baRUNNER - a website for the British Airways Athletics Club

BA Athletics Club News Digest 2nd October 2017

Events:

• Wednesday 2nd October, Wednesday club night from Cranford Community College from 18:00* (see below)
• Thursday 5th October, Dream Mile, Bath Road at 12:45*
• Saturday 7th October, World Airline Road Race 5k/10k, Singapore*
• Saturday 14th October, Ladies and Men's Surrey League Cross Country League first matches (see last week's digest for details)

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. 

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

October Digests

I'm on my travels over the next month so future digests may be late and/or abridged.  Please send me content to include, it makes my job easier, and try to submit by the end of Sunday (I'm in Singapore and Australia so my Monday evening will be your Monday morning).

Inclusions, with photos, please to Roderick Hoffman at news@barunner.org.uk.

British Airways Athletics Club Annual Quiz Announcement for Wednesday 8th November at the Five Bells, Harmondsworth

We have agreed to run the annual quiz again this year and have booked the function room at the Five Bells pub in Harmondsworth for this. The event will be catered - jacket potatoes with a variety of fillings.  We'll also arrange a run in the area beforehand, though note that no showers or formal changing rooms will be available.

This is a team quiz with team sizes from 4 to 6 and individuals can be grouped into teams on the night.  We've invited the pub to provide a team, so I'm hoping that our best quizzers can make the evening to stop the pub team making off with the prize - even if it is only a chocolate bar. Non-members are welcome though we would expect there to be at least one club member in each team (other than the pub team).

As usual the quiz will be run by Steve and Linda Hillier, and will be raising funds for charity.  We will be recommending a minimum donation of £5 each (remember, you are getting fed!).

Steve would appreciate an early indication of numbers so if you think you'll make it, or if you are a regular but you think you won't, please let Steve know.

Roderick Hoffman obo Steve Hillier {stevehillier@msn.com}

ASCA Cross Country in Dublin on Saturday 18th November - all welcome

Although ASCA is an inter-airline event our Irish hosts will welcome non-airline runners in the races "We are in favour of this idea and will simply issue a different range of race numbers to those 'guest' runners who will run in the same race and we will publish two sets of results.  So please invite your friends from your running club to the race, same fee, and let's have a big party!".  So, this is perhaps a good opportunity to pop over to Dublin for the weekend and run with friends.  Non-airline staff can ask BA staff for discounted "Hotline" tickets to Dublin for leisure travel.  Return flights for a weekend stay will probably cost around £135 (providing you are flexible as to which flights you go on).  If you wanted a day trip then prices could be as low as £73 - leaving Heathrow at 06:25 and returning from Dublin at 17:40.  If you are interested in these then decide quickly since they may not be available nearer the date.

I don't do cross country runs so although I'll be doing this one I won't be racing it - and therefore I plan on going around one of the local parkruns beforehand - there are three to chose from just 5k away, Dublin parkruns start at 09:30 so time will be tight for the ladies.  Serious airline club runners should not consider this option!

For more details, or to express interest, contact any of:

Neil Frediani, Clara Halket, Roderick Hoffman

Club parkrun results for Saturday 30th September

Part 1 - Win a bottle of beer

This week we witnessed the 700th edition of the Bushy Parkrun (or Time Trial as it was originally badged) and next week will be the 13th anniversary of the inaugural run on 2nd October 2004,  Attendances at the anniversary run have invariably been higher than average for that particular year and have grown over time from 13 in 2004 through 155 in 2005, 378 in 2006, 544 in 2007, 507 in 2008, 806 in 2009, 687 in 2010, 804 in 2011, 994 in 2012, 1,011 in 2013, 1,705 in 2014 (tenth anniversary), 1,185 in 2015, to 1,212 in 2016.  Of course these days there are over a thousand other parkruns to choose from and you don’t need to return to the shrine to feel involved on International parkrun day – you can go along to run or volunteer at your “home” run.  However the prize on offer this week is a bottle of Fuller’s beer of your choice for the guess nearest to the actual number of finishers at Bushy Park on Saturday 7th October 2017, as shown in the results on the parkrun website.  Entries to Steve Newell by midnight on Friday 6th.  The prize will be presented at the Hillier Club Quiz at the Five Bells Harmondsworth on 8th November.

