baRUNNER - a website for the British Airways Athletics Club
BA Athletics Club News Digest 21st February 2022
Events marked "#" are points scoring for the club's participation trophy - for the 2022 title. Club Event Map: [Clickable link to Google Maps] For future weeks: inclusions, with photos, please to Roderick Hoffman at news@barunner.org.uk. This Week's EventsPlease 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 late Sunday) or use the Facebook group prompt:
Five Mile Winter Handicap - This Wednesday at the Bedfont Club # All WelcomeFive mile road circuit. All are welcome even if you haven't run yet this season (or are only able to do one lap of the course, 2.5 miles). Runs should be timed to finish at 7pm. Informal social in the club afterwards. Roderick Hoffman obo Steve Newell
|
| Pos | Points | Num | Name | Age group | Club | Time |
| 1 | 1 | … | … | SEN | … | 00:29:48 |
| 22 | 22 | 918 | Adam Moquet | V35 | BAW BAW | 00:33:55 |
| 42 | 42 | 912 | Paul Knechtl | V50 | BAW BAW | 00:35:44 |
| 54 | 53 | 950 | Paul Prescott | SEN | BAW BAW | 00:36:34 |
| 82 | 70 | 906 | John Taylor | V55 | BAW BAW | 00:39:29 |
| 96 | 82 | 916 | Colin Haylock | V50 | BAW BAW | 00:40:36 |
| 97 | 83 | 905 | Mark Taylor | V60 | BAW BAW | 00:40:39 |
| 132 | 104 | 915 | Ben Kelly | SEN | BAW BAW | 00:47:18 |
| 138 | 108 | 900 | Chris Kelly | V55 | BAW BAW | 00:49:04 |
| 145 | 112 | 904 | Graham Taylor | V60 | BAW BAW | 00:54:09 |
| 146 | 113 | … | … | V45 | … | 00:56:37 |
The ladies race at Effingham Common was cancelled, it is not yet known if it will be rescheduled.
I picked up on 15 club members and friends reporting recent activity achievements.
| Colleague | Activity | Distance | Course | When | Duration | Comments |
| Andy Rayner | Various | Cox Green | Interesting? week. Mon 14 Feb: Untimed Circa fast 3M walk around Cox Green / Wed and Thurs 16 and 17 Feb: 2.2 mile cycles - 18m 26s and 18m 40s. | |||
| Barry Walters | Running | 11km | Lightwater | Sun am | 01:11:47 | A steady effort through Windlesham village and beyond. Halfway was reached in 35 minutes and I was slower on the return. Conditions were mild and windy. |
| Ben Cooper | Running | 8.93km | Caerdydd | Thur | 00:47:26 | Out whilst it's only "pretty windy" ahead of the potentially deadly forecast tomorrow |
| Benita Scaife | parkrun | 5km | Menai (Sydney) | Sat am | The 300th running of Menai parkrun, our first since 2017 and the first time that we have repeated an Australian parkrun. A refreshing 20C after a few days of low 30s… | |
| John Scaife | parkrun | 5km | Menai (Sydney) | Sat am | ...Our son’s house is so close to the start that when we got back, the mug of tea I had made when we got up, and from which I had only taken a few sips, was still drinkably warm. | |
| Julie Barclay | Running | reps | Ash Common | Thur | 00:20:00 | 5x 400m muddy hills loop & 5x 200m steps loop |
| Michael Ball | Hill Sprints | Woking | This weeks activity 3x4 20 second hill sprints. | |||
| Paul Watt | Race | Half-M | Hampton Court | Sun | 01:36:48 | First ever HM and sorry that I have waited so long to run one. Very windy along the Thames but very enjoyable. |
| Petra Otto | Gym Sessions | Unfortunately, it was too cold for me to do a Parkrun. So the usual gym, but also speed-walking on the treadmill, with a 15% incline at 6km/hour. | ||||
| Piers Keenleyside | Race | Marathon | Seville Marathon | Sun | 04:14:20 | Best effort this week. Pleased to get sub 4:15 for first time in 3 years or so. Now on 181 all time marathons. Aiming to get to 194 by the end of this year. |
| Roderick Hoffman | parkrun | 5km | Woodgate Valley | Sat am | 00:29:18 | Pleased and surprised to get within about a minute of last week's flat tarmac run given 20m net uphill with that climb being in the last km and with 500m being on soft ground (pictured). |
| Simon Turton | Walking | 3miles | Cookham Dean | Sun | 01:30:00 | Unable to run due to a foot injury so went for a NT suggested walk from Cookham Dean, inspired by Kenneth Grahame’s childhood (‘Wind in the Willows’). Very muddy, wet and a bit windy but good fun to do. |
| Stephen Taylor | Running | 16.16miles | Teddington and back | Sat am | 02:55:33 | Along the canal, through Syon park and along the Thames towards Teddington and back. We had encountered three fallen trees before getting to Syon park so we avoided the far side of the river due to the possibility of there being a tree down and blocking the path. |
| Steve Hillier | Running | 5.2km | Roxbourne Park | 00:37:04 | Also 2hrs of tree-clearing and 9km of cycling in 35mins. | |
| Steve Newell | Swim | 1600m | Outdoor pool (heated) | Wed am | 00:52:00 | Much faster than last week. |
Roderick Hoffman
21 activities are recorded this week. Please get in touch if your activity is missing.
