baRUNNER - a website for the British Airways Athletics Club
BA Athletics Club News Digest 26th March 2018Events:
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. *Club Event Map: [Clickable link to Google Maps] 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. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BARunnerUK/ (formal "BARunner" page), BA Runner Facebook Group (ask to join) Inclusions, with photos, please to Roderick Hoffman at news@barunner.org.uk. Five Mile Handicap Wednesday 28th MarchThe final run of this winter's five-mile handicap will be held this Wednesday, 28th March starting and finishing in Cranford High Street. Car parking, changing rooms and showers will be available in the Cranford Community Centre. The intention is to analyse the results on the night and present the series winner with a prize in the Queen's Head after the run. With only the best four scores to count and double points up for grabs on the final evening the winner is far from certain. Just remember, the scoring system rewards consistency and modest improvement. Individual start times (from 6 p.m.) will be based on previous runs (if applicable) and aiming for a close finish at 7 p.m.
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Awards Follow-up / Chairman's "Club Health" editorialI've found the time to update the awards section of the website with the awards presented last month for 2017. The website page is http://www.barunner.org.uk/News_Trophies.shtml and this includes lists of winners of each trophy year by year, back to 1984 in one case (though many records from the early days are missing). Now, the annual awards can sometimes be dismissed as "the same old faces" retaining "the same old awards". But it became obvious to me, updating the records, that that wasn't the case with this club, not this year anyway. 13 awards were presented this year to worthy candidates. Of those 13 awards just four were awarded to someone who had previously won that award in a previous year (but in no case was this last year), also three of the awards were presented to individuals who had never been presented with an outright award in a previous year (Paul Watt, Trish McCabe and Harry Wild) and a fourth, the Alamo trophy, was presented jointly to three club members none of whom had ever featured in the awards before - Tim Bellars and John and Benita Scaife. The remaining five awards went to four individuals who had won different awards in previous years - Steve Hillier winning the men's Track&Field trophy for the first time, Adrian Haines the 10k trophy (though he had shared it in 2014), Neil Frediani the Athlete of the Year and myself the parkrun trophy...and also, after the recount, the Round-the-Block trophy. The Round-the-Block trophy is earned based on the participation that a member makes to club events - one point for running, two for marshalling and five for being the prime organiser for the event. That this trophy was the most closely fought over (with Steves Hillier and Newell) is further proof of the current strength of the club and I'm looking forward to the battle for this trophy next year, to be between five or more of us. I'm also looking for ways that participation can be recognised by the club at levels other than "first past the post" but the committee needs to discuss the purpose of such before agreeing a process. Roderick Hoffman, Club Chairman |
It has been confirmed that the World Airline Road Race 2019 will be held in Amsterdam as part of the KLM 100 years celebration. I don't have any further details at this point but I'd hazard a guess that the date will be towards the end of September or early October, the usual 5k and 10k races will be supported and there will be one or two or many opportunities to share drinks with current, former and future airline running colleagues.
BUT our current focus is on WARR 2018 which is at Victoria in Canada from September 26th to 29th. Registration is at https://worldairlineroadrace.org/the-run/registration/ and the cost of this goes up by $10 on 1st April so if you know that you'll be going save money by registering this week. If you register and subsequently discover that you will be unable to attend, it is possible to transfer your registration to someone else, for a small fee.
See the website referenced above for details of hotels and discounts available from Tourism Victoria and local companies. There are also discounts available on Air Canada for those without concessions on BA (but also ask a BA colleague what price we can get for a "hotline" deal).
