NEWSLETTERJUNE 2003 ISSUE 311
EVENTS DIARY:
| JULY 12th | SOUTHERN TRACK LEAGUE at SOUTHAMPTON |
| 17th | SUMMER HANDICAP |
| 25th | BUSHY PARK 7 km |
| AUG. 2nd | SOUTHERN TRACK LEAGUE at BASINGSTOKE |
| 3rd | MILLAND VALLEY TRAIL RACE Nr MIDHURST 21km OR 6 mile events |
| 10th | SALISBURY 5-4-3-2-1 CHALLENGE Trail run |
| 14th | SUMMER HANDICAP |
FOR FURTHER ENTRY DETAILS CONTACT FRANNY OR CHECK IN “RUNNER’S WORLD”.FRANNY’S BITS.
I am still desperately struggling to find any items for the newsletter. Three club members are constantly promising reports and hopefully some have been passed directly to Geoff , but if not, this could be one of the last newsletters that I will help to produce.
The track team continues to struggle as I type this though hopefully they had a better result in their last fixture.
The one true highlight of the summer has been the amazing form of the juniors with Geoff’s squad holding their own in both open and schools events.
BRAISHFIELD 5 miles 15th JUNE.
On a blistering hot day and little breeze there was a small entry from the club for the second consistency league event of the season. Those of us who had not competed here before expressed a view that the course was really tough, especially on the second lap. The final total of finishers of 192 was rather small due to the weather as moer had competed in previous years.
Jamie, despite an assertion that he was not fit, managed to take fourth place whilst well adrift of the first 3. JT collected his prize but had to wait over an hour due to a cock up in the results. A lady and man duo from Belgrave had used each others number and resulted in the woman being recorded in 3rd place overall. In fact she was second lady behind Basingstoke’s Behan Harris. Why it took so long to work out is anyones guess but had it stood it would have affected the team result.
Mark was next home in 8th place, well ahead of Andy Hartley who just got the best of Gregg who was making a rare outing for the club. These four were possibly second team but this cannot be confirmed until the official results become available.
Dave Titcomb had a good race to take 60th place and useful consistency points as did JT in a moderate time of 40:57. Our only female interest was Belind who struggled with the conditions and expressed the view that it was just too hot.
| 4th | J.JONES | 27m 42sec |
| 8th | M.SIMCOX | 29m 15sec |
| 20th | A.HARTLEY | 31m 04sec |
| 22nd | G.ENGLAND | 31m 10sec |
| 60th | D.TITCOMB | 35m 25sec |
| 118th | J.THOMAS | 40m 57sec |
| 152nd | B.LADE | 47m 12sec |
192 Finished.
MANY THANKS TO JT FOR THE ABOVE REPORT.
CONSISTENCY LEAGUE.
Only 2 races gone but the current league leader in the men’s table is Mark with 39 points. Next are: Dave Titcomb 27pts., Jamie 20pts. And Keith Clark 19pts.
The ladies table is headed by Cath and Belinda on 20 points with Audra on 19 and Liz 18 points.
Unless a return Mob match can be arranged with Basingstoke the next fixture will be at the Headington 5 miles in August and will include the club championship which means double points. See the notice board for further details.
SOUTHERN LEAGUE Division 4 West MATCH 3 @ Salisbury 31/05/03 by David Vosser
Shortage of healthy athletes takes its toll
Following our disastrous result down at Horsham, we had planned on a better result down at Salisbury to keep us aware from the relegation zone. However due to sickness and holidays we were short of a coupe of our stars and a too small contingent of only nine were left to cover all the events.
I gained our first win in the 400m Hurdles, which was the first time in n years that I’ve done that. This was swiftly followed by a pulled hamstring in the 100metres putting me out for the rest of the day.
The ever reliable Ian Ford gained an excellent win in the 500om which was made all the better by Paul making a steady and composed effort over the same distance to easily win the ‘B’ String. Keith Vallis gained a victory in the steeple but with no second string runner was to prove costly at the end of the day.
Simon Morgan was our field star with a first in the Hammer and two seconds in the Javelin and Discuss. Ian Vosser ran his first track race for the team, just breaking that magic 30seconds barrier he also gained vital points in the Long and Triple jump.
