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BA Athletics Club News Digest 8th November 2021

Events marked "#" are points scoring for the club's participation trophy.

Club Event Map: [Clickable link to Google Maps]

Note that the Club Featured parkrun at Bushy has been pushed back a week to 27th November.

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

This Week's Events

Please help me by sending in your results, for instance by filling in the tables below and forwarding to News@barunner.org.uk. Some events will have "Prompts" set up in Facebook. These allow the posting of a single image and some text and make it easy to flip through everyone's entries.

Monthly Mile (submit before Monday 15th November):

Run one mile and send me your time or add the details to the Facebook prompt. I'll then produce a fancy graph showing your time this month compared to those of other people and previous runs over the last year.

Weekly Athletic Achievement (by late Sunday) or use the Facebook group prompt:

Club Run-of-the-Month Winner - Joe Nolan! #

The club winner of the Run-of-the-Month Marlow 7 is Joe Nolan who finished in 1:14:38. I'm not aware of any other club runners in either that race or the Marlow Half but please correct me if I'm wrong (potentially claiming your "win").  Alice Banks and John were helping on the course and at the finish.

I've still had no suggestions for a non-BA Club organised event to be Run-of-the-Month for December. We'd normally have the Perivale Five but that isn't operating this year. There are also ROM gaps next year.

Roderick Hoffman

Club 40th Anniversary Clothing update

I have placed an initial order for 40 tee-shirts and 30 sweat tops in a range of sizes. I haven't yet been given a delivery date so it is too early to discuss distribution other than to repeat that the initial order will be available to this year's paid-up club members. A subsequent order may be available more widely.

Roderick Hoffman

Cross Country Matches this weekend #

Don't forget this week's cross-country matches this weekend - on Saturday the ladies are running on Wimbledon Common with a gun time of 10:30 (so get there earlier). I wouldn't expect anyone to run Wimbledon parkrun as a warm-up, but it is there and any men would be welcome to do the parkrun and then cheer on the ladies in the cross-country. The men (unusually) have their match on Sunday with a 1pm gun time at Denbies. Save the wine for after the run please.

More info:

Ladies - Amanda Coombs

Men - Paul Knechtl or Chris Kelly

NOW Wednesday 17th November from 12:00 - Langley Park #

I'll be the host for this month's NOW event which will be in Langley Park, just across the road to the south of Black Park. It has its own carpark on Billet Lane so you don't need to dash across the busy Uxbridge Road to get there.

Meet in the Langley Park carpark, Billet Ln, Iver SL0 0LT, for 12:00, though we'll wait a bit for late comers to arrive and pay for their parking.

I'll lead a jogging group on a pre-planned 5km route around the scenic park. This will mainly be on firm tracks but some stretches may be on softer ground. I'll also be able to advise on a shorter walking route for those who want more time to admire the trees and views.

Afterwards we'll meet up in the Langley Park Tearooms for a drink and a bite. Note that this is a San Remo cafe so operates the same drinks loyalty card scheme as Black Park, Northala Fields, Brent Lodge, Ruislip Lido and other West London park cafes.

Please advise us that you may be attending - then we'll know to wait for you at the start.

Roderick Hoffman

We won't be having a NOW run in December - too many other events to fit in - but we will have the usual Round Heathrow run scheduled for Thursday 30th December which is likely this year to start from the Bedfont Club carpark and end in the Duke of Wellington pub (with a very tempting short cut available!)

Activity Achievements over the week 1st to 7th November 2021

19 club members and friends included below but I could have included more or fewer parkrun reports. Two runners complaining of the heat on the beach! They should have been running here in the dark...though perhaps not as dark as in Sarah's run.

And Roderick's (Ickenham's knitters) Postbox covers...

Roderick Hoffman

parkrun results for Saturday 6th November 2021

35 runners and volunteers are listed below - get in touch if your activity is missing.

The recovery following the Covid parkrun suspension is still happening in the background.  Bethlem Royal Hospital parkrun (midway between Croydon and Bromley) started in summer 2019 and had only reached event #42 on 14th March 2020.  Access is through hospital grounds and the parkrun wasn’t permitted to start along with most of the others in July of this year.  The deliberately-under-publicised restart took place in early October and attendances are still in just double digits meaning parking in the hospital visitors carpark should be possible if you get there by 8.45 a.m. Eden Park rail station on the London Bridge – Hayes (Kent) line is another travel option.  The parkrun features a pleasant flat 2-lap grass course.  Dame Kelly Holmes holds one of the age group records.

