baRUNNER - a website for the British Airways Athletics Club

BA Athletics Club News Digest 22nd January 2024

Club Event Map: [Clickable link to Google Maps] [parkrun run by club members updated January 2024]

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

Events this week

Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5k - Run Britain Online Entry System

This event is this Friday at 12:30 at the Serpentine in Hyde Park. There is an advertised cut-off time of 35 minutes. Online entry is required and the event is prone to sell out - but was still showing places available on Monday evening.

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 January Mile performance by the end of the month for publication in the first February digests):

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:

Your Athletic Achievement of the Week (or use the prompt in the BAAC Facebook group):

England Athletics Standards - Safeguarding

As a club affiliated to EA, we are required to develop and publish standards which meet UK legislation.  So far, we have signed off our Constitution, Committee structure, our Grievance and Disciplinary Policy and our Privacy and Inclusion policies.

Next on the list is the Safeguarding Code of Conduct.  This is now in final draft and has been agreed by your committee.  We propose adoption this Spring.  The text is attached, and we will make the associated EA policy and procedure available on our website.

Please take a moment to review this code of conduct, which we believe you will find acceptable.  If you have any comments or questions, please let me know by February 20^th.  The plan is that the club will adopt this document, and any member paying their subs for 2024/5 is required to adhere to this code.

Steve Hillier

Hon Sec BAAC

January 2024

Please read the Club Safeguarding Policy document: BAAC Club Safeguarding Policy 2024 draft 4.doc

Note that accepting membership of the club requires each member to:

• adhere to BAAC’s Inclusion Policy,

• be respectful of all fellow runners, officials and spectators,

• follow the letter and the spirit of fair play,

• ensure that they do not bring the running club into disrespect.

Speedbird Ladies 5K – Race Director required

This 5K event has proved to be one of our most enduring successes, with a good turnout of ladies ensuring a popular event.

This year, we hope to stage the event once more at Waterside, and we have some willing volunteers ready to help.  There’s one role that we need to fill, that of Race Director.  Before the day this individual would keep an overview of the plans for the race and on the day would marshal the support of the volunteers. 

Could the Race Director be you?  If you would like to take on this interesting role, please make one of the committee aware of your interest. Previous experience is not required - it is important that the club train up more members to be able to take on roles such as this.

Thank you, 

> Steve Hillier 

Ed: An advantage of this role being performed by a bloke is that this frees all of our ladies to run in the event. But of course, applications from ladies will be considered equally. Someone able to manage the weather is always a bonus, but not expected, and most of the time the Race Director only need the ability to point the Race in the right Direction.

Recent Activity Achievements

16 members' achievements were communicated to me before this week's publication time.

parkrun Results for Saturday 20th January 2024

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

parkrun Review Saturday 20th January 2024 

Steve Newell is on a boat so these notes are from Roderick. We would welcome someone else to write some parkrun notes next weekend - get in touch. Steve did manage to write a report on Essex parkruns before he left - the first part is below.

Two new parks added to our list this weekend - by two of our three runners who finished in gender position one. Firstly Fiona Bishop returning from Australia stopped in Singapore and visited the West Coast Park parkrun, having run the East Coast Park parkrun on her way out. Then pilot David Cowell nabbed number #797 well before Boeing have delivered an aircraft of that number. David ran at Battlestead Croft parkrun, near Burton-on-Trent, which launched in December. They had their largest field of 150 runners including some well known tourists but David managed to finish a few seconds ahead of the first 500 shirted chaser.

Fiona's achievement on Saturday is probably the club's oldest first lady finish but it is difficult to be sure because I don't know any of our ladies ages (Fiona finish was in the VW60-64 category) and parkrun don't make the gender finish stat available in the main individual results table. Mike Dennison achieved a male (and overall) first finish at Southall last year in the VM65-69 category.

Australia is having a surge in numbers - including an Australian record 1070 at Albert Melbourne (right next to the venue for the tennis). parkrun Australia is expecting to pass 1million different participants this Saturday - that's in a population of about 26million so about 1 in 26. In the UK we've had over 3million participants from a population of around 67million - so a slightly higher rate of about 1 in 22. Meanwhile in New Zealand Colin Thorne at Whangarei parkrun became the first regular parkrunner to finish a parkrun at age 100+. Alan Anderson has got some way to go yet.

