Newsletter – March 2002

 
NEWSLETTER 
MARCH 2002 ISSUE 296
  
EVENTS DIARY:
 

PLEASE CHECK NOTICE BOARD OR RUNNING MAGAZINES FOR FURTHER INFO.
FRANNYS BITS.
A busier month on the roads with two club championships being decided at Petersfield and Eastleigh. The consistency league is done and dusted with a convincing win for Dave in the men’s competition whilst Liz stole the ladies event in the final fixture.
The date for the AGM is April 25^th in the main hall following training. This is followed on the next night by the Club Presentation Dinner at Test Valley Golf Course. See Cath to book your seats and to choose your menu ASAP.
Congratulations to Aaron who has been selected to run in the Hampshire team that will be taking part in the London mini marathon on April 14^th. The course will be over the closing stages of the marathon course and will be contested by teams from the London boroughs and the top county teams from these years’ schools cross-country championships. Keep an eye out for him on the TV.
The Combe Gibbet race was another successful event with only one plonker managing to stray from the exceedingly
well marked course. Many thanks to all those people who marshalled the course; it is nice to see those same faces at the same spot year after year and is much appreciated by the runners. Thanks also to the timekeepers and recorders for waiting so patiently for the tailenders and to the refreshment team who were extremely busy supplying drinks and cakes throughout the afternoon.
Nominations are needed for Club person of the year. This award goes to someone who has made a contribution to the benefit of the club. This covers a wide range from organising events, helping with refreshments or marshalling, competing at a level that increases the club’s image, donating time or services, fund raising or any other aspect that goes towards the running of a successful club. Nomination forms are available from Geoff so, please give this matter some serious thought.  
VILLAGE HANDICAP.
7^th MARCH.
As predicted last month all the medals in the handicap league were decided in the final race, as was the bronze medal in the time league. Aaron led the handicap league by two points but having scored in five races decided not to run in the final race, rightly saving himself for the more important English school’s championship. This gave a great chance for Moira and Dave Bright to take the title. On the night the first two home recorded PB’s. Dave Titcomb clocked a 37 second improvement to score a comfortable win ahead of Karen whose time was 36 seconds faster than her best. Third saw a stormer by Steve who ran his fastest time in four years. Dave Bright finished sixth with Moira only missing her PB by 10 seconds in seventh, it was obvious that both had given their all but what were the final placings?
Aaron’s gamble paid off, as his five-race total was enough to take the handicap title by a point. Second place went to Dave Bright after a fine season that never saw him finish worse than sixth in any race. Dave Titcomb’s last race PB saw him snatch the bronze medal after equaling Dave Bright’s points total, Moira was the unlucky runner to miss out after a remarkable season that saw her take chunks off both her course times.
The first two medals in the time league were already decided but it was very tight for third. However the non-appearance of Andy Hartley, Gavin and Aaron meant that a fine fifth place on the night was sufficient to give Dave Bright his second medal of the competition. Fastest on the night was Jamie though first league runner was Mike who is starting to show a return to race fitness. Second on the night was the new time league champion Mark who has had a consistent season by not finishing out of the top two in any of his scoring races. Next fastest was Keith with Cath in fourth. She becomes the first woman to win a time league medal with a very comfortable second place in the league.
Well done to the ten athletes who completed the league by running at least five races especially those six who didn’t miss a race. This competition cannot be held without the help of non-runners helping out on the night so a big thanks to those who helped out when possible. The biggest thanks of all goes to John Hoare who stands out in all weathers and ensures the smooth running of the event.

 

The summer handicap competitions get underway in May with three races being held over the Nutley Bottom 5km course (one including our home mob match) and the fourth race will be held in conjunction with the away mob match. Dates have still to be confirmed so please check next month’s newsletter or check the club notice board.
CONSISTENCY LEAGUE.
 
This years league saw large turnouts for the cross country fixtures but with the exceptions of the Newbury Ten and Eastleigh 10km the numbers on the road races were down, especially amongst the ladies. However a total of 23 men and 11 women scored points this year so it just seems a case of the runners are there, we just need to get more of them out for the selected races. We manage it for the cross-country so the plan is to extend the league to run from May through to April to increase the amount of races available. This will also reduce the amount of double-header weekends that have proved unpopular in the past. Therefore the races pre-selected for the new season includes the Hampshire x-country league races, the County x-country championships, the two mob matches against Basingstoke and the Cyclist’s race.
In addition a selection of road races will be selected as and when entry details are available but they will be publicised well in advance, either on the notice board or in the newsletter. If you see any flyers for races please can you let me (Franny) have the details.
The first fixture of the league will be the home mob match against Basingstoke whilst the first open road race will be the NETLEY 10km on May 19^th. This is a fairly flat race over several laps of the park overlooking Southampton water and is the ideal location for a post race picnic. Alternatively I’m sure Eric can locate a suitable watering hole on he way home.
Here are the final tables for this winters handicap competition; full tables are displayed on the club notice board.
HANDICAP LEAGUE.
 
 

TIME LEAGUE.

CONGRATULATIONS:

To Dave and Liz for wining this year’s consistency league. Dave had led the table for most of the season and ran in 13 events. He missed only the Bramley 20 after his entry was returned as the race was over subscribed. Runner up was the ever-reliable JT who clocked up the next highest total of races run with 12. Third placed Eric missed a few early races due to Southampton F.C but finished 9 races. Blissy scored the same amount of points as Eric but ran fewer races.Cath had led the ladies league all season but her non-appearance at Eastleigh meant that the double points available gave Liz the title. Also taking advantage of the extra points was Moira who climbed into second place ahead of Cath.Below is a summary of the final tables that can be seen in full on the notice board.

PETERSFIELD half-marathon. 10^th MARCH from Franny
This race was picked as a consistency event as it was a selected race in the Hampshire road race league and as such it was assumed that the organisation would be of a standard that reflected it’s league status. Also it fell handily in the fixture list to replace the cancelled Wokingham race as the club championship.
We all knew that it would not be a flat course and a drive round the majority of the route beforehand confirmed that. The best description was that the course was undulating apart from a few hills notably around the six and ten mile markers. To ensure that times would not be fast a strong, blustery wind was blowing into our faces for much of the first half of the course though we did have the benefit of the tailwind over the latter stages though the last mile was back into the wind. Good results were recorded by most of us though some were not completely happy.
Blissy showed that he is back to racing fitness with a great run. By eight miles he was leading though could still hear someone running behind him, over the final five miles he pulled further away to win by over a minute. He clocked a very good time that some people felt was worth a couple of minutes on a flatter course in better weather. Mark was one who was slightly disappointed with his time as he just missed out on the elusive 80-minute barrier once again. Taken in context however his run was a PB and he now knows that he can go much faster elsewhere. Also he is doing heavy mileage at the moment and can look to be getting close to his London target of 2:45.
Dave Henery had another great race to comfortably break 90 minutes and confirm his victory in the consistency league. He must have made a blinding start because I honestly thought I had beaten him after not seeing him throughout the race but there he was waiting for me at the finish. I had a good start and ran one of my better races for some time. After working my socks off for the first 8 miles I knew I was several minutes up on my target of 1:33 and with a mile to go a sub 1:30 was on the cards. Unfortunately the marshalling in the last quarter of a mile was a shambles leading to me eventually running up the middle of a busy road with traffic passing me on both sides. Missing the last turn into the funnel was the final straw and a rather hacked off harrier finished with mixed feelings about the race.
Jill was looking for a fast race as a marker for her London preparations. Sadly her hamstring cramped up before the two-mile mark and with hindsight should have retired early. However after completing the course in a disappointing time it now appears her appearance at London is now in doubt. On the bright side she is now the ladies half-marathon champion. JT was not too happy with his time, which was slower than he anticipated but perhaps someone should explain to him about the stiffness of the course and the unfavourable conditions. His time was good enough to take the bronze medal in the handicap behind Dave and yours truly.
On the whole this was a good event but sadly, the poor marshalling that affected myself and several other runners detracted something from the event plus the drink stations left something to be desired as Jill will confirm. Generous cash prizes were awarded to the first three men and women though there was only a trophy for the first male and female Veteran, with no team prizes, though it should be noted that the event is held primarily as a charity fund raiser.

351 Finished.

English Schools Junior Boys Cross Country Championships at Chelmsford on Saturday 9th March from Geoff
The course was flat, but surface mud and blustery conditions made the 4K2m course, a testing race. Aaron Harris was the eighth runner for Hampshire to emerge from their starting pen, but ran strongly to finish 62nd out of 336 finalists in a time of 16m 18s and 4th counter for Hampshire. Lawrence Cox from Aldershot was the overall winner in 14m 41s and Hampshire finished runners up to Essex in the team event.
MANY THANKS TO JT FOR THE FOLLOWING REPORT.
EASTLEIGH 10 km.
17^th MARCH.
This years’ Eastleigh 10km was the final fixture of the Consistency league, Club Championship and Hampshire Championship and still only attracted 7 men and 3 ladies from the club. Whether we were actually entered in the Hants. Champs. Is a matter of conjecture because I believe Mike should have got a silver medal in the M40 class behind Mark Gregory of Southampton, but, according to AW the gold went to Vince Stamp who finished 10 places behind Mike. It also remains to be seen if Liz receives a bronze medal for 3^rd place in the W50 age group.
Mike was justifiably pleased with his effort with an excellent time of 32:29 in 19^th place overall in a quality field. Dave Vosser put in a very solid run, particularly when he has been troubled with injury of late. He was followed by Dave Henery who consolidated his consistency league runaway victory with a super run in 38:58
Erstwhile sprinter, Adam Gold, was next to finish in a PB of 39:42 and is well on course for his London marathon-training programme. He was just in front of Eric who managed to get under 40 minutes by one second. An off day for Gavin following a bout of ill health for whom managing to complete the course was the main aim. JT completed the male interest with a better run than at Petersfield the previous week, but it has to be said, in much better conditions.
First lady to finish and claim the club championship was Liz who also took the ladies consistency league, 3^rd over 50 with an excellent run of 43:38. Next home was Dorothy in only her third road race who put in an excellent effort, easily getting the better of Moira by about 90 seconds.

1039 Finished.
 
COMMITTEE MEETING 18/3/02
Present Geoff, Mark, Paul, Cath, Franny
Apologies from Gwyneth