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BA Athletics Club News Digest 4th December 2017

Events:

  • Wednesday 6th December - informal club run from Cranford Community College* from 18:00, prior to club committee meeting
  • Thursday 7th December - Dream Mile - 12:45 start on the Bath Road* WITH Mince Pies and Mulled Wine for finishers (see below)
  • Wednesday 13th December - Five mile handicap - Cranford Community College* 18:00 / Queens Head (19:45) (tbc)
  • Wednesday 20th December - Christmas Mile 18:00 and Club Do 19:30 - Five Bells, 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? Read it from the website:- http://www.barunner.org.uk/News Latest.shtml

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

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


December Dream Mile - Bath Road, Thursday 7th from 12:45 with Christmas Treats

This month's Dream Mile is on Thursday and mince pies and mulled wine are promised for the finish.  The course is shown in the club map with the start being near the Heathrow Fire Station.  It runs due west parallel to the main runway bending left to avoid McDonald's and ending just before the Longford Water Pump.  The course is flat and uninterrupted so good mile times are possible. Either meet at the start just before 12:45 or meet outside the changing rooms at Waterside at 12:45 to jog the mile out to the start.

All are encouraged to attend.  If you are not a regular please let us know to expect you so that we can have enough mulled wine prepared otherwise we'll have to water it down from the Longford Pump!

Roderick Hoffman (roderick@rhoff.org.uk) / Neil Frediani


Perivale Five Results from 2nd December 2017

1  146  25:22 Andy Greenleaf Serpentine  SM  85.92%
21  291  28:49 Stephen Norris Thames Valley Harriers  M40  83.96%
144  216  37:39 Piers Keenleyside Ealing Eagles  M60  70.45% Running in Ealing Eagles championship
236  125  44:06 Neil Frediani British Airways  M60  60.15% Running with many Shepparton Running colleagues (and with his BA vest  in the wash following yesterday's cross country)
279  265  47:47 Jasvir Singh Modaher British Airways  M60  55.51% First finisher in a club shirt
336  174  51:53 Steve Hillier British Airways  M60  52.50% Back from injury
344  177  53:18 Roderick Hoffman British Airways  M50  48.49% Not at my best thanks to a cold - over nine minutes slower than last year!

Perivale Five ThreeThe Perivale Five Three

Roderick Hoffman


London Marathon events update

Last Thursday Steve Hillier and I, along with approx. 150 other people, attended a London Marathon social on behalf of the 6000+ volunteers that make the annual marathon the success it continues to be. Nick Bittel (CEO) re-capped on another record year; Mary Keitany's new world record and David Weir's seventh win, making him the most successful athlete in the history of the London Marathon, 39487 finishers, in excess of £61m raised for charity, a new world record for an annual single day charity fundraising event for an eleventh successive year. (£890m total since 1981).... and the list goes on. Nick went on to say that the ballot for 2018 closed with a record 386000 applications; no wonder Club entries are so sought after! And the one fact that I found amazing was that only circa. 300 runners dropped out of the run, less than 1% of the field. 

We then had a very interesting presentation on the work of the London Marathon Charitable Trust, which awards grants for capital projects that inspire and increase the numbers of people regularly taking part in physical activities. Money awarded to date has exceeded £67 million. Check this link for further details www.lmct.org.uk.

You may have heard that the London Marathon will be launching a half-marathon next March (4th) called the Big-Half (‘truly global and uniquely local’) but it was enlightening to hear that as well as an elite field and Club runners, 7500 places are reserved for local residents of the four main boroughs the race goes through and entry will cost just £10. There's a real passion that the ‘uniquely local’ aspect will reflect the event’s commitment to working with community groups from the four host boroughs of Lewisham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Greenwich and encouraging residents to take part in a mass-participation running event for the first time (www.thebighalf.co.uk). 

We're so lucky the Club has such a close relationship with London Marathon events but this is down to all the hard work and time that people like you have given over the years; so thanks and long may it last.

Simon Turton


Men's Surrey League Cross Country 2nd December 2017 @ Roundshaw Downs - Results

We welcomed 2 newcomers with real BA connections to a somewhat depleted team of only 8 runners.  Chris Evans who works in T5 on the frontline of the business and Paul Davis former employee, well he did do two weeks' work experience in TBC when I had only been at BA for 14 years!!, they both had good runs with Paul being our 4th scorer. Honours of the first BA runner home went to Chris Kelly just ahead of Gary Rushmer.

Surrey League Cross Country Match 3 BA Team

We lie second from bottom at the moment but hopefully with a full team next time we could move up a couple of places.  

If Barry beats Mike Bruce by 2 places next time out he will lead the over 60s standings. {Ed: If he achieves that I trust you'll insist he stands in front on the photo!}

Mince pies, chocolate rolls and coffee were enjoyed by most of the team afterwards including Tom Rowley who was there giving us the usual shouts of encouragement.  Thanks everyone for turning out.

