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BA Athletics Club News Digest 20th November 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] [parkrun run by club members updated 4th October 2023]

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

It's handicap week this week - on Wednesday meet in the Bedfont Club carpark early enough to time your departure on the five mile course to finish it at exactly 7pm. Steve Newell will be ready and waiting for you.

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.

Monthly Mile (please submit your November Mile performance by the end of the month for publication in 4th December digest):

Run one mile and send me your time or add the details to the prompt in Facebook. The mile can be somebody else's formal event or even one mile within a longer run. I'll then produce a fancy graph showing your time this month compared to those of other people and previous runs over the last year: [no need to submit if your best mile is one of the Arethusa miles, I'll check the tables].

Mile Participant Location Date How Measured Duration/Time Comment: e.g. event
 

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

Recent Activity Achievements

14 members' achievements were communicated to me.

Colleague Activity Distance Course When Duration Comments
Andy Rayner Various Monday fast walk in the park for 30m 40s. Tuesday estate walk for 10m 31s. Wednesday cycle in the estate and Ockwells for 11m 36s. Thursday cross-country no time (very muddy). Saturday estate walk 10m 17s.
Barry Walters mixed Run/Walk Bracknell Tue 00:33:46 After week 2 of my running challenge I am up to 43rd of 173 participants with 25.35k completed. Easy walk/run this morning in the forest with 4 x 5minutes steady pace. Later body conditioning (one hour) and 45 minutes rpm (virtual cycling).
Benita Scaife Running 3.5miles Dinton Pastures Mon 00:35:26 We ran two laps of White Swan Lake at Dinton Pastures country park on Monday. Two of our sons joined in and their pacing must have been beneficial as Benita ran a pb…
John Scaife Running 3.5miles Dinton Pastures Mon 00:35:26 ...Hot drinks afterwards in the cafe, the manager of which is ex-BA short haul cabin crew.
Emma Moreton parkrun 5km Bedfont Lakes Sat am 00:22:51 First female at BL parkrun 22:51.
Jain Reid Running 21.25km Battersea Park Sat 02:21:31 My first outing in 3 weeks. Nice to be back out running. Used Battersea Park half as a training run (in 2:22)
Jasvir Singh Modaher  Race Marathon Larnaka International Marathon Sun 05:50:29 Noted on Facebook.
Julie Barclay Running 10km Rushmoor Fri 3k warm up run along Basingstoke Canal from Ash Lock to Rushmoor followed by 4x1k fast reps. A 3k cool down run back to Ash Lock.
Paul Watt Running 10km Rushmoor Fri As Julie
Petra Otto Ski-erg 5km 00:36:26 Had operation on my right hand middle finger this afternoon, and have been grounded for a minimum of two weeks to allow healing… It can only get better!!!
Piers Keenleyside Running 20miles Eling to Barnes return Fri 03:36:28 Two of my local 10 mile routes back to back. First a 10 mile loop along the Thames from Ealing to Barnes and back followed by a 10 mile route through 5 or 6 Ealing parks. Managed to make the 20th mile the quickest of the run
Roderick Hoffman Orienteering 8.34km Dollis Hill Street-O Tue eve 01:00:19 1st Street-O of this season. Finished 22nd out of 58. Visited 15 controls and sprinted to the finish to keep time penalties to just 10points, the value of the lowest control visited. Pleased with my route choice which included some of the Gladstone parkrun course (and hill). Photo from parkrun.
Stephen Taylor Running 12miles Ealing parks Sat 02:11:46 My weekend run was a tour of some of Ealing's parks, I didn't fancy a canal route after all the recent rain and took a mostly pavement route.
Tim Bellars  Race Marathon Athens Marathon 04:55:24 Noted on Facebook.

