baRUNNER - a website for the British Airways Athletics Club
BA Athletics Club News Digest 12th June 2017Events:
New members and potential members of all fitness levels and abilities are welcome at all of these events. The full diary of club featured events is on the club website at: http://www.barunner.org.uk/Event Diary.shtml. Updated May 5th. *Club Event Map: [Clickable link to Google Maps] Not for you, no longer interested? remove me please. Difficulty viewing this email? Read it off the website instead - http://www.barunner.org.uk/News Latest.shtml. Club Facebook Page "BARunner" https://www.facebook.com/BARunnerUK/ Concorde Five provisional results and thanks
Now the bigger numbers were good news for the event but not without problems. I had budgeted for an entry of around 100 so ran out of "Concorde 5" medals at 102 finishers. From then on I only had outdated "Concorde 10k" medals available (though these were on "2017" ribbons). So thank you to the club runners who saw the need to accept a swap from the new medals to the old. If anyone wants a proper "Concorde 5" medal then please let me know and I'll get one sorted for you. It's lazy journalism to focus on the things that went wrong...but I've had a busy weekend so forgive me!... Arriving at the new HQ to discover that Cranford College had double let the car park to a much bigger event than ours was a bit of a surprise! But I saw the positives...they had around a dozen parking marshals (most of whom only seemed to speak Polish but that wasn't a big problem) AND they had permission to park cars on the grass and in the regular car park, so once I ensured our runners wouldn't be charged to park I asked John and Benita to look after the regular car park and everything seemed to go smoothly. Then the course was in good condition apart from, in the picture from left to right, one broken manhole cover at half way, the fly tip under the subway from Church Road (an eyesore...but not on the course) and the chopped up tree on the start/finish straight. Thank you to all of the marshals who participated in doubling the size of the passage next to this pile.
And to the race itself. The provisional results are on line - in fact Steve Taylor had them online before I'd finished handing over the prizes. https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=103526 . Highlights include:
More details of the results next week. Roderick (roderick@rhoff.org.uk) And thanks of course to all of the marshals and officials... Laurie Kelly, Paul Brandon, Ann Coffey, Tom Rowley, Richard Carter, Steve Hillier, Steve Taylor, St John, Simon Turton, Jagjit Singh, Ravleen Kaur, Gursewak Singh, Joe Nolan, John Banks, John Coffey, Nick Edge, Joan Foxley, Colin Haylock, Kulbir Kaur, Chris Kelly, Paul Knechtl, Tracey Mills, John Scaife, Benita Scaife, Graham Taylor, Harry Wild and John Williams (and let me know if you were there and I've missed you). PS Founder member Dave Blackett has brought to my attention that the Department of Transport statistics show that Hounslow has the most heavily used roads in the whole of the country - with 8,339 vehicles passing an average point on the borough's road network every single day - double the national average. Thank you again therefore to the marshals who managed to keep the cars and runners apart - and in particular to the Scaifes who helped with parking - that is a lot of cars!
but where was Steve?...Various club members come up with various reasons why they couldn't marshal for the Concorde Five but at least Steve Newell made sure that his story was backed up by the BBC. However it does look like someone warned the Brownlees that Steve was on the lookout since both were very careful to get their feet on the ground before they reached Steve's red line and flag. Steve looks a bit disappointed to have missed out on his potential minute of fame.
Club AGM at Wraysbury Sailing Base on Wednesday 28th JuneThe venue has been confirmed for our AGM. Details are likely to be:
So your only outstanding questions are likely to be "Where is the Sailing Base?" and "How can I get there?".
Lookout for the entrance - pictured below.
Roderick Hoffman Vets League, 5th June, Hillingdon - ResultsAlthough summer is now with us, last Monday brought a return of the worst of Autumn conditions. A south-westerly gale, heavy rain squalls and then persistent rain made conditions at Hillingdon challenging and cold. Don't warm up, and you risked a pulled muscle. But how to stay warm? The track runners shivered in their singlets, while the throwers grumbled in four or five layers of wet clothing. The judges were grumpy, too, and insisted in seeing a club vest adorned with a crisp number when it came to the throws, which meant peeling damp layers on and off throughout the evening. Otherwise, it was great. Cheered on by our three strong fan club (Tom, Paul, and Harry) the three strong team scored good points. Julie ran two tough middle distance events, battling shoulder to shoulder in both and cruising away to a great victory in the final straight of the 3000m. In the 800m Julie took the silver. Janet tackled the wind and rain and a strong field to come out clear winner in the discus. Steve, meanwhile, took on four events, with third place in the Long Jump and Shot and fifth in Discus and 200m. The sprint was disrupted by an intruder. A field judge, jogging back to the stand for shelter from the weather, had not taken in the fact that the 200m was underway, and stepped on to the track. He was soon arm in arm with the runners in lanes 1 & 2, who took avoiding action pretty fast. Undeterred, the judge continued his jog to the finish area. After checking the photo finish it was clear that Steve had just managed to beat him to the line. Come and join us at the next event, at Battersea on June 19th, when it is certain to be dry!
Race to the Tower - 10th / 11th JuneBack in January when I entered Race to the Tower it all sounded so pleasant. June in the Cotswolds, rolling countryside. As the web-site said “A double marathon through the heart of the Cotswolds through quaint traditional villages and medieval burial grounds, you’ll finish at the magnificent Broadway Tower, home to one of the best views in the country.” I should have known better. 53 miles along the Cotswold Way with over 6000 feet of ascents (and descents!) was the hardest thing I have ever done, bar none. By the time I reached 15 miles I was already suffering and it never let up from there. At half way I was really struggling but one of the good things about ultras is that the other runners spot that and they gave me some positive words and made me start putting one foot in front of the other again. And of course once you’re moving you have no choice but to finish. The second half took me over 7 hours with more walking than running. I’d never realised how tough the Cotswolds could be!! The winning time was 7hrs30mins, second was Iron Man triathlete Chrissie Wellington an hour back and most of the rest of the field took over 11 hours. Before the race I’d been hoping to get round in about 11 hours (to match Piers at Comrades) but that hope rapidly went and I focused on finishing before it got pitch black …. Which I just managed to achieve. I finally stopped the clock at 13hrs30mins as the sun was setting (good thing we had an 8am start!) The race was organised by Threshold Sports who do lay on a great event – well staffed, good pitstops and plenty of encouragement along the way. Amazingly the photos taken on the day make it look like I was enjoying myself – I must have put my camera face on.
As is compulsory with ultras my first thought at the end was “never again”… wonder how long I’ll hold out? Ian Cunningham Standard Chartered Great City Race 2017Following hot on the heels of both the VM London Marathon and the Vitality London 10000 (thank you Clara for organising helpers for this one) comes the STANDARD CHARTERED GREAT CITY RACE (5km) (www.cityrace.co.uk), MONDAY 24th JULY. Last year we set up two Disley Shuttles at 3.5 km and 4.5 km as well as continuing to support around the Bank of England (2.5 km). The crossings worked extremely well and we’ve been asked to follow the same set up this year. I need 25 helpers across the 3 points. It’s a great evening and being only a 5km is all done and dusted by 20:15! Race start is 19:15 with road closures going in at 18:30. We’ll meet outside MOORGATE tube at 18:15. They'll be a T-shirt for everyone, a contribution towards travel expenses (£12) and some post-race refreshments in a local hostelry (and the Club gets a good donation to help keep membership costs down). If you can help please drop me your preferred T-shirt size and mobile phone number. Thanks in advance for your continued support. Regards, Simon Turton simon.turton@ba.com Club parkrun results for Saturday 10th June
Julie Barclay (21:46) stole the limelight this week at Rushmoor and achieved a WAVA score of 81%, her best of the year. She is now on 97 runs and there is speculation originating from this reporter that she may notch up her century escorting Tom Rowley round Bushy Park on 1st July. Julie’s sister, Janice Jones (27:00) was there too running at Rushmoor for the first time. In fact more members than usual caught the tourist bug this week and went somewhere they had not run previously. Curiously this was especially so if they normally run at Bedfont, where this week David Duggan was run director! James Shoulder (20:31) made his debut at Upton Court. Richard Ruffell (20:40) went to Cannock Chase for the first time and set a new club record. Scott Davison (24:54) tried the parkrun at Kingston which includes a stretch along the Thames towpath (and can be muddy!). Trish McCabe (27:12) ran at Northala Fields for the first time and is now officially labelled as a parkrun tourist with 20 different parks to her name. Roderick Hoffman (27:20) climbed up to 196 parks and set a new club record at the somewhat undulating Royal Tunbridge Wells. Steve Newell (37:49) found he had a spare hour in a busy weekend in Leeds and slipped along to Woodhouse Moor to jog round in the rain. Piers Keenleyside is the only other member to have run there although it is one of the older established parkruns and nearing its tenth anniversary. By contrast, at Maidenhead, Alice Banks (25:50) ran for the 50th time. It was also a noteworthy occasion for Benita (31:00) and John Scaife (31:00) as their son Andrew (19:00) achieved a pb and a first place finish for the first time. Steve Newell If you want to promote a special parkrun then let Steve or I know... We have a trip to Salisbury in the unofficial diary for 17th June to meet up with Eddie Giles, there is the older runners event at Bushy on 1st July, my 200 tourist parkrun at Beckenham on 22nd July and the club committee has decided to make the August 5th Black Park Pacer Day the Run-of-the-Month for August. Roderick Hoffman Eddie Giles says: "Looking forward to next Saturday here at the parkrun. Let me know if you can by Thursday, the numbers if they want to come back for post run breakfast. I will see you at Churchill Gardens car park, say at 8.30 or here at the house at 8.00. " So please let me know if you would like to join us at Salisbury, whether you would like a lift from the former Concorde Centre (two seats free) from 7am, and/or whether you are interested in the post parkrun breakfast at Eddie's. Reply to me: roderick@rhoff.org.uk Joe's Coaching Corner -All of Joe's coaching notes (and more) are now available in their own section in the website: http://www.barunner.org.uk/Club_Coaching_Notes.shtml
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Harry Hawkes 10I am organising “The Harry Hawkes” on Sunday July 16th and I would be most grateful if you could publicise to your members. The Harry Hawkes is a 10 mile race located at Giggs Hill Green in Thames Ditton, with a start time of 09.30. This is the 34th staging of the run which is always popular with club runners. It’s a fast, flat course and a very scenic route with sections along the river and through woodland, although most of the course is on surfaced road. We have team challenge trophies for both men and women’s teams and we are always keen to attract more clubs to take part. With this in mind we are offering a £3 discount to your club runners entering the race. The affiliated runner entry fee is £23 (plus £2 online booking fee). With the discount this drops to £20. Details of the race can be found on our website: www.harryhawkes10.com To enter click the entry button on the site and complete the entry form. When prompted for a voucher code at the bottom of the form, enter the following discount code: CLUB£3 I do hope the Harry Hawkes will be of interest and we will see some of you on the 16th. Best regards, Peter Wedderburn Race Director : Harry Hawkes 10 |
Petra Otto joined the club last Sunday (shortly before the start of the Concorde Five - I did say we had a scratch ladies team!). However don't be mislead - Petra has been a long time follower of the club and was delighted to join and whilst we may not see her regularly as Heathrow local events she has the same spirit as many of us - she is due to run a 10k in Munich within the next couple of weeks and then is running the Australian Outback (half) Marathon in July. Perhaps Piers and Chris can send her some advice.
Results, news, pictures, feedback, jokes, stories - send it to the editor, Roderick Hoffman, at news@barunner.org.uk.
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So
I'll start this report off with a big picture of the London Frontrunners team.
Why? Well, we had 111 finishers this year compared with the 86 of last
year, an increase of 25. Now count the number of London Frontrunners.
Apparently the Concorde Five was their "Run-of-the-Month" for June. A
friendly bunch they were too - check out their website:
The
map opposite shows the Club location on the B 376 Staines Rd.,
Wraysbury,
Caption
Competition