Newsletter – August 2000

NEWSLETTER
August 2000 ISSUE 277
Committee Meeting 11/8/00

Present- G.Cloke, M.Dennison, C.Wheeler, P.Wheeler, R.Francis, G.McLaughlin.
Matters Arising

1. Mesh vests:- Mark has sample, cost unknown at the moment. Mark will order a few.
2. Southern League:- No bill yet for track hire.
3. Sheep-Fair:- Enjoyed the weekend, made £82.00
4. Hants Road Running League:- Geoff has full list of races. Will try to get Overton 5 added to next years list.
5. Consistency League:- Sheet of races has been put together. Championship races must be finalised.
6. Hants Cross Country League:- Farmer is selling land, need to find an alternative venue. Possible alternative c ould be on Richard Gibbons land.

Treasurers Report
Income:- £320.75
Expenditure- £169.75
Current- £1032.80
Reserve- £1183.05
Secretary’s Report

1. Letter from Basingstoke Council:- Have put Overton into their data base for forth coming twinning events.
2. Cash available to assist young athletes Gwyneth to look into.
3. Questionnaire giving ideas on drumming up volunteers. Gwyneth to attend meeting with Basingstoke Council.

A O B

1. Overton road race:- Entries coming in 46 so far. Saturday evening “do” and Sunday will need to collect numbers for attending persons. Cost for each will be £10 for Sat, £5 for Sun, youngsters are free. Geoff and Cathy will collect money.
2. Cake and teas will be similar to the Gibbet event. Delivery of programmes on Friday 25^th August.
3. Standard Scheme:- Need to hand out certificates Geoff will organise. Franny given a free hand for times etc.
4. Discussed new members promotional etc.
5. Circuit Training:- Seems no interest.

Meeting closed 9.30p.m
Date of next meeting 11/9/00
THE FOLLOWING REPORT COMES FROM JT:
STRAGGLERS WEDDING DAY 7km AT BUSHEY PARK, HAMPTON.
Quite a large group from the club ventured into the outskirts of London for this unusual event staged on a Friday evening. It was the writers first time here but some of our number had been to the event before including Geoff and Eric who had been on several occasions.
The unsual distance of 7km took in a course with in and out sections and two laps out in “country” amongst the deer in Bushey Park. The loop included a section on grassy tracks which added to the interest.
First home for the club was Ian in 16th spot, taking the 2nd vets. position but, as it happened no prize!. Gavin had an excellent run in 27:06 as did a rejuvenated Steve with 28:02 to complete the team now desperately close to his big “O”, 40th birthday.
Jill came home in 28:59 for 2nd lady vet but was pleased to get 1st vet because the winning vet got amongst the senior prize list. Eric and Geoff had a battle royal with Eric just running out of race when he was closing Geoff down over the final half-mile, there being only 4 seconds and 3 places between them at the end.
Audra seemed to have a below-par run in 29:47 as did Martin Churm, making a rare appearance for the club after his return to Leighton Buzzard. He started slowly and admitted to fading in the closing stages. JT was awarded the first o/60 award on the night (and it was dark when he got it) but AW and the Daily Telegraph seemed to indicate that someone else should have got it . That was their mistake, not his.
28th JULY.
 

546 FINISHED.

 

SUMMER HANDICAP: Anti-clockwise
AUGUST 17th.
Holidays took their toll with the smallest field of the year rounding off the summer Harrow Way series. Only one person complained about their handicap before the start but it did not stop her from winning on the night. Cath ran well for her victory ahead of newcomer Carolyn who made an impressive debut. Gavin took 3rd spot with an 8 second PB, other first timers were Keith Vallis and Young Abby who has been doing some work experience at the gardens at Freefolk.
Fastest was Jamie who equalled his PB to complete a clean sweep of time wins. After Keith’s non-scoring debut came Mark (in the pub at lunch time) Simcox, closely followed by Keith Clark. There could be some interesting battles between these two this winter. Jamie of course won the the time league ahead of Blissy and Mark but the handicap was much closer with any one of eight runners in with a shout before the start. In the end it was the absent Voss who took the title ahead of Gavin (who still needs a reason to attend the club prize giving dinner) with Geoff in third.
A RECORD 38 RUNNERS TOOK PART THIS SUMMER, THE WINTER LEAGUE STARTS IN OCTOBER.

