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BA Athletics Club News Digest 26th June 2017

Events:

  • Wednesday 28th June - Pre AGM mile and Club AGM - At the "Silver Wing" Sailing Club at Wraysbury* (see below).
  • Wednesday 5th July Rosenheim T&F Kingston
  • Thursday 6th July Dream Mile Harmondsworth*

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 email?  Read it off the website instead - http://www.barunner.org.uk/News Latest.shtml

Club Facebook Page "BARunner" https://www.facebook.com/BARunnerUK/


Vets League Track & Field, Battersea, 19th June

During the hottest June week for forty years,  BAAC managed to field two separate T&F teams in two league competitions, with great performances on both days.

While the seniors headed for Rosenheim, the "juniors" competed in the Vets league at Battersea.  Julie Barclay starred in the 400m and 1500m, while Paul Watt and Ian Haylock also tackled the 1500m.

Results: 

400m W50 Julie Barclay 77.2 2nd
1500m M45 Ian Haylock 05:14.8 6th (M35 race)
1500m M50 Paul Watt 05:42.3 5th
1500m W50 Julie Barclay 05:54.8 1st

Their fine performances mean that it is all to play for in our final Vets League match at Perivale on Wednesday 12th July.  This will be a local match, on our normal training night.  It would be great to see a strong BA presence covering all events and age groups.  Let me know if you need more details.

Thanks,

Steve Hillier (steve.hillier@msn.com)

Tom Rowley adds...

"Also in the same 400m/1500m races as Julie was a cabin crew staff member named Boo Smith, W50, who runs for Hillingdon, maybe flying friends of Clara and Monica.  Julie did recognise her having seen each other in their particular BA jobs (Dispatcher/cabin crew).  In the 400m Boo Smith was 4th in 87.9 and in the 1500m she came 5th in 6.38.7.

Paul Watt trying the shorter distance of 1500m for the very first time, his second track race since school days admitted his legs felt like jelly on the start line and adrenalin buzzing never had a amazing feeling like it before but after the first lap settled down to a pace he could handle and enjoyed the experience and will attempt another 1500m.  He was quite pleased to finish 6th in 5.42.3."


Bridges Relay 21st June Results

On a balmy Summer’s night, 8 intrepid BA runners made their way out of their respective lairs to attend the annual Bridges Relay in London.  A long standing fixture for the Club, the race is made up of 4 x 2.3 mile legs in a ‘P’ shape crisscrossing the Thames from Westminster Bridge.  We had two teams: Dave Dixon, Matthew Stratful, Dave Bird and Ian Haylock (team A), Roderick Hoffman, Lesley Chamberlin, Janet Smith and myself (team B).

I think that everyone performed to their current maximum ability.  It was certainly warm and a few reported being rather dry in the mouth, which for some of us was replenished at a local hostelry later. Many thanks to all for participating and favourable comments were also made to the organisers (Stock Exchange) for successfully administering a complicated change-over and timing each of the 583 runners individually! 

Position Runner Number Name MF Time Organisation Team LBH? Team Category
1 B2 Andy Greenleaf M 0:11:46 CottageR Cottage 2 Club Open
47 D64 Steve Norris M 0:13:18 CivilServ Civil Service A LBH Open
1 B233 Georgina Miller F 0:13:54 Ravens Ravens Ladies A Club Ladies
345 A48 Dave Dixon M40 0:13:32 BA British Airways A LBH Open
121 D48 Ian Haylock M40 0:14:49 BA British Airways A LBH Open
174 B48 Matthew Stratful M40 0:15:50 BA British Airways A LBH Open
250 C48 Dave Bird M40 0:17:50 BA British Airways A LBH Open
277 B49 Lesley Chamberlin F 0:18:51 BA British Airways B LBH Open
417 A49 Roderick Hoffman M 0:19:11 BA British Airways B LBH Open
292 D49 Simon Ashford M40 0:19:52 BA British Airways B LBH Open
112 C49 Janet Smith F35 0:25:54 BA British Airways B LBH Open

Bridges Relay Team PhotoTeam Results:

British Airways A team (#48), 50th of 121 teams with a time of 1:02:00.84.

British Airways B team (#49), 121st with a time of 1:23:47.9.

In the photo, left to right: Matthew Stratful, Simon Ashford, Dave Bird, Dave Dixon, Lesley Chamberlin, Janet Smith, Roderick Hoffman, Ian Haylock.

Simon Ashford

Ed: The results show good fast/slow team selection by Simon - though perhaps we should work at getting friend-of-the-club Steve Norris to change his allegiance! 


Club AGM at Wraysbury "Silver Wing" Sailing Base on Wednesday 28th June

Can I remind you of this year's AGM, to be held at the BA Sailing Club, Wraysbury, on June 28th.  Please make all efforts to attend this important meeting.

