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BA Athletics Club News Digest 9th January 2017

Events:

• Saturday 14th January - Surrey League Cross Country - Ladies at Lloyd Park, Men at Cranford Park* - BAAC hosting so volunteers needed (see below)
• Wednesday 18th January - Club In-house Event "Street-O" and social (see below)*
• Wednesday 25th January - Five Mile Handicap at Heston Venue from 18:00*

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. Updated 9th January.

*Club Event Map: [Clickable link to Google Maps]

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BA Hosted Men's Cross Country on Saturday, 14th Jan 2017 - Marshals Needed Urgently

BA AC are hosting the next fixture of the Men's Surrey League Cross Country Div3/4 on Saturday (14/1) at 14:30.

We need a number of volunteers to marshal the race in Cranford Park between 13:45 and 15:45 mostly to help keeping people
on the correct course. West 4 Harriers are providing volunteers for the finish funnel (the complicated bit!).

Please email me ASAP at:  neil.frediani@ba.com  if you can help.

Thanks

Runners also needed...

The third fixture of this year’s men’s cross country league takes place on Saturday at 14:30 in Cranford park. Parking is at the Heston venue/Concorde club.

New runners are welcome, please let me know in advance (name and date of birth) if you might come and I will add your details into the list of possibles.  This is probably the flattest, least muddy course and closest to home for many of us of all the fixtures so is a great one for first time cross-country runners.

Please bring your numbers if you already have them from previous 2016/7 fixtures.

My number is : 07882 655864 and email: neil.frediani@ba.com

More details can be found at : www.surreyleague.org

Neil Frediani

And on the subject of Cross Country...

ASCA Cross Country

This year's ASCA Cross Country is now expected to be on Saturday 18th February in Dublin, hosted by Aer Lingus. Airline/BAClubs members will be eligible to score in the event but the invitation probably covers anyone associated with this club.

Details will follow but if you fancy the idea of such a trip then this Saturday could be the chance to prove your fitness (Men and Ladies).

Dream Mile - Thursday 5th January Results

Date	Participant	Time	Comment
05-Jan-17	Chris Kelly	00:06:12
05-Jan-17	Matthew Stratful	00:06:05	6 second improvement on December
05-Jan-17	Roderick Hoffman	00:07:51	1 second faster than December
05-Jan-17	Jeremy Short	00:06:15	One minute and 37 second Improvement from December!
05-Jan-17	Steve Taylor	00:07:10	14 seconds faster than November

There were good running conditions for the first Dream Mile of the year - a slight headwind but otherwise cool and bright. 

Four of the five runners beat their previous times with Jeremy having a big improvement - though he'll be looking to knock a further 30 seconds off to get back to his 2015 performance level.

Chris was the only one of us not to beat his previous time but that was perhaps because he was acting as timekeeper and getting used to the new App on his phone for capturing finishers as they cross the line - tricky since Matt got to the line first and Jeremy was only three seconds behind Chris!

For those doing the run independently the picture below shows the course and the start stone and finish post. The course is on the uninterrupted pavement on the south side of the road.

This link should take you to an editable copy of the time trial results spreadsheet - LINK (internal BA only)

The next Dream Mile will be on Thursday 2nd February.

Roderick Hoffman

BA Athletics Club Survey Underway

The BAAC club survey was sent out around 19:00 last Thursday 5th January to everyone on the digest distribution list.  If you have not seen such a post then please check your spam, junk and/or clutter folders.  The survey email is from "roderick.hoffman@ba.com via surveymonkey.com".

As of the time of going to press today 49 have responded with their views, of the 200 on the digest list.  The target is 100 responses and hopefully that can be achieved within the next few days to enable me to start reporting on the results from next week.

If you can't find your invitation to take part then please contact me and I'll send you another link.

Roderick Hoffman OBO the Committee

CIE Event 18th January "All Ways Folly" - Street-O Orienteering

The Club In-house Event on Wednesday 18th January will be a Street-O Orienteering event.  Start times can be anytime from 18:00 to 18:20 (or advise me if you may be later). At the start you will be given a map of the area and on the map will be indicated a number of checkpoints.  Whatever your start time you will have exactly sixty minutes to visit checkpoints to accumulate points and get back to the club house before picking up time penalties.  The winner will be the runner with the largest net score.

Most of the checkpoints will be items of street furniture and you will "prove" that you have visited the checkpoint by writing down a number, letter or word from the checkpoint onto your answer sheet.  Different checkpoints are worth different numbers of points, and you will not be able to visit them all, so the skill isn't just to navigate to checkpoints it is also constructing a course that allows you to visit the higher value checkpoints (which tend to be further out) but still get back to the finish without incurring time penalties. And your thinking time is also your running time!

You will be provided with a map, answer sheet and pen.  You can do the event without a torch but if you have one I would suggest you bring it. You can run in a pair if you wish (but you must BOTH visit any checkpoints claimed).

After the event we will be visiting the Queen's Head - so remember your BA Clubs card, if you are a member, since a generous discount is available.

Please let me know to expect you so that I can have the right number of maps printed.

Roderick Hoffman (roderick@rhoff.org.uk)

PS And a reminder that the South London Orienteers Street-O event is this Wednesday at Balham, meeting at The Regent, and with start times from 18:30 to 19:30.  More details at http://slow.org.uk/category/streeto/. Let me know if you plan to attend and I'll look out for you.

Track and Field Opportunities

You should have seen the new club survey, which includes questions about Track & Field.  Please send your views to Roderick. 

