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BA Athletics Club News Digest 7th October 2013

Not the usual format for the digest this week, “it has been formatted to fit this screen”, I'm typing it into my notepad computer whilst on running business in South Africa. Note also that the website on-line copy will also not be loaded until my return. Roderick Hoffman

Forthcoming Events

·         Saturday 13th October – World Airline Road Race 2013 Stellenbosch – 5k and 10k races

·         Saturday 19th October - first Ladies and Mens Surrey League Cross Countries both at Lightwater

·         Wednesday 30th October – First Winter Handicap of the year – five miles from 18:00 from the Concorde Centre.

The full events diary is on the club website at: http://www.barunner.org.uk/Event Diary.shtml . This has been updated to cover events October through December.


Brian's Forrester Relay Result

It was a warm evening in late September, the birthday boy had his hip fixed, before venturing to the Concorde centre to challenge all of us with the rules of the Forrester relay. Teams of 4 are formed to run around the field, with the perfect turnout for 3 teams of 4 runners, and 3 positions spaced equally around the edge of the field..

I think it goes something like this :-

All four runners start at position 1, and on the firing of the gun (Actually, “on your marks, go!” from one of the marshals), they all set off to position 2; when they reach position 2, runner 3 stops, and runners 1, 2 and 4 continue on to position 3; when they reach position 3 runner 4 stops and runners 1 and 2 continue on to position 1. When runners 1 and 2 reach position 1 runner 2 stops and runner 1 continues. To sum up we now have (or should have!) runner 2 at position 1, runner 3 at position 2 and runner 4 at position 3, with runner 1 still running from position 1 to position 2.

When runner 1 reaches position 2 they hand over the baton (virtual) to runner 3, who continues on to position 3 and hands over to runner 4, runner 4 then runs to position 1 and hands over to runner 2, ......... this continues until we have runner 2 at position 1 runner 3 at position 2 and runner 4 at position 3. At this point as runner 1 gets to position 1 runner 2 joins them and they run together towards position 2, as they pass position 2 runner 3 joins them and runners 1,2 and 3 head for position 3 where runner 4 joins them, at this point all 4 runners of the team are heading from position 3 to position 1. The finish time is taken when the last team member crosses the finish line at position 1. Simples. It’s much simpler when you take part yourself so maybe see you next year?

The 3 teams were colour coded and finished as follows:-

1st in 24:50 Team Green – Roderick Hoffman, Joe Nolan, Neil Frediani, Chris Kelly.

2nd in 25:05 Team Red – Gary Rushmer, Gary Rushmer jnr, Alan Friar and Alan Anderson.

3rd in 25:30 Team Yellow – John Coffey, Barry Walters, Steve Newell, John Taylor

Helpers:

Harry Wild, Paddy O’Shea Brian Forrester, Paul Brandon, Eddie Giles, Ann Coffey, Nick Edge.

Apologies if I’ve missed anyone, I didn’t note down marshals at the time.

To round off the evening off we went to the Washington Room to sing “Happy Birthday” to Brian, and devour sausage sandwiches and doughnuts.

Paul Brandon


BA Clubs annual Tom Mitchell Award 2013 – Nominee: Chris Kelly

This award is given out each year to a BA Clubs member who has excelled in sporting achievement.

The London Marathon has been an important event for BA Clubs since its inception. This year, one member produced a very special performance in the race. There are series of milestones competitors can achieve regarding the London Marathon. One is simply deciding to try to run this daunting distance, another is to complete the course. Then there are the personal battles against the clock; whether it is to break six hours or four hours.

Chris Kelly has managed to obtain an entry on more than one occasion based on his running a time which is “good for age”. This shows exceptional fitness and a determination to push back the years.

Chris is known for his successes at the Reading 5K parkrun, where he has been “top dog” for a year or two. This has been achieved by hard work, dedication to running and marshalling the event, although a couple of jealous doubters have suggested that he has a secret weapon. His pet dog, Mia, runs with him. Contrary to suggestions that Chris gains a free tow, he regularly stops to allow Mia to take a drink en route. These unscheduled “tech stops” add to the challenge, but his fast times speak for themselves.

This year Chris concentrated on the London Marathon. He surpassed the “good for age” target, in fact running an exceptional time for his age. Following a series of attempts, he smashed the three hour barrier with a storming run. Put into context, that is quicker than running 26 consecutive seven minute miles. All this was achieved without running with his normal companion, just with the encouragement of thousands of spectators.

For this notable performance, the Athletics Club has no hesitation in nominating Chris Kelly for this year’s Tom Mitchell Award.

And the winner is...Chris Kelly! So very well done to Chris, and to Mia for allowing Chris to pick up a new drinking bowl for her!

