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BA Athletics Club News Digest 1st July 2013

This News Digest

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Forthcoming Events

Don't forget the following priority club events:

• Wednesday July 3rd - BA Hosted Rosenheim Track&Field - Eton - Competitors and Marshals needed Steve Hillier for Eddie
• Wednesday July 10th - Parkway Mile followed by club AGM - Concorde Centre
• Thursday July 11th - Great City Race - Marshals please contact Simon Turton

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.

Track&Field Grand Prix Results from Monday 17th June

Three people turned up for the 800m & hammer on Monday on a lovely Cool evening. First up was the 800m with Gary coming in first & then our First Lady this year Julie Barclay finishing a very good second with Gary (junior) 3rd.

Well done to all.

The hammer was then cancelled due to no hammers being available - the store room was locked and the staff away!  Hopefully the Grand Prix Hammer can be held on a later date.

800 metres results:

• Gary Rushmer: time: 2min 32sec
• Julie Barclay: time: 2min 54sec
• Gary Rushmer (junior): 3min

Gary Rushmer

AGM

A reminder that the Annual General Meeting of your club will take place on Wednesday 10th July, at the Concorde Club, from 20:00. Please come along to hear some enlightening reports from your committee, and take the opportunity to question the officers. Last year's minutes are attached.

Last year's minutes

Steve Hillier

Great City Race approaching fast - Thursday 11th July

The Adidas Women's Challenge hasn't been run in 2012 & 2013, so the club has lost that race donation and because of the difficultly I'm having getting volunteers for this years City Race I may have to advise the organisers that we can't support in future years, which would be a shame. This would also make a big dent on Club funds and as a consequence subs might have to be pushed up, so please do think again about volunteering.

Following my request for helpers for the Great City Race last week, I've now got 16 (thank you) but I need 25. There's a free travel card, T-shirt and food and drink on offer, not to mention a £400 donation to Club funds.

Regards, Simon Turton (please include Tee Shirt size and mobile phone number)

Club parkrun Results for Saturday 29th June 2013

An interesting weekend with efforts spread far and wide:

• Very tight finish between Simon and Ian and just ahead of the Ruffells, and between Alan and Kerstin - though unusually the latter two were both beaten by Roderick.
• Two parkrun personal bests - Simon Ashford at Black Park and Roderick Hoffman visiting Winchester parkrun.  By being the first club visitor at Winchester Roderick sets the club's best result there making up for the fact that Richard Ruffell beat Roderick's club best time at St Albans. 
• Brian Bennett finally get his legs to the top of the age group ladder at Killerton.
• Kerstin Luksch is top of the female points table at Gunnersbury, two thirds of the way through the year - she will be handing out tokens next Saturday to earn more points.
• parkruns are for families - this week Richard ran with his daughter Natalie, new member Tony Hird ran as usual at Gunpowder with his wife and son, Simon ran at Black Park where his dad Fred is Race Director and Chris probably ran as usual with family member Mia - though dogs are not recorded in the results.

Steve Newell / Roderick Hoffman

Steve's parkrun stats

Bridges Relay Wednesday 26th June

On Wednesday evening twelve BA runners made their way to Westminster Bridge for the annual Bridges Relay, a four leg relay, each leg being 2.3 miles long running down the side of the Thames, over a couple of bridges and back to where you started. This year there was a bumper turn out with 171 teams competing. We had three teams in the mix with a few of us running the event for the first time, a few coming back after being away for a while plus a few who do this most years. With so many teams it was busy around the start area but there was the usual buzz of excitement in the air. The race starts when Big Ben, which is just across the river from the start, chimes for 7pm. The first runner back completing leg 1 comes in to a warm round of applause for the first change in a ridiculous time of well under 12 minutes, at which point our three teams are already well spread out across the course. With lookouts posted to spot our runners approaching the change over we are able to give our next leg runner warning to get to the front of the pack milling round the start line to ensure we have smooth changeovers all evening.

Our A team were in a very creditable 10th place after leg 1 as Dave Dixon put in a great run, our B team mid pack and the C team being led off by Alan Anderson are a little further back - but putting in as much if not more effort. Over the remaining legs the A team slipped back a little but still finished a very creditable 17th overall as Paul Knechtl brought the team home with another great run. The A team were the 8th London Business Houses team to finish.

The final results are below, but it is fair to say that while all 12 runners declare the run "hard", everyone enjoyed the evening and I am sure we will back in strength next year; why not join us.

Richard Ruffell

PK and AA on their respective legs.