Sadly we finished equal 4th with Holland Sports, which really puts us in the mire down in 18th place in the league, 1 place above the relegation zone.
| Event | Name | Pos’n | Event | Name | Pos’n | ||||
| 400H | A | K.Vallis | 67.5 | 5 | LJ | A | I.Vosser | 4.05 | 5 |
| 400H | B | D.Vosser | 69.9 | 1 | LJ | B | K.Vallis | 3.77 | 4 |
| 100M | A | J. Coney | 12.4 | 3 | HJ | A | D.Vosser | 1.40 | 5 |
| 100M | B | D.Vosser | 22.5 | 5 | HJ | B | I.Vosser | NH | |
| 800M | A | A.Harris | 2.08.0 | 2 | PV | A | D.Vosser | 1.40 | 5 |
| 800M | B | J.Bliss | 2.15.7 | 2 | PV | B | I.Vosser | NH | |
| 5000M | A | I.Ford | 17.00.0 | 1 | TJ | A | I.Vosser | 8.57 | 5 |
| 5000M | B | P.Wheeler | 19.26.1 | 1 | TJ | B | K. Vallis | 8.12 | 4 |
| 400M | A | J. Coney | 56.0 | 3 | Hammer | A | S. Morgan | 29.71 | 1 |
| 400M | B | I.Ford | 70.2 | 4 | Hammer | B | P.Wheeler | 14.31 | 4 |
| 110H | A | K.Vallis | 24.2 | 4 | Javelin | A | S. Morgan | 32.70 | 2 |
| 110H | B | Javelin | B | P.Wheeler | 23.13 | 3 | |||
| 200M | A | J.Coney | 25.2 | 4 | Shot | A | S.Morgan | 8.82 | 3 |
| 200M | B | I.Vosser | 29.9 | 4 | Shot | B | P.Wheeler | 6.63 | 4 |
| 1500M | A | A.Harris | 4.21.9 | 2 | Discus | A | S. Morgan | 27.72 | 2 |
| 1500M | B | J.Bliss | 4.31.4 | 2 | Discus | B | P.Wheeler | 16.64 | 3 |
| 4 X 100 | – | DQ | – | 4 X 400 | – | 3 | |||
| 3000M S/CH | A | K.Vallis | 10.41.7 | 1 | 3000M S/CH | B |
| Match Result | Field points | Track points | Total points | Position |
| Salisbury | 65 | 75 | 140 | 1st |
| Milton Keynes | 64 | 43 | 107 | 2nd |
| Bournemouth | 35 | 65 | 100 | 3rd |
| Holland Sports | 39 | 50 | 88 | EQ 4th |
| Overton | 33 | 55 | 88 | EQ 4th |
Some Juniors Results from Geoff
Josh Bliss and Aaron Harris competed in the 1500metres for Andover District in the Hampshire Schools Championships at Portsmouth June 14. Josh Bliss was first in action in the Junior Boys race and by the start of the second lap had established a comfortable lead which he never looked like losing to win in 4mins 26secs. Aaron Harris, competing in the Intermediate Boys race was up against tough opposition, and after a good start found himself in third place after the first lap. Determined to track the leader Aaron doggedly moved into second place, and distanced himself from the following pack to finish runner up in 4mins 14secs, slicing 6seconds from his previous best.
Both boys earned a place in the Inter-Counties match at Lewes on June 21.