The discussions over when or even whether Tring parkrun will resume continue with the local MP siding with the runners against the Woodland Trust which collectively is not enthusiastic.  Meanwhile, not far away, the long-awaited Amersham Churchmead parkrun has a website but as yet no date for an inaugural. Newbury parkrun is another that hasn't operated since the lockdown started but a decision has recently been taken which will allow it to resume before the end of the year.

Christmas Day 2021 falls on a Saturday for the first time since 2010 when there were far, far, fewer parkruns than today.  Some parkruns have organised special parkruns on Christmas Day in the intervening years but by no means all.  Some parks are traditionally closed/gates locked on Christmas Day and recruiting a group of enthusiastic volunteers cannot be assumed. A website is now being progressively populated by local teams, see https://www.parkrun.org.uk/special-events.  In the LHR area Bracknell, Hanworth, Ifield Mill Pond, Kingston and Wimbledon Common are already indicating that there will be no parkrun on 25th December, while Woodley, Prospect and Dinton Pastures are definitely on.  Northala Fields is on and Roderick Hoffman has already been accepted for the role of Christmas Day timekeeper for the sixth Christmas Day in a row (skipping last year).  The list of operating parkruns will grow.  1st January 2022 is also a Saturday and many parkruns will operate as normal but some won't (e.g. Northala Fields won't).  However, a new policy has kicked in and there will not be opportunities to double up this time round.  A pity, it has been a fun way to start the year. All Christmas Day and New Year's Day parkruns that do operate will operate at their normal times, routes and volunteer rosters.

More imminently, Hanworth parkrun has been cancelled on 20th and 27th November because the defibrillator normally relied on will be locked up in the Leisure Centre (alias Feltham Pool) which will be closed on those dates.

The club featured parkrun at Bushy Park will now be on 27th November, a week later than previously planned.

So after that preamble what actually happened this week?

Mike Dennison (20:14, 81.38%) ran at the Old Deer Park 500th edition and improved his PB by 12 seconds. That time places him 3rd out of 206 in his age group there (parkrun 5 year age-group rankings are only listed by time).  The club record still belongs to a young Chris Kelly who ran 19:56 (74%) in July 2015.  The VM70-74 group is still headed by the late Brian Bennett with his 23.28 (78.2%) dating back to 6th April 2013 when an astonishing 550 runners turned up at Old Deer Park for a special parkrun sponsored by a bouncy shoe manufacturer over a one-off course designed for purpose by Paul Sinton Hewitt.  For more info take a look at the results of Old Deer Park run #123 and marvel at some of the names and times hidden in the parkrun archives.

Only one new parkrun was added to our collection this week with Roderick Hoffman (29:47) attending Horspath (near Cowley, Oxford) which started about three months ago.

Bob Bannister (23:25) ran at Bedfont Lakes for the 315th time and became the latest member to reach the tee shirtless 400 parkrun mark.  Anne Bannister (30:06) is just thirteen runs away from earning a 250 vest. Alan Anderson, the only current member with the right to wear the coveted blue 500 shirt is just one away from his 600th.  Amusingly he (and the shirt) is featured in the publicity photo for the restricted access parkrun held at Walton Jail in Liverpool!  Inspiring for anyone who is in for 12 years. Alan will probably be running his 600th next Saturday at Osterley - assuming that his parole comes through.

Paul Watt (21:24) and Julie Barclay (23:29) were the latest members to try the new Broadwater parkrun (between Guildford and Goldalming) which started in mid September.  John Lennon (33:24) has now run there for six consecutive weeks and is on a winning streak of five PBs on the spin.  By running at Broadwater in their 8th week Paul Watt plugged a number in his run collection and his 'Wilson Index' is now up to 10.  Julie Barclay is missing a run #3 so expect them at the third run at Stockley Park whenever that starts.  Piers Keenleyside (25:48) had his best run at Gunnersbury for two years but he has never been to an inaugural so his Wilson Index is Zero!  Take note.

Steve Newell

Full club parkrun database - {read access to club parkrun database} - Download and explore (this is where I get most of my club stats from).

Your Club or mine?

Another break in the weather and an opportunity for an impromptu run to the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium or more easily said, Q.P.R. Dry but cold and not sure for how much longer shorts are the sensible choice. For the fifth time we set off along The Mall to Knightsbridge but today we continued through Hyde Park and Holland Park. The 5.3 mile journey took us past both ends of the shopping spectrum; Westfields Shopping Centre and what is left of Shepherds Bush Market were chosen landmarks before turning into Loftus Road and up to the stadium in 49 minutes. London seemed much busier today and avoiding the cyclists and pedestrians took a little more concentration but we made it without any issues. A warm-down walk to Hammersmith before getting the train back to Hatton Cross.

Paul Watt and Julie Barclay

Ed: It would have been a greater challenge if the football clubs you had to run to were Queens Park and Rangers.

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

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