BA Athletics Club News Digest 21st April 2014
Forthcoming Events:
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Track&Field: Monday 28th April Grand Prix - 1000m and Triple Jump @ Uxbridge
Track & Wednesday 30th Rosenheim League
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Thursday 1st May - Magic Mile - Bath Road 12:45
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Wednesday 14th May - Speedbird Ladies 5k @ Waterside - 19:00 - pass the
message on to all ladies you know or wish you knew
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.
WARR Registration Open
Registration is now possible at:
http://www.active.com/raheny-dublin/running/warr-2014
There will also be a newsletter distributed this week to everyone on the
International WARR mailing list and I'll make it available to everyone on the
baRunner list. The newsletter includes a feature on the race venue St
Anne's park. The park made news headlines this week in Dublin for a
pitched battle between locals and a Viking army.
www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/battle-of-clontarf... A repeat
has not been ruled out for the WARR weekend!
Roderick Hoffman
Club 100 venue achievement on Saturday 19th April
The club 100 parkrun target has been reached on time and on budget! We
were at 99 and three venues were added on Saturday. All started at around
09:00 so the achievement of the 100th run is held jointly by Richard Ruffell (at
Harrow Lodge), Roderick Hoffman (at Chelmsford - though his result was only
added in after an appeal) and Steve Newell (at Lloyd Park).
So the club has nailed 100 parkrun venues - Can anyone remember who ran the
100th country back in the 1990's ?
Take fresh guard and press on for the double century, only 98 more required!
In the meantime we all have our personal challenges - Richard has now run at 19
venues (18 UK) and has eleven more to go to appear on the international "most
events" list and two UK events to appear on the UK list. Steve with 33
venues (32 UK) is already on both lists but has a target of running parkruns in
every London Borough that has them. Roderick with 70 venues (65 UK) is
already dreaming of getting to 100 venues (known in parkrun circles as
"achieving a Cowell"). But the achievement of 100 venues hasn't just been
down to the three of us - the following have run at parkruns that no one else in
the club has run at:
- Roderick Hoffman (32 - too many to list),
- Richard Ruffell (sometimes with Natalie) - Brockwell Park, Hanley,
Harrow Lodge, Princes (Liverpool), Southwick, Walsall Arboretum,
Wolverhampton
- Steve Newell - Burgess, Edinburgh, Lloyd Park, Southwark
- Daniala Mayova - Ashton Court (Bristol)
- Ray Hampton - Bramhall, Delamere, Lyme Park, Wythenshawe
- Chris Kelly - Brueton, Burnage, Leamington
- Ian Cunningham - Canterbury, Colwick (Notts)
- Neil Frediani - Colchester Castle, Marple, Wimpole Estate
- Brian Bennett - Killerton (near Exeter)
- John Coffey - Poole
- Gareth Snook - Porthcawl
- Eddie Giles - Yeovil Montacute
Steve: "Lloyd Park parkrun takes in most of the features of the cross-country
courses - just the mud was missing. With a tram stop and a free car park
right by the start it is well worth a visit in the summertime."
Richard: "My run today at Harrow Lodge is run mainly across fields, so quite
uneven under foot, with small amount on paths. Could certainly feel last Sunday
in my legs over the second half of the run, but one more added to my target of
20."
Roderick: "Chelmsford Central has a flat and fast scenic one lap course.
Popular with over 400 finishers but the course includes a loop at the far end
which avoids large number meeting on the same path on the way back. There is
also a loop just before the finish which can catch you out if you start your
sprint too early...but on the other hand my Garmin reported that the course
wasn't long."
Elsewhere at Gunnersbury club runners "finished" first and last - Kerstin as
lead bike and Piers as tail runner - meanwhile in the middle Alan Anderson had
his best run for about six months, now mother-of-three Melanie Holman ran at
Woodley for the second week in a row. Barry Walters made a rare and fast
appearance at Reading - course best and his best time since September 2012.
