF Shifters) once we'd finished.

best wishes

Mike Dennison

A big thank you to the BA crew marshalling in the “only 200 metres to go” crossing. 

After marshalling in the 1st two editions of The Big Half, this year I wanted to be “on the other side”. It was lovely to see so many familiar faces as I was approaching the finish line. It the last boost I needed just to go and smash my half marathon PB.

Glad the weather was kind to all of us this year (for a change).

Thank you all 

Maria Jovani

It was my 2nd year running this event and I loved the glorious sunshine. I thought all the volunteers I came across today were amazing. Smiles all round. 

Thanks to all the BA crew for what is turning out to be a windy event at this time of year. Getting around Greenwich is not easy with the event on so I imagine there were a few disgruntled customers for you to deal with. Sorry I missed you but I was desperate for my first sub 2 and very focused on a sprint finish at that point which I didn’t get. I still improved my PB slightly from last weekend’s Hampton Court Half and loved running in the sun at last!

Jain Reid


Held Over...

Bumper issue this week, so I've had to hold over news on this year's Track&Field events and a WARR (World Airline Road Race) update until next week. Space permitting!

Roderick Hoffman


parkrun Review Saturday 7th March 2020

7Mar Member parkrun Place Time Grade PB Comment
TRUE Paul PRESCOTT Bedfont Lakes 5 00:20:10 64.05%
TRUE Ian Cockram Bedfont Lakes 33 00:23:38 63.40% plus Barcode Scanning
TRUE Caroline Cockram Bedfont Lakes Run Director
TRUE Emma Moreton Bedfont Lakes Finish Tokens
TRUE Joe NOLAN Black Park 376 00:30:00 55.39% Quality checking his 30minute pacer - they were 2 seconds fast!
TRUE Mike Dennison Bushy Park 58 00:19:51 82.20% Just 0.02% under his Bushy best age-grade
TRUE Maria Jovani Bushy Park 103 00:20:46 75.76% Rare for Maria not to be in the top 100, but there were over 1400 behind her (9th lady, of 658)
TRUE Andrew William Jordon Bushy Park 192 00:21:59 69.29%
TRUE Ian CUNNINGHAM Bushy Park 971 00:30:20 51.54%
TRUE Scott DAVISON Crane Park 58 00:23:52 60.82%
TRUE Ben Chaytow Crane Park 96 00:26:03 53.61%
TRUE Jain Reid Downview 6 00:26:01 67.78% Restricted access parkrun, but in good company and fastest ever parkrun time and finish position 6th (2nd lady). New club parkrun.
TRUE Adam Moquet Fulham Palace 5 00:17:44 73.59% Fastest parkrun since Oct 2018
TRUE David Williams Fulham Palace 257 00:25:27 54.42%
TRUE John Lennon Guildford 309 00:38:59 40.79%
TRUE Piers KEENLEYSIDE Gunnersbury 332 00:27:32 59.26%
TRUE David DUGGAN Gunnersbury 427 00:29:51 53.71%
TRUE Trish MCCABE Hampstead Heath 263 00:30:40 50.92%
TRUE Harjit Jhooti Hanworth 43 00:30:52 55.67%
TRUE Melanie Miller Hanworth 57 00:37:47 45.48%
FALSE Joan FOXLEY Harrow 281 00:39:48 56.87%
TRUE Denis Foxley Harrow Timekeeper
TRUE Maarten Stenham Hazelwood 35 00:27:48 49.82%
TRUE Steve NEWELL Hazelwood 120 00:47:24 39.98%
TRUE Benita Scaife Maidenhead Timekeeper
TRUE John Scaife Maidenhead Timekeeper
TRUE Sarah GORDON Melton Mowbray 184 00:34:43 57.51% PB   5th time at MM, PB by 39 seconds
TRUE Zoe OSTLEY Mole Valley 283 00:48:04 38.70% PB   Run 249, PB by over 6 minutes
TRUE Julie BARCLAY Northala Fields 38 00:21:44 83.28% Saving herself for SurreyHalf 5k, best time since Victoria Dock in Nov 2019
TRUE Paul WATT Northala Fields 31 00:21:15 72.31% Saving himself for SurreyHalf 5k? Best time since Nov 2017
TRUE Roderick HOFFMAN Northala Fields 189 00:28:25 55.95% 10th run at NF, matches previous time
#N/A Kathryn MARSHALL Northala Fields 216 00:29:26 50.28% BA Cabin Crew member, 5th run, all different.
TRUE Bob Bannister Osterley 98 00:24:45 66.53%
TRUE Anne Bannister Osterley 267 00:32:15 61.91%
TRUE Alan ANDERSON Osterley 396 00:53:39 43.80%
TRUE Christopher T KELLY Prospect 149 00:41:58 36.30% 2nd run at Prospect
TRUE James Shoulder Rushmoor 8 00:18:43 68.92%
TRUE Alice BANKS Seaton 141 00:27:25 72.83% New club parkrun
TRUE Keith Johnson St Albans 160 00:25:19 58.26%
TRUE Tony BARNWELL Wycombe Rye 498 00:47:53 41.07%
TRUE Neil FREDIANI Yeovil (just visiting) Still on 249, no parkrun, but to wind up Julie and Paul he did pop by Yeovil on a day the parkrun was held.

