Newsletter – March 2003

FRANNY’S BITS.
 As you can see there are a lot of races being held over the spring and summer months. Unfortunately I don’t get to hear about all of them and then only the odd club runner can take part. PLEASE can you help out and pickup as many race entry forms during the next few months so that I can keep the fixture list as full and as accurate as possible. Pass the forms to me or leave them in the rack next to the notice board.
Some of you may have noticed that I placed a final consistency league table on the notice board. This was worked out before I had the official results from Eastleigh. Obviously the results I had been given were incomplete and this means that I have to amend the tables (especially in the ladies event). Could the person who made the alterations to the list on the board please confirm them to me ASAP so that I can make the necessary adjustments before putting the final tables back on the board.
Congratulations to Alex and Jamie on winning the winter handicap leagues. The dates for the summer league will be available shortly.

9^th FEBRUARY.The superb one lap course and organisation for this race attracted 1117 finishers….. How do they do it? The only problem was that the results were not displayed on the day and took some time to arrive.
A very steady climb in the early stages and two minor hills in the middle made for a fast downhill finish ver the last mile that encouraged some fast running, knowing there was no sting in the tail. Dave Vosser was our first runner home in a good time of 35:03 in 33^rd spot. Remarkably this only gave him 13^th place in the Vets. Section such is the strength of Veteran road running these days. Eric was pleased to scrape under 40 minutes but only by a second. He seems to be using 40 mins. As his benchmark at the moment for any signs of deterioration.

13^th FEBRUARY.Following his disappointment in the English schools Josh returned with not so much of a bang but more of an explosion. Not since Patrick Hoare has a junior finished fastest on the night and to add extra sparkle to the night Aaron took second fastest only 11 seconds behind. Voss flew the vets flag to be third fastest ahead of the first senior Mark.
Josh’s storming run gave him a win double on the night…I’m fairly certain that’s never been done before ahead of medal hunting Ian and Michelle taking third.
There was a lot of interest in the handicap league especially amongst our younger members. Alex turned up to claim his title with Ian finishing runner up. Claire took third by a point ahead of Karen. The time league went to Jamie with Mark and Dave Vosser taking the minor placings.

23^rd MARCH.Another 1000+ finishers for this year’s race run on a new course with only the first loop being similar to previous years. The finish took us deep into Fleming Park, which could be seen, from several hundred meters away. My view is that the new route is an improvement as the organisers have ensured that there is less inconvenience to other road users. Domestically this was the last consistency race and the club 10km championship. A turnout of only 7 runners was not very good and needs more publicity and encouragement to attract the full membership of the club. The race also hosted the County Championship and both Dave and Audra won veteran medals (or will do when they finally catch up with them). A great effort from both of them.
Dave was rewarded with an almost identical time to his effort at Chichester, indicating that the courses were accurately measured. Similarly, with Eric, who was a mere two seconds slower. He was inconsolable that he had not ducked under 40 minutes. Although, his watch said that he had.
Audra appears to have had a good run, narrowly missing a sub 42 minute clocking while Adam Gold made a rare appearance and looks to be in good form. So did John Hodge who is even less likely to race on the roads due to recurring injuries. A 20-second improvement on Chichester from JT more or less made his day in perfect running conditions. Cathryn again turned out but on this occasion her time was slower than at Chichester.

British Masters ( formerly Veterans) Federation Indoor Championships 2003 16 February from John Hodge
Having recently joined the ranks of the Over 60s, I travelled to Glasgow for the Indoor track Championships 800 metres. I was quite unsure of my readiness, as I had not managed the level or quality ( maybe I’m just past it!) of training that I had hoped for.
With only four entries in the O/60, medals were restricted to the first two unless the merit standard (2m 45s) was bettered. Our race was merged with the O/55s, and it was disappointing when two dropped out, which meant that only one medal would be awarded by right. With Mike Smith, a top-class runner taking part ( and bound to win), my only hope for a medal was to beat the merit time, which was six seconds faster than I had run in training. I was well pleased in the circumstances to finish in 2.36.16 , enough to earn the silver medal. Thus was an age-graded equivalent of 2m 04.9, a bit down on my previous age-graded runs. After missing the whole of last year’s track season, I hope this has now given me a good base to build on for the 2003 season.
Mike Smith won in 2m 19.94… as I said, a classy athlete!

