baRUNNER - a website for the British Airways Athletics Club
BA Athletics Club News Digest 30th October 2023
Events marked "#" are points scoring for the club's participation trophy - for the 2023 title. Club Event Map: [Clickable link to Google Maps] [parkrun run by club members updated 4th October 2023] For future weeks: inclusions, with photos, please to Roderick Hoffman at news@barunner.org.uk. Results for Next WeekPlease 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 October Mile performance by the end of the month for publication in 6th November digest):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: [no need to submit if your best mile is one of the Arethusa miles, I'll check the tables].
Weekly Athletic Achievement (by Sunday evening) or use the Facebook group prompt:
Events Attendance - which events might you come to?As an experiment I've added a poll to the Facebook groups for club listed events to be attended in November and December. This is only an experiment for now, in part because I know that there are many members who don't use Facebook. If you do then please open the poll and tick the events you may attend...or if you don't expect to attend any please tick the "None of these events" option. I've left the poll open so that you could add additional events that you have entered, or comment if you want to ask or clarify something. BA Runner Facebook Poll - November and December Events Only seven people have updated the poll so far...we should be able to do better than that. Winter Five Mile Handicap, Round 1 # ResultsThe new 5 mile handicap series got off to a promising start on a dry evening with a cool easterly breeze and aircraft noisily taking off across Hatton Road and the Bedfont FC clubhouse and carpark. The airport seemed quite busy. Let us hope Covid remains subdued throughout the winter. It was a rather gloomy evening and dusk had descended by the time most runners got going. The countdown clock was started based on a 7p.m. target for all runners. Heavy traffic caused three runners to arrive late and they were given a two minute allowance to compensate. The lack of a warm-up may have contributed to missed targets, albeit by less than a minute in all cases. Scott Davison (44:35), less familiar with the course than the others, beat his own target by a handsome amount. Last winter's series winner Paul Watt (33:45) picked up where he left off with another good run. Most of the runners were slightly faster over the first of the two laps, on average by about a minute. Alan Anderson and Mike Coombs opted for the one lap version which will always be on offer. Take-away pizzas and curries were enjoyed in the clubhouse afterwards. The next rounds will be on Wednesday 22nd November and Wednesday 13th
December. These evening runs will be well after sunset
** 2 minute adjustments due to late arrival due to traffic.
Alan Anderson jogged around one lap (2.5miles) in 39minutes, Mike Coombs walked around one lap in 46:20. Steve Newell manned the clock and pencil.
Steve Newell
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With great pleasure, we announce a donation of $14,233.00 CDN to our 2023 Charity, LiveDifferent on behalf of the World Airline Road Race participants of 2023. It is the mandate of WARR to give to a local charity each year. 10% of WARR members' registration fees and sponsorship funds raised are part of this donation. In addition to these funds, we are very thankful to Team Captain, Teri Seaboyer from Air Canada and her team who have collected $1,500.00 CDN from Air Canada employees to add to the donation this year. Live Different has advised us that the money donated will go directly to a house build they will start this week. This was not a planned build for this year, but after we advised them what we had planned to donate, they were able to organize resources to come together to build a home for a single mother in immediate need. We are thrilled to be able to see a charity donation have a direct outcome for someone. Your International WARR Committee (IWC) |
12 members' achievements were communicated to me (plus the Milocarians team).