| 24th Mar 2018 | family & friends | time | parkrun | commentary | grade |
| Julie | Barclay | 22:03 | Hastings | all genders club course record / BA park #393 | 80% |
| Paul | Watt | 23:05 | Hastings | 1st run at Hastings, club rec(M) | 65% |
| Janice | Jones | 29:49 | Hastings | 1st run at Hastings. | 57% |
| Caroline | Cockram | 25:31 | Clapham Common | inaugural, club record (F) | 65% |
| Ian | Cockram | 25:11 | Clapham Common | inaugural, club record / BA park #394 | 59% |
| Ben | Chaytow | 26:13 | Mole Valley | 1st run at Mole Valley / BA park #395 | 52% |
| Gregory | Bailey | 26:50 | Crewe | run #232, park #232 | 56% |
| Roderick | Hoffman | 30:57 | Crewe | run #290, park #223 / BA park #396 | 51% |
| Jonathan | Cox | 23:34 | Renton (Seattle) | run #350, M-3 / BA park #397 | 66% |
| Ian | Cunningham | 21:33 | Bushy Park | best run at Bushy this year | 71% |
| Denis | Foxley | 29:16 | Harrow | run #97, 2018 SB | 59% |
| David | Tyas | 19:51 | Bushy Park | run #499 | 76% |
| Lesley | Chamberlin | 26:49 | Hazelwood | club course record (F) | 70% |
| John | Coffey | 28:59 | Hazelwood | age cat record | 67% |
| Scott | Davison | 24:00 | Hazelwood | club course record | 60% |
| Steve | Newell | 37:54 | Hazelwood | run #305, park #94 | 48% |
| Dave | Dixon | 17:43 | Hackney Marshes | run #16, 13th at Hackney | 85% |
| Richard | Ruffell | 20:48 | Cassiobury | run #139, 9th at Watford | 75% |
| Jacqui | Musselwhite | 23:33 | Woking | run #56, 53rd at Woking | 70% |
| Chris | Kelly | 22:04 | Reading | 295th run at Reading | 68% |
| Benita | Scaife | 30:38 | Maidenhead | run #106 | 64% |
| Alan | Anderson | 34:33 | Gunnersbury | run #501 | 64% |
| John | Scaife | 26:15 | Gladstone Park | 1st run at Gladstone, park #51 | 63% |
| Piers | Keenleyside | 26:15 | Gunnersbury | run #195 | 62% |
| James | Shoulder | 21:00 | Upton Court | run #29, 2nd at Upton Court | 61% |
| David | Duggan | 28:25 | Northala Fields | run #246, 3rd at Northala | 56% |
| Trish | McCabe | 28:05 | Brockwell Park | 1st run at Brockwell, park #26 | 55% |
| Joan | Foxley | 40:08 | Harrow | run #92 | 55% |
| Joe | Nolan | 30:38 | Black Park | 1st run at Black Park this year | 53% |
| Zoe | Ostley | 33:45 | Crane Park | run #204, 24th at Crane | 53% |
| Steve | Hillier | 32:01 | Northala Fields | run #5, 1st at Northala | 51% |
| Martin | Connor | 29:08 | Crane Park | 1st parkrun since 2014 | 48% |
| Bob | Bannister | volunteer | Bedfont Lakes | marshal |
The slightly milder conditions this Saturday stimulated a spring like burst of tourism with five more parks added to the club’s worldwide collection.
Julie Barclay (22:03) travelled to Hastings with Paul Watt (23:05) and her two sisters Vera Simms (27:38) and Janice Jones (29:49). Only Sarah Gordon had run there previously (before she became a member).
Ian Cockram (25:11) and Caroline Cockram (25:31) attended the unadvertised inaugural at Clapham Common. With the nearby Tooting Common parkrun operating beyond a comfortable capacity this fast two lap course could get very popular very quickly. Ben Chaytow (26:13) was the first member to try the Mole Valley parkrun at Denbies vineyard. This one is likely to get busy as well in the summer months, but it is a hilly challenge.
Roderick Hoffman (30:57), still nursing a skiing injury, travelled (by car) to the railway town of Crewe and joined the single-minded tourist Gregory Bailey (26:50) who maintained his streak and is now on 232 runs, all at different parks. Roderick is up to 223, but out of 290.
The final result of the day came in from Renton (near Seattle), Washington ,USA where Jonathan Cox (23:34) was third finisher. Jonathan has also run at the Richmond Olympic parkrun in Vancouver. Ed: Renton is unusual amongst US parkruns because its average attendance of around 50 runners a week is made up almost entirely of local American runners.
Four more members tried the new all grass parkrun at Hazelwood in Sunbury including John Coffey (28:59) who established an MV75 record and is the oldest runner to have completed the course so far. It is very much a cross country course, very flat but with plenty of mud, puddles and wet grass. It could be a pleasant run in the summer and handy for LHR based members. The car park (free) is huge and the après run offering well organised and within yards of the finish line.
Steve Hillier (32:01) ran at Northala Fields for the first time. It is probably the nearest run to his home but that needn’t mean anything. With a career average of rather less than one parkrun a year he has now suddenly run on consecutive Saturdays. This kind of behaviour is actually more common than you might suppose. Watch this space.