Team scores after 3 matches

Match COL RMD HOL HOR WTR ELM VAC WIN LIN BAR BAW EPO
Match 3 312 242 375 325 749 608 577 806 809 704 818 935
Match 1 338 517 559 584 343 473 569 522 815 767 786 987
Match 2 354 246 422 577 435 609 817 706 694 884 776 740
Points 1004 1005 1356 1486 1527 1690 1963 2034 2318 2355 2380 2662
Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Leading Individuals (60+)

Name Club Total Positions
Mike Bruce (V70) ELM 3 [2, 1, 5]
Barry Walters (V60) BAW 5 [1, 5, 4]

Neil Frediani

Simon Turton points out the slight slowing of our runners since the previous time he ran on this specific course (...or was the course longer!)  The November 2013 results have been added to the results table below:

position race number first name surname club age cat 2017 time 2013 place 2013 time Difference
53 1009 Chris Kelly BAW V50 32:51:00  
56 1003 Gary Rushmer BAW V55 32:59:00 8 32:27:00 0:32:00
72 1004 Barry Walters BAW V60 34:07:00 18 33:24:00 0:43:00
74 1020 Paul Davis BAW V35 34:12:00
82 1005 Simon Turton BAW V50 35:09:00 24 34:31:00 0:38:00
84 1096 Tim Bellars BAW V50 36:05:00
104 1019 Chris Evans BAW V50 38:41:00
119 1010 Neil Frediani BAW V60 41:33:00 47 39:31:00 2:02:00
n/a Paul Knechtl 3 28:53:00
n/a John Taylor 9 32:29:00
n/a Mark Taylor 28 35:12:00
n/a Graham Taylor 43 37:13:00
n/a Steve Hillier 57 59:02:00

The strength and number of our opposition appears to have changed also - Paul Knechtl's time from 2013, if done this year, would of had him finishing in 12th place.


Club parkrun results for Saturday 2nd December

2nd December family & friends time parkrun commentary grade
John Taylor 20:47 Bognor Regis club course record 72%
Mark Taylor 23:53 Bognor Regis run #5, 1st at Bognor 65%
Graham Taylor 24:47 Bognor Regis run #8, 1st at Bognor 63%
Marion Woodhouse-Taylor 31:42 Bognor Regis run #25, 1st at Bognor 56%
Roderick Hoffman 28:26 Hanover Georgengarten 1st parkrun in Germany 55%
Benita Scaife 34:24 Henley-on-Thames first run at Henley 57%
John Scaife 34:25 Henley-on-Thames first run at Henley, park #50 48%
Kerstin Luksch 21:27 Gunnersbury run #240 70%
Jack Nisbet 21:33 Gunnersbury Hayes & Harlington RR 71%
Steve Newell 35:16 Gunnersbury run #290, 119th at Gunnersbury 52%
Alan Anderson 35:37 Gunnersbury run #485, 257th at Gunnersbury 62%
Jonathan Cox 23:53 Crane Park run #334, 44th at Crane 65%
Ben Chaytow 22:35 Crane Park run #181, 156th at Crane 61%
Trish McCabe 26:45 Crane Park run #211, 21st at Crane 57%
Alice Banks 25:45 Bushy Park run #102, 2nd at Bushy Park 75%
John Coffey 26:51 Bushy Park run #261 71%
Ian Cunningham 26:07 Bushy Park run #306 59%
Anne Bannister 27:09 Bedfont Lakes run #159 70%
Bob Bannister 23:50 Bedfont Lakes run #293, 248th at Bedfont 68%
Scott Davison 23:11 Bedfont Lakes run #228 62%
David Duggan 27:55 Bedfont Lakes run #227 56%
Chris Evans 27:10 Bedfont Lakes run #185 55%
Richard Ruffell 22:17 Tring 10th run at Tring 70%
Eddie Giles 26:09 Salisbury run #94, 18th at Salisbury 67%
Denis Foxley 27:01 Rickmansworth run #86, 5th at Ricky 64%
Joan Foxley 35:27 Rickmansworth run #80, course pb 61%
Sarah Gordon 34:33 Leicester Victoria run #173, 18th at Leicester Vic 55%
Gareth Hobby 27:48 Reading run #25, 1st this year 51%
Ralph Behrens 42:26 Hanover Georgengarten Schlussbegleitung* 39%
Joe Nolan volunteer Black Park pacer coordinator
Ian Cockram volunteer Bedfont Lakes

The surprise news this week was that the Taylor family, including the latest recruit Marion (nee Woodhouse) turned up at Bognor Regis at 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning.  They have averaged about one parkrun per year over the last decade.  John Taylor (20:47) set a new club course record, his brothers Mark (23:53) and Graham (24:47) and his new wife Marion (31:42) followed him home.