| Colleague | Activity | Distance | Course | When | Duration | Comments |
| Andy Rayner | Various | Cox Green | Three reports: Tues 24th Oct XC in 70m, Wed 25th Oct fast walk in 49m 57s, Sat 28th Oct cycle Cox Green/Ockwells Estate in 19m 58s. | |||
| Barry Walters | Various | Bracknell | Thur | 00:28:13 | A short walk in the morning with 5x2 minutes easy jogging towards the end. No injury reaction. In the evening managed a virtual Les Mills sprint cycle session for 30 minutes. This made it 6 cycle sessions in the week, totalling 50k. | |
| Benita Scaife | Race | 5km | Serpentine Last Friday of the Month (Hyde Park) | Fri | 00:30:54 | Benita and John did the October running of the Serpentine last Friday of the month 5k in Hyde Park in 30:54… |
| John Scaife | Race | 5km | Sepentine Last Friday of the Month (Hyde Park) | Fri | 00:30:54 | ...Pictured with Piers who recorded an excellent 24:18. We spotted Adrian Haines warming up in the park and sure enough he appears in the results with a time of 18:29. |
| Christine Munden | HITT | Weekend | 01:30:00 | 45 minute HITT class followed by 45 minute Boxercise class with a 15 minute break between. | ||
| Emma Moreton | parkrun | 5km | Medina I.O.W. | Sat am | Medina IOW parkrun - PB and 2nd female . | |
| Piers Keenleyside | Race | Half-M | River Thames Half (Walton-on-Thames) | Sun | 01:51:26 | Route was mainly on the towpath to Hampton Court and back. Weather was good for 20 minutes, then it tipped it down for the rest. Had a bad twinge in my back after 2 miles and had to walk for a minute or two but managed to get going again at a slower pace and kept my back as straight as possible for the next 11 miles. Finished 2nd MV65-69. |
| Jasvir Singh Modaher | Race | Half-M | River Thames Half (Walton-on-Thames) | Sun | 02:30:13 | Lovely course, enjoyable. |
| Jain Reid | Running | Half-M | Walton-on-Thames | Sun | At the same time as the half marathon, not racing but as a more interesting training run with a couple of friends. We were hoping to run further after we finished but were soaking wet and cold so called it a day. I have to say I loved it though! Really enjoyed chatting with other runners on the way round. It's a nice casual event if anyone's interested for next year. Not a PB course given the terrain, with plenty of puddles if it's been raining, but nice to run along the river with water stops and facilities at hand. | |
| Roderick Hoffman | Running | 11.5km | Canal to Paradise Fields | Mon | 01:24:24 | Run to the beaver enclosure and back. I would have done a loop but the beaver enclosure was fully closed to enable the introduced beavers to settle in. Photo is of Dover Waterfront parkrun. |
| Stephen Taylor | Running | 13.15km | Hounslow | Wed pm | 02:24:45 | It was a long weekend run for me, a loop that took me past the old Concord Centre. Still trying to shake off the remnants of a cold. |
| Trish McCabe | Race | 10km | Tenby 10k | Sun | 00:56:32 | Tenby 10k race in all sorts of torrential weather, gale force winds, hail and heavy rain. |
35 activities are recorded below for Saturday. Please get in touch if your activity is missing.
| Club parkrunner | parkrun | Run# | Pos | Time | Age Grade | Comment / TUE Comment |
| Christopher T KELLY | Alexandra | 118 | 97 | 0:23:18 | 67.67% | BA record male time and grade (from Ray Hampton), run #580, park #82 |
| Scott DAVISON | Bedfont Lakes | 664 | 35 | 0:27:21 | 54.78% | park #437, 285th at Bedfont Lakes |
| Joe NOLAN | Black Park | 683 | 171 | 0:28:41 | 60.14% | 3rd run with age grade over 60% this year at Black Park |
| Ian Haylock | Bushy Park | 954 | 77 | 0:19:56 | 75.17% | sub 20 for 2nd time in a month |
| Ian CUNNINGHAM | Bushy Park | 954 | 569 | 0:27:12 | 59.50% | 417th run at Bushy |
| Diana Smith | Bushy Park | 954 | 1242 | 0:48:46 | 48.84% | run #44, all at Bushy |