Last Year's minutes:

www.barunner.org.uk/attachments/BAAC AGM2016 minutes.doc

Evening Schedule

  • Venue open from 17:00,
  • runners to arrive from 17:30,
  • Use the Sailing Base changing rooms to prepare for the pre-AGM event,
  • 18:00 Pre-AGM event - we normally have a mile run before the AGM and Steve has been round with the measuring wheel and is confident that we can carry on as normal,
  • 19:00 Use the changing rooms (with showers) to get ready for the AGM,
  • 19:00 Pay bar opens - alcoholic drinks £2,
  • 19:45 Club provided M&S Sandwiches plus,
  • 20:15 Club AGM - reports from the year by the existing committee,
  • 21:00 Election of the new committee - followed by an open forum,
  • 22:00 Close

Where is the Sailing Base?

Wraysbury Sailing Club locationThe map opposite shows the Club location on the B 376 Staines Rd., Wraysbury,

  • 1 mile from Junction 13 on the M25 (The A30 intersection),
  • The Club is 4 miles from Terminal 5,
  • 5 miles from Hatton Cross station and
  • 1.3 miles from Wraysbury station.
  • Postcode  TW19 5AG
  • OS. Map Ref. 011.731  Lat. N 51º26.83', Long. W 00º32.82'.

Lookout for the entrance - pictured below.

Sailing Base Entrance

Roderick will be driving there and back via Heston, leaving the Concorde Club at 16:45, so if you want a lift get in touch.

Roderick Hoffman {roderick@rhoff.org.uk}


Club parkrun results for Saturday 24th June

24th June family & friends time parkrun commentary grade
Chris Evans 23:28 Bedfont Lakes run #167 63%
Scott Davison 23:40 Bedfont Lakes run #209 60%
Trish McCabe 28:17 Bedfont Lakes run #189 54%
Caroline Cockram 30:06 Bedfont Lakes run #274 54%
David Duggan 31:58 Bedfont Lakes run #205 49%
Roderick Hoffman 28:43 Bere Island first parkrun on a small island 54%
Una Hutchinson 29:47 Bere Island first parkrun on any size landmass 56%
Joe Nolan 27:54 Black Park best this year 58%
Sarah Gordon 33:52 Braunstone 49th run at Braunstone 57%
David Tyas 21:01 Bushy Park run #460 71%
Ian Cunningham 24:40 Bushy Park run #290 62%
Jonathan Cox 23:11 Crane Park run #315 67%
Jeremy Short 22:38 Gunnersbury first run at Gunnersbury 68%
Arlene Gallagher 28:46 Gunnersbury run #250 52%
Alan Anderson 31:51 Gunnersbury run #463 70%
Eddie Giles 26:38 Jersey 3rd run on Jersey 65%
Steve Taylor 25:07 Northala Fields run #65, 37th at Northala 61%
Janice Jones 28:07 Reigate Priory first run at Reigate 61%
Alice Banks 25:40 Rickmansworth first run at Rickmansworth (club F rec) 75%
Steve Waite 28:43 Riddlesdown run #6   59%
Steve Newell 41:10 Wepre first parkrun in Wales 45%
Bob Bannister 24:32 Woking course pb 65%
Anne Bannister 29:21 Woking course pb 65%
Chris Kelly 20:07 Woodley first run at Woodley in 2017 74%
Tony Barnwell 32:56 Wycombe Rye run #141, 67th at Wycombe 58%
Ian Cockram volunteer Bedfont Lakes run director
Ben   Chaytow volunteer Crane Park plus three other Chaytows
Alastair Heslop volunteer Guildford barcode scanning
Denis Foxley volunteer Harrow timekeeping
Joan Foxley 48:53 Harrow tailrunner (volunteer) 44%
Benita Scaife volunteer Maidenhead timekeeping
John Scaife volunteer Maidenhead timekeeping
Tom Rowley volunteer Woking marshal

It was a little cooler this weekend and on the one hand we saw quite a few staying at home and volunteering in various roles while others travelled further than usual to make a first appearance at somewhere new.

At Maidenhead Benita and John Scaife were both on the finish line with stopwatches while at Harrow Denis Foxley was timekeeping and waiting for his wife Joan to appear as tailrunner and come in after the third lap.  No fewer than four members of the Chaytow family volunteered at Crane Park, Alastair Heslop was barcode scanning at Guildford this week while Ian Cockram fulfilled a familiar role of race director at Bedfont Lakes.  Tom Rowley was helping at Woking but we are wondering whether he is actually going to go round a 5km course himself next week.

Alice Banks (25:40) visited Rickmansworth for the first time and set a club female record.  She is 3rd in her age group list at Rickmansworth which is headed by former member Sharon Kazzemzadeh who has run 23:06 and now runs for Watford Joggers.  Janice Jones (28:07) ran at Reigate Priory for the first time – the venue has not proved very popular with LHR based runners and the female club record is held by Linda Dodsworth (27:12) when on tour from BA Newcastle.  Jeremy Short (22:38) ran at Gunnersbury for the first time.

Roderick Hoffman (28:43) travelled to Ireland to run at Bere Island parkrun off the coast of County Cork (see below).