Summer Handicap Time League from Franny

Summer Handicap Handicap League from Franny

SOUTHERN TRACK & FIELD LEAGUE : ANDOVER
5th AUGUST.
From Franny
There was a faint possibility of relegation leading up to this fixture but any fears of the drop were dispelled in the first event. Tony and Mike both recorded PB’s to take a double first in the Shot and set up a lead that we held to the last few events. Tony also won the “B” Discus and scored well in the Javelin. Mike also scored in the Hammer, with Simon also picking up solid points in the throws.
A further double first came in the pole vault with a fine 2 metre clearance from Ryan clinching the B string whilst dad Alan used psychological tactics to outwit Andover’s Brett Shea. Alan also scored a pair of seconds in the short hurdles and Javelin
The sprints and jumps were covered by Dave, Tim and young Richard. Dave had a good win in the 400hurdles with Richard picking up a pair of seconds in the sprints. He is going to be a much better runner next summer if he maintains the training over the winter months as will John who ran extremely well in the 400m and both relays.
In the longer track events we were missing Mike, Mark, Voss and Jamie. However our strength in depth was evident with Paul stepping into the 5k and the two Keiths’ and Ian doubling up. They were joined by Dave Mills who showed great team spirit by fitting in a great 2nd place in the steeple-chase during his (rather late) lunch break.
The worst posion we achieved in any event above 400m was 2nd in either string…a remarkable performance on a very hot afternoon. Race of the day was certainly the B string 800m where Keith Vallis overcame a 20 metre deficit entering the straight to pass the Andover runner on the line. He also won the steeplechase.
The result went to the wire, with Tower Hamlets beating Andover in the last event by a point, While we faded slightly, possibly due to the fact that some of our athletes were covering so many events in very uncomfortable conditions. However the team did themselves proud and with the influx of new blood apparent this season, combined with the return of one or two faces from the recent past we can look forward to next season with some optimism.

TOWER HAMLETS 132pts.
ANDOVER 131pts.
OVERTON 125.5pts.
DACORUM & TRING 103.5pts.
BRENTWOOD 6pts.

 
With the night off work I decided to enter this race in the hope of a personal best and to run sub 17 minutes.Having run this race before I was aware of the crazy twists and turns it has around the cathedral grounds. Dodging past dog walkers and unsuspecting tourists at breakneck speed is not to every runners taste, but a group of three of us got away from the start with no problems. At halfway I was caught by an Alton Jogger who moved me back to 4th place. With the thought of losing FOUR CANS OF STELLA as third prize I made a late surge and took him on the last lap.
3rd M.SIMCOX 16min 33sec.
S.McNAIR NO TIME
A.DENNISON NO TIME
140 finishers.
Havant Open Track and Field Sunday 27^th August from Geoff
800m
A small field of mainly U17 Boys gave Arran Harris little chance of reducing his PB over this distance. He finished last in 2mins 43secs.
 
FROM THE ARCHIVES.

 
It’s that time of year when an old gits mind turns to pot hunting. Road races a plenty and if we are in shape, the opportunity to compete in a much under used type of running… the road relay. Back in 1993 our over 50’s squad were quite successful, can their performances be bettered this autumn? Geoff Cloke wrote the following report on the southern road relays of 1993.
Forgive me for going on about this race ad nausea, because of all the trophies and accolades that any of us in the over 50’s team have won: this was by far the most prestigious. This year we entered one complete team in the over 40’s and one in the over 50’s because, coincidentally, all four team members had just turned 50. We knew that we would probably never get a better chance and tailored our team selection and training to try and win the race.
Mo Parry was first away and soon found himself amongst the fastest runners in the whole race. After one lap Mo was in 10th place, which he managed to hold on to finishing about ninety seconds behind the leader, who ran the fastest leg of the day.
Eric took over but by this time I was convinced that we had over estimated our capabilities and decided to warm up for my leg by meeting up with him half-way round his first lap to see if could make up any ground. I started to count in the leaders and was amazed to find Eric in 5th and gaining. Eric managed to gain one more place to finish in 4th, only seconds behind the 3rd place runner and just over a minute behind the leader.
Eric handed over to me and I quickly gained 3rd place and started to chase the leaders. Halfway round my second lap I gained second place and shortly after took the lead. I managed to hand over a lead of about 30 seconds to John Hodge.
Poor John. He found himself being chased by some very fast runners and hung on for dear life. He was finally overtaken by two of them even though he improved his PB for the course by 30 seconds.
After all this hype you would forgiven for believing that the over 40’s did not complete the course. But they did in fine style finishing a creditable 60th amongst some very strong competition.

 


BIONIC
A quiet month with most people taking a well earned break making it impossible to select a winner.

WINCHESTER 5 km. JULY 20th. 
 
This report was supplied by Mark Simcox: