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BA Athletics Club News Digest 13th March 2023

Events Calendar - online here

Events marked "#" are points scoring for the club's participation trophy - for the 2023 title.

Club Event Map: [Clickable link to Google Maps]

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

Results for Next Week

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.

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

Participant Event Distance Location Day/Start Time or Duration Details or comment, and other achievements
e.g. Running

Virginia Water NOW location mapThis week's events - Virginia Water NOW from 12:00 this Wednesday

Meet around 12:00 at the Virginia Water carpark (GU25 4QF), run or walk for up to an hour then chat in the café. The lap around the lake is about 4.5miles and shorter out and back runs or walks will also be possible. If you let us know to expect you, we'll look out for you at the start.

> Roderick Hoffman

Awards Evening, 22nd March2023

It's time to recall our achievements of the past year, and to congratulate our various trophy winners.  We invite all of you to attend the Bedfont Club on Wednesday 22nd March, from 19:30, for an evening of celebrations and fun.  Light refreshments will be provided by your club.  Please come along to cheer the winners, as they collected their shiny trophies.

See you there!

Steve Hillier

The changing rooms will be open from 07:45 for those wanting to have a run prior to the evening's event. There is nothing specific organised but if we gather in the carpark at 18:00 we can decide whether to do different runs or the same. Sunset will be at 18:22.

The light refreshments are paid for from the club's income. Subs are due from 1st April. This evening could be a great opportunity for those of you who ignore the treasures request to pay by direct debit and prefer to pay club fees by cash.

British Airways Cross Country, 12th March 2023 #

Cross Country Start

A new year, a new venue. 

Due to major works ongoing at Cranford Park, this year’s BA XC moved a couple of miles north to Minet Park in Hayes. The runners tackled an experimental course, including a couple of sharp hills, some rutted ground and some boggy field, as well as a bit of open grassland and wooded trail. 

The small group lapped the course on Sunday morning, in mild, windy conditions, and were soon stretched out around the loop of just under 2km.  The ladies completed three laps, with Julie Barclay taking first place, despite a calf strain picked up on the final lap.  Paul Knechtl led the men home after four laps.

Thanks go to the hard-working officials:  Paul Brandon (Timekeeper and photographer), Roderick Hoffman (Course setter and tail walker) and the four marshals: Mike Coombs (Windy hill manager), Steve Newell (Hill base station Sherpa), Paul Watt (Slippery bridge steward) and David Duggan (Woodland warden).  We shouldn’t forget our enthusiastic supporters, Laura and Francesca Stenham.

See you at the trophy presentation on March 22nd.

Steve Hillier

Ladies # 3 laps / 5.7km approx. Time
1st 32 Julie Barclay 31:54
2nd 31 Amanda Coombs 37:12
Men   4 laps / 7.6km approx.
1st 20 Paul Knechtl 30:15
2nd 27 Mark Taylor 35:02
3rd 36 Jakob Stenham 39:55
4th 35 Maarten Stenham 40:31
5th 38 Graham Taylor 53:33

Cross Country Men

March Mile Results

Club Mile results graphs

I managed to fit my mile in today - at the oval path at King's College, Ruislip during the lunchtime gale. Had I run a straight mile it would have been plus or minus one minute. Chris Kelly also ran a mile last week on an oval track, but he suggested that I don't include it "I could also submit my warm-up, four times round the Iffley Road track, in 13:57, just under ten minutes longer than Roger Bannister's best ... but it might mess up the graphs."

Roderick

Recent Activity Achievements

15 club members and friends' achievements are listed below. Your achievement not listed? It could be because you didn't submit it.

