baRUNNER - a website for the British Airways Athletics Club
BA Athletics Club News Digest 29th May 2017Events:
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. Updated May 5th. *Club Event Map: [Clickable link to Google Maps] Not for you, no longer interested? remove me please. Difficulty viewing this email? Read it off the website instead - http://www.barunner.org.uk/News Latest.shtml. Club Facebook Page "BARunner" https://www.facebook.com/BARunnerUK/ 2017 Green Belt Relay ReportLast weekend, 20-21 May 2017, BA completed the Green Belt Relay, for the 13th time, coming 20th of the 45 teams, in a time of 28:27:36 for the 218miles (average pace 7:49 min/miles).
Despite the last minute substitutions, an additional marshalling position, some late night schedule rearrangements, and some creative SatNav work by Google*, we managed to start and finish the 22 legs, ranging from 6 to 13.3 miles in length, climbing up to 1372ft, and marshal five different locations. At most of the marshal points we also provided water, although at some it was delivered as 'self-service' (due to restructuring of our onboard provision) {Ed: It was still complimentary}. We also drove up to 8 cars around large parts of the M25 - ideally we'd like to reduce that number in future - and besides the two generations in the team, one of our regular runners but this year supporting was working on developing a future runner for the 2037 event. There were some excellent mini-races within the race - witnessing Barry's unsuccessful dip for the line at the end of Stage 6 was exciting, as was the whole-hearted commitment from Graham to the finish sprint at Blackmore on Day 1. There were remarkable results - such as the injured Mr. Dixon's top-5 finish - and the just plain beautiful - Neil's finish at the top of Box Hill - mainly thanks to the landscape on a delightful Sunday afternoon, admittedly. Captain Kelly * It could also be pointed out that when we had the IT failure we were quickly able to implement the backup manual process and ensure a quick turnaround leading to an on-time departure. More photos on Facebook (you may need to request friendship) Driver Hoffman 24th May: "Traditional" Concorde Handicap Run and last Concorde Centre Social - reportLast Wednesday we held a "traditional" Wednesday evening handicap from the Concorde Centre followed by our last ever social in the main building. Various runners set off on various distances on what was one of the hottest evenings of the year - 25 degrees. It wasn't a race so results haven't been recorded but we probably had fifteen runners doing distances from the "Round-the-Block" up to "The 10.3". The heat got to me so I finished five minutes later than the 19:15 target hence I can't say how close others got to their target finishes of that time. Sadly we had one DNF. Dave Barnard, running "The six" I think, had his hip give way on him half way around. Steve Hillier passes on the following update: "Gary Rushmer did a great job of finding him and rescuing him, bringing him back to the club. Dave didn't want to go to A&E and spent the evening at the social at the club. It appeared that his thigh had given up the ghost, and he couldn't put any weight on one leg. Tony Barnwell kindly took Dave home to Cholesbury, near Tring, and got him indoors. The next day he rested at home, but by Friday it was clear that he wasn't getting better, so he went to his local hospital. Stoke Mandeville diagnosed a stress fracture of his hip, and on Saturday he had an operation to pin it. He remains in hospital for the time being, but his wife and friends are very grateful for the rescue performed by Gary Rushmer and then Tony." There are various get-well wishes to Dave on Facebook including this one from Petra Otto "Please, would you be so kind as to relay my very best wishes to Dave, for a speedy recovery? Hope he'll be back on his feet again soon. ". Dave replied, "Thanks. Actually a "Dynamic Hip Screw" (sounds better than a pin, too)" [Dave's address and phone number available on request to the editor]. We did have the last social in the main building, with Gary delivering M&S Sandwiches and more, for our consumption. We also had a sale of old stock and managed to raise £30 the committee needs to decide what to do with. Sadly I think that new hips cost somewhat more than £30. Please remember that when we don't have other events we will still be running from the Concorde Centre on Wednesdays, including this Wednesday (other than for those doing the Rosenheim). Since the bar will not be open after this Wednesday we will be increasingly tempted to go to the Queen's Head afterwards - with its 30% discount for card holding BA Clubs members. The expectation for the monthly club nights are as follows, though none can yet be confirmed...