Meanwhile Roderick Hoffman was in Hanover to help parkrun Germany get off the ground at Georgengarten.  Ralph Behrens (WARR and ASCA stalwart for Lufthansa) played out the tailwalker role {Ed: * "Schlussbegleitung" translates as "final accompaniment"}.  Two other parkruns started in Germany this week as well - at Mannheim and Leipzig and others are expected to follow in the next few months.

Benita Scaife (34:24) and John Scaife (34:25) visited the Henley-on-Thames parkrun for the first time.  This is not the easiest of courses and as winter progresses is expected to become increasingly challenging.  Alice Banks holds the club record with 28:16.  If you are looking for a quieter run (average is fewer than 100 runners) this is one to consider.

Gareth Hobby (27:48) ran at Reading, his first parkrun of the year.  He may not even be a member anymore it is so long since we saw him.  So Gareth, if you are still with us, welcome back.  If not, please tell parkrun that you have resigned and good luck for the future.

Steve Newell

Updated club parkrun stats

Another Country

German parkrun week 1 attendanceSo, with the addition of Germany, parkrun now operates in 17 countries around the globe.  For the first time a country launch included three parkruns and the three competed with each other for numbers - Küchenholz was first across the line with 57 participants including 13 parkrun experienced visitors - three from "nearby" Poland. Neckarau was next with 54 finishers and its proximity to Frankfurt and Stuttgart facilitated 23 visitors including four from Australia. Georgengarton proved hardest to get to with 51 finishers including 7 visitors including Ralph from Hamburg and myself.  British Airways does fly to and from Hannover but I found it more convenient to go via Hamburg (having been offered accommodation and lifts). 

Across the three parkruns there were 99 finishers doing their first ever parkrun and, surprisingly, only four finishers without barcodes - but you know what they say about German efficiency. All three parkruns employed the new iPhone App for timing and scanning tokens and the system appeared to work well for parkruns of this size - we were barely seated in the cafe when we were able to examine the published results transmitted via phone rather than WiFi.

It is expected that two or even three additional German parkruns will start up in January, including the easier to get to Berlin.

On a personal level I've run in 14 different parkrun countries (and I could propose the addition of The Czech Republic as well, from Cieszyn parkrun).  That draws me level with Nneka Okonta who has also run in 14 (including Cieszyn) but we are behind Cass Castleton who has run in 15.

Roderick Hoffman

Black Park parkrun pacing 3rd anniversary !

Joe Nolan set up the Black Park pacing squad three years ago:

Well, how time flies, and certainly when pacing …..it was the 3rd year anniversary of the Black Park parkrun pacing squad on Saturday 2 December.

I was hoping to be running my 300th parkrun but ongoing injury has me stuck on 295 so that will have to wait a little longer.

I started pacing about six months' earlier than forming the squad in 2014 in my training for the New York marathon where I was endeavoring to ‘train the correct pace instinctively into my body’ – as it happened that year they had the worst weather conditions for a long time with -2degC and 40mph headwinds for the first 20miles which got the better of me but the event was still tremendous !

The ‘squad pool’ now totals around 120 and within a few hours of ‘first call’ going out each month pretty much all the paired time slots are taken, where between 35-40 pacers support the usual 600+ runners. Taking some broad-brush stats there are 100+ assisted new PB’s each month which over the last 36 months' tallies to 3600+ which must suggest a good job done !!

Remember, every first Saturday of the month at Black Park is pacer day ….and as we say #PB@BP and of course #DFYB !

Joe Nolan

Unusually for Black Park pacer day numbers on Saturday were down - to only 424, the lowest Saturday turnout of the year. Perhaps many runners were heading out to their Cross Country League matches - or for the first Saturday of Christmas shopping. Over the country the number of parkrunners was down to an annual low of "only" 86,770 across 465 events.


Boxing Day 5k (Pinewood Trails) Black Park Country Park 9:30

There isn't a parkrun in Black Park on Christmas Day, nor on Boxing Day, but instead the team that normally bring you parkrun will be hosting their own 5k event through the woods on Boxing Day. Online entries costs £3 (affiliated) or £5 (unaffiliated) via www.bucksvoice.net/pinewoodtrails with an extra £2 for entries on the day.

The race is run on well graded trails through scenic woodland and pine forest - even some heathland.

This is not the regular parkrun course. The start will be near Go Ape and run into the north area around the heathland and beyond Pinewood Studios. The ground is suitable for standard trainers. Trail shoes would give no advantage. 

(And for completeness I'll point out that there will be a parkrun at Black Park on New Year's Day - starting at 09:00)

Roderick Hoffman


Stop Press...Singapore Marathon Result...

Position Name Time Net Time Category (POS) Gender (POS) Net POS Net Category POS Net Gender POS
6411 Clara HALKET (#8871) 07:15:01 06:33:41 50-59  (74) Female  (1071) 6416 74 1063

Ed: Having run 10k in Singapore in October, I can't imagine what it is like to run 42k so hats off to Clara and have a long cold shower.


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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