Colleague Activity Distance Course When Duration Comments
Andy Rayner Fast walk Cox Green Park and Cox Green Sun 00:40:27 Tuesday Cox Green fast walk in 32m 20s. Sunday fast walk Cox Green Park and half Cox Green in 40m 27s. No mileages.
Barry Walters Running 8km Bracknell Tue am 00:52:37 Ran 3k warm-up over Swinley Forest then two sets of 8x30 seconds with 10seconds recovery and 1 minute between sets. Ran 3k back to warm-down. In the evening one hour of body conditioning (squats, press-ups etc.) at my local leisure centre.
Benita Scaife Steps 100s Tower of London Mon We went to the Tower of London with the Aussies on Monday. Our first time as well as theirs. No running but hundreds of steps up and down.
John Scaife Steps 100s Tower of London Mon As Benita
Chris Kelly  Race 4.35miles Teddy Hall Relays Wed 00:32:49 Leg 2 of the Teddy Hall Relays, 4.35 miles in 32:49 in Oxford on Wednesday, with Hillingdon AC Team C.
Clara Halket Running 11.24km Country Park Mon 01:18:34 First workout since Goggins. Slow jogging in the country park on a grey drizzling day
Emma Moreton  Race Half-M Surrey Half Sun 01:35:41 About 8 minutes off my previous HM race PB set in 2021!
Harjit Jhooti Volunteering Surrey Half Sun Hours and hours No exercise but I was handing out water at the Surrey Half and saw Emma Moreton ‍♀️
Jain Reid mixed Run/Walk 20km Richmond Park A 20k run-walk introducing a visitor to Richmond Park
Janet Smith Walking 6miles Marlow Sun I did the Marlow 6 mile circular walk today.  A really nice one to do and very well marked.  The drift wood sculptures are at Harleyford Golf Club.
Julie Barclay  Race 5km Surrey Half 5k event Sun am 00:22:36 Ran the 5k option of the Surrey Half event on closed roads through Woking before heading off to the BA cross-country.
Paul Watt  Race 5km Surrey Half 5k event Sun am 00:19:41 Ran the 5k option of the Surrey Half event on closed roads through Woking. [Photo by Kay Trinder]
Piers Keenleyside  Race 5.6miles Therfield Heath Sun 01:01:07 A cross-country race in the Sunday League that Ealing Eagles compete in. Very hilly with 900' of elevation as we crisscrossed Therfield Heath, Royston.
Roderick Hoffman parkrun 5km Stockley Country Sat am 00:30:44 Great to run my own parkrun on the course I designed - and got round 2.5minutes faster than my previous day's solo course check effort. Also with lots of people who had followed my "Hoffman" footsteps (picture - and I was pushed hard by, and finished behind, Alexa, in the red shirt).
Stephen Taylor Running 18miles Thames and Grand Union Canal loop Sat 03:19:20 Continuing my marathon training with another long slow run along the river, emphasis on the slow.

Photos:

Week Achievement Photos

Roderick Hoffman

parkrun Results for Saturday 11th March

31 activities are recorded below. Please get in touch if your activity is missing.

Club parkrunner parkrun Run# Pos Time Age Grade Comment
David Cowell Aberdeen 536 8 0:18:29 76.74% New BA parkrun on its 536th running at a BA flight destination! #711
Sarah GORDON Braunstone 575 304 0:51:36 40.50%
Melanie Miller Brentwood 333 115 0:55:52 31.98% As a Park Walker - first BA lady at Brentwood.
Harjit Jhooti Brentwood 333 118 0:56:06 31.85% Triple Nelson to add to collection, Wilson Index is 1
Mike DENNISON Bushy Park 921 59 0:19:55 84.18% fastest parkrun since Christmas Day, run #495
Ian Haylock Bushy Park 921 120 0:21:23 70.07%
Maria JOVANI Bushy Park 921 219 0:22:57 70.59%
Ian CUNNINGHAM Bushy Park 921 402 0:25:27 63.00% run #498, on schedule for 500th on 25th March
Ben CHAYTOW Crane Park 496 23 0:23:23 61.08%
Janet SMITH Dinton Pastures 177 289 0:55:19 33.62% Park Walker at Dinton Pastures
Alastair HESLOP Guildford 465 Finish Tokens at Guildford
Denis FOXLEY Harrow 338 149 0:32:26 56.58%
Joan FOXLEY Harrow 338 198 0:53:15 44.73% Tail Walker at Harrow, run #247
Alice BANKS Higginson, Marlow 143 76 0:28:04 74.47% 51st run at Higginson, Marlow
Paul WATT Horspath 78 24 0:23:08 68.16% Fastest BA male (from Roderick).  Plus token sorting and closedown
Julie BARCLAY Horspath 78 40 0:25:22 74.38% Fastest BA lady and best age grade (both from Benita).  Plus token sorting and closedown.
Steve NEWELL Houghton Hall 199 188 0:48:09 41.71% 2nd run at Houghton Hall, clockwise variant this time
Christopher T KELLY Leavesden Country 20 56 0:38:45 40.34% first visit to Leavesden, park #73
John SCAIFE Maidenhead 346 180 0:31:36 55.17% the age of chivalry is over?
Benita SCAIFE Maidenhead 346 251 0:36:26 58.23%
Piers KEENLEYSIDE Osterley 414 101 0:26:52 62.41% 9th run at Osterley, P-Index remains 6
Alan ANDERSON Osterley 414 246 0:48:43 53.68% 104th run at Osterley, P-Index is 3
Frankie HOGGE Reading 587 20 0:23:00 64.35% first run at Reading this year
Steve Waite Riddlesdown 562 100 0:41:42 44.00% 34th run at Riddlesdown, first since October 2022
David DUGGAN Sandhurst Memorial 90 81 0:37:37 43.77% 2nd run at Sandhurst Memorial
Trish MCCABE St Albans 518 188 0:27:45 57.78% Fastest BA lady (from Benita).
Fiona Bishop Stockley Country 9 36 0:26:17 75.97% 2nd run at Stockley Country. PB by 1:11. Improves own BA ladies record (Julie, Emma & Maria yet to visit!)
Roderick HOFFMAN Stockley Country 9 79 0:30:44 53.09% 350th different parkrun (with Hoffman Club members). Regains LonDone status.
Paul TIMMS Tetbury Goods Shed 124 15 0:22:44 69.94% run #93, 20th at Tetbury Goods Shed
Barry WALTERS Upton Court 460 45 0:27:22 62.42%
Jacqueline MUSSELWHITE Woking 357 126 0:27:28 64.20% 97th run at Woking

