THE HARRIERS HERALD
No.
156, February 2006
Sue
Thurs 2nd Lucy
to lead
Thurs 9th Pete to lead
Thurs 16th Handicap
Race
Thurs 23rd Phil to lead
Thurs 2nd Kirsty
to lead
Thurs 9th Handicap
Race
Thurs 16th Tom to lead
Thurs 23rd Preparation
for Compton Downland Challenge
Sat 25th Compton
Downland Challenge
Thurs 30th Mo to lead
Correspondence received by
Secretary
Abbreviations: BCAA = Berkshire
County Athletic Association; SEAA = South of England Athletic Association; AAA
= Amateur Athletic Association of England; UKA = UK Athletics
|
Correspondence received |
||
Sender
|
Subject matter |
Action |
|
Frimley Park Hospital
Appeals Manager |
Entry forms for 10K in aid
of ‘Life Saver Appeal’
(26-03-06) |
Events diary & notice
board |
|
Running Imp |
2006 Catalogue |
File |
|
Andy Neal, UKA |
Information on coaching
courses |
File |
|
The Stroke Association |
Letter & poster re
charity places in 2006 London Marathon |
Notice board |
|
Nirvana Europe |
Road running tours and
warm weather training 2006 |
File |
|
SEAA |
Certificate to confirm
affiliation of C. Harriers for 2006 Info. update #96; Nike
Road Relays (M. Keynes, 26-03-05) |
File |
|
Silson Joggers |
Silverstone 10K entry
forms (02-05-06) |
Notice board |
|
Baxter’s Lochness Marathon |
Lochness Marathon, 10K, 5K
entry forms (01-10-06) |
Notice board |
|
Royal Nat. Inst. Blind |
Run London Marathon to
raise money for RNIB |
Notice board |
|
UKA |
Club awards; new contacts
for UKA club service dept. |
File |
|
City of Lincoln Council |
City of Lincoln 10K entry
forms (02-04-06) |
Nnotice board |
Bike challenge 2005
Though it was with short notice, 5 Compton Harriers (one ex. member)
managed to squeeze in an attempt at the 2005 bike challenge. New rules and bad weather were, for some of
us, the excuse for slower times. It has
to be admired that Andy, who unfortunately is an ex-Compton Harrier, managed a
flying time of 18:35 so now we all have something to aim for!
Dick’s and Peter’s names
were both ready to be picked. Martin did
the honours and picked Dick, who finally got his prize after having been among
the two fastest in each challenge. He
received Paula Radcliff’s “My story so far”.
Our times compared with last
year:
2004 2005
Dick 19:47 19:35
Pete 22:03 21:05
Sue 20:23 22:42
The Bike Challenge Team have
decided that, as soon as we have come up with a new route, the challenge will
commence and will finish in December at our Christmas dinner. So watch this space!
Well done Dick, we hope it
was worth “nearly killing yourself for”.
The Bike Challenge Team
(Elo and Susanne)
Woodcote & Goring Lions 10K, 8th
January
Three Harriers competed in this well-established annual road race, with great success. It followed the usual route: gently downhill from Woodcote to Goring for the first 5K, then uphill to 6K, downhill to 7K, and finally a long drag back uphill to the finish at Woodcote. It was a cold day, and there was a strong cross-wind on some of the more exposed sections. Nearly 300 runners took part, but it was a lonely run for some of those nearer the front, particularly Martin who was in a gap 2 minutes behind the leading pair and 1 minute ahead of the next runner. Those of us who were a bit further back had plenty of others to run with, and shelter behind, on the windy sections. It was good to see Mo at two places on the route, having cycled round it to take photos and cheer us on. Martin ran a minute faster than his 2005 time, Lucy was 30 seconds faster than in 2005, and Sue slightly slower. As usual, the race was very well organised, and the presentation took place fairly promptly. To our surprise and delight, we each came away with a trophy: a first for Lucy, a second for Sue, and a third for Martin.
Martin 37:43 3rd
Sue 41:20 21st (2nd
lady)
Lucy 46:46 66th (1st FV40)
Mike Trees (ORCA UK) 34:55 1st
Belinda Davies (RRR) 40:33 12th (1st lady)
Berkshire
County Cross-Country Champs, Maidenhead, 15th January
Pete represented Compton Harriers at the county championships, held at Burchett’s Green Agricultural College, near Maidenhead. The challenging route was mostly around field margins with some around stony tracks and alongside a wood. I have tried without success to access the full results, so I don’t know Pete’s position or time. However, he did well on the 12K course to pass his usual Team Kennet ‘rivals’ in the later stages. Sue represented Reading A.C. in the ladies 6K race and finished 5th.