Week Achievement photos

parkrun Results for Saturday 18th November

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

Club parkrunner parkrun Run# Pos Time Age Grade Comment
David John BIRD Bedfont Lakes 667 11 0:22:35 70.41% run #105, 102nd at Bedfont Lakes, P-Index is 2
Emma Moreton Bedfont Lakes 667 13 0:22:51 68.34% F1, first lady at Bedfont for third time
David DUGGAN Bedfont Lakes 667 55 0:33:50 48.67% run #488, only 73 runners braving the puddles this week.
Alice BANKS Black Park 686 162 0:28:48 73.67% run #243, 14th run at Black Park, third personal favourite venue
Joe NOLAN Black Park 686 176 0:29:09 59.18% sixth consecutive week at Black Park
Mike DENNISON Bushy Park 957 51 0:20:11 83.07% 303rd run at Bushy
Ian Haylock Bushy Park 957 59 0:20:27 73.27% 375th run at Bushy
Maria JOVANI Bushy Park 957 178 0:22:57 70.59% 32nd run at Bushy
Ian CUNNINGHAM Bushy Park 957 366 0:26:09 61.89% 419th run at Bushy
Bob BANNISTER Bushy Park 957 401 0:26:34 64.30% 8th run at Bushy
Anne Bannister Bushy Park 957 781 0:34:25 60.73% 6th run at Bushy  (200th at Bedfont back in August)
Diana Smith Bushy Park 957 933 1:20:42 29.51% Top 1,000 finish! (first time for BAAC) and as a tailwalker!  Run #46, all at Bushy
Ben CHAYTOW Crane Park 532 17 0:22:29 64.05% 294th run at Crane Park
Piers KEENLEYSIDE Evesham 359 105 0:31:43 53.39% 3rd visit to Evesham in a November, not getting any quicker!
David Cowell Forest Rec 453 5 0:19:47 71.69% A further 14 second PB. Improves own club male record but Richard Ruffell still has 1% on him for the grade record.
Steve NEWELL Fulham Palace 422 429 0:50:37 40.57% Unlucky 13th visit (after 5 years) to Fulham Palace, missed turn after marshal went AWOL!
Alastair HESLOP Guildford 494 Pre-event Set-up for Guildford
Denis FOXLEY Harrow 374 Run Director at Harrow
Joan FOXLEY Harrow 374 Timekeeper at Harrow
Christopher T KELLY Henley-on-Thames 254 12 0:26:19 59.91% 7th run at Henley, never in November before, P-Index stays on 6
Benita SCAIFE Maidenhead 382 185 0:34:54 61.75% 135th run at Maidenhead. P-Index is 5
John SCAIFE Maidenhead 382 186 0:34:54 49.95% 136th run at Maidenhead, P-Index is 6
Frankie HOGGE Mile End 541 73 0:22:28 65.88% F7, 14th run at Mile End
Murray Hogge Mile End 541 74 0:22:29 73.24% 10th run at Mile End, P-Index is 4
Sarah GORDON Millennium Country 166 120 0:38:00 55.00% first run at Millennium Country (Forest of Marston Vale, Beds), park #146. BA record female time (from Melanie) and grade (from brother Roderick)
Elise LAWRENSON Nonsuch 559 193 0:27:45 58.98% favourite volunteer task is pre-event setup
Trish MCCABE Osterley 450 204 0:42:56 37.34% run #440, 57th at Osterley, P-Index is 5
Alan ANDERSON Osterley 450 207 0:48:38 56.03% run #684, 132nd run at Osterley
Ben Kelly Reading 616 20 0:23:34 54.81% run #90
Harjit Jhooti Stevenage 319 253 0:42:09 42.94% 7th BA runner at Stevenage.
Melanie Miller Stevenage 319 256 0:42:47 42.31% 8th BA runner at Stevenage.
Roderick HOFFMAN Stockley Country 44 Marshal at Stockley Country (first time as marshal there)
Fiona Bishop Woking 392 130 0:26:59 75.11% 99th run at Woking
Jacqueline MUSSELWHITE Woking 392 173 0:29:26 60.70% 110th run at Woking
Paul WATT Wormwood Scrubs 571 13 0:23:39 66.67% I bet Wormwood Scrubs was fun last Saturday!  53rd parkrun of 2023 (and its still November!)
Julie BARCLAY Wormwood Scrubs 571 25 0:25:50 74.06% "Londone" getting closer!

parkrun Review 18th November 2023

The focus this week moves round to the Royal County of Berkshire which has a cluster of parkruns in the Reading/Wokingham area with Newbury somewhat isolated out to the West.  Looking from Heathrow towards the setting sun we have Upton Court (2012, 495 runs), Maidenhead (2015, 381), Bracknell (2015, 369), Sandhurst Memorial (2019,120), California Country (2019, 173), Dinton Pastures (2018, 211), Woodley (2012,501), Reading (2009, 615), Prospect (2018, 205) and finally Newbury (2012, 539) with the inaugural year and number of runs before this last weekend in parentheses).

