baRUNNER - a website for the British Airways Athletics Club

BA Athletics Club News Digest 27th March 2017

Events:

• Wednesday 29th March - Final Winter Handicap of the season - Heston Venue from 18:00* (see below)
• Sunday 2nd April - Club Cross Country Championships in Cranford Park 10:30* (reminder below)
• Wednesday 5th April - "RunTogether"  Starter Session - Heston Venue at 18:30* (see below)

New members and potential 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.

*Club Event Map: [Clickable link to Google Maps]

Not for you, no longer interested?  remove me please.

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BAAC Cross Country championships 2nd April reminder

BAAC Membership Renewal - BA Clubs

British Airways AC membership expires on 31-Mar-17, and renewals are requested to be paid from 1-Apr-17.  The Membership Subscription remains at the princely sum of £9 (GBP) for the 2017-2018 year.  Members who also wish to affiliate to UK Athletics need to include an additional £14 for 2017-2018 (a £1 increase), making a total of £23. (ref: http://www.englandathletics.org/athletics-clubs/club-affiliation).  Ideally, please setup a standing order for 1-Apr yearly, or electronic payment, and advise the Treasurer/Membership Sec by email.

• BAAC Account:    10096647
• Sort Code:            60-02-60
  

 Chris Kelly {christkelly@yahoo.com} Treasurer

Additionally you should consider maintaining your BA Clubs membership or joining if you are not currently a BA Clubs member.  The main benefits of BA Clubs membership are:

• Access to the Heston Venue changing rooms and showers, and the sports field as a running option [under review for 1st June onwards].
• Generous discount on food and drink at the Queen's Head in Heston.
• Assistance with ticket costs for WARR and ASCA events [for BA staff, under review]
• Heston Venue meeting rooms for club events [alternatives to be found for post 1st June].
• Track&Field use subsidy [half price access to Hillingdon stadium on Monday nights and hire of Eton facilities for our Track&Field Championships]

These are challenging times for BA Clubs since they no longer get financial support from the airline. There have been changes recently and there are more to come, particularly from 1st June.  Members are advised to pay membership on a monthly basis.  The annual BA Clubs membership for non-BA staff or community members is £78 though it can be payable by monthly direct debit collections of £6.50. Once you have officially retired the annual fee drops to £36 annually for BA retired staff (slightly more for non-BA retirees). Please advise the BAAC Membership secretary Alan Friar (a.friar1@ntlworld.com) if your BA Clubs' status changes (we get very embarrassed if BA Clubs tells us that one of our "full" members is no longer a BA Clubs' member).

After the Equinox 10k on April 12th we'll hold an open forum to discuss the changes to BA Clubs and what they may mean to us.

Roderick Hoffman (acting Chair)

March Five Mile Handicap Reminder

The following table shows start times for Wednesday's run:

Ed: Paul will remind others of their previous performances and set start times as appropriate.

We have now run five of the six events in the series so those having already run the first five may be looking drop their worst event, and those having run less than five will look to close the gap and overtake others.

What will the sixth event on March 29th produce? See you on Wednesday. 

Paul Brandon

PS after the event we'll retire to the Queen's Head for discounted food and drink.

RunTogether at Heston Venue at 18:30 on 5th April

On Wednesday 5th April we will have our first RunTogether event at the club.  We don't yet know if there will be anyone new to the club at the session but this is what we have planned:

The session is from 18:30 to 19:00 or soon after.  Clara Halket and I will be on hand - we are both UK Athletics accredited to lead such sessions (just, in my case). 

From 18:30 we'll have a warm-up / welcome exercise on the field near the changing rooms.  This won't be intense so we'll recommend that any club runner wanting to get some mileage should do an initial run before the start - laps of the field or even a lap of the 3.6 mile "round-the-block" course.  You can then join in the welcome session.

From 18:40 we'll have the main exercise which for twenty minutes will feature repetitions on the field - focused on the capability of each individual but with a side-by-side element to encourage participants to push themselves.

At 19:00 participants can either join a formal low intensity warm-down OR do their own warm-down round the field (this week it should remain light well towards 19:30).

Please encourage anyone you know to join us - with any ability.  Participants should preregister on the website (https://groups.runtogether.co.uk/baRunner) but all are welcome even if they haven't.

Roderick Hoffman

Marathon Training Reminder

Well it’s about a month away now from the London Marathon and everyone should be doing their last long runs about now before a steady taper to ensure that you get to the start line in good shape, with the mileage now banked in the legs ! 

• Too many runners, particularly marathon first timers seem to think that more and more miles right up to the day, without proper recoveries, needs to be done …a too frequent major mistake. No problem in more running, it may feel strange, but keep it to shorter distances with maybe a bit of careful speed work or just practicing your race day pace !
• Start to think about your race day nutrition before, during and after – don’t wait until the day – remember on the day you’ll be up early, travelling up hours before and hanging around before the start – what are your breakfast plans ?
• Have you got your transport plan getting there in place …and for after, with ‘knackered legs’ !!!
• Make sure you’ve got comfy shoes and kit all sorted – don’t try new gear on the day.
• What provision have you for the bits that rub and get sore ????  BodyGlide anti-chaff etc., or grab some Vaseline on route ?
• Perhaps arrange a sports massage about a week before, and one a few days after ?
• And OMG, I have found more and more runners chat about going to the toilet before and during the 26.2 – well just as a reassurance there are trillions of loos at Blackheath and plenty on route so no problem there to go as many times as you like !