Hertfordshire Hobble - 27 miles, 23 June 2013

I entered this Long Distance Walking Association's (LDWA) event as the last long 'time on feet' training before my first attempt at a non-stop 100km event - Race To The Stones - on the weekend of 13-14 July.

The forecast for the day was overcast and rain. I went armed with waterproof jacket, route instructions, whistle, compass and even a mug (you have to bring your own mug to use at checkpoints). Despite the grey skies it was a pleasant surprise at registration HQ where tea/coffee and biscuits were available, and everyone was so friendly. Most of the participants were in groups of 2s or 3s and I was on my own, but I know that at such events you soon made friends. For some reason I was half expecting Piers Keenleyside to turn up. Not a great navigator, even with written instructions, I chatted up a lady who was planning a similar jog/walk strategy and we sort of decided to informally partner up.

Out the corner of my eye I noticed a familiar figure walking towards the village hall from the field where we parked our cars. As he got nearer he gave himself away - JAGJIT was splashed across his shirt! I was delighted to see a fellow club runner at an event where I tended to be the only participant from our club. When the race started, Jag tagged along with a couple of jog-walkers and I went off with an associate of Jag's having got talking to him about other events. We arrived at the 1st checkpoint 7.5 miles later and I was amazed by the spread of hot and cold drinks, cakes, biscuits and rolls. I offered to pay for my tea and was informed that everything was free to participants. What a bargain - the entry was only £6 for LDWA members, which I am, and all aid stations were similarly equipped. The big surprise for me when I was munching on a Marmite roll was seeing Piers rolling into the aid station! PLEASE NOTE: It wasn't because Piers was slower than me. It was because walkers started a full half hour before the runners! While we stretched out, Piers was up and away again after a couple of minutes. By the time we left the checkpoint, Jag has joined me and whatever-his-name and the 3 of us ambled on together.

Some of us thought the route instructions weren't easy to follow. At checkpoint 3, at least 4 people said they were lost along the way. Our little group spent a bit more time deciphering the instructions so we were grateful we didn't get lost. We got to the finish in 7:39 and Piers was nowhere to be seen. He would have got back 3 hours before us and left for home. Overall, it was a very well organised and provided for event for a measly price. The atmosphere was fantastic, and we even got a cheese salad and roll at the finish with the usual hot/cold drinks, cakes and biscuits (included in the entry fee)!

Clara Halket

{Ed - it's getting serious when the club has a team of three in events like this!}

World Airline Road Race (WARR) 2013 Update

I've been exchanging information with the South African Airline WARR 2013 Chairman David Tshivhundo ("T" to his friends).  David is not yet able to make official announcements but he does say...

I will hazard a guess to the WARR timetable as follows:

• Friday 11th October    Travel to Stellenbosch just outside Cape Town.  Stay at the race HQ of the Spier Hotel or alternatives,
• Friday 11th October    Welcome Party (perhaps at the hotel, perhaps somewhere else - they have vineyards nearby!),
• Saturday 12th October    8:00am acclimatisation training run - 5k time-trial courtesy of "Root 44" Stellenbosch parkrun,
• Saturday 12th October    Evening Traditional Tee Shirt Party (probably at the hotel),
• Sunday 13th October    5k and 10k races - it could be the traditional 10k followed by a 30 minute recovery gap and then the 5k or they could both be run together like last year,
• Sunday 13th October    Awards Evening (at the Hotel or perhaps they'll find a room for us at the correctional facility or somewhere else in town).

Race registration: http://worldairlineroadrace.org/registration.html or contact me and I'll answer your questions as best I can. With the registration you only need to register for one event, not both, even if you intend to run both.  Registering one person for the race and the awards evening will cost around 104 US Dollars (£70).  If you hold fire on booking the hotel there will be a WARR deal for it - though I don't know if that will work out better or worse than you can get from other deals (but it will help WARR to break even and/or make a charity donation).

Roderick Hoffman

And if you want more clues as to what to expect from WARR Lisa sent in the following:

Claygate Country 5 - 10:30 Sunday 14th July

The annual five mile run, which attracts an entry of some 500 runners, is organised by the Claygate Flower and Village Show Society. The run follows a route which, apart from the final mile, is nearly all on footpaths on and around Arbrook Common. Newcomers to the run are surprised at the attractiveness of this countryside. Only moderate hills are encountered. The runs starts and finishes at the Claygate recreation ground.

Entries - http://www.sportsystems.co.uk/ss/event/ClaygateCountry512 (closing Friday 12th July)

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