Heraldjan16

THE HARRIERS HERALD No. 275, January 2016 Editor: Sue Francis

Contents, features, reports, results         

Thursday night schedules for January and February December Handicap – race results Handicap Championship 2015 – And the winner is…….

Club Entries for London and Brighton Marathons Compton Harriers Christmas Meal – an enjoyable evening to end the year Race results: Oxford Mail cross-country – Three Harriers run with Team Kennet at Culham; Andy Reading 10K – Martin and Lucy post pleasing times Webmaster’s article – Mo features: a good website for running events, and one for cyclists; the benefits of a 30-minute daily run; and a list of forthcoming local and interesting races Thanks to Mo for this month’s contributions to articles and photos Copy date for next Harriers Herald – 31st January

Thursday night schedule for January Thurs Thurs Thurs Thurs

7th 14th 21st 28th

Lucy to lead Jonathan to lead Handicap Race Susanne to lead

Thursday night schedule for February Thurs Thurs Thurs Thurs

4th 11th 18th 25th

Philomena to lead Mo to lead Handicap Race Martin to lead

Handicap Race, December On a wet and very blustery evening, 11 runners turned up to take a final chance to add some more points to their final 2015 Handicap Championship scores. Despite the inclement conditions, George rose to the challenge and set a personal best time. Hitting the front on Shepherd’s Mount, he crossed the line first with a 6 second winning margin ahead of Lucy. The other runners followed in close succession. Sue was 3rd, ahead of Martin (who recorded the evening’s fastest time with a good sub-12), then Jonathan and Richard D. Pete H, who has focussed more on cycling this year, did his first Handicap race for some time, and finished 7th just ahead of Colin.

Recently returned from his Mexican turtle conservation holiday, Aaron got back into the swing of running to finish next ahead of Mo. John started his first Handicap race, but took a short cut in the second half. Next time he will complete the whole route I’m sure. Well done George, and thanks to Jan and Dick for timing.

Finish Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 HH January 2016

Position on handicap 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 7

Name

Start time

George Lucy Sue Martin Jonathan Richard D Pete H Colin Aaron Mo

3:15 3:01 4:39 5;10 4:46 2:22 3;10 2:01 4:43 0:10

1

Finish time 16:53 16:59 17:06 17:09 17:26 17:29 17:43 17:48 18:06 20:37

Actual time 13:38 13:58 12:27 11:59 12:40 15:07 14:33 15:47 13:23 20:27

Handicap Beaten?

-0:07 -0:01 +0:06 +0:09 +0:26 +0:29 New Runner +0:48 +1:06 +0:37

Handicap Championship 2015 – final scores Thanks and well done to everyone who took part in the 2015 Handicap Race series, which consisted of five races around the winter Village Lap, and four races around the summer Relay Lap. Seventeen runners completed at least one of the nine races, but only Colin and I completed every race. Many thanks to Jan who was there to timekeep for every race, whatever the weather, and to Tom and Dick who assisted Jan with some of the race finishes.

For the Championship, a person’s best five scores count towards their final total. Martin started the year with a win in race 1. However, Nitish’s rapid improvement in form saw him take the lead with wins in races 2 and 3.

George set PBs to win races 4 and 5 but, with high scores in both of these races, Nitish extended his lead at the top of the overall scoresheet. Race 5 was to be Nitish’s last of the series, as he moved to Pirbright when the Institute closed. Was his lead big enough to secure victory at the end of the year? George missed race 6, and Helen was the winner. She won again in race 7, but George scored valuable points as runner-up. After this race, George was the only person who could possibly overtake Nitish’s score, but George missed race 8, and Mo claimed the 12 points. With only one race left, and Nitish on a score of 52, George needed to secure a top-3 finish in race 9 to top the championship. Leaving nothing to chance, George gave it his all and set a PB to win the race, thereby securing the Championship win by four points. His winning total of 56 points equals that set by Aaron in 2014. Having both done only five races each, George and Nitish did really well to finish in the top four in each of their races. The battle for third spot was close as Martin had 43 points, while Aaron had 42 and Mo 41.

Champion George will receive the annual trophy and an engraved personalised medal in the New Year. Nitish has already been given his medal – he was chuffed to receive it but, competitive as always, annoyed that he was not able to defend his lead by doing the last four races!

The 2016 Handicap Championship will use the same format and scoring system. The first race of 2016 is scheduled for Thursday 21st January, and will be around the Village Lap route.

Pos.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15= 15= 15=

Name

George Nitish Martin Aaron Mo Sue Colin Dick Jonathan Lucy Helen Richard D Richard T Pete O Pete H John Kevin

Race 1

Race 2

Race 3

Race 4

10 12 8 6 5 9 7 -

12 9 10 7 8 5 4 3 6 -

10 12 8 (4) (3) (5) 7 6 9 -

12 10 9 8 (4) (5) 7 6 1

Race points Race Race 5 6 12 8 10 (7) 6 (3) (2) 9 5 (4) 1 1 -

Race 7

Race 8

Race 9

Total of best 5

10 8 5 6 9 (4) 12 7 -

12 9 7 8 10 -

12 8 (3) (5) 9 (4) 7 10 6 1 1 -

56 52 43 42 41 39 38 35 34 33 32 28 8 6 1 1 1

4 7 10 (5) 8 9 6 12 -

Club Entries for London Marathon and Brighton Marathon The draw for the London Marathon Club Entry was conducted at The White Hart after a November club run. The three names in the ‘hat’ were Ryan, Terry and Richard T. The lucky winner was Terry.

Shortly afterwards, I received an e-mail from England Athletics saying that Compton Harriers were also entitled to one guaranteed Club Entry into the Brighton Marathon (17th April 2016), which is now already sold-out to the 'general public’. So, it seemed appropriate to offer this opportunity to Ryan and Richard T. As Ryan already has a Brighton entry, Richard will have the Club entry.

HH January 2016

2

Compton Harriers Christmas Meal Sue At what was probably our largest ever Christmas do, a total of 26 Harriers and partners enjoyed a fantastic meal at The Swan in East Ilsley (four others were unfortunately unable to make it due to last-minute illness and other commitments). Once we had managed to convince the landlord to rearrange the tables slightly so we could all be accommodated in the lower seating area together, crackers were pulled, paper hats put on, and cheesy jokes read aloud.

We were very well looked after by The Swan staff. There was ample lovely food, with plenty of choice and, despite our large party size, they managed to get everybody’s meals out together. After finishing our starters, we were treated to a loud and colourful performance by the Medieval Mummers who ‘raised a man from the dead’ as Ryan and Rich B stood at the bar looking on in amusement.

During the main course, Terry turned up rather late but bringing the good news of the arrival of a new baby boy for Christmas – not Jesus, but Terry’s and Emma’s first grandchild who had been born unexpectedly early and rather traumatically the previous day, but was now doing fine. By this time, we were all rather full up, so Terry’s timing was perfect for helping to finish some pudding leftovers, and mince pies.

Sue announced the results of the annual Handicap Championship (see page 2 for full results). Neither the winner or runner up were at the meal, but Martin received a bag of jelly babies for taking 3rd place. To end the evening, Dick had organised a quiz, for which we had to identify 50 UK buildings, landscapes and other landmarks from photos; the winners were Richard and Ann D. Thanks to everyone for coming – I hope you enjoyed the evening as much as I did.

Clockwise from bottom left: Hungry Harriers put on their hats and wait for their starters; Ryan looks on as the Mummers perform; Jonathan concentrates on the quiz under the watchful eye of decorated Dick, the quizmaster HH January 2016

3

Race Results and Reports Oxford Mail Cross-Country Series Race 2, Culham, 6th December Sue Three Compton Harriers joined members of Team Kennet to compete in race 2 of the Oxford Mail x-country series at Culham Park on a nice December Sunday morning. The course was slightly different and improved this year, and mostly firm underfoot with just a few boggy and muddy stretches. A loop on the flat grassy top field was followed by a dash down a soft sandy bank to the flood plain alongside the river, before an up-down-up zigzag on a firm bank, to take runners back up to the top field for the next lap. The ladies ran two laps, and the men ran three. It was a very good course for spectators too – from the top of the bank you could see most of the course.

The ladies race was won by Fabienne Amrhein (Oxford Brookes University) in 23:04, one minute ahead of her nearest rival – Newbury’s Sophie Crumly – and there were 157 finishers. First home for Team Kennet was Helen Preedy (19th). I had a good race to finish 23rd (26:52) and, with Rachel Bladon 27th, we packed very well as a team. The winner of the men’s race was once again Danny Ray (White Horse Harriers) in 28:42, and there were 275 finishers. Jonathan ran well to improve his November position by 17 places to finish 173rd (37:50). Rich B found the going tough, having had a few weeks’ break from regular running, but persevered with a smile on his face to finish 224th (40:51). Team Kennet’s men’s and ladies’ teams both improved their team placings this time, both finishing 4th on the day.