Steve Newell
Updated parkrun stats - club parkrun stats
Although the Clapham Common parkrun had been strongly rumored to be starting at around the same time as "The Wammy" in Newcastle-under-Lyme which started on Saturday, its actual start date and gathering point wasn't announced until sometime late on Friday afternoon - when the parkrun page for Clapham Common was first made live. Some tourists still managed to make it to the inaugural (and I'm not including the Cockrams in that statement, since they were there in their official capacity as parkrun Ambassadors). In total there were 110 runners at the inaugural. Why did they announce the inaugural so late? I've run my inaugural forecasting model and based on the number of people who live in Clapham, on the size and distance of nearby parkruns and on the ease of getting to Clapham Common from other population centres (including the rest of London) my forecast would be for 720 attendees. The forecast could be wrong...but it is probably as likely for it to be low as high (I forecast 239 for The Wammy, they had 226 on the day). Obviously therefore the silent launch was to reduce the risk of the inaugural Clapham Common parkrun also being the last. How many turn up next week - we will have to wait and see. Steve Newell and I won't be there - we are travelling over to Victoria Dock parkrun, who will welcome the extra visitors.
Roderick Hoffman
For the past eight years Julie Barclay has run the Hastings half-marathon and her sisters, Janice Jones and Vera Simms, have joined her for six of those. I went along once as motivator and support as it is far too long a run for me. For various reasons we could not make it this year and so in lieu, we decided to run the parkrun instead. How pleased we are with the decision.
Today was not too cold and no wind which is quite lucky on a course that is run entirely along the shoreline. A flat and straight out-and-back run in ideal conditions is something that all time-aware runners pray for. A very fast course that boasts the second fastest parkrun ever recorded of 14:14.
As I do, I checked the Club records for Hastings and was surprised that there were none. Bearing in mind that the course is so runner-friendly and for most of us is just ninety minutes away, to come away with the male record in 23:05 is even more surprising. Julie now holds the Club record with 22:03. Vera and Jan had not run much since Christmas and were pleased with their respective times of 27:38 and 29:49. These records are for the taking and when we are fitter and I have shaken off the curse of most improved runner inherited from Neil, we will definitely return.
Just imagine an early clear drive to Hastings followed by a refreshing and rewarding run and a day on the beach: what better way to spend a summer Saturday morning.
Paul Watt
Adrian
Haines, running in a GB shirt, finished in Silver medal position in the 800m.
The only runner to beat him was also a Brit, Dominic Boker-Ingram, so that made
it a one-two for the country. Adrian's times in each round - Heat 5 - 1st in
2:13.02, Semi-final 1 - 1st in 2:10.48, Final - 2nd in 2:05:46. It does
look like the racing over North Sea sand dunes in December has paid off for
Adrian's fitness this year!
I’m currently near Munich, visiting my mum. While there, I ran in the Lohhofer Osterlauf (Easter Run), a really lovely, and very well organised 10 km road race. Its venue is a few minutes' walk (less than 5 minutes) from one of the two trains that run to and from Munich Airport (S1 to Unterschleissheim). It’s the perfect 10km for anyone wishing to spend a weekend in Munich. Hot showers in one of the local schools, followed by a really nice awards ceremony at 6 pm round up this lovely event. The race itself comprises 5 laps, clearly marked with 1 km markers, as well as laps run. Chip timing with its electronic mat is another great bonus, which one crosses 5 times. Also, the course is absolutely flat, with huge potential for a PB.
The race, which starts at 3 pm, is now in its 24th year, with trophies and certificates in all 5-year age-groups, right through to 70+ years. The only thing to bear in mind is that one *has* to finish in under 1:10 hours, I was told, as the 10 km route crosses the children’s 2.2 km route, who start after the 10 km. That was a real concern for me, as I hadn’t done sufficient training during the winter months. However, I’m very happy to report that I just about managed 1:06:42, taking home the trophy for the 2nd O/65 by default - there were only two of us ladies in that age-group!!!
More information can be found by going to their website www.svlohhof.de.
Best wishes,
Petra Otto
Lovely to see the pics of people, also be reminded the UK has both wet and sun shine - Doro (Dorothy Cook).
Cranford Park has succeeded in getting lottery fund support for its major restoration project for the park and buildings. This is only a portion of the total funds needed so we may still not see much progress - nor is anything guaranteed to make it better to run around the park...though a new toilet block IS included in the proposals. http://cranfordparkfriends.org/
Results, news, pictures, feedback, jokes, stories - send it to the editor, Roderick Hoffman, at news@barunner.org.uk.
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