Steve Hillier


Equinox 5km Wednesday 2nd October 2013 - Results

The event started on a seldom used stretch of cycle track leading to the southbound A312 from M4 junction 3. This had been pre-planned in case of autumn rain and also in an attempt to ensure an accurate 5km. GPS watch wearers were divided on the success of that but times achieved compared well with recent parkrun performances. Eddie Giles' time is excluded from the "average" below in the "Times" column. It was his first outing after a lay-off of several months. Neil Frediani ran even faster than his recent parkrun pb at Bedfont.

The course made use of the Parkway cycle track, a trail through "Watersplash Meadows" (used for the first time to by-pass Roseville Road), Cranford Park, Avenue Park and Cranford High Street. Runners were guided round the course by Nick Edge, Alan Friar, Harry Wild, Paddy O'Shea, Joe Nolan, Denis Foxley and Steve Hillier (all injured or resting). Thanks also to timekeepers - Ann Coffey, Brian Forrester and Paul Brandon (part time)

Perversely, runners had been asked to grade themselves for start wave purposes by estimating their average minutes per mile while running 5000m. John Coffey was spot on.

 

Finish order

 

Race Time

per km

Actual per mile

Estimated per mile

difference

Recent parkrun

6

Chris Kelly

19:50

3:58

6:23

6:00

0:23

19:30

8

Gary Rushmer

20:27

4:05

6:35

6:00

0:35

20:50

10

Richard Ruffell

20:51

4:10

6:43

6:00

0:43

20:39

12

Simon Turton

20:58

4:12

6:45

6:00

0:45

20:56

4

Piers Keenleyside

21:47

4:21

7:01

7:00

0:01

21:41

11

Steve Taylor

23:57

4:47

7:42

7:00

0:42

23:36

13

John Scaife

24:18

4:52

7:49

7:00

0:49

DFYB

2

Neil Frediani

24:22

4:52

7:50

8:00

-0:10

24:46

3

Roderick Hoffman

24:28

4:54

7:52

8:00

-0:08

25:50

5

John Coffey

24:52

4:58

8:00

8:00

0:00

24:44

14

Alan Anderson

28:38

5:44

9:13

8:00

1:13

27:16

9

Steve Newell

29:46

5:57

9:35

9:00

0:35

29:40

1

Eddie Giles

30:06

6:01

9:41

10:00

-0:19

23:16

7

Tony Barnwell

33:24

6:41

10:45

10:00

0:45

33:01

 

average

24:26

       

24:17

Steve Newell


parkrun results for Saturday 5th October

 

park

runner

time

parkrun

comment

WAVA

Piers

Keenleyside

20:20

Gunnersbury

parkrun pb

76%

Richard

Ruffell

20:41

St Albans

 

72%

Chris

Kelly

20:10

Gunnersbury

slowed by canine pit-stop

72%

Alan

Anderson

28:09

Gunnersbury

 

71%

Ian

Cunningham

21:55

Bushy Park

 

68%

Neil

Frediani

24:16

Black Park

parkrun pb (park #14)

64%

Joe

Nolan

24:47

Black Park

 

64%

Steve

Taylor

23:16

Gunnersbury

equals pb

63%

Roderick

Hoffman

24:47

Greenpoint

South Africa (Individual park #56 BA park #71)

61%

Steve

Newell

29:08

Gunnersbury

 

60%

Scott

Davison

23:45

Bedfont Lakes

 

58%

Kerstin

Kuksch

25:31

Gunnersbury

 

58%

Tony

Hird

25:32

Gunpowder

 

57%

Tony

Barnwell

31:37

Bushy Park

 

56%

 

Six BA runners (plus a dog) at Gunnersbury which had over 300 runners for the first time for the 100th run there and using the reverse course. Steve collected his 100 shirt but no photo taken.

A week after the Ealing half marathon Piers Keenleyside and Steve Taylor both ran pbs at Gunnersbury.

Neil Frediani ran a parkrun pb for the second Saturday in a row, this time at Black Park. Clearly planning on a head to head with Roderick at WARR (new recent pbs are now just five seconds apart)

Steve Newell (note – website parkrun statistics will not be updated until Roderick's return)


Clarendon Way Trail Marathon 6th October – Results

Just back from the Clarendon Way Trail Marathon and have just found the official results - I did a time of 3:42:05 and came 30th (out of 322 finishers) and 1st in the Male Veteran 55-59 age-group! It was my best time in this event which I have now run 4 times. The previous best for this race was 3:49 back in 2007 when I was racing a BA relay team (of 4) who only just beat me.

It was a fantastic day for running a trail marathon - autumn sunshine all the way and light winds. The scenery was beautiful - but in the end I think the hills got the better of me as I walked up a couple in the latter stages of the race. My splits were not great today after getting to the half-way point in about 1:42 I then took about 2 hours for the second half - must do better if I want to get my road marathon time down!

Piers Keenleyside

PS - Jagjit Singh was also in the marathon - finishing in a time of 5:31:46 – and he is only a youngster – MV50-54!


Material for next week? Hit “reply”.

Club website: www.barunner.org.uk.