baRUNNER - a website for the British Airways Athletics Club

BA Athletics Club News Digest 14th August 2017

Events:

• Monday 21st August, Track&Field Grand Prix, Uxbridge/Hillingdon Track - 400m, Hammer, Long Jump from 18:00*
• Wednesday 23rd August, Club-In-house-Event, BBQ on Harmondsworth Moor from 18:00* (see below)
• Tuesday 5th September, Run-of-the-Month, Round-the-Park at Harmondsworth Moor at 12:30*

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 July 17th.

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

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Wednesday 23rd August, Club-In-house-Event, BBQ on Harmondsworth Moor from 18:00 - Reminder, tell us to expect you

We are going to repeat our successful BBQ event of last year.  This is on Harmondsworth Moor, but not in the usual place - we'll use an area just north of Moor Lane - it is shown on the club map (click on the extract here) and has easy parking in Moor Lane available from 16:30.  We'll have a fun relay event which is likely to involve running, jumping and throwing from 18:00, then the BBQ from about 19:15.  Neil Frediani and Joe Nolan will plan the fun relay, Clara is mastering the BBQ.  Food and drink will be provided for all who tell us to expect them - please bring "potential members" (however unlikely they are to actually join the club) but please tell us in advance so that we can better guess numbers.

Roderick Hoffman obo Neil, Joe and Clara

WANTED - Your content

This issue is a bit brief (apart from the parkrun stuff).  How about YOU sending me something to include for next week?

Mail me at the usual: news@barunner.org.uk

Club parkrun results for Saturday 12th August

* Ed: Runners having completed the 5k course faster than Mo Farah/Laura Muir had completed their TWO 5,000m last week (Mo: 27:03 total and Laura: 29:51 total).

This weekend saw our members appearing at four new parks for the first time to lay down times for people to beat in the future.  Lots of old course records were beaten elsewhere as well. When it comes to really fast times we need to remind ourselves that some courses are far more likely than others to provide the opportunity to achieve anything anywhere near those run by Sir Mo Farah et al at the London Olympic Stadium.  Ankle deep grass is never going to be as fast as a tartan track.

Benita (28:15) and John Scaife (28:16) continued their tour of the Sydney area at Rooty Hill in the western suburbs.  For Benita it was an all-time parkrun pb.  Richard Ruffell (21:55) visited the recently introduced Heartwood Forest parkrun near St Albans.  That time places him 3rd out of 25 in his age group. Roderick Hoffman (27:22) added Corby to the list, Sarah Gordon having run there in the past before she joined the club. Later in the day Sarah (35:48) became the ninth member to run at Crissy Field in San Francisco.  Steve Newell (37:44) travelled to Hoblingwell Woods (near St Mary Cray, beyond Bromley) and like others before him found it difficult to maintain a good pace.  But it has a free car park, clean toilets and a café right on site and will provide good practice for cross country aficionados.  Steve Newell is on 86 different runs and Sarah Gordon is on 85 but they are not in competition.  Roderick Hoffman is now on 202 but [due to attendance at Black Park last week] has slipped to 20th in the global league table.

Alice Banks (25:30) established a female club record at Aylesbury.  She has now run at 22 parks and holds the club record at ten of them.  Paul Watt (21:45) and Julie Barclay (21:50) ran at the pretty but hilly Banstead Woods to set new club records [see Tom's report below].  It was a family affair as Julie’s two sisters also ran too.  Ian Cunningham (22:38) beat the old club course record at Exeter Riverside.  Tim Bellars (24:18), who has been a member since 2011, made his parkrun debut in Jersey and set a new club record.

Denis (27:50) and Joan Foxley (36:44) missed out on the Black Park run last week due to a virus but bounced back at Rickmansworth and were both first in their respective age/gender categories. 

Steve Newell

Updated club parkrun stats

parkrun Growth

Worldwide, 986 parkruns posted results for last Saturday featuring 177,884 participants and 14,364 volunteers.  The total number of parkruns is more than 986 because on any Saturday some will inevitably be cancelled. The following table show that there are now 1025 parkruns listed as current parkruns though some of these are yet to hold their first run. There is also a new country listed - parkrun Norway will start on 26th August 2017 at Tøyenparkrun, Oslo.  The previous newest country, Sweden, had its third parkrun start last Saturday, Skatus near Gothenburg, attracted 67 runners. The other two Swedish parkruns had 82 and 43 runners. A fourth Swedish parkrun starts next Saturday. 

Nine parkruns are listed for France although that includes Mandavit which hasn't posted results since June.  The other parkruns are averaging about 20 runners each week.

A couple of Polish parkruns are said to be having problems attracting enough runners - perhaps this would be a good month to visit Augustow (top ten finish guaranteed, every week since 18th Feb).

There continues to be slow growth in the USA - but none of the twelve parkruns had attendances in single figures and two including Crissy Field had over a hundred. None of the ten Canadian parkruns had single figure attendances.

Within the UK a small number of parkruns don't get many participants - the lowest ten last weekend being: Larne (40), Rostrevor (39), Limavady (39), Cheadle Hulme (39), Gainsborough (38), Stonehaven (37), Merthyr (37), Hackworth (31), Bevendean Down (30) and Millom (21).  But I always remember when I adopted Pymmes as my home parkrun they were frequently getting fewer than ten participants and as recently as event 130, in October 2013, their average was under 15. Pymmes no longer features in the lowest attendance stats and the average this year, so far, has been 65.

I ran at Corby on Saturday, in part because social media had passed on the idea that it would be nice for them to have at least 200 runners on their 200th running.  Their previous highest attendance had been 182.  The message got through with 376 of us collecting tokens at the finish line (although from 307 onwards they were raffle ticket rather than parkrun tokens!  But all got listed in the results).  So I think that it is safe to conclude that parkrun growth is continuing with hardly an interruption.

And the club continues to add to the list of parkruns that we have done.  The 350 in the table above doesn't quite tally with Steve's 354 in part because of parkruns such as Little Stoke that are no longer listed but had already been run by club members.  We ought to make a better go of Irish parkruns - 5 out of 65 is not very good!  We've over double that proportion done in New Zealand!

Roderick Hoffman

Memories...

Ed: Please send in some of your running memories - inspired by something happening today...or not.  Good memories or bad?

Mail me at the usual: news@barunner.org.uk

34th International Airport Race in Hamburg 3rd September 2017 - free entry! More details

If anyone is interested then please contact Clara Halket or if you know Ralph contact him directly.

Tom's Diary

Burnham Beeches Half - 13th August - results

Only a half marathon this weekend. A rather undulating course meant that it was never going to be a fast one for me. Brilliant morning for running it though - bright sunshine but never too hot (max 21c) and plenty of shade from the beech trees. Finished in 1:43:31 - was 111th of 573 and came 2nd in my age group (M60-69). Thought there might be some other BA runners here - found one in the results and saw him running his last km - Jasvir Singh Modaher also taking a Sunday off from running marathons finished in 2:24:10. 

Piers Keenleyside

Next Digest?

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

Club website:

www.barunner.org.uk.