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BA Athletics Club News Digest 24th September 2012

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Forthcoming Events

Don't forget the following priority club events:

Wednesday 26th September Club In-house Event: Brian's Relay - Concorde Centre from 18:00.  Social in the clubhouse afterwards.

Wednesday 3rd October Equinox 5k - meet at the Concorde Centre by 17:45 or in Church Road from 18:00.  Social in the clubhouse afterwards.

Saturday 6th October Wycombe Rye 5k parkrun 09:00 (see below)

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.

Norfolk Relay Result

On Friday 14th September 15 runners from BA Running Club and a few other hangers on headed North(ish) to the southernmost tip of the Wash for the annual Round Norfolk Relay. The race first begun in 1987 and is a 197 mile continuous baton relay around the coast clockwise starting from Kings Lynn. The majority of the coastal legs are in daylight before heading inland under the canopy of darkness returning to Kings Lynn for early morning.

Our day started with a little problem, the chef at the guest house we stay in overslept, so there were a few hungry tummies and one very upset landlady. However, that did not unsettle the runners and Richard Ruffell, quickly got the group in order. Unfortunately Dave Bird didn’t have a royal send off for the start of his leg, but he didn’t seem to mind.

Two of our runners, Natalie Ruffell and Adrian Haines, arrived on Saturday for the race, 17 runners in total followed the race in two vehicles leg to leg, thanks to the masterful organisational skills of Richard Ruffell.

Most of the first 5 legs (Dave Bird, Duncan Wright, Adrian Haines, Barry Walters and Simon Ashford through the Sandringham Estate, Hunstanton to Cromer) were off road which some might say are both physical and navigational challenges. I certainly had this in leg 5 where it was pretty much guess work as to whether you went the right way through Sheringham on a busy Saturday afternoon.

As the sun set and stomachs began to rumble, the expectation of fish and chips in Great Yarmouth became the topic of conversation. Mel Holman, Monica Alonso, John Coffey and Natalie Ruffell covered the legs that took us into darkness. By this time the runners were salivating like Pavlov’s dog at the thought of those lovely fish and chips.

The ‘night shift’ legs were covered by Vicky Edwards, Colin Cottell, Chris Kelly and Graham Taylor with the distances of some of these nocturnal runs being up to 20 miles in length. Well done guys! Graham won the competition for looking like a Christmas tree, for his designer lighting system.

Daylight brought us into the final stages of the race heading back towards Kings Lynn. Trevor Plows and Mark Taylor put in good performances despite running on injury and I am sure that Richard Ruffell dared not put a foot wrong on his run into Downham Market with John Coffey on his tail on the bike, to shouts of ‘one last push Richard!’ towards the end of his leg, which brought a wry smile to his face. Paul Knechtl brought us home in style giving us a very credible 15th position out of 50 teams.

Thanks go to Dave Bird for not crashing the bus on Trevor’s leg and also to, PK, Mark, Graham and Chris for driving and to Trevor, Richard, John and Duncan our expert cyclists. A special thank you too for Natalie, Colin and Adrian for helping out at such short notice given the injuries as other team members dropped like flies as race day was fast approaching.

An enjoyable and satisfying weekend in a lovely corner of the country.

Simon Ashford

Results Analysis

Final position 15th out of 58 teams, 6 minutes ahead of the 16th team, 23 minutes behind the 14th team.  Total time 25 hours 4 minutes and 33 seconds. The team finishing first managed it in 20 hours 22 minutes and the last team took just over 29 hours. Adrian was fourth finisher in stage 3, Paul was fifth in stage 17.  Natalie was fifth lady in stage 9.  All seventeen runners contributed to the final finish and result.

Website: http://www.roundnorfolkrelay.com/

BAAC Planesaver Track&Field Championships and Family Fun Day - Sunday 23rd September - postponed

Reluctantly we were forced to postpone this event just as it was due to start.  The rain was so heavy and continuous that the field events would have been dangerous and the track events no fun to take part in or officiate. Apologies to all those who had travelled to the event.  A new date will be announced shortly. 

Wycombe Rye parkrun Saturday 6th October

The next stage of the BAAC Tour de Park run is at Wycombe Rye (High Wycombe) Saturday 6th October, start time 9am.

The Rye is off Bassetsbury Lane Bucks - navigational postcode HP11 IQX.  The Rye has always been a recreational area as far back as Saxon times and around 1860 the Hayward’s register was filled in for the residents in and around the area who had cattle. They were allowed to graze 2 cows and 1 heifer per address on the common pasture land during day time. The cows were under the supervision of the Hayward who lived in the cottage between the London road And the entrance to the Rye. The cows had to be brought in by their owners in the morning but the cows were allowed to find their own way home for milking time in the evening . The right to depasture cattle ceased in 1927 because of increased traffic. Near to this site though, back in May this year, an unexploded mortar shell was found while cleaning out one of the waterways. The Rye was cordoned off to allow the object to be carefully removed, taken to Aldershot to be disposed off loudly and safe.

Hope you can join us at the Rye on the 6th October, where we will meet near the start for the usual photo take.

Regards

Eddie Giles.

PS Wycombe has a reputation for hilly courses.  Don't worry - the Rye is largely flat.  The lowest point on the course is 62m and the highest is 82m. Steps are taken to get from the lowest point to the highest.  There is a pay and display car park right next to the start, in the middle of the Rye, with a 4 hour charge of just 20p. There is a Lido if you fancy a swim afterwards but perhaps of more use there are toilets and a nice cafe - perhaps we can have a coffee and chat after the run.  Need a lift?  Get in touch.

Roderick Hoffman.

Website: http://www.parkrun.org.uk/wycomberye/home

Last Saturday's club parkrun results

Roderick Hoffman

5th Track&Field Grand Prix Results

The 5th Grand Prix of the season took place at Uxbridge 17th September. 2 were up for the 200m sprint, a big thank you to Roderick Hoffman who shouted ‘GO’ from across the track and recorded the times as follows,

Eddie Giles won in 31.76 with Steve Hillier recording 35.15

We didn’t beat the clock, but now it was the Javelin throw and we were hoping to beat the tape.  When I asked for a tape to measure the distance, all the assistant could find was a 21m tape. Now, could we beat the tape as both Steve and myself have thrown over that distance in the past? 

Eddie threw a best distance for the night of 18.82m , not beating the tape, but with a big final throw from Steve, and looking likely to beat the tape , just missed by 0.5m to record 20.50m.

Regards

Eddie Giles

News for the next BAAC News Digest? Anything? Anyone?

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Club website:

www.barunner.org.uk.