| Club parkrunner | parkrun | Run# | Pos | Time | Age Grade | PB? | Comment |
| Maarten STENHAM | Anacostia | 128 | 6 | 0:22:17 | 63.13% | Visiting Washington in the USA. Takes BA male and age grade record from David Duggan. Report - see below. | |
| Jakob STENHAM | Anacostia | 128 | 7 | 0:24:49 | 61.65% | [non-member] Highest ever position in a 5k parkrun | |
| Alastair HESLOP | Guildford | 418 | Timekeeper at Guildford | ||||
| Paul WATT | Harrow | 284 | 11 | 0:20:14 | 76.61% | 1st run at Harrow, run #173, park #71 | |
| Julie BARCLAY | Harrow | 284 | 50 | 0:24:22 | 76.33% | 1st run at Harrow, run #225, park 75, age category record | |
| Denis FOXLEY | Harrow | 284 | 112 | 0:29:07 | 62.11% | 152nd run at Harrow | |
| Joan FOXLEY | Harrow | 284 | 179 | 0:38:22 | 61.03% | 200th run, 176th at Harrow | |
| Michael Dennison | Hazelwood | 126 | 22 | 0:21:43 | 75.83% | run #440, 5th at Hazelwood | |
| Trish MCCABE | Hazelwood | 126 | 204 | 0:30:49 | 51.54% | Storm refuge - record attendance at Hazelwood, nearly double the previous best. | |
| John COFFEY | Hazelwood | 126 | 274 | 0:36:33 | 57.50% | 100th run at Hazelwood | |
| Maria JOVANI | Homewood | 211 | 34 | 0:24:51 | 64.52% | BA ladies record | |
| Benita SCAIFE | Menai | 300 | 95 | 0:34:37 | 60.38% | Australian repeat! | |
| John SCAIFE | Menai | 300 | 96 | 0:34:38 | 49.81% | Whilst his coffee cooled! | |
| Barry WALTERS | Sandhurst Memorial | 39 | 137 | 0:28:44 | 58.93% | 2nd run but 5 seconds slower | |
| Harjit Jhooti | Southall | 7 | 113 | 0:30:02 | 58.71% | [plus pre-event set-up] | |
| Melanie Miller | Southall | 7 | 148 | 0:36:40 | 48.09% | PB | 43second improvement [having checked the course earlier] |
| Adrian HAINES | Tilgate | 441 | 16 | 0:19:43 | 77.26% | And last week (missed) in 0:20:35 | |
| David DUGGAN | Upton Court | 405 | 140 | 0:33:12 | 49.15% | run #391, 2nd at Upton Court | |
| Roderick HOFFMAN | Woodgate Valley Country Park | 27 | 60 | 0:29:19 | 55.20% | run #416, park #319, BA park #628 | |
| Steve NEWELL | Wormwood Scrubs | 482 | 113 | 0:43:22 | 45.35% | special Eunice course, no trees, just mud! | |
| Alice BANKS | Wycombe Rye | 422 | 160 | 0:27:10 | 75.77% | 7th run and best ever age grade at Wycombe |
In UK, the weekend was dominated by the weather (storm “Eunice”) with extremely strong winds damaging trees and buildings and at one stage the government advising the public to stay at home in many parts of the country. Some landowners closed parkrun venues well in advance, others only when the seriousness manifested itself but the impact was that over 100 parkruns were cancelled mostly by Friday evening but some on Saturday morning itself. For Bushy Park this was a once in a generation occurrence – a weather cancellation had never happened before. Attendances were well down overall although several parkruns which survived attracted well above average, even record numbers. Across the UK there were on 462 parkruns and 79,394 runners whereas a week earlier we had 707 parkruns and 128,047 runners. Ferocious winds were reported on the Isle of Wight so it was slightly surprising that the two busiest runs in the country were at Southampton (735) and Poole (724). Both of these parkruns have attracted over 1000 runners in pre-Covid times.