Plenty of things to think about above other than the actual running - has anyone got any more comments to help our long distancers whether it be London or another of the many Springtime marathons ?

Joe Nolan

Club parkrun results for Saturday 25th March

This was the last week of the club's membership year when everyone has to decide whether they want to continue being a member or consign themselves to be 'former members'.  Linda and Steve Dodsworth have been representing us almost every week somewhere in the North of England and they have certainly put us on the map.  They have been finding it rather lonely with very little contact with any other club members and they have decided to leave us.  We wish them well.  They signed off in style, both recording pbs at Sunderland to leave us with these club records; - Steve Dodsworth (21:56) and Linda Dodsworth (24:59). 

Going forward it would make my task easier if anyone wishing to leave the project lets us know THIS WEEK. All those staying with us (unless they are a member of another club) can help by ensuring that British Airways AC is included in their parkrun profile.

A great run this week by Barry Walters (21:02) who travelled to Didcot for the first time and set a new age category and a club course record by a wide margin.  John Coffey (25:52) was in his best form of the year so far at Bushy Park.  He is up to 6th place in the MV75 all time list at Bushy Park now.  Roderick Hoffman (25:56) was just four seconds slower at Lowestoft, the most easterly parkrun in England. [Ed: I've sorted the table this week on finish time to show the tightness of the midpack runners - Ian Cunningham at the tough Homewood course nine seconds ahead of Steve Taylor at Northala who was himself a long neck ahead of John Coffey at Bushy who was four seconds ahead of Roderick at the fast Lowestoft course]

Kevin Holland (31:03) was at Poole, part of an attendance of 868 just two short of the all time record there.  There is talk of a new parkrun starting nearby soon to ease the pressure a bit.

Next Saturday is 1st April and the traditional morning for practical jokes.  Joe Nolan will be hoping his pacing squad maintain discipline and stick rigidly to their normal schedules [Joe adds "we did think of playing an April Fool prank, maybe starting the pacers in reverse order, but have decided to be prudent and stick to the correct order ...but there again who knows how any individual flag bearer may misbehave !! "].  Pacing help now extends to runners wanting to achieve anything between 19 and 40 minutes, even those who like to mix running and walking.  

Steve Newell

Updated club parkrun stats

Compass Points

Steve is correct to point out that Lowestoft is the most Easterly parkrun in the UK but my reason for doing it was quite the opposite - it is the only parkrun in the UK to include the word "WEST" in its name.  Within the UK I've now run at all the points of the compass - at Eastleigh (the only other "EAST" is Eastbourne), South Oxhey (and others), Northala Fields (and others) and yesterday LoWESToft parkrun.  And for the centre of the rose I've also run at Chelmsford Central. Lowestoft has a fast course - the prevailing wind on the promenade is from the north and the course starts with a wide start then a 600m due south section before doing two loops.  The loop includes a sharp 20m climb but this was sheltered from the wind so one got more of the benefit of the gradual descent to speed one on.  On the second loop this descent is down towards the finish.

Roderick Hoffman

Looking ahead over the next few weeks Steve and I have a few London parkrun tourist visits lined up and you'd be welcome to join us for any of these:

• 1st April - Rickmansworth
• 8th April - Roding Valley [nb: this is with the intention of getting back to nearby Pymmes before their birthday cake runs out]
• 22nd April - Osterley Park [nb: Geoff Miles has now advised that they will be back on the three lap course by that date BUT I can confirm that ALL of the potholes and loose gravel sections of the course have been improved beyond recognition (but the tree roots are still there)].

Virtual parkruns?

For anyone who isn't able to travel to a parkrun there may be another option available to them from their local sports centre from this Saturday morning - see http://parkrun.com/news/parkrun_announcement_01042017.html for details.

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And from our Rowling Reporter...

Running Shorts

• I ran my first marathon as a 60 year old today! The Queen Elizabeth Spring Marathon. The South Downs were glorious in the spring sunshine and the trails were never too muddy! I ditched 1kg from my backpack and ran with just 6kg - finished in a time of 5:00:09 which I was quite pleased with (but shame about those last 9 seconds!) considering the pack and over 3,600 feet of climb. The taper for MdS (assuming the doctors let me run) begins now - with a day "off" next Sunday for the Alexander The Great Marathon in Thessaloniki! Piers Keenleyside
• Cranford Park are still progressing their application for a Lottery Funding. They are hoping to submit their funding bid in August. A lot of work remains to be done, including proving that the park is sufficiently used and is supported by the community.   As part of this, we'll be carrying out a consultation at the Tesco Bull's Bridge Extra (Hayes Road, near A312 Hayes by-pass) on Saturday April 8, from 9am- 3pm. All club members in the vicinity please drop by and see what they are proposing (and ask them again about running facilities to demonstrate the demand).
• Take care if you are running through Osterley Park over the next couple of weeks. Beware of the dinosaurs!

Next Digest?

Is it your turn to send something in this week?

Results, news, pictures, feedback, jokes, stories - send it to us at news@barunner.org.uk.

Club website:

www.barunner.org.uk.