Andy Reading 10K, Chesterton, 13th December Martin and Lucy both raced well, their positions and times being 65th (40:55) and 164th (47:44) respectively. The race winners were Harry Earl (Border/Eastern Kentucky University) in 32:35 and Samantha Amend (Belgrave Harriers) in 36:18, and there were 353 finishers.

HH January 2016

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Website update… http://www.comptonharriers.org.uk Mo There are one or two minor layout changes to the website following a software update and I have also introduced an enquiry form link into the 'Contact' page, which hopefully will reduce the number of spam emails, currently running at about 20 per week. (The lowest it has been for years!)

Links of interest this month: One for the cyclists this month, https://www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/events/100/ will take you to the ballot page for entry into the 'The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100' (The London Cycle Marathon) scheduled for Sunday, 31st July 2016. The ballot closing date is 17:00hrs on Friday 8th January 2015. The route is the same one used for the 2012 London Olympics. For runners, a choice of events at http://www.f3events.co.uk/event/Windsor-Eton-Fun-Run-Series-Event-1-1001 ... spot anyone?

A short daily run has benefits too: If you're struggling to find the time to fit in a decent training run owing to work or other commitments, just be aware of the benefits regular daily short runs can provide. So rather than feeling frustrated, make the effort to run or exercise for just 20-30 minutes a day and you will be rewarded as follows:  20-30 minutes’ intense exercise (e.g. interval training), or a normal run out for 30 minutes, won't overuse your muscles, there will be a low injury risk and you'll soon recover and be ready for your next run.  A 30-minute session will guarantee a calorie burn of somewhere between 200-500 calories so if you're squeezing a run in before a night out, you won't feel guilty when ordering the dessert!  A 'quick blast' can often be more beneficial than a long run as it avoids the post-run tiredness, tones up your muscles and makes you feel good.  Not only do you burn fat and use calories when you run, but your body continues to burn fat after exercise, so even running for just 20-30 minutes will kick start your metabolism and continue fat burn, keeping your body in trim and weight in check.  You will also feel much more accomplished for making the daily effort even if you only had a short window of time.

A short run each day will also help in providing a restful night's sleep and will reduce any anxiety or symptoms of depression, so always make time for that daily 30-minute session. After all, 30 minutes is only 2% of your day!

With reference to last month's report... has anyone tried the cold relief recipe yet?

Events of Interest – see Website Training & Events Calendar for more details: Sat, 09 Jan: Sun, 10 Jan: Sat, 16 Jan: Sun, 24 Jan: Sun, 31 Jan: Sat, 06 Feb: Sun, 07 Feb: Sun, 14 Feb: Sun, 21 Feb: Sun, 28 Feb: Sun, 06 Mar: Sun, 13 Mar: Sun, 20 Mar: Sun, 03 Apr: Sat, 09 Apr: Sun, 17 Apr: Sun, 24 Apr: Sun, 01 May: HH January 2016

Berkshire Cross-Country Championships 10:30 Woodcote 10k • 11:00 Rough 'n' Tumble 10 11:20 (W) 12:00 (M) Oxford Mail XC Horspath 08:30 Country to Capital 45 10:00 Oxford 10k • Windsor & Eton 5k,10k,15k & 20k series1 Tough Guy 15 Thames Trot Ultra 50 11:20 (W) 12:00 (M) Oxford Mail XC - Cirencester 10:30 Bramley 20/10 • Dursley Dozen • 11:00 Reading 5 Miles 10:00 Wokingham ½ Mth • 10:20 Meon Valley Plod (21miles) 10:30 The Terminator 12 • Bourton 10k 11:20 (W) 12:00 (M) Oxford Mail XC - RAL, Harwell 11:30 Goring 10k 2016 • 12:00 Silverstone ½ Mthn 10:00 Heyford Park ½ Mthn, 10k & 5k 09:30 White Horse ½ Marathon • 10:00 Reading ½ • 14:00 Combe Gibbet to Overton 16 09:00 CDC 20 (Tbc) Brighton Marathon 2016 London Marathon 2016 10:00 Three Forts Challenge 5