baRUNNER - a website for the British Airways Athletics Club
BA Athletics Club News Digest 8th January 2018Events:
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. Ladies Surrey League Cross Country Saturday 13th January from 13:00Hi Ladies (and supporters), First of all, a very Happy New Year to you all. Please find here details of our next match. As Division 2 our start time is 13:00 but get there in plenty of time. Thank you to those of you who have informed me that you will be attending this event. We are expecting a good turnout of runners. After the run, we will be having a picnic on the grounds. Supporters are always welcome to join us, and if you are able to help out with marshalling on the day to allow all our ladies to run, then please let me know asap. I will be volunteering myself in the next couple of days if there is no other volunteer. As usual, please look out for the blue picnic table. I'll bring a tent to store our stuff if the weather isn't kind on the day. Clara Halket {clarapn@aol.com} BAAC Cross Country Championships 2018 - January 28th Cranford Park from 10:30Hi all, A reminder that we have the BAAC cross country championships coming up in Cranford Park, on the 28th Jan, with a 10.30 start. There will be a team there from Milocarian, so it would be good if we could get a good turnout of men & ladies teams and bring friends if you wish. We will also need a team of marshals and time keepers, if anybody is able to help out please can you let me know before the date, my email address is below. Don`t forget we all have to park in the small carpark in Cranford park now, so if anybody can car share it might be advisable. Many thanks, Gary Rushmere {gary.1.rushmer@ba.com} The Club's Speedbird Ladies and Concorde Road Race?The club has held these two annual events for as long as we can remember and it is good for the club that we do. The two events enable us to promote the club and we hear of other events and opportunities from the people attracted to our events. We discussed the two at last week's Committee Meeting. The Speedbird Ladies event is relatively easy to manage including knowing that we can rely on the club's male members to provide enough marshals for the course. So, subject to us getting permission to use Harmondsworth Moor, we will be hosting another Speedbird Ladies event this year - and it is likely to be the first Wednesday in May. The Concorde road race is much more difficult to organise. There are multiple organisations we need to obtain permission from, or at least advise about the event, we need to arrange the hire of a Race HQ to cope with the potential field size, we have the issue each year of rubbish being fly tipped on or near the course and even though we have cut the distance down from 10k to five miles the event still needs a minimum of 14 course marshals as well as the finish team and other volunteers. The event is popular with those who run it, and they like the Concorde Brasses we give as medals. Last year we had 121 registered for the event and 111 finishers, which was up on previous years. Despite the relatively high cost of the Concorde Brasses we were able to make a modest donation to charity with the proceeds from the event. But as a whole the event is hard work and the club appears stretched by it. So, should we have a Concorde race this year? The Committee discussed that last week and need to make a decision at the beginning of February. One key factor is that although I've been the Event Director for the last few years I've made it clear that I'm reluctant to be so again this year - that doesn't mean I won't be but we do need others to step forward and take on more of the responsibility of the event. If you have got views on the matter, including if you'd like to get more involved in the set up and running of this year's event, then please pass them on to a committee member or to me at roderick@rhoff.org.uk and/or arrange to join us for the next Committee Meeting at the Cranford Community College on Wednesday February 7th - advise the secretary Steve Hillier {stevehillier@msn.com} of your intentions. Roderick Hoffman obo BAAC Committee Track & Field Training - every MondayDon't forget that we have a Track&Field training session every Monday (well, most Mondays - we did take a break over Christmas). We meet at the Hillingdon Athletics Stadium (see club map) at about 18:00 and on a typical evening we'll do a warm-up followed by a team interval track session. If you are interested then let Steve Hillier know to expect you. Club parkrun results for Saturday 6th January 2018Steve Newell is away so apologies if any results or volunteer efforts have been missed. Please email additions or corrections to me and also advise me of next Saturday's planned or actual performances - Roderick Hoffman.
