baRUNNER - a website for the British Airways Athletics Club

BA Athletics Club News Digest 2nd November 2020

 For future weeks: inclusions, with photos, please to Roderick Hoffman at news@barunner.org.uk.

Unrestricted races are still few and far between so the club continues to operate with Solo and Shared runs as listed above - for restrictions and advice see the Coronavirus footnote at the end of this digest. Details of the restrictions being brought in in England from Thursday have not yet been published. It is not yet known if organised outdoor sports will be allowed or prohibited. Therefore we do not know at this point if the planned events, and to be planned events, will be permitted.

Roderick Hoffman

This Week's Events

Please help me by sending me your results, for instance by filling in the tables below and forwarding to News@barunner.org.uk.

Street Sentences (see below, Submit by end of Sunday 15th November)

Solo / Shared Mile (submit by end of Friday 13th November):

Run one mile and send me your time. I'll then produce a fancy graph showing your time this month compared to those of other people and previous runs this year. No one has offered to host a shared run so there isn't the option this month. 

Weekend Achievement (by 5pm on the Monday:

Virtual Races

Roderick Hoffman

NEW Lockdown Challenge - Street Sentences - Submit by end of Sunday 15th November

By the end of Sunday 15th November perform an exercise outside, of length either 30 minutes running, 40 minutes power walking or 50 minutes normal walking and returning to where you started from. During your exercise visit as many different street name signs as you can, then form an amusing or meaningful sentence or phase from the initial letters of those street names. You don't need to use all of the letters that you collect but each can be used just once, except for vowels that can be used twice each. If you visit two or more streets with the same initial letter you can of course use each one in your solution. But two or more street name signs in the same street don't count.

Some of you may be able to construct a phase from a set of letters without any assistance but others may like to use websites such as this one to assist: https://www.thewordfinder.com/anagram-solver/ . This website takes 14 letters at a time and suggests the words that can be made from that selection of letters.

The winner will be determined from the number of letters collected and how amusing or apt the judge finds your phase or sentence. I'm the judge...but therefore I'm barred from entering. But I'll probably take the opportunity to show off instead!

Send me your solution using the form above - I don't need photographs of every street sign (I trust you) but you are welcome to send me a GPS or phone map of your route.

Track-on-Field Results for October

Eight of us did the Track-on-Field challenge during the month of October. Eddie Giles was our quickest again though once more that was thanks to his speed over the 100, 200 and 400 metre distances.

I've suggested to Steve Hillier that he focus on starting the 100m quicker - so this month expect to see him setting up the starting blocks in Rayners Lane High Street.

Ross Barkley Results for October

Nine of us attempted the Ross Barkley last month. If we carry on like this I'll have to find a better way of reporting how well we have each done.

BAAC AGM 2020

Our club AGM took place by the miracle of Zoom last Wednesday evening, with sixteen members in attendance (pictured).  As well as confirming the new committee, we thanked Neil Frediani and Clara Halket for their hard work for the club, we celebrated our activities during 2020, confirmed that we are solvent, and we looked forward to possible events for the coming months.  You'll find the minutes via this link................

Meeting Minutes: BAAC AGM2020 minutes v2.docx

Previously Issued Report: BAAC 2020 committee annual report v2.docx

Steve Hillier (Club Secretary)

My summary of what the club has achieved since the start of the initial lockdown period took the form of a traditional Japanese Haiku:

Club members and friends

Join in challenges each week

Boosting their wellbeing

Roderick Hoffman (Acting Chair)

Helen Smith contacted me after the meeting to pass on her thanks:

SOLO Activity Achievements, Weekend 30th October to 2nd November 2020

This week 27 members and friends reported activities. Please try to make future submissions by Monday 5pm, or 6pm at the latest.

Roderick Hoffman

Street-O Result

The second of the South London Street-O events was held over the month of October. This was nominally in Fitzovia although it took us well to the west and south of that area. There were a total of about 26 participants with the leader finishing with 740points and no penalties. Our two finishers were Simon, in 6th place, with 560points and Roderick, joint 16th, with 470 (including 60 points of time penalties, having got lost in the middle of Hyde Park).