There have been no new parkruns in the county post-Covid. Most of the parkruns involve at least some running on grass, maybe ankle deep in places, but serious hills are not a feature.  The Reading course is very close to the Thames and cancellations due to flooding occur from time to time.  The course at Newbury includes a stretch of the tarmac of the former USAF/RAF Greenham Common airfield and the site of the Women’s Peace Camp (Protest!) for many “cold war” years in the last century.  There was widespread unhappiness regarding the storage of nuclear weapons on the base.  In happier times, parkruns eventually started and then in Russia too (currently suspended!).

All the runs in Berkshire are visited by our members, some far more frequently than others.  We tend to only try Newbury once, probably because of the longer journey involved.  There is no other parkrun within 12 miles and it regularly attracts over 400 runners.

So what about this Saturday.  A wet one to be sure. The attendance at Bushy was a mere 934, you need to trace right back to April 2015 to find a lower figure.  That low figure this week was in spite of our club supporting them with an unusually high turnout of seven runners/walkers.  Di Smith cracked the top 1000 finishing place at last.

Overall, our numbers were down but only by a little.  Three were determined to negotiate the inevitable puddles at Bedfont Lakes. Emma Moreton (22:31) was first lady across the line for the third time in her career there.

Londone aspirants Paul Watt (23:39) and Julie Barclay (25:50) probably couldn’t have chosen a worse week to visit Wormwood Scrubs which is a challenging cross-country course even in the dry season!  Only three more to do now through so they are 95% there.

Former members (V60—64) spotted in the results this week – Caroline Yarnell (22:55) at Curl Curl in Sydney while finishing her 100th parkrun. Caroline ran a 22:42 last month and is top of her age group there.  Richard Ruffell (Shires Tryers) 6th in 24:52 at Church Mead. Conditions “trying” as well – suitable shoes recommended! 

Not a single UK inaugural again this week.

Steve Newell

Matters Arising - Berkshire parkruns

There are a number of complete berks in the club (not my terminology - established in the UK Tourist Group). Having run at all ten Berkshire parkruns are Chris Kelly, John and Benita Scaife, Alice Banks, Barry Walters and myself. Missing just one of the ten are Janet Smith and Maria Jovani (both missing Newbury). David Duggan also lacks Reading, and Mile Dennison lacks just Maidenhead and Bracknell.

63 club members have done at least 1 Berkshire parkruns. More members have run at Upton Court (43), then Maidenhead (36) and Reading (27) just ahead of Woodley and Dinton Pastures (26). By number of runs the totals are different - Reading with at least 1129 runs (412 by Chris Kelly), Maidenhead with 393 and Upton Court with 228. Only eight club runners have run at Newbury, a total of ten times.

I note that Alan Friar has run 98 Woodley parkruns. Just another two to make it to 100!

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]

Roderick Hoffman

Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

Thank you as always for putting the result out for parkrun...I have found your articles about parkrun data so interesting.  I am doing my best to do different one every week but once in a while I go to Pymmes parkrun as I do a race walk event at Enfield once a month at lunchtime hence why I goes to Pymmes. I have now booked to go to Queen Elizabeth parkrun on the 3rd February 2024 and Zuiderpark parkrun on the 2nd March 2024 so should get my remaining letters then. I am also working to do 100 different parkrun which I hope to do in 2024 !! 

I was at Woking parkrun on Saturday to celebrate doing over 250 parkruns. Other plans are Seaford Beach parkrun on the 25th November, 
Pymmes parkrun on the 2nd December ( as I have got a 5km track walk at 10.45 am in Enfield), Sittingbourne parkrun on the 9th December and
Horsham parkrun on the 16th December.

Fiona Bishop

I also had correspondence from Ian Cunningham congratulating me on again knowing things about his parkrun journey that he was not aware of himself (having done all of the Surrey parkruns).

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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