BA Athletics Club News Digest 20th July 2020
Events - see below:
Inclusions, with photos, please to Roderick Hoffman at news@barunner.org.uk.
Solo Events Calendar
Week of Monday… |
Midweek Challenge |
Weekend Challenge |
Weekend Solo Run |
13th July |
Street Respelling (results below) |
none |
Best weekend exercise achievement |
20th July |
Track-on-Field 1500/800/400/200/100 [shared run at Feltham tbc] |
none |
Best weekend exercise achievement |
27th July Wed 29th |
Neil Roderick Celebratory run evening (tbc) |
|
Best weekend exercise achievement |
3rd August |
Heathrow Mile and Solo Mile |
|
tbd |
August Events |
Any suggestions or requests? |
Suggestions for an August Run of the Month? |
All unrestricted races are off until at least the end of July, but the club continues to
operate with Solo and Shared runs as listed above - for restrictions and advice see
the
Coronavirus footnote at the end of this digest. For the shared activities
we need to continue to work with the social distancing gap of 2metres (see next
section). Following
their guidance enables us to operate
activities with their insurance. Any member can organise a shared activity by
following the guidance, filling in
the risk assessment
form and notifying
myself or
Steve Hillier
that you have done so in advance of the event.
Roderick Hoffman
Update on Return to Shared Activities / Shared runs plans including
Wednesday 29th July
England Athletics has now issued guidance allowing a return to restricted
activities at grassroots level by affiliated clubs. On the positive side this
allows the club to be in control of allowing events with unlimited numbers
participating and on any venue - there are admin activities to be carried out
and obligations on club officials and participants but this should open the door
to many shared activities. But on the bad news side England Athletics is still
insisting that there are no measures that can be adopted to enable the 1m+
social distancing rule as opposed to the 2m standard. So for instance in their
Track and Field guidance they insist that lanes are used throughout every race
and with every other lane left empty. This limits races to a maximum length of 800m
and just 4 competitors on a large track, on a four lane track you could only
have two. This is in contrast to the stance taken by the regulators and this is
shown by the Football Association having had its grassroots proposals
agreed by the government with no social distancing gaps whilst
the ball is in play. I have complained to English Athletics, as I'm sure others
have also, but so far there has been no justification given as to why EA is
taking a far more cautious line than the government allows. The government
stance is driven by the science taking into consideration the level of virus in
the community.
The club wants to continue to follow the guidance of English Athletics but clearly needs
to examine if this is appropriate given the 2m constraint. On Harmondsworth Moor, for instance,
rarely is the path wide enough to allow
overtaking so in a race the leader into the first corner would become the
winner - all those having overtaken having been disqualified and
banned from future events.
However, we would still like to go ahead with plans that include holding a Speedbird Ladies "race" around the end of August. The format that could work for
this would be a time-trial. This would involve setting up a single lap course
and setting runners off with gaps between them. There could be the occasional
need to overtake in this, which we would have to turn a blind eye to (!), but there
would be no need for competitive runners to bunch or run side-by-side.
Next week's run, on Harmondsworth Moor, probably from 6:30pm, would be an ideal opportunity
to trial that format so I would like as many of you as possible to try to make
that event - remember that it is a celebratory event for my 60th birthday and
for Neil Frediani leaving the airline. You do need to register in advance that
you will probably be there. I need to work out a suitable loop course but a
length of about 3k is likely. Let me know ASAP and I'll email you to tell you more
about the specific event and our requirements from you on the day. Hopefully it
will be a nice evening and we can retire afterwards to the garden of one of the
Harmondsworth Pubs where the agreed safe social distancing requirement is less
than that of England Athletics.
Roderick Hoffman
/ Neil Frediani
Let us know please
Midweek Challenge - Track on Field (or "Ross Barkley 5k")
This week's "Midweek Challenge" is another "Track-on-Field". In one
exercise session see how many of the five events 1,500m, 800m, 400m, 200m, and
100m you can do, at speed and with the objective of running faster in each
shorter event. You don't have to do all of the events,
you can do those you do in any order and you can do them on any day up to and
including Friday BUT all the ones recorded need to be done in the same exercise
session (you can't do some one day, and the rest the next). You will need a
watch and you may be able to visit a quiet but open stadium (like Feltham's) or
use a park with a path with 100m posts or you will need to have a GPS watch
measuring in meters.
Treadmills are allowed, but you must be running or walking. Send me the results,
for instance by filling in the table below and forwarding to
News@barunner.org.uk?Track_on_Field:
Name |
Date |
1500m time |
800m time |
400m time |
200m time |
100m time |
Comment: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Submit by the end of FRIDAY please, so that I can tabulate the results over
the weekend.