Roderick Hoffman

parkruns in Essex – part 1 (of 2)

Essex is quite a large county and rich with parkruns.  Those in the far southwest corner of the historic county are now in a London borough and were covered in the earlier article.  The parkrun at Hatfield Forest near Stansted has been discontinued permanently and replaced by Castle Park over the border in Hertfordshire.  Roderick Hoffman (29:08) was our only runner there (in 2015) so that club record is safe with him!

Starting with the southwest corner and moving out radially the parkrun at Roding Valley is possible to reach on foot via Loughton on the Central Line. A flat grassy cross country two lapper.  Inside the M25, up the M11. Snooker champion Ronnie O’Sullivan has a pb there of 20:11 – make of that what you will!  Also, just inside the M25 (close enough to hear it!) is Gunpowder Park, accessible on a bike if you travel to Enfield Lock station.

Brentwood parkrun in Weald Country Park is much more of a challenge.  This is a hilly 3 miles from Brentwood station which makes it possible to reach with a bike.  A cross-country course with wildlife distractions and some serious hills!  Further to the East but within cycling distance of the end of the Elizabeth Line at Shenfield is Billericay parkrun. Billericay station on the Liverpool St. to Southend Line is nearer.  This has a few ups and downs but nothing too serious and part of the four-lap course follows the edge of a lake.

Basildon (population >100,000) parkrun has a more landscaped urban feel to it but includes stretches on grass as well as tarmac.  Dame Kelly Holmes (20:49) visited once as they celebrated their 100th run.  Incidentally, she has been at a parkrun as recently as December 2023 (Plymouth).

The next group are close to the Thames Estuary.  Thurrock parkrun at Orsett Heath is close to the approach road which leads to the port of Tilbury.  Two laps, level throughout and all on grass.  Then we have Hadleigh parkrun in an area inland of Canvey Island which was used for the mountain bike events during the London 2012 Olympics – so undulating to say the least but with splendid views across the Thames estuary.  Slightly further to the East comes Chalkwell Beach parkrun at Westcliff-on-Sea, a dead flat out-and-back along the sea wall on concrete.  Just five miles further along we have Southend parkrun.  This is held at Gunners Park, Shoeburyness.  Three laps of level concrete and tarmac.  A potential pb course where the men’s record is 14:15.

The final group of parkruns in this southern section are on or near the River Crouch.  Working in from the Sea, Burnham-on-Crouch parkrun is held in the Riverside Park.  Two laps with some tight turns and short sharp inclines.  Up the estuary about eight miles where the state of the tide makes all the difference from a scenic point of view is South Woodham Ferrers parkrun which is a mostly flat out-and-back starting and finishing near a yacht club.  A few miles further upstream is Wickford Memorial parkrun, a fairly flat two-lapper mostly on good paths where the river has become quite narrow and tree lined. Five miles to the South is Hockley Woods parkrun, the final one for this week.  The forest here is extensive and a good example of the woodlands which once covered much of Essex.  Two laps with some significant up and downs to make you work a bit.

That concludes the parkruns in the southern part of Essex.  The northern parkruns will be covered next week.

Steve Newell

Matters Arising - South Essex parkruns

No club member has yet to run at Burnham-on-Crouch. All the others listed have had at least one BAAC runner. Gunpowder has easily proved the most popular with 93 visits, 78 by former member Tony Hird, but also eight times by myself (my third most frequent after Northala Fields and Pymmes) and also by six other members. None of the others have been visited twice by any club member. Four of us have visited Brentwood, three Roding Valley, Billericay and Southwoodham Ferrers, and two Southend, Chalkwell Beach, Thurrock, Wickford Memorial, Basildon and Hatfield Forest. Hadleigh and Hockley Woods have had sole visitations. I've visited ten of the fourteen parkruns listed, Steve Newell seven, Fiona four and Melanie three. Richard Ruffell and Harjit Jhooti have visited two and six other members have visited just one. Perhaps a club member's visit to Burnham-on-Crouch next weekend will turn out to be our 800th parkrun venue? We shall find out.

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

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

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