Roderick Hoffman (roderick@rhoff.org.uk) Track & Field Grand Prix 1,000 meters and Triple JumpOn Monday we competed in the traditional curtain raiser of the Grand Prix season, the 1000 metres and Triple Jump. Gary led us out on the 1000m on a warm, windy evening at Uxbridge, cruising to an excellent 3:16 finish. Steve and Tony briefly threatened to steal the silver medal, but the race settled to a smooth pattern after half a lap, with Roderick stretching his lead to 80m by the end. Next came the Triple Jump. Roderick returned to the track for further training, while the other three decided to tackle this career threatening event. Each tried to psyche the others out by their positioning of the take-off board (pile of sand). In the end, Gary's left-left-right spring defeated Steve's left-left-right bounce and Tony's right-right-left leap, all three seemingly managing to land in the exact same location in the pit. Jonathan's WR is safe for another day, but the club MV70 record may be under threat.
Future Mondays at the Hillingdon Track...
All members are welcome at the open evenings and all but the youngsters at the Veterans events. Rosenheims...Please note that the next Rosenheim event takes place on Wednesday 31st May at 18:45, venue Ewell Court (nr Epsom). The one after that is at St Marys Twickenham on Wednesday 21st June. Let Neil know if you'd fancy a run, jump or throw. Neil Frediani (neil.frediani@ba.com) Club parkrun results for Saturday 27th May
The bank holiday weekend prompted a bit of tourism but with a higher than usual 15 UK parkruns cancelled due to their park being unavailable the overall total of runners was down to 104,044. Guildford and Rushmoor were among those cancelled which pushed more people than ever before over to Frimley to set a new attendance record of 689. The in-form Alice Banks (25:05, 76.28%) was looking further afield than Maidenhead for a change. She had planned to run at Bracknell but got the message of a late cancellation due to a fallen twig, sorry tree. She thus made her debut at Bushy Park where they are geared up for high numbers on a regular basis. The atmosphere and the naturally fast flat and meticulously measured course can bring out the best in people. She was rewarded with her best ever age grade score at a parkrun and became the 53rd member to run at Bushy Park at least once in their career. Those 53 doesn't count Tom Rowley who ran there in the early days of the Bushy Park Time Trial before barcodes were issued. There is a possibility that Tom will return to Bushy on Saturday 1st July when a large turnout of really senior veterans is expected. Curiously the VM90 record is still waiting for someone old enough to get round the course. I’m sure Tom won’t be short of volunteers to escort him round in under an hour. No pressure Tom! Further afield Bushy regular John Coffey (26:36) became our first member to try the parkrun at Bideford in Devon. That established him as record holder in his VM75 group, but only just. Angus Kindley of Herts Phoenix AC, a regular at St Albans, did 26:53 at Bideford last year. Roderick Hoffman (27:58) was at a Cowell club outing at Nostell parkrun (Wakefield). Those two new parks take the club total to 338 out of the 452 UK 5k parkruns. On average one new run starts up every week. Next week will see a new run start at Upton House in Poole and may bring relief to the established Poole parkrun which has been attracting over 800 runners on some Saturdays in recent weeks. Sarah Gordon (32:16) ran a pb at Daventry on her 7th run there while Janice Jones (26:52) was rewarded with her best age grading at Banstead Woods. We welcomed two new runners to our active membership this week with Bob Bannister (25:48) and Anne Bannister (29:05) running at Bedfont Lakes. They are both also members of Runnymede Runners. Steve Newell James Greaves, one of our "Couch to 5k" participants, ran at Upton Court on Saturday and improved his PB to 23:02...but that is due to his continual effort and improvement this year rather than the slow jog we took him through last Thursday! If you want to promote a special parkrun then let Steve or I know. Roderick Hoffman
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The
Team was made up of 12 runners - Paul Knechtl, Richard Ruffell, Graham Taylor,
Roderick Hoffman, Barry Walters, Neil Frediani, John Quertstret, James McFarlin,
Murray Hogge, and Chris Kelly with one pair of stages split between
'injury-risk' Dave Dixon and 'only-training' Natalie Ruffell, with an injured
Dave Bird and reserves Simon Ashford, Brian Bennett unable to run. We were ably
supported by our Lead Driver, Nick Edge, and additional supporters & drivers
Vicky, Julie, and Tony.
Joe's Coaching Corner - Chilling at the bar and playing at choo-choo trains!
While
standing on your left leg, bring your right heel back, and grab your right foot
or ankle with your left hand. Gently pull your foot toward your tailbone. Keep
your knees aligned, and don’t arch your back, hold for 30 seconds. Repeat on
your other leg. To keep balance you may use the free arm to steady yourself
against a chair, wall or another person !