I will be doing this event at Feltham, probably late Thursday morning. Please
let me know if you would like to join me (I would need to fill in the risk
assessment form, so you do need to tell me).
If you don't want to do the fixed distances as above then I'm giving you a
second option this week - the "Ross Barkley 5k". You may recall that Adrian
Haines did one of these a couple of months ago. During the early days of
lockdown the Chelsea footballer had posted a surprisingly fast 5k time.
Investigation followed and he admitted that it had been a series of sprints
covering 5k though interspaced with recovery. So to do a "Ross Barkley 5k" that
is what you need to do - for instance, on a known 5k course such as a parkrun
course, set off fast and as you approach your limit note a tree or lamp post
alongside the course and pause your watch. Then get your breath back (take as
long as you need) then jog back round and up to the marker and start the watch
again for another fast section. I did one of these last Friday with 17 sections and delivered a
"5k" time of 24:06 (compared with my previous weekend's virtual race time of
28:30 on the same course). But I need to give you a warning - this is not an
easy option - you'll get a 5k time to boast about afterwards but don't plan on
being up to much for the rest of the day!
Roderick Hoffman
Midweek Challenge - Street Respelling Results
Participant |
Chase-Word |
Value |
Time |
Distance kms |
Adj Time |
Time Pos |
Adj Distance |
Dist Pos |
Roderick Hoffman* |
Majestic |
26 |
00:15:26 |
2.52 |
-00:10:34 |
- |
-2.68 |
- |
Alastair and Maddie Heslop |
Javelins |
33 |
00:22:56 |
3.4 |
-00:10:04 |
4 |
-3.2 |
2 |
Emma Moreton |
Gamblers |
15 |
00:12:04 |
2.4 |
-00:02:56 |
|
-0.6 |
Amanda Coombs |
Quotable |
32 |
00:28:18 |
5.19 |
-00:03:42 |
|
-1.21 |
Sarah Gordon* |
Networks |
23 |
00:18:00 |
2.84 |
-00:05:00 |
|
-1.76 |
Stephen Taylor |
Yourself |
29 |
00:17:59 |
3.17 |
-00:11:01 |
3 |
-2.63 |
5 |
Steve Hillier |
Networks |
23 |
00:15:59 |
2.42 |
-00:07:01 |
5 |
-2.18 |
John and Benita Scaife |
Backmost |
18 |
00:19:32 |
2.92 |
+00:01:32 |
|
-0.68 |
Steve Newell* |
Quotable |
32 |
00:34:23 |
3.13 |
+00:02:23 |
|
-3.27 |
1st |
Simon Turton |
Zealotry |
33/28* |
00:31:26 |
4.15 |
+00:03:26 |
|
-1.45 |
Michael Ball |
Quotable |
32 |
00:18:56 |
3.54 |
-00:13:04 |
2 |
-2.86 |
4 |
Melanie Miller |
Javelins |
33 |
00:43:45 |
5.85 |
+00:10:45 |
|
-0.75 |
Denis Foxley |
Javelins |
33 |
00:36:32 |
6.19 |
+00:03:32 |
|
-0.41 |
Piers Keenleyside |
Quotable |
32 |
00:27:22 |
3.51 |
-00:04:38 |
|
-2.89 |
3 |
Mike Dennison |
Quotable |
32 |
00:17:35 |
3.89 |
-00:14:25 |
1st |
-2.51 |
* notes:
- As setter and adjudicator Roderick's times are only included for
comparison purposes,
- Sarah started and finished at her front gate and would perhaps have been
faster had she not had a succession of encounters with dog walkers (and
their dogs) at stiles. I dropped her a hint that she would be permitted to
start at the local library where she works (and is a key holder for) and had
she done so I suspect she could of troubled the top threes,
- Steve Newell's time excludes the one minute he spent buying beer. Had
this been included he would have still finished seconds ahead of Simon
Turton and Denis Foxley and would have had the beer to
celebrate with,
- As permitted by the rules Simon found "Zappers" hairdressers for his "Z"
which scored 5 points rather than the normal 10 for a street name "Z".
Another successful event with the top threes on time and distance being
shared by six different participants! And everybody got negative distances. Well
done to first placers Mike and Steve Newell, especially Steve for including the
beer purchase on his travel. The popular words were clearly Javelins and
Quotable. I wonder if participants challenged themselves to get the "J" and "i"
or the "Qu" rather than go for an easier word?
Roderick Hoffman
PS I also did a street spelling run on Thursday in
which I visited the entire AtoZ of streets (including two different Zebra
Crossings for "Z" and "X"). This took me 0:43:23 and 6.48km. It is good to see
that only one of us took longer than this and no one had to travel
further to get their eight letters.
SOLO Activity Achievement Weekend 17th to 20th July 2020
This week 28 colleagues recorded weekend activity achievements.