Roderick Hoffman

parkrun Update

The first parkruns in the British Isles since 14th March were held this week on Guernsey and Isle of Man.  There was a record attendance of 256 on Guernsey where the only difficulty encountered involved the new "virtual volunteer" app and soggy barcodes.  The weather wasn't very pleasant.  parkruns in Japan have now restarted to join New Zealand, parts of Australia {including those in The Capital Territory} and in the Falkland Isles.  In total there were 101 parkruns attracting over 10,000 runners/walkers and enabled by over 100 volunteers.

Steve Newell

One of my parkrun tourist friends, who I had met in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year, boarded the RAF Air Tanker on Thursday on its flight to the Falkland Islands. He had spent the previous two weeks in quarantine so his plan was to run at Cape Pembroke Lighthouse parkrun on Saturday. The aircraft got as far as Senegal whereupon it developed a technical fault that they were unable to fix before its crew would be forced "out of hours" had they continued the trip. Consequently it flew back to the UK. With a new crew the aircraft then flew out on Friday and arrived at Stanley...but after last Saturday's run was completed. Keith will be working in the Falklands for some months so from next Saturday he should be able to increase his parkrun record. He has submitted the attached picture. He is expecting the runs to be windy.

Roderick Hoffman

Coronavirus Warning Footnote [changes from last week underlined or struck-through]

In the UK exercise outside is permitted because it will boost physical and mental health and because the risk of catching Coronavirus outdoors is very low provided social distancing advice is kept to. The relevant law in England says that people can meet outside in groups of up to 6 or, in COVID secure circumstances, up to 30 or more:

• Do not exercise outside the house if you have been asked to isolate or you are unwell, particularly if you have symptoms of the coronavirus such as a fever, or if you share a house with someone who has these symptoms, or if you consider yourself to be vulnerable, such as being elderly or with pre-existing health conditions,
• You may drive to outdoor publicly accessible open spaces irrespective of distance, but you should follow social distancing guidance whilst you are there. Advice is still to avoid public transport and shared car journeys,
• In England you may normally meet with up to five other persons for your exercise outside the home. Club organised events, in COVID secure circumstances, can include more. Do not share athletics equipment and continue to maintain the social distancing with anyone you do meet up with. You are recommended to minimise the total number of different people you meet with over the days and weeks,
• As you exercise, keep 2m away from all others including those you run with as well as those you meet on the run, by default diverting around those you meet (don't leave it up to them to avoid you),
• Do not push yourself too far, this may weaken your defences against the virus and/or increase the probability of requiring assistance. We all have different limits so you need to judge what would be too far for you,
• If government instructions are updated to limit or prevent exercising outside your homes, or to meet with fewer people, please respect such instructions - we should be fighting the virus, not authority.

If you are unwell yourself, especially if you have symptoms of the virus:

• Put your needs first...
• but please let me (Roderick Hoffman) or Steve Hillier know of your condition/status, but we will keep it to ourselves unless you ask us to pass information on.

For club shared activities we recommend the social distancing gap of 2metres although "1meter+" can be followed during the activity itself. Any club member can organise a shared activity. To legitimize a run with more than six participants:

• The chairman (Roderick) or the secretary (Steve Hillier) must be notified in advance that the event is taking place,
• One of the participants must be a paid-up member of the BA Athletics Club and must be prepared to perform the duties of a "Covid-19 Coordinator", if more than six attend we recommend that that member wears a BAAC top or distinctive clothing,
• A risk assessment has to be raised based on this template,
• The considerations within the risk assessment must be followed,
• After the run perform a review of the risk assessment and log and pass on any issues or lessons learned.

Club members are asked not to cross the third tier ("Very High") boundary (in either direction) to attend a club organised event.

Recommendations will be updated with the implications of the England November lockdown once its details have been confirmed in law.

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

Not for you, no longer interested? remove me please.

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