| Joan FOXLEY | Church Mead | 81 | 53 | 0:40:51 | 58.30% | 5th run at Church Mead "My favourite. The ploughed field was really tricky as it was recently done planted - and there were small green shoots all over." |
| Ben CHAYTOW | Crane Park | 529 | 17 | 0:23:38 | 60.93% | 291st run at Crane Park |
| Roderick HOFFMAN | Dover Waterfront | 8 | 84 | 0:30:10 | 54.59% | Wet, very wet. Run #471, park #362, New BA parkrun #776. |
| Harjit Jhooti | Five Arches | 6 | 159 | 0:30:30 | 58.58% | New BA parkrun #777. West Country, |
| Alastair HESLOP | Guildford | 492 | Barcode Scanning at Guildford, 325th volunteer credit | |||
| Oliver MATHAI | Gunnersbury | 544 | 327 | 0:28:48 | 61.23% | 51st run at Gunnersbury |
| Piers KEENLEYSIDE | Gunnersbury | 544 | 524 | 0:35:30 | 47.70% | 210th run at Gunnersbury, P-Index is 6 |
| Steve NEWELL | Gunnersbury | 544 | 626 | 0:50:02 | 41.04% | 149th run at Gunnersbury, 12th anniversary |
| Alice BANKS | Higginson, Marlow | 170 | 100 | 0:28:42 | 73.93% | 63rd run at Higginson Marlow, 5th out of 85 in her age group all time list |
| David DUGGAN | Irchester Country | 136 | 125 | 0:35:11 | 46.80% | run #485, first at Irchester (nr Wellingborough, N Hants), park #133 |
| Benita SCAIFE | Jersey Farm | 181 | 180 | 0:35:19 | 61.02% | first run at Jersey Farm, park #109 |
| John SCAIFE | Jersey Farm | 181 | 181 | 0:35:20 | 49.34% | first run at Jersey Farm, park #117 |
| Mike DENNISON | Leavesden Country | 53 | 7 | 0:21:24 | 78.35% | 3rd out 93 in his age group all time list. BA best age grade (from Julie) |
| Maria JOVANI | Leavesden Country | 53 | 12 | 0:22:17 | 72.70% | F1, 3rd /out of 182 in her age group all time list. BA best female (from Julie). |
| Emma Moreton | Medina I.O.W. | 569 | 31 | 0:23:31 | 66.41% | 3rd run. PB by 45s. Improves own BA ladies record. |
| Elise LAWRENSON | Nonsuch | 556 | 513 | 0:34:30 | 47.44% | run #241, 202nd at Nonsuch |
| Bob BANNISTER | Osterley | 447 | 94 | 0:25:45 | 66.34% | run #481, 49th at Osterley |
| Alan ANDERSON | Osterley | 447 | 296 | 0:49:07 | 55.48% | run #681, 129th at Osterley |
| Murray Hogge | Reading | 614 | 15 | 0:21:47 | 75.59% | run #353, 314th at Reading |
| Jain REID | Richmond Park | 779 | 410 | 0:44:17 | 41.44% | run #148, 138th at Richmond Park |
| Sarah GORDON | Sence Valley Forest Park | 4 | 113 | 0:45:45 | 45.68% | 350th parkrun, park #145, BA first lady. (David Cowell attended inaugural) |
| Trish MCCABE | Severn Bridge | 183 | 101 | 0:27:06 | 59.16% | first run at Severn Bridge, run #438, park #131 |
| Melanie Miller | Southend | 512 | 203 | 0:39:55 | 45.34% | BA first lady to run at Southend, park #140. John Wright scanning barcodes. |
| Paul TIMMS | Tetbury Goods Shed | 156 | 16 | 0:23:21 | 68.67% | run #111, 25th at Tetbury Goods Shed |
| Adrian HAINES | Tilgate | 529 | 6 | 0:19:31 | 79.42% | run #88, 9th parkrun of 2023 - 3 of them have been at Tilgate |
| David Cowell | Wollaton Hall | 116 | Finish Tokens at Wollaton Hall, 89th volunteer credit | |||
| Fiona Bishop | Worthing | 299 | 137 | 0:25:06 | 80.74% | Improves own BA ladies record (whilst not being her own best) |
| Paul WATT | Yarborough Leisure Centre | 36 | 14 | 0:19:55 | 79.16% | BA first male runner, park #166. |
| Julie BARCLAY | Yarborough Leisure Centre | 36 | 33 | 0:22:15 | 85.99% | BA fastest female and best age grade (from Benita), park #169 |
The last Saturday of summertime always feels rather dark and this year it was damp as well.
There was one parkrun inaugural in UK this week and it was clearly a well-kept secret, attracting only 28 runners. The name “Riverside Walk parkrun” doesn’t give much away so I’ll help you out. The river is the River Wye and the run starts and finishes at Hay-on-Wye. Some of the course is on a former railway track. There is a pay carpark (£1-an-hour, not too bad), toilets nearby (30p) – entry to both needs coins, so travel prepared.