Colleague |
Activity |
Distance |
Course |
Start Time |
Run Time |
Comments |
Alastair Heslop |
Running |
5km |
Guildford |
Sat |
00:34:31 |
Slow improvement reversed by 1s |
Amanda Coombs |
Duathlon |
3/40/10km |
Run/Cycle/Run |
Sat |
02:37:00 |
Nearly finished me off |
Andy Rayner |
Cycling |
10miles |
Cox Green to Knowle Hill |
Sat |
00:50:00 |
Recovering from tendonitis |
Barry Walters |
Running |
13km |
Swinley Forest and back |
Sat am |
01:11:44 |
Steady undulating run almost reaching Saddleback Hill before heading
back. Conditions were good. |
Ben Cooper |
Running |
3.79km |
BAMC (BA Maintenance Cardiff) |
Sun |
00:17:17 |
Shaved another second off the PB this weekend. |
Benita Scaife |
Running |
5miles |
Bourne End via Cookham |
Sat |
00:57:40 |
Home to Bourne End via Cookham and Winter Hill golf course |
Bob Bannister |
Running |
10km |
Bushy Park |
Sun am |
00:46:54 |
Plenty of runners and walkers out in the park despite the rain |
Christine Munden |
Running |
|
Hyde Park |
Mon eve |
00:25:00 |
Adidas Runners "Progressive Run" group session (plus warm-up /
warm-down). |
Clara Halket |
Running |
22.72km |
|
|
|
First run workout in a few days, 3km warm up walk 17km run, nearly
3km warm down walk. |
Denis Foxley |
Running |
5miles |
Celandine Way |
Sun am |
00:52:00 |
Along part of the Pinner to Hillingdon Celandine Way. |
Eddie Giles |
Running |
7.1km |
Old Sarum and back |
Sat pm |
00:48:48 |
New trail shoes. Around wheat fields & Stoney horse trails to |
Old Sarum & back. |
Emma Moreton |
Cycling |
14km |
Thames towpath |
Sun |
|
Ended with beer again. |
Harjit Jhooti |
Walking |
28.15km |
Chiswick and back |
Sat am |
05:42:02 |
Walking as I had done about 42K running during the week! |
Jacqui Musselwhite |
Running |
10k |
Knaphill |
Sat |
00:54:55 |
Virtual 10k run for Petals charity - for free councelling for
parents who lose a baby. Also 51km cycle on Saturday |
Jain Reid |
Running |
22.21km |
Capital Ring sections 6 & 7 |
Sun |
02:30:26 |
Taking in a bit of Wimbledon Common, Richmond Park and The Grand
Union Canal |
Janet Smith |
Walking |
5km |
Wendover Woods parkrun course |
Sun |
00:59:04 |
Lots of up hills |
Joe Nolan |
Running |
5km |
Sunnymeads |
Sat am |
00:31:55 |
I need to start speeding up as we may be getting together again soon
! |
John Scaife |
Running |
5miles |
Bourne End via Cookham |
Sat |
00:57:41 |
Home to Bourne End via Cookham and Winter Hill golf course |
Keith Johnson |
Running |
10.7km |
Markyate, St Albans |
Sat am |
00:52:56 |
Maarten Stenham |
Walking |
4.61km |
3rd Ashford Walking Photo Quiz |
Sat |
01:05:00 |
Like our i-Spy event; Maartin, Fran and Jakob found 36 of the 40
objects. |
Michael Ball |
Running |
|
Track |
Thur pm |
|
Track sprinting session - 100m to 200m at 4:20/4:30 mile pace |
Mike Dennison |
Cycling |
17.42km |
Bushy Park |
Sun am |
00:52:13 |
my calf is still uncomfortable for running, so did a cycle round
some of the surfaced tracks and roads in Bushy Park |
Petra Otto |
Running |
5.5km |
Sunrise City 5km (Virtual) |
Sat |
00:40:24 |
Over-distance run on March parkrun course in lieu of the cancelled
event in June, in Peterborough. |
Roderick Hoffman |
Running |
11.52miles |
Paddington to Yeading via canal |
Sun |
02:07:52 |
A repeat of a run I did on 16th March, just before the lockdown. My
first use of public transport since. |
Scott Davison |
Running |
5km |
Hanworth parkrun course |
|
00:26:43 |
A bit windy in parts |
Simon Turton |
Walking |
4km |
Fawley Hill |
Sun pm |
01:30:00 |
The public footpaths afford great views of antelope, deer, wallabies
and llamas, hence taking so long for such a short distance! |
Stephen Taylor |
Running |
10miles |
|
|
|
Shorter than usual, hampered only slightly by a tree that had fallen
down overnight by the viaduct. |
Steve Hillier |
Running |
7.2km |
Three Parks |
Sun am |
00:47:25 |
Newton Farm, Roxbourne and Bessingby Fields. Not as pretty but much
less exhausting than the Three Peaks. |
Please submit your best exercise
achievement of next weekend by filling in the following form and sending it to me
OR replying to the message on Facebook (or any other messaging format to me):
Your Name |
Event |
Distance |
Location |
Day/Start |
Time or Duration |
Details or comment, and other achievements |
|
e.g. Running |
|
|
|
|
|
Roderick Hoffman
{submit by 5pm on Monday}
parkrun Update
New Zealand continues to be the only country where parkruns are operating.