Not the usual layout since I'm covering for Steve. You'll note I've included some other bits of information from each parkrun and performance. It is good to see Harrow parkrun reaching run number 140 - the nearest 140 bus stop is just 400m from the start point. I've been using that bus for 48 years now - originally from 1970 from where I lived on Harrow-on-the-Hill to get to school at Harrow Weald. Then from 1982 I used it to get from that same location to Heathrow to get to work at BA. I then moved to first Northolt and then Yeading but still on that bus route. These days, having left BA, I still use it to get to and from the airport for my frequent trips abroad. The bus #183 stops nearer the start of Harrow parkrun but run number 183 will be later on in the year. Tim Bellars ran a new parkrun for the club (#377) at Ballito which is at "Sugar Rush Park" near the coast north of Durban, South Africa. This is a single lap course amongst the sugar cane plantations. The "Getting There", "By car" directions are from Durban, 50Km away. The "On foot" directions say "Same as for By Car". I think they should add "allow more time". Roderick Hoffman and Petra Otto ran the inaugural Hasenheide parkrun in Berlin, along with club friend Ralph Behrens of Lufthansa running club (the start is pictured below). This then is the club's 378th different parkrun. The 129 at the inaugural is probably a record for an inaugural on continental Europe. Although English was the predominant language amongst the participants there were many Germans and the largest club representation was from Berlin Social Runners with 12 members doing the run. 47 of the participants were doing their first ever parkrun and another 10 had no barcode. The uber-tourists weren't just from the UK - there was a Polish lady who has done 53 different parkruns and a Russian lady who has done 35. The two lap course was largely flat except that it would have been 400m short so in the second lap they have added a 400m loop which goes up and down a wooded post-WAR rubble heap. Those who know Northala Fields might be able to imagine what I mean.
In the table "Vol's" reports credited volunteer efforts. Ian C, David, Caroline and Alan A do a grand job for parkrun. Note that Paul Sinton-Hewett's volunteer efforts will be underreported - as well as setting up and building up parkruns everywhere he will fill into gaps when needed - for instance I can remember finishing at Crane Park one week when they were stretched for volunteers and Paul scanned my barcode having finished ahead of me. Overall on Saturday, despite it being the first Saturday of the New Year, there wasn't a record attendance at UK parkruns - perhaps because of weather related cancellations. Many parkruns however did have record attendances including Crane Park with 280 on their 300th run including many club members and friends from Bedfont. '00th runs usually attract big numbers however Tooting Common had a massive 812 attendees on their 99th run - so how many will return for run number 100? Remember that there was a huge battle with the council to get Tooting Common parkrun started, and the resolution reached included the expectation that the parkrun could attract up to 300 participants. On Saturday 123 of the attendees were doing their first ever parkrun and another 294 had only done up to 9 before that run. There were also 98 finishers who didn't present barcodes - so that sounds like a total of 500 newish runners in that area. There is a clear need for more parkruns near that location. New parkruns boosted the UK total numbers also: Critchton Inaugural parkrun had 389 participants. The parkrun was not swamped out by parkrun tourists - just 55 of the 389 had done more than ten parkruns whereas 231 participants presenting their barcodes for the first time and there were another 29 without barcodes. Critchton parkrun "fills a gap" - it is in Dumfries which is 40km from the next nearest parkrun (Carlisle) and for the last two years has had a junior parkrun with 50 to 80 finishers each week. In contrast Bakewell's inaugural (delayed by one week due to last weekend's weather) had 253 at their inaugural run but that included just 62 new parkrunners and 15 without barcodes. There were 127 with more than 10 parkruns to their record including, in my opinion, a disappointing high number of parkrun tourists (given that Bakewell had asked for a quiet start). Roderick Hoffman club parkrun stats {not updated this week}
Running Shorts
Next Digest?Results, news, pictures, feedback, jokes, stories - send it to the editor, Roderick Hoffman, at news@barunner.org.uk. Club website:
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I
had the pleasure of taking part in the 10k Cliveden XC on 7/01 for the first
time. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this run. It was challenging but
mastering the 172 steps twice felt like a good achievement. I had time to stop
and take some photo’s and finished in a time of 1:03. I would like to complete
this run again and aim for a sub 1 hour time. 
Ed:
I'm not sure that it helps, turning your back on the steps, before running up
them but it is clearly the popular thing to do (Janet on the left and Trish on
the right). Neil did take many
photographs, and they are on Facebook, including one of Trish at the top of the
steps STILL smiling...but sadly it was blurred.