Steve Newell (41:10) visited Wepre parkrun at Connahs Quay in Flintshire.  The race director boasted that it was the second hardest run in the UK.  Luckily it was dry because there were plenty of ups and downs and tree roots everywhere.  The finish is at a rather higher altitude than the start which is down on the only patch of level ground deep in the valley!  Look out for the football scores later in the week.  A football ground close by is home to Gap Connahs Quay (aka Connahs Quay Nomads) who were runners up in the Welsh Premier Division in the season just ended.  They have qualified for a very very early round of the Europa League and play at home against HJK (Helsinki) on Thursday (i.e. 29th JUNE).  Football has become like parkrun, it is always in season.

Steve Newell

Updated club parkrun stats

Adventure at Bere Island

I often say "Every parkrun the same, every parkrun is different" but it is worth saying that some parkruns are more different than others and Bere Island is one of those.  Geographically the parkrun is the second westernmost parkrun in Europe but its distinction is that it is run on an island off the west coast of Ireland, that can only be reached by boat - well, you might be able to swim across, but I wouldn't recommend it, or doing the parkrun straight after.  The island is only five miles long and these days has a population of around 170 (it had once been home to around 2,000 farmers and fishermen but numbers have been in decline throughout the last two centuries).  On Saturday the parkrun had 51 runners and 15 volunteers.  The vast majority of those were island residents so obviously a huge proportion of the island's population, over a quarter, is involved in the parkrun each and every week.

Bere Island (parkrun) FerryAs a tourist, to get to the run, you need to get to the harbour at Castletownbere, just under a two hour drive from Cork (or arrive by coach the previous day).  The ferry leaves at nine o'clock and last Saturday this held one car, one lorry and fourteen foot passengers - and I quickly spotted that most of the foot passengers were wearing running shoes.  Conversation quickly established that twelve of the fourteen were there for the parkrun.  The ferry docks at the wrong end of the island but that is no problem because one of the passengers turns out to be a bus driver with the bus waiting next to the dock.  All of us climbed in and it took us the winding and undulating road to the parkrun start.   Others had already gathered there but the parkrun team didn't spring into action until the bus arrived - it was obvious that the parkrun would wait for the bus from the ferry before it would start.  We were given sufficient time to get ready, and there is a clubhouse at the start with changing rooms, loos and showers for after the run, and after the usual briefing the run started at around quarter to ten which I suspect is typical for this parkrun (Irish parkruns are scheduled to start at 09:30).

The course is at the eastern end of the island and uses the open roads that lead round that side of the island. I say "open roads" but this is a one way circular road and is effectively closed to traffic for the duration of the run.  The course is very scenic - though that aspect of Bere Island parkrun might depend upon the weather of the day!  What doesn't vary by the weather is the gradient and the odd thing about this course is that each of the first four km is uphill!  It isn't until you are into the last km that you get the long downhill stretch.  Although the steepness is never extreme it does make this parkrun quite a challenge. For most of the way it is impossible to go wrong - the road is painted with big arrows pointing you the right way to go - though towards the end there is a "left/left/right" to get you through the "town" centre of Rerrin and for me the course arrow at the first T-junction had twisted by 90 degrees so that it couldn't be seen and the runner ahead of me was out of sight. Fortunately I guessed right - by which I mean left.

At the end of the parkrun you are handed a fruit drink and then you are able to walk back into Rerrin where one of the three shop fronts turns out to harbour a café serving parkrun breakfast - and the serving staff look suspiciously like one or two of the runners you had just been running round the parkrun with.  You have just enough time to get your breakfast ordered, served and eaten before the bus driver rounds you up to take you back to the ferry for the  eleven fifteen return boat (although you could choose to dally on the island and take a later boat back).

This is a parkrun not to be missed.  Unless that is you miss the ferry, in which case you need to quickly double back to Glengarriff parkrun a few miles nearer Cork, or swim.

If you want to promote a special parkrun then let Steve or I know...

There is the older runners event at Bushy on 1st July (younger runners also welcome), my 200 tourist parkrun at Beckenham Place 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


Muenchner Stadtlauf

Just to let you know that I managed to complete the 10 km of the above event. All races i.e. the half-marathon, 10 km and 5 km races experienced much cooler weather than of late, but had to endure torrential rain instead!!! I wasn't overjoyed with my 1:08:29 which is still a far cry from my usual 57/58 minutes I used to run until I broke that darn fibula two years ago. The event though was, again, extremely well organised, just like last year when I tried out their half-marathon at the time. Almost the whole course runs through the beautiful English Garden, which is a really lovely experience. Next year will be the event's 40th anniversary - a good reason to return and do it all again.

Best wishes,

Petra Otto


Running Shorts

  • I visited David Barnard on Thursday of last week. He has had Dynamic Hip Screw Surgery to reinforce his hip where it fractured during our run in May.  He is already moving around the house and is looking forward to getting back to hill walking and then perhaps running.  For more details (of the operation) see https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-kfVeXwNpt (Roderick Hoffman)
  • Imperial College are hosting a sports day at the Concorde Club on Tuesday 4th July.  The Club will have to be closed to all BA Clubs members on that day.  Alison Hartigan, BA Clubs Limited, Concorde Club Trustee.
  • This year's Frieth Hilly challenging 5k and 10k races will be on Sunday 15th October - see friethhilly.

Next Digest?

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


Club website:

www.barunner.org.uk.


 

      

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