Part 2

A group of our members who call Bedfont Lakes home made a visit to Jersey for the Marathon Weekend and took in the Saturday morning parkrun.  Nearly all of them were running in Jersey for the first time. Ian Cockram (23:46) improved on the course record posted in August by Tim Bellars (24:18).  Caroline Cockram (24:58) knocked a couple of minutes off the ladies record previously held by Trish McCabe. Maureen McCabe volunteered as a barcode scanner, a popular choice by our volunteers this week and also chosen by Alastair Heslop at Guildford and John Scaife at Maidenhead.

Elsewhere the week was notable for the number of different parkruns where just one of our members was participating.  Richard Ruffell (22:06) achieved a pb at Gadebridge and improved the club record there.  Paul Watt (20:36) had his best run at Rushmoor for almost a year and scored his best ever age group score there (72.73%) while Janet Smith (33:04) ran her best time at Upton Court.  James Glover (23:13, 64.54%) missed a pb by 11 seconds at Guildford but achieved his best ever age group score at a parkrun.

Sarah Gordon (33:52) set a ladies club course record at Heartwood Forest (not far from St Albans/Hatfield).  The first runner to cross the line was female, Victoria Pritchard (17:43).  The first man was also home in under 18 minutes. This parkrun has been going for nine weeks now and numbers seem to be steady at around 130-150.  Numbers at Ellenbrook Fields have dropped off a little but St Albans (barely 5k from Heartwood Forest) doesn’t seem to have been affected.

Steve Newell (37:04) was the only one to venture to a newish run this week visiting East Grinstead near enough Gatwick for aircraft to be spotted from time to time.  The course includes all the features familiar to our cross-country team – grass, mud, hills, woodland paths - and will probably be easier in weeks when there hasn’t been an inch of rain during the preceding few days.

Alan Anderson (33:10) ran at Gunnersbury for the 250th time and with 476 runs now under his belt is well on course to earn his turquoise “500” vest before his 83rd birthday next year.

Steve Newell

Updated club parkrun stats

Bracknell parkrun and parkrun Birthday

On parkrun's 13th birthday next Saturday I'll be in Singapore, fit and in my running kit, just 10k away from a parkrun I've not done before (West Coast parkrun), a parkrun which is on, but I won't attend because the WARR 5k race is at exactly the same time. I've been involved with WARR for 35 years so parkrun is a relative youngster, and as team captain I can't not be there for the 5k, so I've sent a birthday card to parkrun instead.  For those who can make a parkrun next weekend - have a good run and enjoy the cake.

On Saturday I ran at Bracknell parkrun for the second time, though they have adjusted the course since I first ran it. This was a slow run, and so a PW for me, but I was saving myself (see below). I also got a volunteer credit for writing the run report which, when published, will appear here: http://www.parkrun.org.uk/bracknell/news/.

Most parkruns in the Heathrow area have participants who are linked to the airline or running club.  At Bracknell this includes Jane and Simon Light (Marshal and Run Director on this run).  25 years ago Jane worked with me at BA, and at the time both were on the periphery of the running club including helping on the London Marathon.

Roderick Hoffman

More Half and Full Marathon Results (it must be the season)

The Jersey Marathon also included a relay event and the Bedfont crowd completed this with various teams including (perhaps):

• Team "Mixed Spice" (entered by Guilaine Sheward) finishing in 3:58:39,
• Team "Spiced as Newts" (entered by John Lennon), finishing in 3:59:39 (so a good team effort to beat the four hours),
• Team "Sporty Spice" (entered by Katia Kerekesova) finishing in 4:01:31,
• Team "Old Spice" (entered by Bob Bannister) finishing in 4:07:11.

And some reports this week...

Orienteering - Fulham Street-O 19th Sept 2017 Result

Three club runners took part in the first Street-O event of the 2017/18 season.

As you can see I pushed myself for time and lost out to Simon on time penalties - well, I was determined to cover the ground and reach the far end of the Fulham Palace parkrun course to pick up the 50 point control there. This was Christine's first such event and she can be expected to do better next time - especially if she brings a watch.

The next event in the series is at Tufnell Park on Tuesday 10th October. More details here: londonorienteering.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Tufnell_Park_StreetO_October_2017.pdf. 

Roderick Hoffman

Other Events

Ed - I don't have fixed rules on when to include unsolicited race detail submissions - though if anyone wants to plug a favorite event it would be put to the front of the Other Events listings (provided it doesn't clash with a club event).

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.