International Women's Day had a great deal of publicity ahead of Saturday's runs. How did our ladies get on? Focus first on Jain Reid who managed to break into Downview, a ladies' prison near Sutton, and take part in their parkrun. She wasn't the only visitor and between them and the locals they smashed the attendance record. Jain achieved her quickest ever parkrun time (by 36 seconds) and her highest ever place and set the course VW50-54 record. Her age-grade would also have been the best ever at the event if it wasn't for that of Jacqueline Millett who finished just behind her but 15 years older. Jain also wasn't the most experienced parkrunner at the event - Darren Wood came in behind her to complete his 765th parkrun.

Northala Fields parkrun group photoDownview was obviously a new parkrun for the club and Alice Banks added another new parkrun with Seaton in East Devon. Club members have now run at 572 different parkruns.

IWD wasn't just for women to run - it was also for women to take charge and Caroline Cockram was one of several of our ladies enabling others to run - being Run Director at Bedfont Lakes.

Hearing that Julie and Paul would be running at my local parkrun Northala Fields I decided to join them and my club shirt attracted Kathryn Marshall to join us for the photograph. We may see her again - though as she is yet to repeat a parkrun its anyone's guess as to where. Julie and Paul ran well - see below. Julie achieved the day's best age-grade by any club member.

Amongst the men Mike Dennison was perhaps inspired by picking up our Veteran's award on Wednesday to run just a whisker behind his all-time age-grade at Bushy.

Steve Newell's computer is having an overhaul this week but he was able to submit a late result from last week, 29th Feb. At Gunnersbury former member Jane DAVIES finished in 86th in a time of 23:40 but, as a VM70-74, this set the all-time age-grade record to 95.63%. Top grade by a current club member at Gunnersbury is Brian Bennett's 81.2% set in December 2011.

Steve Newell / Roderick Hoffman

Steve's parkrun stats - club parkrun stats [not updated this week]

Full club parkrun database - {read access to new club parkrun database} - Download and explore.

Roderick Hoffman


Trust your training - SurreyHalf/Woking 5k

Julie and I are sure that, as you will all agree, running over the past few months has been hard. The temperature has been not too cold but the rain, the wind and the endless slogs through mud on a Saturday morning have been quite brutal at times. Add to this the training with Tom Rowley four times a week when we have been hill training, forest running and conquering the sand dunes in Horsell Common; the winter has seemed tough and endless.

