Newsletter – August 2001

 NEWSLETTER – AUGUST 2001 ISSUE 289
 
EVENTS DIARY:

PLEASE CHECK NOTICE BOARD OR RUNNING MAGAZINES FOR FURTHER INFO.
FRANNY’S BITS!!
By the time this article is printed the Overton 5 weekend should be over. I hope you enjoyed the weekend and appreciate all the hard work that the race committee put in to stage this event.
EMMA has resumed the race entry system on the notice board, if you wish to enter an event just sign the appropriate sheet. However if you are new to the club you will need to fill in a form (Available from Emma) so that she has your required details (address, DOB, etc) to enable her to her to send in the entries. If your details have changed (moved house?) since you last filled in a form please contact Emma so she can make any corrections.
Race results on the road are taken some time to reach me, please can you let me have them ASAP so that I can include them in the newsletter. It is also hoped to improve our newspaper profile so prompt results will help.
The first event in this year’s consistency league is the NEWBURY 10 miles on September 9^th. Forms are on the board and there should be entries on the day if you get there early enough.
Finally congratulations to JAMIE on winning the bronze medal in the recent Southern Counties track 10,000 metre Championship held at Brighton
SOUTHERN TRACK Lge. At ABINGDON.
4^th AUGUST.
The final meeting of the season finished with a solid third place behind Salisbury and White Horse Harriers. The weather was the worst of the summer with the meeting being suspended for a while on safety grounds due to the thunder and heavy rain. Jeremy had an excellent meeting; his best result came when winning the B string Discus. He backed this up with fine second places in the High jump and Pole Vault. Further points came in the 100m, 200m, Long jump, Hammer and relays…quite a busy afternoon for a promising junior. Tim covered four events plus the relays. He scored good points in the hurdles with the 110’s being run when the rain was at it’s heaviest, his best result however came when winning the B string High jump. Alan scored another win in the Vault, took third in the monsoon hurdles race and scored valuable points in the Shot and Javelin. Simon had a mixed day in the throws but was rewarded with a very good win in the A string Hammer.
Jamie was our only winner on the track where both Salisbury and White Horse fielded strong squads. Chris, once again, scored well in the 200m and 400m before giving the last relay team a good lead on the opening leg. Keith Clark had a pair of thirds in the 800m and 1500m while our other Keith again doubled up in the 400m hurdles and Steeplechase.
Making his debut was Nick Roberts who after competing well in the triple jump showed great spirit to tackle the B steeplechase where he was rewarded with a fine 3^rd place. The final result gave our squad their best placing in the league for several seasons.

 

BURNHAM BEECHES half-marathon.
19^th AUGUST.It was a good few years’ ago since this race last featured in a club newsletter, the course being a two lap affair that could be best described as undulating, Previous winners include a young Paul Wheeler. Three club members decided to enter this years event which was held in rain that Andy described as “a biblical deluge”
First home was Mark who has been noticeably been absent from the track this summer. He had a fine run to finish just outside the Athletics Weekly result list and once again just missed that elusive sub 80-minute time he wants. Andy splashed his way round in a time that seems slower than his ability suggests. He should go much faster on a faster course in good conditions. Martin completed the team and is another who will clock a faster time this winter.

SUMMER HANDICAP.
16^th AUGUST.Many thanks to John Hoare for manning the finish for this final event of the summer. The weather was conducive to fast times as was proved with seven of the first eight runners all clocking PB’s. The odd man out was the handicapper who somehow got his figures in a twist and set himself a duff starting time. This gave him no option but to disqualify himself from the final results. First on the night was Ian who had a clear margin at the finish ahead of Audra who is slowly coming back into top form. Moira recorded the biggest PB of the night to take third. Fastest on the night was Mike with Mark having a large gap over third place man Dave Mills.

SOUTHERN COUNTIES 10,000 metre Championship at BRIGHTON.
20^th AUGUST.Half past eight on a Wednesday evening seems a strange time for an area championship but Jamie made the trip to Brighton and was rewarded with a super PB as he finished 6^th in a good quality 10,000m race that was won by Sam Haughian.
Further reward for all the hard training he has done this summer came when finishing 3^rd in the Southern championship to win a well deserved bronze medal.

Wedding Day 7K Friday 27^th July from Liz
As usual there was a good turnout of just over 500 for this popular evening race at Bushey Park. Ian was our only prizewinner this year taking third place in the V40 category.