Alice Banks was also at Reading and knocked another 11 seconds off her parkrun
best. John Coffey was in action again at Bushy Park. Tony Barnwell
avoided the crowds at Black Park by visited Wycombe Rye for his first run there.
Updated parkrun stats:
www.barunner.org.uk/results/ba_parkrun_park_totals.xls
Roderick Hoffman / Steve Newell
Less than 50 years ago...
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Last week's radio 4 0930 program Witness was a 15-minute interview
with Kathrine Switzer, the woman who broke into the news when she ran
the Boston Marathon on 1967, scandalising the race director & the world
of officialdom. The race director had her disqualified by the American
athletic union on four grounds: She had raced with men; She had entered
fraudulently (by giving her name with initials for forenames); She had
run a race longer than 1 and 1/2 miles; She had run without a male
chaperone! It turned her into a campaigner for women's rights in
general, I think, & certainly in running.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/programmes/a-z/by/witness/player click on
<show available episodes>, click on <Kathrine Switzer>
The BBC radio iPlayer may only allow access for a few more days. The
iPlayer site shows the photo of the race director trying to drag her out
of the race at 2 miles.
David Barnard
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London Marathon Sunday 13th April 2014 Reports
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Dear All,
A big thank you from all of us for your help on Sunday. The
general feeling here is that it was one of the smoothest ever
Marathon’s, hopefully you feel the same way! We had 35,820
finishers. Not a record (that’s 36,705 from 2012), but still well
up there.
The warm weather tested St John and the drinks stations – they were
stretched but didn’t break. A larger than usual number of
casualties were transported to hospital and St John’s initial figure is
7,000 contacts (most of these are very minor.)
For me, the standout observation was the HUGE number of spectators
who were more or less everywhere. It’s a fantastic validation of
the popularity of the event, but does give some challenges for us to
manage, especially later in the day when many people have perhaps had
one drink too many.
Best wishes,
Lisa
Lisa Thompson | Assistant Race Director / Operations
| Virgin London Marathon
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I'm sure most readers know my 2013 LM was a disaster, thought
to be caused by taking an excessive amount of ibuprofen for a knee
injury, which intern accelerated dehydration. (Ibuprofen just crumbles
and sits in the kidney for days). I thought I had failed, but then
realised that failure would be 'not trying again', and as Master PO
would say "this was just a stepping stone to success".
Approximately 3 weeks later I was surprised to receive an email
from VLM stating that I had made 5 consecutive applications and
therefore qualified for an automatic entry into the LM2014.
Now this was time for unfinished business, I re- evaluated
everything, hydration, training, pace, simulated heat by running
in a bin bag while on the tread mill :). I cut my weekly mileage from
approximately 45 miles to 33 miles per week and quickly started to see
an improvement in my times, notably the 5K and half marathon
disciplines. I recorded a 1:31 for the Hampton Court half and used
this time combined with a 20 mile and 2 * 21 mile training runs to
carefully analyse the pace I would attempt London. On the
morning of the marathon while on the train into London all I could think
about was last year's disaster, and even had thoughts about not turning
up for the event, despite all the training, I had demons in my head.
Fortunately, I bumped into some of my training buddies and listen to
their positive conversations about running a marathon, this soon gave me
the confidence I had from the months leading up to the race. The
race started and I had a slight stitch at mile 3 so thought just
back off the fluid intake and continually monitor at each mile
hydration, pace, gels etc. . I wanted the first 17 miles to
be out the way so I could focus on the true part of a marathon, the
business end. At mile 18 I felt really good and for the
first time enjoyed the crowds and actually seeing the sights rather than
head down and praying for the misery to end. Mile 20 soon arrived and
still felt fine. 'OK marathon, you don't control me, as you
have for the last year, I control you', this is what was going on in my
head. I then mumbled to myself, 'I'm now putting on my
£"!££$% Kenyan legs, it's time to go to work. My splits shows I
increased my pace over the last 6.25K and the race report shows I
overtook 1521 runners and 0 overtook me in the last 7.25K, with a 5
minute difference on negative splits. Initially I felt I should
have run harder but, you know what 'no' I had achieved a time of 3:38:02
and most importantly finished having left that demon behind.