The relentless growth in the parkruns visited by club members continued this week with two more added to the collection. The Covid interruption inevitably caused a long pause in 2020-21 but apart from that an addition of one or two almost every week has been typical for a while. It may not be carbon neutral but it must be good for someone’s economy!
This week Roderick Hoffman (30:10) went to the helpfully titled Dover Waterfront which started a couple of months ago while Harjit Jhooti (30:30) went to the sixth running of Five Arches (in Somerset) and reached the finish just 20 seconds later (assuming that both started at 09:00 **). This is another parkrun which uses the route of an old railway track.
The anniversary of the launch of Gunnersbury parkrun in 2011 is always a joyful celebration with Halloween in the background. Take a look at the Gunnersbury parkrun news pages to see what I mean. Can you spot Piers Keenleyside (heavily disguised) who missed the inaugural but has run there 210 times. Twelve years on, former member Mike Lawrence (2011 time - 21:57, 2024 - 24:16) and Steve Newell (31:57, 50:02) were among the survivors. The inaugural attracted 163 runners, this week hit a high point for 2023 with 640. The highest attendances – 5 consecutive weeks at the start of 2020 with 700+ runners - have not been matched since Covid.
Elsewhere there were some good performances and club records continue to be improved upon. Adrian Haines (19:31, 79.42%) came in 6th at Tilgate, Paul Watt (19:55) met his match in his age group at Yarborough (Lincoln) where Julie Barclay (22:15, 85.99%) topped the age grading list. Ian Haylock (19:56) was in the top 100 at Bushy, Fiona Bishop improved the club record at Worthing (25:06, 80.74%) - she has been even quicker there when much younger and a member of a different club!
** Osterley is the only parkrun I know of which uses the bell in the Stables Clock Tower to signal the start each Saturday. [Ed: St Albans originally used the bell of St Albans Cathedral but they found that they needed more flexibility]
Steve Newell
This graph shows how we have got up to 777 different parkruns having been run by different club members. Since 2016 we have been adding between 80 and 90 most years, apart from during the Covid19 lockdown. We are not going to run out - there are now over 2000 parkruns in the world including over 850 in the UK. There have already been 137 parkruns added this year, including over 40 in the UK.
John Coffey ran Bushy Park back in 2005. Then from 2009 to 2011 several members added their local parkrun or a parkrun from a location they were visiting. I started my touristing in 2012, hence the blue block on the bottom of the chart from then on. But other members have made significant contributions, and these are indicated on the graph. Colours are consistent across the graph - but some members have the same or similar colours. Note that running a new club parkrun only counts if you were a paid-up member of the club when you ran it. The fastest finisher is listed where more than one ran the parkrun on the day. Volunteering is ignored, due to a lack of parkrun provided reports.
In terms of total contributions, I've added 200 to the total, David Duggan 44, Sarah Gordon 38, Steve Newell 35, Benita Scaife 35 (John another 11), Richard Ruffell 34, Neil Frediani 27, Melanie Miller 25 (since 2021), Piers Keenleyside 23, Chris Kelly 22, Paul Watt 19 (Julie another 6) and a total of 259 by 54 other members (13 contributing a single parkrun to the list).
The club map is currently up-to-date showing parkruns run by club colleagues including details of who ran each first. The nearest open access 5k parkrun to Heathrow, not yet run by club colleagues, is Wickford Memorial in Essex at 75km, then Peacehaven on the south coast and the University of Northampton at about 85km.
And some trivia - my two recent UK parkruns have been Derry City and Dover Waterfront. Dover is the British Isles parkrun where the sun can be expected to raise earliest on these winter mornings whereas Derry is where sunrise is latest - about 50minutes later. I can't confirm that by observation - on Saturday Dover Waterfront had 100% cloud cover and the rain to go with it.
Roderick Hoffman
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
"Congrats to those 'mad' but brilliant Abingdon Marathon runners. Best regards, 'Hasbeen Rayner.' "
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.
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