| Summer Handicap 19th June 2003 Harroway 3.5mile from Dave Vosser | ||||||
| Position | Time | Handicap | Actual Time | Time Position | ||
| 1 | Dave Maughan | 29.42 | 8.00 | 21.42 | 4 | |
| 2 | Keith Clark | 29.56 | 8.40 | 21.16 | 3 | |
| 3 | Eric Tilbury | 30.23 | 7.00 | 23.23 | 6 | |
| 4 | Ian Vosser | 30.48 | 5.47 | 25.01 | 7 | |
| 5 | Mark Simcox | 30.50 | 10.40 | 20.10 | 1 | |
| 6 | Martin Crawshaw | 31.05 | 10.00 | 21.05 | 2 | |
| 7 | Cath Wheeler | 31.10 | 8.39 | 22.31 | 5 | |
| 8 | Geoff Cloke | 32.06 | 5.30 | 26.36 | 9 | |
| 9 | Frank Kenny | 32.11 | 5.25 | 26.46 | 11 | |
| 10 | Dorothy Wicke | 32.18 | 5.00 | 27.18 | 12 | |
| 11 | Liz Sandal-Ball | 32.25 | 5.47 | 26.38 | 10 | |
| 12 | Louis Macey | 32.40 | 1.30 | 31.10 | 17 | |
| 13 | Mick Woods | 32.47 | 6.59 | 25.48 | 8 | |
| 14 | John Thomas | 33.03 | 3.57 | 29.06 | 14 | |
| 15 | Moira West | 33.17 | 4.00 | 29.17 | 15 | |
| 16 | Andrew Walker | 33.59 | 5.30 | 28.29 | 13 | |
| 17 | Martin Churn | 35.12 | 5.30 | 29.42 | 16 | |
| 18 | Esther Privett | 39.31 | 1.30 | 38.01 | 18 | |
| 19 | Mandy | 39.33 | 1.30 | 38.03 | 19 | |
SCHOOLS INTER-COUNTIES MATCH SATURDAY 21.6.2003 AT LEWES (SUSSEX) from Mike Bliss
Josh and Aaron were selected to run for Hampshire in the 1500m, after they finished a brilliant first (Josh) and second (Aaron) in their respective age groups in the Hampshire schools county championships, the week before. There were two runners from each county, the others being Surrey, Kent and Sussex. Josh was first away, and after the first lap, took the lead. By the bell, he was still leading having dropped all rivals apart from the Southern Counties Champion (and probably English schools favourite), who was sitting on his shoulder. With 250m to go, the other lad sprinted away to win by 5 seconds, but Josh kept going for a comfortable second place. Although afterwards, he said he was disappointed by his time, this was a tactical race, and not a ‘flat out, and hang on’, type of race. The other lad certainly displayed very good tactics, to go with his ability, and it was yet another learning point on the learning curve, for Josh.
Aaron was also up against it, with at least one runner he knew, having run some 10 seconds faster than him. As always, he didn’t let ‘superior reputations’ daunt him, and he went off with the leaders. Following two of them through laps of 67 and 68, he was still third at the bell. A storming last lap, took him into second postion, with, at the finish, a comfortable gap to third. Although the favourite won, it was a lot closer than on paper!
Junior boys – 2nd Josh – 4.25sec
Inter boys – 2nd Aaron – 4.15sec
SOUTH OF ENGLAND AA (SEAA) CHAMPIONSHIPS SUNDAY 22.6.2003 AT PORTSMOUTH from Mike Bliss
24 hours after representing Hampshire over 1500m, both Aaron and Josh made their debuts over 3000m, at the SEAA champs (not schools- but under 17 and under 15 age groups). (Here endeth the teachings on boys athletic age groups!). Unfortunately, we missed Aaron’s race, but looking at the results, he had a blinder! He ran just 7 secs. behind Lawrence Cox, the all conquering English Cross-country and track(?) champion of previous years, and was only out-dipped by the other Aldershot athlete that won the Hampshire league cross country title, ahead of Aaron, in the winter! What was also interesting, was that neither had run for Hampshire the previous day, and were ‘fresh’!Not to be out-done, Josh had his sights set on running faster than Aaron, his race being two hours later. Sure enough, after 200m he took the lead and went through the first 1000m in 3 mins dead. He kept the lead, with his rivals dropping off one by one, to pass 2000m in 6.10sec. At about this time, two things happened. First, he was away from the others, and he kept going away. Second, the stadium announcer, who was doing a very good, informative job, throughout the race, informed the crowd that the fastest time ran in the country so far this year, was 9.17 sec., and Josh was running close to it. Luckily, Josh also heard, and if he hadn’t, Geoff and I certainly made sure that he did! Having dropped to the 3.10sec, second kilometre, he had to speed up again for the final 1k, even though he was on his own. He ran the final 1k in 3.04sec. Those with a CSE in maths will tell you he just missed out. Those with a GCE will tell you he won the Southern Champs gold medal in 9.14secs, the fastest time in the country by an under 15 boy at the time of writing! Sounds good, doesn’t it!
