baRUNNER - a website for the British Airways Athletics Club

BA Athletics Club News Digest 13th April 2015

Events:

• Wednesday 6th May - Speedbird Ladies 5k - Harmondsworth Moor 19:00
• Thursday 7th May - Magic Mile - Bath Road from 12:45
• Monday 11th May - Track&Field - London Veterans League, Battersea from 18:30

New members and non-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.

Running related gossip and chat: Facebook "BA Runner" (link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/636199849751546/).

This news digest is being sent to you because you are on the BA Athletics Club email list.  To be removed please email us at news@barunner.org.uk. Difficulty viewing this email? Read it off the website instead - http://www.barunner.org.uk/News Latest.shtml. 

Speedbird Ladies 6th May and Concorde Five 14th June promotional poster and leaflets

We have produced a promotional poster for the Speedbird Ladies and Concorde Five Mile Road Race events.  It would be great to have higher turnouts for these events so please print off a copy of the poster and place on a suitable noticeboard.  Additionally we have printed off a large number of A5 leaflets with each event on either side.  We should have these from Wednesday evening onwards at the Heston Venue (Concorde Centre) or in Waterside from Thursday.  Please get these from me and hand out at suitable opportunities - either to colleagues you know might be interested in either event or at another running event (but please do not generate litter or leave on cars in car parks unless you have local permission).

Poster: http://www.barunner.org.uk/attachments/SpeedbirdConcordePoster2015.pdf

Roderick Hoffman

Watersplash 10km and 5km Wednesday 8th April 2015 results and report

A pleasant evening following a few days of fine spring weather with a noticeable headwind in places.

There was a disappointingly small field taking on the 10km distance and it would be interesting to know why.  The event has traditionally been 11 days before the London Marathon but that is later than usual this year so at 18 days maybe the tapering hadn't got going yet.  If you are running in the VMLM and didn't run in the Watersplash event please let Neil Frediani know why so we can plan it better next year.  As well as the wrong distance at the wrong time, it could have been the "Easter" factor but we need to know.

Meanwhile the 5km option has grown in popularity in recent years. 

In the men's 10km race the expected close match in the "best for his age" competition between the evergreen John Coffey and new associate member Jeremy Short failed to materialise as Jeremy (sadly starting on his own) went off course into the travellers refugee camp off Church Road after only a few hundred metres on the first lap.  John Coffey won the bottle of craft beer.  Good luck to the fastest on the night Piers Keenleyside who is entered for both the Manchester and London marathons later this month.

Barry Walters, not for the first time, was quickest over the 5km,  Simon Turton, coming back after quite a long layoff also showed some good form.

Pacing guru Joe Nolan was in relaxed mood after a significant birthday and just a few days ahead of the Vienna marathon.  He was feeling so good he completed the course 17% earlier than predicted.

10km	age	time	Men's age time	WAVA
Piers Keenleyside	58	50:14	8	64.02%
John Coffey	73	51:11	22	73.99%
Roderick Hoffman	54	55:35	-1	55.85%
Melanie Holman	F40	55:57	n/a	55.79%
started but lost his way
Jeremy Short		36:15

5km	time
Barry Walters	20:59
Simon Turton	22:14
Joe Nolan	24:53
Denis Foxley	25:39
Eddie Giles	26:02
Alan Friar	27:56
Alan Anderson	30:48
Steve Hillier	31:09
Steve Newell	31:40
Tony Barnwell	32:39

WAVA acknowledgement: Howard Grubb (World Association of Veteran Athletes)

Many thanks as ever to the start/finish line team: Brian Forrester, Paul Brandon, Ann Coffey and Paddy O'Shea.

Steve Newell

Hillingdon Half Marathon Sunday 12th April Results and Report

We couldn't complain about the conditions - well we could, it was a little too windy and the wind seemed to be against far more often than you would expect - but the temperature was ideal and it was a dry sunny day too. We couldn't complain about the course - a small lap around the Brunel University campus and then two longer laps around the local area.  The longer lap did have a hill, so taken twice, but the downhill section of it was more noticeable than the uphill (well, at least it was on the first lap!).  The event was well organised and well marshaled with water stations and plenty of bananas at the finish. It was a road and pavement circuit with a fair share of traffic on the roads (considering the 9am Sunday morning start time), one difficult stretch of pavement works and perhaps slightly too many road crossings - but I said we couldn't complain about the course so I'll shut up.