In the meantime, we plan to continue Monday training nights at Uxbridge.  This excellent facility can be found at:

• Hillingdon Sports & Leisure Complex
• Gatting Way
• Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 1ES

Take the opportunity to boost your speed, improve your all round fitness, or just put a bit of variety into your training.  Intervals will build your strength, suppleness and sharpness.  We gather between 1800 and 1815 on the track each Monday from January 16th. 

For more details, or if you plan to come along, please contact me:

 Steve Hillier (stevehillier@msn.com)

Note the new date for Round-the-Block on Tuesday 31st January from 12:30 from Heston Venue

Founded in or before 1982 this event is probably the oldest fixture in the BA calendar. As in past years the race is a single lap course of about 5k, around the Heston area. The start will be at around 12:30 and is a short walk from the changing rooms at Heston Venue (Concorde Centre), so please leave enough time to get to the start.  Anybody and everybody is welcome to take part including mixed teams of four. This is a fun event and ALL levels of runners/joggers are welcomed.  Please pass this information on to anyone else who might be interested.  Lifts can be offered from and back to Waterside and other locations.  There is a £1 entry fee which will be donated to the White Lodge Centre charity.
The course is shown on the club event map (see above).

Questions etc. - email neil.frediani@ba.com

Club parkrun results for Saturday 7th January

The dust (or the mud) has settled on the frantic activity of New Year's Day and the seasonal popularity of burning off a few calories before heading off to an FA Cup third round game showed no signs of abating.  UK parkrun attendances on Saturday alone exceeded 110,000 - a record by a big margin.  600 of those runners were at Tooting Common which was celebrating its 50th run having started only last January after a long negotiation with Wandsworth council by parkrun enthusiasts supported by the then local MP Sadiq Khan before he was elected Mayor of London.

In the past I have likened the behaviour of some of our members to Geoffrey Boycott patiently spurning scoring opportunities while on 49 or 99 waiting for the safe moment to clinch another landmark innings.  So it is great to report that Steve Dodsworth reached 99 at Sunderland on New Year's Eve, 100, again at Sunderland 24 hours later and 101 at Albert Park in Middlesbrough only 90 minutes after that.   That was one of several new parks run by our members on 1st January which were (in chronological order based on advertised start time and runners recorded finish time) - Peter Pan (Hull) by Sarah Gordon became BA park number 310, Steve and Linda Dodsworth (Albert Middlesbrough, #311), Ian and Caroline Cockram (Tamar Lakes, #312), Eddie Giles (Salisbury, #313) and Sarah Gordon again (Humber Bridge, #314).

And so on to this week and Natalie Ruffell whose most recent and 49th run had been at Fulham Palace on 24th September found herself in Christchurch, New Zealand enjoying some summer weather and on the start line at Hagley parkrun (start 8 a.m. - Steve Taylor please note).  She finished in a time of 20:18 which puts her 7th out of 172 in her age group all-time list there.  So that was BA park #315 and the first in the South Island of New Zealand.

Richard Ruffell has had spells of tourism in the past but his recent spurt is quite remarkable.  In the 15 days starting on Christmas Eve he has run at six parkruns new to him. This week he visited Forest of Dean parkrun which has been going for many years.  His time 21:54, his 61st different park and moving the club score onto 316. The other five were as follows and there is a visible improving trend; Richmond (26:1), Reading (25:47), Canons Park (25:00), Linford Wood(24:07), Milton Keynes(21:57).  Where next? and how quick?

Tom Rowley (coach) encouraged Julie Barclay to get in some competitive running on mud ahead of some key cross country races in the coming weeks.  She headed for Frimley and grabbed a p.b. (22:28).  Caroline Cockram (31:29) and Kevin Holland (34:52) headed over to the new "Homewood" course at Ottershaw which has a cross-country feel to it.

There was a near record turnout of over 450 at Gunnersbury where Chris Kelly(20:33) (without a dog to tow him round this time), Roderick Hoffman(26:56), Trish McCabe(27:01), Alan Anderson(31:21) and John Lennon(34:16) joined Steve Newell for his ceremonial 100th lap at Gunnersbury as he graduated to join just over 1000 other members of the parkrun 250 club. It has taken a little over 7 years. The other BA runners who have been members for a while are Alan Anderson (439 runs), Caroline Cockram (255),  Ian Cockram (375),  Jonathan Cox (295), Ian Cunningham (272), Chris Kelly (321) and Joe Nolan (271).  Others likely to join the club later in the year are John Coffey and Alan Friar (both on 224), Roderick Hoffman (238) and John Lennon(237).  For Roderick, the sixth anniversary run at his favourite run (Pymmes) in April might just fall on the right day

Steve Newell

Updated club parkrun stats [including results for New Year's Day featuring 39 performances by 28 club family members]

Gunnersbury parkrun for Steve's 250th. Left to right: Chris Kelly, Roderick Hoffman, Arlene Gallagher (event director), Alan Anderson, Steve Newell, Trish McCabe, Guilaine Sheward, John Lennon

The club map shows the locations of all of 912 active parkruns in the world and indicates them as red (done by at least one member of the club family) or Green (not yet done).  There are currently TWO Green parkruns within the M25 - Beckenham and starting this Saturday Roding Valley (Chigwell).

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Results, news, pictures, feedback, jokes, stories - send it to us at news@barunner.org.uk.

Club website:

www.barunner.org.uk.