Those of you who have been reading this carefully will realise that there was also a ‘virtual’ race in this tome(JK Rowling I am not…..apart from the walk). Ovett against Coe – no! Aaron against Josh – Yes. Both ran a brilliant 9.14sec. A dead heat! Unfortunately, being the Southern champs, there was electronic timing. Aaron ran 9.14.58. Josh ran 9.14.56
Josh had beaten Aarons PB over 800m, with a 2.09sec, only for Aaron to respond with a 2.08sec. Josh had beaten Aarons PB over 1500m, running 4.18sec. Last week, Aaron regained the lead with a 4.14sec.PB. This time, Josh has squeezed ahead, probably as he had a thicker vest. As Coe and Ovett found, friendly rivalry is not a bad thing and can spur each other on!
U17 Boys – 11th Aaron 9.14.58 about 20 ran
U15 Boys – 1st Josh 9.14.56 about 12 ran
Committee Meeting. 16/06/03
Present G. Cloke, N. Clark, J. Jones, P. Wheeler, C. Wheeler, M. Dennison, G. Mclaughlin.
Matters Arising.
- Cost for children on coach to Brading now £10 not £5.
- Notice to go on notice board for re-cycling of trophies.
Treasures Report.
Income £1025
Expenditure £1758.24
Current £1008.11
Reserve £1688.55 High amount of race fees out standing.
Secretaries Report.
Letter written to M. Scoggins, in reponse to previous AGM.
Berkshire council questionnaire regarding club also sent.
AOB.
- Brading 10k club trip. 26 people going, 8-9 club members running. Coach still to be confirmed, 8 places still spare. Will advertise for anyone who would like to come.
- D. Vosser spoken to with regards about getting members out to races. Will join Hants Road Race League hopefully this will encourage members to support the club.
- Cross Country at Ash. Geoff has spoken to J. Popperwell. We are keen to keep race going, Geoff has spoken to the farmer about changing the date. Or possibly swapping the dates with Reading in December. Will confirm at next meeting.
- Geoff has new young runners from Team Kennet, who will compete in handicaps but are not included in tables.
- More Marshall’s bibs are required.
- Overton 5 is now in Road Race League.
Meeting closed at 21.20 p.m.
Date of next meeting 14/07/03
SOUTHERN LEAGUE Division 4 West MATCH 4 Result @ Perivale 28/06/03 from David Vosser
Promotion worries ease slightly
No individual results are available for this match from Saturday yet, however it was essential that we finished no lower than third. Which I’m delighted to say we achieved. Extra points were gained by our new recruits for this year, James Coney and our brand new second claim signing from Andover, Dominic Adams – more details will follow in next months newsletter.
Special note must also go to our foreign contingent Ivan Nikolic and Bart Cira who gained double first in the Shot, an excellent start to the match. Other wins came from Ian Ford and Jamie in the 5k. Jamie also doubled up to win the Steeple. Josh Bliss ran a very very confident 1500m leading all the way and Keith Clark (after a night in a tent) easily took the B string.
A Full report will be in next month’s newsletter.
| Match Result | Field points | Track points | Total points | Position |
| Swindon | 147 | 1st | ||
| TVH | 125.5 | 2nd | ||
| Overton | 119.5 | 3rd | ||
| Wimborne | 87 | 4th | ||
| Haywards Heath | 28 | 5th |
Good results are essential in the next two matches, they are both local so please do come along and give us your support. The Basingstoke match is our home fixture so we will be looking for helpers on the day. We know that a number of our team are away on holiday for that match so I’m looking for athletes to fill in where we will be short. If you are available please mention it to me. If you’ve never been to a match these are two great opportunities to come and see what goes on. (I promise that I’ll not make anyone do the Pole Vault)
First event Pole Vault @1.00, First track event 2.15 (400m Hurdles), last event 5.30 (Relays)
Important dates:
Match 5 Southern League Saturday July 12th @ Southampton
Match 6 Southern League Saturday August 2nd @ Basingstoke (Home Fixture)
LETTER FROM FREETOWN
(WITH APOLOGIES TO ALISTAIR COOKE!)