Former colleague Dave Tyas finished remarkably well wining his age category and leaving Piers well behind - though Piers did achieve a top ten finish in the same category. BA runner Emma Parkes also finished tenth in her category (though perhaps paced by partner Craig). Roderick set off with the aim of beating two hours but was pleased at the end to finish well inside the time he'd done for the more vertically challenging Berkhamstead Half last month. Jagjit was less than a couple of minutes behind which considering he was collecting money in a bucket on the way round wasn't a bad achievement. There is a good picture of Jagjit at the end of the event but the Digest budget doesn't stretch to paying for it (check the proof at http://markeaston.zenfolio.com/p908937403/h41f82120#h41f823cf ).  Jasvir was last of the club family but he had at least sixty in the field behind him.

Thanks to all the marshals on the course for guiding and encouraging us - including as you would expect our very own Harry Wild.

Roderick Hoffman

BUPA 10,000 Call for Marshals - Bank Holiday Monday 25th May

Anyone who read the news on Monday about the Bournemouth 10k (10km runners sent on 3km detour) will know the importance of good event marshaling.  The Athletics Club has been invited to provide 35 marshals for the BUPA 10,000 in London on Monday 25th May.  Those who have done this before know what to expect - some years the weather is lovely...and some years it is not! But we get well rewarded for helping out and usually the club organise a coach to and from the event.  If you haven't done a marshaling stint before and fancy giving it a go then please sign up - no experience is needed and we'll provide you with all the information you need - and a bright yellow bib!

Please let Clara know if you are able to help out at this event - clarapn@aol.com

London Marathon Traffic News

Be aware that the Hammersmith Flyover will be closed for maintenance throughout the weekend of the London Marathon - so please expect delays and allow more time or use an alternative routing to get to the start, or to spectating or marshaling positions.

Simon Turton

Club parkrun results for Saturday 11th April 2015

Two reported instances this week of our members setting up a parkrun  course and then running round at a respectable pace - Alice Banks at Maidenhead and Alan Anderson at Gunnersbury.  Only try this if your initials put you in AA or AB category.

With an imminent half marathon on his mind, Roderick Hoffman volunteered to hand out finish tokens at Pymmes who were having a fourth birthday party (including cake at the finish).  As happens elsewhere the course was run in reverse to normal to mark the anniversary and Steve Newell found this suited him and improved his pb by over 20 seconds and received the place #43 token from Roderick.  The turnout at Pymmes was over 50, rather higher than usual.  It is a very pleasant run on tarmac all the way round (clockwise or anticlockwise) with free parking very close by and clean toilets by the start/finish. Roderick adds: "The normally low turnout at Pymmes, and the fact that they know well most of the runners, means that they have got quite casual in the finishing arrangements - not having to check whether runners are on their second or third lap and not having a finish funnel.  On Saturday, with a larger field and finishing at the traditional start and next to where they had planted a large tent it was somewhat chaotic. They managed to cope without too many problems - apart from the finish token volunteer who was left leaping in all directions to hand tokens to finishers whilst looking back at the finish line at all times to see the result of the next sprint finish."

Brian Bennett returned to Osterley for the first time since his last significant birthday and set a new V75-79 record (23:37, WAVA 80.24%).  That result is a few seconds faster than the V70-74 record for Osterley he set a while back.  It might stay that way for a while.

No parkrun is a race but I noted that Monica Alonso, making her debut at Woodley, reached the finish funnel before Alan Friar who was running there for the 38th time.  Alan's parkrun total of 156 is exactly three times that of Monica who is on 52.  Treasure the moment.

Finally, a statistic from the colonies where former member Caroline Yarnell is now well settled in and has discovered the Curl Curl parkrun in Sydney.  Her times are coming down steadily and she is now up to 2nd in her age category with a best time of 22:13.

PS I couldn't get the consolidated club results report to work this week but I think I've caught all the likely suspects. Ed: Broken for me also.

Updated club parkrun stats: www.barunner.org.uk/results/ba_parkrun_park_totals.xls 

Steve Newell