Website
update… http://comptonharriers.org.uk
Mo
Several members have
commented about the annoying increase in pop-ups when accessing the website;
unfortunately this is one of the pitfalls encountered when using free
sub-domain names … pop-ups bring in money for the domain name holders through
advertising. Well as the number of
pop-ups is now spoiling our on-line visits, I have decided to do something
about it and bring back the undoubted pleasure of visiting the Harriers website
once more!
Have you noticed the website address above? We now have our own domain name, so by using
the new address, you will notice an immediate drop in pop-ups … in fact, you
shouldn’t get any at all! Of course,
this won’t cover links to other websites, but at least all pages on the
Harriers main website will be pop-up free.
We will also have another email address for the new domain, comptonharriers@comptonharriers.org.uk
.
Of course, the other sub-domain names, comptonharriers.cjb.net and
comptonharriersrc.cjb.net and associated email addresses will continue to
operate (pop-ups included) but, over time as the general populous becomes
familiar with our own domain name, they can be phased out.
As a follow up to last month’s
links to web sites on running gear, it’s worth having a look at the current
Runner’s World home page and following the links to the articles on new shoes
and clothing. The clothing covers a
section on sports bras and the reasons why lady runners need support. There are also many other superb articles and
links to other sports gear websites. The
link is http://www.runnersworld.co.uk
.
If you want to find sports
facilities in any particular area around the country, then I suggest a visit to
http://www.activeplaces.com which is
a searchable database from Sport England.
The interactive search facility also makes use of ordnance survey maps
to show the exact location of the facility you are searching for. Whilst on the
subject of sports facilities, another searchable database for finding a local
gym or health club can be found at
http://www.thefitmap.co.uk
. This site also includes useful
information on health & fitness in general.
My last link for this month
is on the good old BBC website where you can find all the facts you need on
fitness and healthy living at http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/healthy_living
.
Events
Diary: A selection of local and other well known events for your
information. If you need any entry
forms, I can email most of them on request.
·
Sunday 5th
February 2006 - OXFORD MAIL X-COUNTRY
LEAGUE – Cirencester
·
Sunday 12th
February 2006 – WOKINGHAM ½ MARATHON - 10:00am,
Cantley Park, Wokingham
http://www.wokinghamhalfmarathon.co.uk
· Sunday 19th
February 2006 – DURSLEY DOZEN –
10:30 am, May Lane car park (opposite the Old Spot pub) http://www.g4cio.demon.co.uk/ddozen/ddozen.htm
· Sunday 19th
February 2006 – HARDWICK X-COUNTRY
RACE (Approx 6miles)- 11:00 am, Manor House Farm, Hardwick, Nr Aylesbury,
Bucks.
http://www.bearbrookjoggers.co.uk
· Sunday 26th
February 2006 – THE GORING 10K –
11:00 am, Gardiner Recreation Ground,
Goring-on-Thames
http://www.goring10k.com
· Sunday 26th
February 2006 – THE TERMINATOR 10 –
10:30 am, Pewsey School, 10 miles MT
http://www.pewseyvalerunningclub.com
· Sunday 5th
March 2006 - OXFORD MAIL X-COUNTRY
LEAGUE – Banbury
· Sunday 12th
March 2006 – THE GRIZZLY 2006 –
10:30 am, Seaton, Devon.
· Saturday 25th
March 2006 – THE 11th
COMPTON CHALLENGE – 9:00 am, The Downs School, Compton, Newbury, Berks.
http://comptonharriers.cjb.net
· Sunday 26th March 2006 – FRIMLEY PARK HOSPITAL 10K & 2.5K FUN RUN – 09:30 am
Frimley Park Hospital – Entry forms on club notice
board.