The Thames Valley area was particularly badly hit with all the runs in Reading and many in West and South London cancelled [see map and link below] so even with cross country fixtures providing a counter attraction, attention was focused on parkruns still operating and Hazelwood (Sunbury on Thames) with its wide-open spaces, large carpark, acres of Rugby pitches and lack of trees became a target for many. There was a record attendance of 315 against a previous figure of 178 set on 14th March 2020 (#100) which had turned out to be the last run for quite a while. Our runners included John Coffey (36:33) who has now run 100 times at Hazelwood to go along with the 242 at Bushy in earlier years.
Our fastest runner this week was Adrian Haines (19:43) at Tilgate, the 34th occasion when he has finished inside 20 minutes there and showing that the 20:35 last week was a once in a lifetime aberration. Paul Watt (20:14) running at Harrow for the first time (park #71) wasn’t far away.
For the ladies, the standout performance this week was achieved by Julie Barclay (24:22, 76.33%) who set a new age group record at Harrow where many find the three laps with hills energy sapping. Running her close was Alice Banks (27.10, 75.77%) who returned to Wycombe for the first time since the lockdown and achieved her best age grade score over the course.
Roderick Hoffman (29:19) kept nimble and added a new park to his collection visiting Woodgate Valley Country Park in Birmingham. Not his first choice but they all count. Club total up to 628.
In Australia Benita and John Scaife (34:38) created their own “downunder” history by going back to a parkrun they had been to before. Menai parkrun (SW Sydney) was celebrating the 300th incarnation. Many time zones behind Maarten Stenham (22:17, club record) and his son Jakob(24:49) were at Anacostia parkrun in Washington DC.
Bedfont/Crane/Hanworth refugee David Duggan (33:11) returned to Upton Court five years after his first visit. The cancellation at Black Park drove more runners (214) than the recent average (150) to Upton Court but many must have stayed in bed and watched the curling!
Steve Newell
Full club parkrun database - {read access to club parkrun database} - Download and explore.
Club Event Map: [Clickable link to Google Maps]
|
Thankfully this proved a good choice - it was flat, but sparsely attended (just 29 athletes this Saturday). The organisers are very friendly and it seems a popular destination for Brits abroad in DC. The run was great for 2.5kms with a nice tail wind, but not so nice when the course turns 180 degrees and then you have a not so nice head wind! However, Jakob and I managed 6th and 7th positions for BA - though it won't be long before he's well ahead of me. See you soon Maarten Stenham |
Saturday's parkrun Cancellations:(click on map extract to load worldwide cancellations map)
Roderick Hoffman
|
An item you may wish to consider for the events list: The Duxford Dash is taking place on Sunday 13th March and comprises a 5K and 10K race around the historic airfield (plus a family run). The entry cost for the race also includes entry to the Imperial War Museum Duxford (Cambridgeshire) which comprises a wide range of military and civil aircraft from the earliest days of flight to today. See Duxford Dash | 5k and 10k Running Race | Imperial War Museums (iwm.org.uk) for details and entry. Regards Michael O'Hagan |
Roderick Hoffman
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.
| Full Index |
Fourth and final
Surrey League Cross Country Matches, Saturday 19th February 
The
family went to IAD (Washington) this half term for some
cultural inspiration via the museums, and of course a new (to us)
parkrun course!