Attendances were slightly down for resumption week 3, partly due to one
cancellation (Whangarei) caused by flooding (thunderstorm). Boris Johnson has
broadcast a vague promise/hope that UK will be back to normal by Christmas (nb
his constituency doesn't actually have a parkrun so …..).
Thinking ahead a bit - the Track & Trace team will have it easy if somebody
runs at Bushy one Saturday and tests positive for the virus the next day. Just
check the results and call up (text or email) 1000+ people from the parkrun
database and instruct them to self isolate for two weeks (i.e. miss the next two
parkrun Saturdays). What about unknown runners? Procedures may need to change
with runners without a barcode not being allowed into the start area. Suggest
you arrive at least ten minutes earlier than usual. Ed adds -
this is a difficult area because what you don't want to achieve with any new
processes is an increase in interaction either before or after the run and
arriving early and having checks for non-barcoded runners would do this. But in
any case England Athletics rules currently say that the 1,000+ Bushy runners
have to be spread over 2+ km with no overtaking allowed (or, thinking out of the
box, across a 2+ km front thereby needing a large field 2km by 5km).
Steve Newell
Claygate
5 (virtual)
Last week we had a virtual 5 mile race in our village on the same
course as the traditional Claygate 5. I was very pleased to finish as
3rd fastest Super Vet (over 50), matching my place from last year,
finishing in 35:40. The race managed to make a significant contribution
to local charities – one bonus of a virtual race is no costs for timing
/ chips / medical support etc.!
Ian Cunningham
Quiz
HI, hope this finds you well.
Attached is a quiz which the club might like to try – particularly good if
they are retail junkies.
40 cryptic clues to shops, emporiums and the like on the High Street in the
UK.
Shop Around Quiz
Linda Hillier
Ed: I'll get this set up in Facebook to check if between
us we know all the shops but for now please get a head start.
EA Virtual 5k - Club Team Results
The club got team results in the EA Virtual 5k last weekend. Our top three
men (for team BAW) were Maarten Stenham, Keith Johnson and Scott Davison and
finished 228th team out of at least 256 teams [I'm always suspicious when the
last row in a table has the magic number "256"] and our Ladies Amanda Coombs, Harjit
Jhooti and Sarah Gordon finished 114th of perhaps 120 teams.
Well done all.
In the UK exercise outside is permitted because it will boost physical
and mental health and because the risk of catching
Coronavirus outdoors is very low if social distancing advice is kept to.
The relevant law in England
has been replaced (3rd July 2020) and now says that people can meet in groups of
up to 30. However England Athletics has not yet updated their guidance hence our
advise remains largely as it was (but should shortly change):
- Do not conduct a solo run if you are unwell, particularly if you have
symptoms of the coronavirus such as a fever, or if you share a house with
someone who has these symptoms,
- Do not conduct a solo run if you consider yourself to be, or others
consider you to be, vulnerable, such as being elderly OR with pre-existing
health conditions,
- You may drive to outdoor publicly accessible open spaces
irrespective of distance, but you should follow social distancing guidance
whilst you are there. Advice is still to avoid public transport and shared
car journeys, We should still be avoiding
public transport except for essential journeys, and do not share cars with
people outside your household,
- In England you may meet with
up to five other persons for your
exercise outside the home other than for club
organised events. But
do not share athletics equipment and continue to maintain the social distancing
with anyone you do meet up with. You are
recommended to minimise the total number of different people you meet with
over the days and weeks,
- As you run, keep 2m away from all others
including those you run with as well as those you meet on the run, by default diverting around
those you meet (don't leave it up to them to avoid you),
- Do not push yourself too far, this may weaken your defences against the
virus and/or increase the probability of requiring assistance. We all have
different limits so you need to judge what would be too far for you,
- If government instructions are updated to limit or prevent exercising
outside your homes please respect such instructions - we should be fighting
the virus, not authority.
If you are unwell yourself, especially if you have symptoms of the virus:
- Put your needs first...
- but please let me (Roderick
Hoffman) or
Steve Hillier know of your condition/status, BUT we will keep it to
ourselves UNLESS you ask us to pass information on.
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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