· Sunday 2nd
April 2006 – 24th WHITE
HORSE HALF-MARATHON - 10:00am, Millbrook School, School Lane, Grove, Oxon OX12 7LB
http://www.whitehorseharriers.org
· Sunday 9th
April 2006 – READING HALF MARATHON
& GREEN PARK CHALLENGE 4K – 10:05 am, Green Park (Behind Madejski
Stadium) and 10:15 am for the 4k Challenge
http://racepayment.mirrorservers.co.uk/readinghalfmarathon
· Sunday 23rd
April 2006 – THE LONDON MARATHON – 09:45
am, Blackheath, London
http://www.london-marathon.co.uk/
(Mo – February 2006)
Handicap
Race
Sue
January’s Handicap Race was delayed for a week so that Martin and Lucy would be back from holiday and able to race each other in what remains a very close battle between them. Unfortunately, the new date coincided with a variety of ‘goings-on’ in Compton, which gave us a few obstacles. We had a set of traffic lights for roadworks by Wilson Close (which seemed to have turned off all the street-lights along that stretch of road), a lot of parked cars at the top of Newbury Lane, another set of roadworks and lights on the final stretch, and a pile of ballast at our finish point. As if that wasn’t enough, it was bitterly cold. The regular Harriers were joined by ‘guest’ runner Jane, a lady from Edinburgh University who was visiting IAH-Compton for a week. Jane, more used to running longer distances, predicted she would run 14 – 15 minutes and was given an appropriate start time. However, she had underestimated her capabilities and pushed on well to take first place. Kirsty was next home, with Lucy, then Martin very close behind. Vicky, back in action after a long-term knee injury, and Sue, also running with a dodgy knee, followed in close succession. Pete just managed to stay ahead of Dick, as they took 7th and 8th spots. Well done to Kirsty, who was awarded the trophy as Jane did not foresee any further visits to Compton. Thanks to Jan for timing on such a cold night. Later that evening, I spotted that she had written on the time-keeping sheet next to ‘Timekeeper: Jan’ the words “Looking forward to summer!”. As the next Handicap Race is scheduled for 16th February, I’m afraid I can’t guarantee that will be any warmer!
|
Pos |
Name |
Start time |
Finish time |
Actual time |
Handicap Beaten? |
|
1 |
Jane |
1:44 |
15:20 |
13:36 |
New runner |
|
2 |
Kirsty |
0:44 |
15:44 |
15:00 |
-0:16 |
|
3 |
Lucy |
2:24 |
15:48 |
13:24 |
-0:12 |
|
4 |
Martin |
4:43 |
15:54 |
11:11 |
-0:06 |
|
5 |
Vicky |
1:44 |
16:13 |
14:29 |
+0:13 |
|
6 |
Sue F |
4:15 |
16:15 |
12:00 |
+0:15 |
|
7 |
Pete |
2:43 |
16:39 |
13:56 |
+0:39 |
|
8 |
Dick |
3:08 |
16:49 |
13:41 |
+0:52 |
When updating the Championship points, I
at first thought I should omit Jane and start the scoring from Kirsty. Then I decided it didn’t matter, because Jane
did not separate two other runners, and giving her a score would thus not
affect the relative scores of the rest of us.
After 3 months of Martin and Lucy swapping the lead between them, they
both now have exactly the same points score.
With only two more races to go, there is little hope for the rest of us…unless
of course Martin should mysteriously ‘fall’ off a cliff in the Lake District,
or if Lucy should get lost in the dark on the ‘wrong concrete road’…… The excitement mounts.
|
Position |
Name |
Race points |
||||||
|
Race 1 |
Race 2 |
Race 3 |
Race 4 |
Race 5 |
Race 6 |
Total |
||
|
1= |
Martin |
7 |
4 |
6 |
4 |
- |
- |
21 |
|
1= |
Lucy |
5 |
7 |
4 |
5 |
- |
- |
21 |
|
3 |
Sue |
4 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
- |
- |
14 |
|
4= |
Pete |
3 |
- |
5 |
1 |
- |
- |
9 |
|
4= |
Susanne |
1 |
6 |
2 |
- |
- |
- |
9 |
|
6= |
Kirsty |
2 |
- |
- |
6 |
- |
- |
8 |
|
6= |
Kevin |
1 |
- |
7 |
- |
- |
- |
8 |
|
8= |
Dick |
6 |
- |
- |
1 |
- |
- |
7 |
|
8= |
Jane |
- |
- |
- |
7 |
- |
- |
7 |
|
10 |
Vicky |
- |
- |
- |
3 |
- |
- |
3 |