If I'm unfortunate not to run another marathon again, then at least I
left the ‘discipline’ on my terms. My 5 year goal is to achieve a
sub 3:30, this may happen in Berlin later this year, but either way I'm
happy.
Two things I'll focus on next time is post marathon, put warm clothes
on, eat within 20 minutes and fewer beers, oh and don't cry when
crossing the finish line. Whatever, your experiences, I hope
they were good but if they weren't then don't give up, as I can honestly
say they really weren't as bad as mine last year!
Finally, If a man dwells on the past, then he robs the present. But
if a man ignores the past, he may rob the future J
Colin Haylock (half: 01:51:35 full: 03:38:02)
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Dear all
Well done to everybody for completing the London marathon on Sunday
and I hope you are not aching too much or at least not aching as much as
I do....still I haven't been able to wipe this grin off my face
yet.......I'm still buzzzzzziiiiinnnnnnnnn like a bumble bee and
struggling to get rid of all the adrenaline and caffeine in my body I
guess...really been struggling to sleep in the last two nights...one
would think, I should be tired...
It was my first marathon and once again I wish to thank BAAC for this
fantastic opportunity.
I was very nervous at the start....made few mistakes, such as
drinking too much...and losing 10-15 minutes for a loo stop which I was
never able to recoup...first because there was no space to run, then
when I had the space, not sure I had any strength left....still this is
a mistake I shall not repeat to my next one.....did I really say next?!?
The fact is I loved every single minute of it.....every single one!
The atmosphere, the crowds, the cheering, the music, the sites, the
glorious blue sky.
A massive thank you to all the BA marshals that cheered me on...even
if Sir Mike Thorn would have never seen me had I not mugged him,
shamelessly in front of all his family...but he made up by cheering
loudly my name on the megaphone...thanks to Nicola Protasiuk for
spotting me...sorry I couldn't stop!!! queeny was just round the
corner...thanks to Phil Ingo...you were a vision!!! When I saw you I
KNEW I really was nearly there!!! Hence the biggest hug....I did do lots
of hugging in my 26.2 miles, if I am able stop it at the next marathon I
might even be able to shave off around 10 minutes ...still....I don't
think I would have passed my mental wall between mile 21 and mile 24 had
it not been for the biggest hug from my friends from Sussex came to
London just for the occasion....I was struggling, really struggling, it
wasn't so much the pain in the legs, hips and arms...but that fact that
after all those hours of running the Shard was still so distant in the
background....that's when I understood how important is to have your
friends around and what a boost that can be.....after that massive
hug...it was all downhill..so to speak....up to my personal triumph at
the finish line where I was crying like a baby.
One of the marshals came rushing towards me looking very concerned
and asked - "are you ok?" Me, sobbing - "y e a h", Him: "just a bit emotional?"
Me, still sobbing: "y e a h" ...Him : "is it your first one, love?" Me,
sobbing really loudly now: "y e a h"...he gave me the biggest smile and a
pat on my shoulder and said: "go and get your photo, love...."..
I will remember that for the rest of my life.....
I will finish again with my usual quote:
"At mile 20, I thought I was dead. At mile 22, I wished I was dead.
At mile 24, I knew I was dead. At mile 26.2, I realized I had become too
tough to kill."
Once again, well done everybody
Enjoy your rest!
Marzia Coltelli :0) (Half: 02:30:51 Full: 04:57:47 )
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Well done everyone who completed the marathon yesterday, and
hopefully in a good time, but most importantly safely and 'fit and
planning a next one' now ! Certainly was lovely weather for it,
even though a few degrees less may of been useful.