With all this hard work our times have plateaued but we kept using the weather and conditions as valid reasons but as time passed, were they becoming handy excuses? "Just keep working", Tom would tell us as patience was wearing thin especially last week after my slowest parkrun of the year! But this week, we met Roderick at Northala Fields to mark his tenth run there, two minutes quicker than last week - no wind, no rain and no mud on a flat hard surface and suddenly all seemed good again.

We hoped that this was not a one-off and it wasn’t. We entered the Woking 5k on Sunday which is a road-race on closed roads and is very popular. Kay Trinder joined us to make three from BAAC and we were thrilled at the end....Kay finished first W50 in 19:36/90%, Julie first W55 in 20:45/87% and I was first M55 in 20:38/74%. A unique hat-trick for The Rowley Training Stables.

We went from slowest parkruns of the year to quickest 5k in almost three years in the space of one week!

I am not telling anybody to suck eggs and I realise that we don’t race every time we run as it is great just to enjoy ourselves and the outdoors. However, if you are starting to feel post-winter blues like we were, remember what Tom always says...."Enjoy yourself, don’t underestimate rest, spend time on your legs and trust your training".

It will come, not sure when, but it will.
 
Paul Watt and Julie Barclay

Full results: https://racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=16269&RId=1187&EId=2


Hillingdon 20 Result

Hillingdon 20I ran the Hillingdon 20 (originally called the Finchley 20 but now more suitable named to reflect its location) on Sunday, it was very much a training run so there was no finish time in mind, which was just as well as a trip to the portaloo on lap two was needed. I ran with a couple of friends who I have been marathon training with for the first few miles as we ended up running at different paces as the run went on. It was a mild morning and mostly dry with a bit of a downpour for the last two miles, which was not enough to dampen the enjoyment. The organisation was good with a different start location and route from the last time I ran it. Having the club house to stay warm in before the event is always welcome. It was good to see Harry at the club house and Joe Nolan popped up around the course to give the runners some support, Jas was running too so two BA vests in the field.

I’m planning to run two more 20 milers in the run up to London.

Results:

http://results.eventchiptiming.com/results.aspx?CId=16202&RId=8201  
363         STEPHEN TAYLOR                             03:38:55               03:38:08               M50       50           Male      231         BRITISH AIRWAYS AC
383         JASVIR SINGH MODAHER              03:56:15               03:55:43               M60       10           Male      236         BRITISH AIRWAYS AC
Steve Taylor

Photos by Joe Nolan. Harry Wild was spotted on marshalling duty.


NEW! HOTLINE ACCESS FOR BA CLUBS MEMBERS

Those of you who are BA Clubs members may be interested in the following. And those who are not BA Clubs members also, because you can join BA Clubs!  I've just checked a random route - Heathrow to Washington and the BA Hotline fare is £547 (return, in normal economy, with a bag in the hold). The equivalent fare from the main BA website would cost over £1,000 (though other websites may offer this for less). If you've never travelled much - there could be some great opportunities to do so over the next few months!

Dear Section member,

During our communications meetings last year, you may remember that we were trying to get access to discounted flights for our members, in particular those who do not work for BA.  We have been successful in our negotiations and today's launch coincides with an amazing offer.  The offer is for a limited time but the Hotline access to discounted flights at a cost of £30, is for a year and can be renewed on an annual basis.

Flash Sale: Up to 45% off BA Fares. Limited Time. Act Now!

Everything you need to know can be found by following this link:
https://mailchi.mp/5db3abc4ec99/sections_ba_fare_sale-946343 

We hope you enjoy your new benefit.

Kind regards,

Alison Hartigan

General Manager BA Clubs Ltd


Running Shorts


Next Digest - Results, news, pictures, feedback, jokes, stories - send them to the editor, Roderick Hoffman, at news@barunner.org.uk.

Not for you, no longer interested? remove me please.

Difficulty viewing this? Read it from the website:- http://www.barunner.org.uk/News Latest.shtml.

Club website: www.barunner.org.uk.


 

      

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