(Mike McMahon)
Yes I know, at the annual dinner way back in May I promised to keep sending in the monthly articles for ‘The Harrier’ and singularly failed to do so last month. So much for not falling at the first hurdle! Other than changing jobs here for a period of about 6 weeks, not being master of my own time in the appointment and the small matter of a major civil war erupting (again) in next door Liberia, I have no excuses for not sticking to my promise. Anyway, I am now back in the reality of the logistics ‘world’ having been temporarily working as the Military Assistant/Plans Officer for the Chief of Staff (UK Army Brigadier); in layman’s terms, being a ‘Gofor’ (go for this, go for that etc). Needless to say, you do not have to think too hard to determine which appointment is more rewarding.
We are now firmly in the grip of the rainy season in West Africa and my well developed sun tan is in extreme danger of becoming a rather disgusting rust colour. By early next month we will be experiencing rain daily like clockwork for about 4-5 hours at a time; mostly during the day. Throughout August these rain storms extend to about 7-8 hours and are mainly at night. Don’t ask me to explain this phenomenon, but evidently the routine never changes. In terms of rain, you need to imagine not being able to see Overton Church from the changing rooms due to the concentration of water which is falling. The roads become lethal rivers and the storm drains either collapse or just give up. You can imagine the humidity when the rain stops!
Liberia, to the immediate east of Sierra Leone, has been the focus of attention. A rebel group called the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) mounted a bloody attack on the capital (Monrovia) in an attempt to remove President Charles Taylor who has been the major destabilizing personality in the region. A second group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) launched attacks elsewhere in the country. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) convened a peace conference in Ghana on 4th June 2003, the same day on which the Special Court for Sierra Leone indicted Charles Taylor for war crimes during the civil war in this country and asked the Ghanaian Government to arrest him. Taylor managed to return to Liberia, but his delegation remained behind to continue negotiations. A ceasefire was signed on 17th June. Each of the parties agreed to provide details of their dispositions; these would be verified by a Joint Verification Team (JVT) within 7 days. This would be followed by the establishment of a Joint Monitoring Commission (JMC) within two weeks and deployment of an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) within 60 days.
To nobody’s surprise, the ceasefire was violated by all parties almost immediately. Today (25th June) there has been a major assault by LURD on Monrovia. The JVT does not exist and there is no sign of a JMC or ISF on the horizon. Taylor remains an indicted war criminal subject to an international arrest warrant and his Swiss bank accounts (totaling some US$3.8 Billion) have been ‘frozen’. If his past performance and scheming are anything to go by, he will do what all rats do when cornered and lash out violently against his opponents and everyone in his path. If that happens, Liberia will descend once again into chaos and the already pitiful plight of the majority of Liberians will get far worse very quickly.
Not a happy note to end on, but this reflects the reality of this very volatile region of the world.
Hampshire Road Race League News from David Vosser
We have just received the great news that the “Overton 5” will feature as the first race in the 2003/2004 Hampshire Road Race League. This will probably boost our entry numbers by over 100 runners.
We will be supporting the League this year with a view to winning promotion for both the Mens and Womens teams from Division 2. Emma will be coordinating entries for all these races through the coming months and they will form part of the consistency league. Please make a note in your diaries. The most important point will be to ensure that we can field a team in at least 8 of these races. The men must complete 8 out of 10 fixtures; the ladies must complete 7 out of 10 fixtures; the Brading 10k race is a compulsory fixture and cannot be dropped. Points are calculated on finishing positions. The results and league tables are normally published on the Hampshire Athletic Association website :- http://www.hants.gov.uk/athletics
| ROAD RACE LEAGUE FIXTURES | 2003/2004 |
| SEPT. 7TH. | OVERTON 5 |
| OCT. 19TH. | HARDLEY HALF |
| NOV. 2ND. | LORDS HILL 10 |
| NOV. 23RD. | HAYLING 10 |
| JAN 11TH. | STUBBINGTON 10K. |
| FEB. 1ST | CHICHESTER 10K. |
| FEB. 29TH. | BRAMLEY 20 |
| MARCH 14TH. | PETERFIELD HALF |
| APRIL ? | TOTTON 10K. |
| JUNE 20TH. | BRADING 10K. |
| HANTS XC LEAGUE FIXTURES | 2003/2004 |
| OCT 11TH | FARLEY MOUNT |
| NOV 1ST | GOODWOOD |
| NOV 29TH | READING |
| JAN 3RD (COUNTY CHAMPS) | DIBDEN INCLOSURE |
| JAN 10TH | OVERTON |
| FEB 7TH | HAMWORTHY |