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BA Athletics Club News Digest 24th August 2015

Events:

  • Wednesday 26th August - Monopoly running event at the Heston Venue from 18:00
  • Thursday 3rd September 2015 - Magic Mile on the Bath Road at 12:45
  • Sunday 6th September - BAAC Track & Field Championships and Family Fun Day at Eton Track (see below)

New members and non-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.  Running related gossip and chat: Facebook "BA Runner" (link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/636199849751546/).

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Result of the 6th Grand Prix at Uxbridge 17th August 2015

100m:-

  • Steve Hillier – 17.0
  • Tony Barnwell – 21.0

Hammer Throw :-

  • Steve Hillier – 27.57m (5Kg)
  • Eddie Giles – 13.90m (5Kg)
  • Tony Barnwell -12.99m (4Kg)

Well done to Steve for winning both events and throwing further than Eddie & Tony had thrown, added together!!  Tony had never thrown a Hammer before, so Steve gave intensive instructions on the correct method of the throw, averting any fears Tony had of the wire wrapping around his neck on the final spin!!

That was the final Grand Prix for the season but there is one more event in the track diary - and this one is for all of us...

On Sunday 6th September we have our annual Track & Field Championships & Fun Day at Eton from 12noon till around 5pm.

Thames Valley Athletics Centre. Pococks Lane, Eton, SL4 6HN

Start Time    Event Comment
12.30            Discus^ ^Superstars
13.00            800m  
13.15            Long Jump^ ^Superstars
13.30            200m  
13.45            High Jump  
14.00             Shot Putt  
14.00            Balloon & egg and spoon race  Kids
14.15            400m^ ^Superstars
14.30            Wellie wanging Kids and adults
15.00            3000m  
15.15             Javelin^ ^Superstars
15.15            Age 7 and under 50m sprint Kids
15.20            Age 8-10 years 80m sprint Kids
16.00             100m^ ^Superstars
16.00             Hammer  
16.30             1500m^ ^Superstars
16.45             Presentation & close  

^Superstars event – an open competition for anyone who wishes to participate in a variety of both track & field events, to parade their athletic prowess!! All 6 events must be covered to be Superstar Champion.

Participation is more important than achievement and instruction will be given before any event. Sunshine has been ordered for the day (but cannot be guaranteed).

Hope to see you there,

Eddie Giles


Wednesday 19th August - Cranford Park Relay results and write-up

Well, the first thing to say that is it was pouring rain and the general consensus at the club meeting point was…..to hold the 2015 “Cranford Park” relay around the perimeter of the sports field and make it multi-leg.  Hopefully we didn’t disappoint any large crowds gathering in the park to cheer us!

Thirteen fit and raring to go runners assembled and were split in three teams of 3 and two teams of 2, adopting names of old BEA/BOAC/BA fleets.  The perimeter lap measured approx. 1k and each of the teams of 3 ran a lap with a recovery until their turn came round again for their second lap.  The teams of 2 were given option of running extra legs or a calculated value for the extra laps added in the number crunching afterwards.  All runners were ‘weighted’ by an agreed factor relating to their recent 5k/parkrun times, which would be part of the ‘computed’ team result.

Brian, Paddy and Ann did a great job with the timing/recording whilst Nick monitored the course for any corner cutting!

TEAM RUNNER LAP 1
(actuals)
LAP 2 LAP 3 LAP 4 LAP 5 LAP 6 TEAM TOTAL
FACTORED
Comet Steve N 5m:25s 5:26
Roderick 4:43 4:38
Chris K 3:39 3:33
20m:59s
TriStar Barry W 4:05 3:38
Steve H 5:10 5:06
Alan F 4:43 4:32
21:12
Viscount Alan A 5:30 5:31
Eddie G 4:26 4:24
Richard R 3:53 3:42
21:33
Concorde Steve T 4:20 4:32
Simon T 4:03 3:56
22:02
Airbus John C 4:49 4:57
Graham T 4:08 3:58
22:08

Team Comet were declared winners with a total (factored) time of 20m:59s with Team TriStar just 13s behind. Quickest individual leg was galloped by Chris K with 3m:33s with Barry W with second fastest in 3m:38s.

After we had all dried out, we were joined by Lesley Giles and Mark Taylor for the BBQ, which although cooked outside under a gazebo was enjoyably consumed indoors !

Joe Nolan


Club parkrun results for Saturday 22nd August 2015 - Chris Kelly 250 not out

The weekend went more or less to plan at Reading where warm weather greeted Chris Kelly, his hound Mia and the other club members who went along to celebrate his 250th parkrun.  Roadworks at M4 junction 10 meant a diversion of several miles and caused a bit of range anxiety for electric car drivers and with a good attendance at Thames Valley Park latecomers like Roderick Hoffman found all the more convenient parking spaces already taken. This put paid to the planned pre-event parkrun photograph so the following picture is from after the event - Gareth had had to dash off just after the finish and Alan Friar had had to do so just after the start - but he had been there to see us off.

BA parkrunners at Reading August 2015

[left to right: Roderick, Chris (250) with Mia (125 approx), Barry, Tony, Steve, Alan Anderson. With Gareth we have 1,250 parkruns under our collars!]

Mia ensured that Chris ran at a more relaxed pace than usual and the pair of them only overtook Roderick in the last 50 meters.  Barry Walters had a very good outing finishing in just over 20 minutes.  Alan Anderson, who is 124 runs closer to a 500 vest than Chris Kelly, set a new age category record (29:11) for men over 80.  Tony Barnwell and Steve Newell had a good battle over the grassy run in and may have been quicker than the published times suggest.