Like Mo said afterwards, "I had a bit of a bad day in the office" !
....all going well until mile 9 when recent hamstring problem came back
so had to dauntingly and sadly jog/walk from thereon, quite surprised
then to reach halfway just under 2hrs but hope the manic MarathonPhotos
company didn't catch me being sick and throwing up twice at 20 and 22
and near to collapse at end - having done a few of these before at least
just resigned myself to getting back reasonably intact with no further
damage albeit sadly way off my target - hey ho - will try
again ...another planned for November this year. Lesson learnt ...when
the physio tells you to do exercises/stretching three times a day that I
actually make time to do them (funny how you pay a lot for their service
but don't then do what they tell you - hmmm !) Few beers last
night helped the recovery but cramps came back and forth in the night !
Having a restful day off now as legs are a bit stiff and achy.
Couldn't find any other BA runners before the start although met
Richard R in the start pen and shared some 'go faster' sun-cream.
Lovely BA girl in pink top (not sure name !) came past me at 23 cheering
up my spirits and got me moving again - nice chat with Steve T and
family afterwards (he was robbed by at least 28seconds I believe, as
ever my Garmin measured an extra 0.8miles this time !!!) before Paul K
came and said a nice hello whilst I had been queuing over 15mins to get
a recovery ice-cream.
All the BA marshalling teams looked extremely busy and I had to stop
and 'prod' a few to say hello and it was a great surprise 'out of the
blue' to come across Roderick and Steve N at the much earlier
experimental crossing, and was that Mike T (not running ?) on the
loudspeaker blasting my name - many thanks and much appreciated uplift
to my spirits !
I must thank BAAC again for the privileged opportunity to take part
in the prestigious London Marathon, which continues to be the best in
the world, particularly in it's organisation, marshalling and support,
had so many shouts for 'British Airways' as well as my name on my
running vest - it'll be quite a number of days before the atmosphere of
yesterday wears off but the experience and memory will remain forever.
Cheers all,
Joe Nolan (04:42:29)
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Hi Everyone
I hope those of you who were running had a good day yesterday.
It was a fabulous day with clear blue skies all the way round. I even
have sunburn on the back of my arms to prove it, I didn’t think of
putting sun cream on there. I didn’t see many other BA runners at the
start but bumped in to Piers on the way to the pen. The crowds were
great, I loved the spectator with the vintage horn on a pole and the
message ‘free honks’ and there were a couple of posters with a red
circle in the middle and the message ‘touch here for more power’. Maybe
I should have diverted and touched for an extra boost. I was through the
half in 1:55 as planned, I knew it was going to be warm later in the
race so wanted to make sure I didn’t drop any time early on. As the
distance ticked by it got warmer and harder, at 20 miles I was still on
target to get under 4 hours and really pushed hard for the last three
miles, I was puffing like I was running a parkrun, just not achieving
anywhere near the same pace. Even in the last mile I still wasn’t sure
if I’d get there or not, as I turned the corner in front of the palace
though the finish seemed so far away and I crossed the line in 4hours
and 27 seconds. Just one second a mile off the pace. I gave it
everything I had in the last few miles and don’t think I could have done
anything better on the day. It’s still a PB for me, taking 4 minutes off
my time last year so I’m really pleased with that. Thanks to the
marshals for their support at miles 17 and the last mile and a bit, it
was great to see you all.
I have the day off today and am putting my feet and sore toes up with
a visit for a sports massage this afternoon, my calfs and quads are
pretty sore.
All the best
Steve Taylor (04:00:27)
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Morning all
Hope it's not just my legs that ache!
Great day, beautiful weather and the public support throughout helped
keep me motivated!
3h46mins so pretty happy with how it went. Most importantly over
£1200 raised for a charity supporting research into childhood leukemia.
Thank you again to BA for the opportunity to run. This will be my
last marathon for definite!
Best wishes
Francis Mussai (03:46:13)
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