Aaron Harris, and Josh Bliss, opened their track season with a visit to the annual Young Athletes Meeting at Bracknell, 29 March.
Josh Bliss was first to go in the 800metres for under 15Boys, and after a poor start quickly made his way to the front going through the first 400metres in 64seconds. Thereafter he was on his own, running in a clear winner in 2mins 11secs, his best ever at this distance by almost 30 seconds.
Aaron Harris was next to go in the 800metres for under 17 Boys and found himself boxed in after the start but still managing a 64second first lap. His strength and determination pushed him through the next lap where he quickly began to overtake, finishing third in 2mins 11secs, a personal best by one second. In the 1500metres for under 15Boys, Josh Bliss was up against quality opposition and elected to track the leader in the hope of running a fast time. His tactics proved sound as he was pulled through in second place in 4mins 26secs, a massive improvement on his current best time of almost twenty five seconds.

 

RESULTS

32^nd G Duncan 1hr 56m 54s 67^th R Francis 2hr 07m 37s
41^st A Hartley 1hr 59m 14s 76^th D Titcomb 2hr 09m 58s
50^th D Bright 2hr 03m 26s 128^th J Thomas 2hr 26m 55s
180 finished
Full results are available on our website

You should by now have received the invitations for this years Presentation Dinner. In the letter I gave the time as 7.30 for 8.00. The menu supplied by the Golf Club stated 7.00 for 7.30. Please note the menu is wrong. It is definitely 7.30 for 8.00. Apologies for the mix up. Look forward to receiving your menu choices in the near future
John Hoare

Present G. Cloke, M. Dennison, P. Wheeler, C. Wheeler, G. Mclaughlin.
Matters Arising.

The locals describe March and early April as the “suicide” period, as the heat and humidity rise as we head towards the rainy season. I am well acclimatised, but you can still feel the extra heat and humidity. The temperature is in the high 70s/low 80sF by mid morning and 90-95% humidity is the norm. Moving from one air conditioned environment to another is the trick, although I find myself shunning this “luxury” at some times during the day as I find it too cold! When I leave here in mid July the UK’s summer should have started and I will not need to do too much adjustment. Evidently once the rains do start, it is a sight to behold. Most days see rain for about 6-8 hours; over here it is a constant deluge, so that should be an experience. Although the temperature does not drop too much, the rain will certainly freshen the atmosphere up a little. At present you get the feeling of being in a pressure cooker and each day someone turns up the heat a little more until it is about to explode!
Well on the work “front” the high level peacekeeping conference in early March was a very successful event, from both the participants’ and the organisers’ points of view. Having had to orchestrate 80 senior civilian and military figures from about 20 countries, whilst ensuring that their every whim was attended to, you can appreciate that we were all exhausted when we put the last delegate onto his return flight. We were not too tired, however, to make best use of the end of conference “workers” party which was held in a very good pizza restaurant on the beach, with food and drink paid for by the United Nations Headquarters in New York!
Just before the news became dominated by the latest Gulf War, you may have heard of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) which indicted its first batch of war criminals on 10^th March. The SCSL’s role is very much along similar lines as that of the Court in the Hague which is trying alleged war criminals from the various conflicts in the Balkans. The SCSL indicted seven of the top leaders of the main factions involved in this country’s 10 year civil war which ended in 2001. Five of them were arrested and have been formally charged; the other two are believed to be at large somewhere in the West African region and now have a high price on their heads. One of the five arrested was serving as the current Interior Affairs Minister; this shows that the SCSL will hunt people down no matter what their current status is. Interestingly I attended a drinks party on board a visiting Royal Navy ship this week (19^th March) and met the new acting Interior Minister who was as surprised as anyone to have woken up one morning with a new portfolio! No doubt there will be more indictments and it will be interesting to see if the SCSL’s work provokes a violent reaction from some of the hardcore supporters of those already arrested and their henchmen who may be next. To date, although tensions have been running high, incidents of unrest have been fairly localised.
Well that’s it folks for this month. Hopefully my next installment will be describing the torrential downpours of the rainy season and a far fresher climate!