parkrun review Saturday 11th March 2023

The origins of the term “Full Nelson” probably date back to the days of Admiral Horatio Nelson and his tactic of surrounding an enemy fleet and then blasting it with all available cannons.  Half Nelson and quarter Nelson are wrestling holds.  Anyway, in today’s bingo or parkrun terms, collecting run numbers 111 and multiples thereof has become popular. While the story starts off sadly accurately with one eye, one arm, the third missing body part theory doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny. Melanie Miller is getting close to a full house while Harjit Jhooti is up to half way.  Melanie’s record is: 111 – Tetbury Goods Shed (38:35), 222 – Nonsuch (33:19), THIS WEEK 333 -  BRENTWOOD (55:52), 444 – Cheltenham (38:51), 555 – Old Deer Park (39:16), 666 – still sought after, 777 - Wimbledon Common (40:53) and 888 - Bushy Park (37:24).  Achieving a Nelson is said to be very unlucky!

On to more serious stuff.  David Cowell, who drives aeroplanes for a living, was in Aberdeen on Saturday morning where none of us have been to a parkrun before.  His time of 18:29 was his best at a parkrun for four years.  His total goes up to 54 different parkruns from 67 starts and the club score move up to 711.

Chris Kelly (38:45) joined the growing list of members who visited Leavesden Country parkrun near Watford which was celebrating reaching a score of runs.  The “20” boosts his Wilson Index up from 19 to 95 – wow!

Roderick Hoffman (30:44) finally got the chance to do the Stockley parkrun himself this week.  He had invited all eligible members of the Hoffman Club to join him.  An even larger proportion of first timers than usual but presumably most of them will never be seen again!  The average runs per finisher at Stockley Country is only 1.3 after the first nine runs.  It will be interesting to keep an eye on this number.  Southall which started a year earlier is up to 2.3 after 60 events while Hanworth is up to 3.0 after 125.  I suspect the result may be Tourism 1, Loyalty 0.

Steve Newell

Stockley Country parkrun had its first run on 7th January 2023, but the event had gone live in the parkrun systems eight days earlier. This resulted in us having to cope with 417 participants on our first event, including a virtual coach load from Guildford 20 miles away. I provided feedback to parkrun UK on that.  Beacon Hill Country Park had their first run on 25th February and the systems update happened on the same day. Philips Park in Manchester went live last Saturday but its systems only went live the next morning. It is good to see that parkrun UK can listen, learn and evolve. Critics of silent launches say, "But what if nobody turns up to run?". Beacon Hill Country Park had a controlled 120 and Philips Park a manageable 153. No problems.

Roderick Hoffman

Full club parkrun database - {read access to club parkrun database} - Download or save a copy, and explore at your leisure.

Club Event Map: [Clickable link to Google Maps]

Letters to the Editor

I have been going through some tough times of late, especially with the recent, additional diagnosis of osteoarthritis in my groin area, on top of the existing arthritis in my back, neck and some fingers.

32+ years of running and jogging had to be firmly put into the past now - even walking can be a real struggle at times. I am still hoping to walk the Virtual London Marathon next month though... I can only try, we have been given 24 hours to do it in.

I have been trying to keep fit with gym work, i.e. weights and, on a ‘good’/better day, the stepper, cross-trainer, or the treadmill.

"Move it, or lose it" I was told by my consultant, and that had become my daily mantra now. It’s pretty depressing at times, when I used to be so very active, but I will have to live with it - there are a lot of people worse off than me...

Keep fit and well while you can, everyone.

Best wishes to you all!

Petra Otto

Ed: Runners may reach the end of the road...but then there will be another road beyond that one that is just as inviting and challenging! All of us should follow Petra's advice and "Move it, or lose it".

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

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 website: www.barunner.org.uk.

 

      

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