FINAL SUMMER HANDICAP TABLES.
The final summer handicap tables show Mike winning the time league after winning all three races that he competed. Following his opening 3^rd spot in the first mob match, Mark showed good consistency with three second places to take that position overall. Despite missing the final run Keith had already done enough to ensure third. The handicap league was the closest league I have ever seen with numerous contenders for the title leading up to the final race. Handicap specialist Liz did enough to snatch the title ahead of Audra whose storming run in the last run moved her up several places to take second. Another to climb several positions was Dave who pipped Aaron for third by a point. Unlucky runner was pre-race leader Scott who slipped to fourth despite a gutsy effort…….Only five points covered the top five.
Let’s hope the winter series is as close. The opening race will be on the Foxdown course on October 25^th.TIME LEAGUE.


 

RESULT CALCULATED ON BEST THREE RUNS.
 

Newark Half Marathon from Jamie
With the Robin Hood Marathon now looming up Paul decided it was time to do a
half marathon and as I am a stickler for keeping to his well typed out
training schedules the only one I could find was at Newark. Luckily my
grandparents live nearby and so I stayed up there the night before. The day
of the race dawned wet and windy and funnily enough stayed like that for the
entire day! The course though was quite flat with a big hill at about 10
miles but was well organised and had some good prizes. The winner – Titus
Limo from Kenya won a £1000 Breitling watch – but by the look on his face I
think he may well have thought he was going to receive some cash. Former XC
international Andrew Pearson was 2nd with me a distant 5th in 72.34. To say
I am bit pissed off would be an understatement as my last 3 half marathons
have all been within 5 seconds of each other and I am still waiting to break
my pb of 70.19 from Fleet many years ago.
10km – South of England Championships from Jamie
Paul thought it would be a good idea to one last track race so Chris kindly
drove me down to Brighton for this race. My pb stood at 31.58 when winning
the Hampshire Champs last year but recent training with Keith Clark surely
meant a better time was on the cards. The venue, support and weather were
perfect and after a few jittery laps in the middle Chris gave me some sound
advice (a few well chosen swear words) and I rallied to finish 6th in a pb of 31.22. With
this being a championship event I was surprised to find I had got the bronze
medal behind internationals Sam Haughian and Dave Mitchinson. The 3rd, 4th
and 5th guys had all entered on the day or were Scottish which apparently
ruled them out. Oh well Overtons gain!
Committee Meeting 13/8/01
Present: G. Cloke, P. Wheeler, C. Wheeler, R. Francis, G.Mclaughlin.
Apologies : M. Dennison.
Matter’s Arising:

1. Andover-Newbury Relay, Date confirmed as 28/10/01. Route to be confirmed.
2. J. Hoare writing to News and Views about the Overton 5
3. Mob Match Trophy, this has been held by Basingstoke Gwyneth will speak to their secretary and hope to retrieve it.
4. Overton 5, Will go ahead, Marshalled as before but with a more formal approach. Helen to help.

Treasurer’s Report.
Income £243.00
Expenditure £269.50
Current £486.00
Reserve £1964.28
Secretaries Report

1. Questionnaire about gifted junior’s, to be fill out Geoff will do this.
2. Running fitness magazine, free entry for the club, this will be taken care of by Gwyneth.

A.O.B.

1. Help required for the Overton 5.
2. Franny to organise the consistency league, fifteen races this year.
3. Team Kennet, members seem keen to run in the Hants cross country and track league second claim. Discussion over costing for youngsters and paying for vests.

Meeting closed at 9.15 p.m.Date of next meeting 10/9/01
Overton 5 from Liz
What a super weekend, the race was a great success. I was pleased with my run considering the heat ( not complaining ). Thank you Eric for your coaching.
Our Bric a Brac stall made a total of £70.00, which we will share with Shopmobility a charity that supplies wheelchairs where necessary ( town centres etc ).
A big thankyou must go to the Overton 5 committee JT, John, Geoff, Paul & Helen, having gone to a couple of meetings on fete business, I was very surprised at all
the work involved, planning, police liaison, legal implications & paperwork etc.  And like myself, I hope the Harriers will join me in saying a huge THANKYOU.
Editor’s Note
Liz, your comments are well appreciated, but let us not forget your significant contribution particularly in organizing, and collecting the food for the barbecue. THANKYOU.
Bionic of the Month
This month seems to be all about
Jamie Jones, with two good wins in the Southern Track League at Abingdon in the 1500m and 5000m plus his Bronze Medal in the Southern Counties 10,000m Track Championship. All helping to put Overton Harriers on the map.