22nd August 2015 Family, Friends,+ Time parkrun Comment runs Grade
Alan Anderson 29:11 Reading age cat rec, course pb 374 72%
Chris Kelly 26:40 Reading run #250, with hound 250 55%
Geoff Miles 27:52 Osterley Park run #245 245 60%
Joe Nolan 23:46 Black Park run #232 232 67%
Ian Cunningham 22:55 Bushy Park run #208 208 66%
Caroline Cockram volunteer Bedfont Lakes 192
Steve Newell 31:38 Reading improved WAVA% 189 56%
Roderick Hoffman 26:44 Reading course pb 169 57%
Kerstin Luksch 22:10 Gunnersbury run #151, leads points table 151 67%
David Duggan 45:52 Walsall Arboretum 294th/304 112 34%
Piers Keenleyside 22:37 Northala Fields 4th time at Northala Fields 110 70%
Tony Hird 25:36 Gunpowder Still 100% at Gunpowder 107 58%
Richard Ruffell 20:41 Fulham Palace 1st Ruffell 87 73%
Tony Barnwell 31:25 Reading first run at Reading 87 58%
Jeremy Short 21:20 Osterley Park run #70 70 71%
Sreeram Sethuraman 25:59 Upton Court run #56 56 51%
Gill Westbrook 28:03 Bedfont Lakes best ever WAVA% at parkrun 38 67%
Barry Walters 20:08 Reading run #35 35 79%
Natalie Ruffell 21:03 Fulham Palace 2nd Ruffell 35 70%
Gareth Hobby 25:01 Reading run #19 19 55%
Denis Foxley 24:52 Harrow run #14 14 68%
James Glover 23:30 Guildford parkrun pb 12 63%
Sharon Kassemzadeh volunteer Cassiobury barcode scanning 6
Joan Foxley 35:35 Harrow run #5 5 59%
Tom Rowley volunteer Woking marshal *
Alastair Heslop volunteer Guildford Timekeeper 1
Robbie Stewart 22:39 Tilgate first ever parkrun 1 62%

* An ageless "Tom Rowley" is recorded with two runs at Bushy Park in 2005 but this may not be "our" Tom Rowley.

At Fulham Palace, Richard Ruffell (20:41) beat Natalie (21:03) for a second week - this time on a fast flat course.  James Glover ran a parkrun pb (23:30) at Guildford where Alastair Heslop was the timekeeper this week.

Jeremy Short who hasn't run very much this summer after losing his way on the Watersplash 10km had a sound run (21:20) at Osterley.  Ex BA staff member Geoff Miles is the event director there but manages to run most weeks and is up to 245 runs.

Some lady runners from an earlier era of the club were in action - Joan Foxley at Harrow (35:35), Gilll Westbrook at Bedfont Lakes (28:03) and Sharon Kassemzadeh was a volunteer at Cassiobury.  Gill has obviously enjoyed the school holidays and her WAVA score this week (67.26%) was a best ever at a parkrun.  Sharon has taken to parkrun only recently but has now run half a dozen times at Cassiobury over the summer months.

Updated club parkrun stats: www.barunner.org.uk/results/ba_parkrun_park_totals.xls 

Steve Newell

Brandon Country Park (15th August)

I read your reference this week to my recent speed training paying off on Saturday to head Natalie home. Actually this was quite a tough course, running on narrow sandy paths which would probably be described as undulating. I caught her on the first lap at the top of the “hill”, so I think it was more strength than speed that saw me home this weekend.

As you know I have done a few parkruns now, although nowhere near as many as you guys, and the briefings at the start are always pretty similar, but this week my ears pricked up with a first for me.

We had just had the usual, “any under 11’s must be with a responsible adult” when the race director added “And please watch out for the adders as you run round, they don’t like being stepped on”.  Well that got my attention!

I can report I did not actually see any on my two laps round, but was watching out, carefully.

Richard Ruffell

Club parkrun History

On the weekend of Chris Kelly's 250th run and Robbie Stewart's first a quick reminder that there hasn't always been parkrun and the club members haven't always participated...

The graph shows the take-up on parkrun by some of the now more prolific parkrunners amongst us. It shows that John Coffey was an early parkrunner, running at Bushy for the first time on 24th December 2005 - Bushy event 65. But he was not the first to catch the bug - had he run a parkrun every week since he'd now have run over 500 parkruns. As it was he didn't really get going until 2008 and has had gaps during which he has been unable to get a regular Saturday morning fix of parkrun. The first of us to definitely catch the bug was Alan Anderson from mid-2007 and his line shows an almost unswerving loyalty to parkrun ever since. Alan has been the first club member to get to 50, 100, 250 and even 374 on Saturday.

Several club members got into parkrun from Spring 2010 including Chris Kelly who achieved his 250th run last Saturday.  I'm clearly a late comer not getting into parkrun until the start of 2012. But better late than never.

The graph also shows that there are no shortcuts to these statistics - no amount of training or illicit substances can accelerate your progress. All you can do is slip back by staying in bed on a Saturday morning {Ed: or volunteering or saving yourself for cross-country or caring for your children or any number of good and necessary activities that might prevent you finishing a parkrun each week}.

Roderick Hoffman


Running Shorts

Henfield Half Marathon - 23 August 2015

Jas Modaher & myself took on this tough hilly off-road trail half, with rain throughout, slippery mud and many stiles and gates.

  • Joe Nolan    1h55m53s
  • Jas Modaher    2h25m10s

We are both out again at the Harwell half marathon on Bank Holiday Monday.

Joe Nolan

Athletics on the Tele...

If you haven’t come across this site and are an ardent TV athletics viewer then this simple site does just what it says and nothing more:

http://www.athleticsontv.org.uk/

Regards

Steve Taylor 


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Club website:

www.barunner.org.uk.


 

      

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