November 2024
Howdy Ranelights.
Hope you’re keeping well – and staying relatively dry as we enjoy the beauty of the turning seasons, ahead of of the darker evenings to come.
If you’ve not realised, cross-country season is well and truly in full swing, with our next Surrey League fixture on Saturday 9 November, held at Beckenham Place for the Women and Oxted for the Men. There’s still time to sign up for another chance to, as Peppa Pig would say, ‘splash about in muddy puddles‘. All you need to do is contact your Captains, or sign up via Teamer.
For those not able/or wanting to run – as always, please do come along to cheer & support your fellow club members. It really makes a HUGE difference to everyone running.
Upcoming fixtures
Surrey League #2 | 9 Nov Beckenham Place (Women) & Oxted (Men): Again, two different venues and two different distances – 6km for women & 8km for men. Hills and woodland trails at Beckenham Place, ‘rough ground, hills and mud‘ at Oxted; what more could anyone want? Please contact your captains (or coaches if you can’t find the captains) or sign up on Teamer. RAH RAH RAH Ranelagh!
SEAA London XC Champs | 16 Nov Parliament Hill @ 1.15pm: And off we go to the holy grail of cross-country venues, Parliament Hill (winner of a World Athletics Heritage Award for Cross Country – yes, that is actually a thing). Featuring not just THE hill but THE mud and THE view, it’s 6km for the women and 10km for the men. Registrations have opened, so please contact your captains or sign up on Teamer. This is definitely one for the supporters too; we promise a fab & inspirational day out in an unbelievable setting.
Mob Match vs THH | 23 Nov Wimbledon Common from 2pm: And the call goes out for ALL HANDS ON DECK as we travel all the way across the A3 to visit our friendly rivals Thames Hare & Hounds. It’s a chance for everyone to participate in a running rivalry that dates back to November 1974, with the tally so far 22 Ranelagh wins against 27 Thames wins. Can we make it 23 victories? YES WE CAN! Details to follow once THH sort themselves out 😜
You can find the full list of our 2024/2025 fixtures @ https://ranelagh-harriers.co.uk/fixtures-2024-2025/ 👈
TO OUR VOLUNTEERS
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who volunteered at the Cabbage Patch 10 water station and also to marshal. Feedback from The Stragglers has been really positive; they are all so grateful for our support of their event.
The organisers said, ‘the Ranelagh team did a brilliant job on the water station, so well organised’, ‘many thanks (to) the Ranelagh team for doing such a brilliant job on Sunday. Not only running the water station but also clearing up the road after the high tide’, and ‘many thanks for Ranelagh’s assistance with the water station and the extra marshals. It was a huge success’.
Great work everyone – you’ve all really made our club proud.
The Petersham Sea Scouts (where the water station was located) have invited us to attend their Fireworks Night on 2nd November. Gates open at 17:00, bonfire lit at 17:30 and fireworks to follow at 19:00. They will also have a BBQ, Mulled Wine, Bar and Indoor Market.
Tickets sell out quickly, so don’t delay – head to @ https://pandhseascouts.sumupstore.com/ 👈
Race Reports
🏃♀️➡️🍰 Women’s Surrey League #1 @ Wimbledon Common | 12 Oct 2024 | Report by Rebecca Bissell:
The first Surrey League of the season is always a popular one and the course at Wimbledon Common (hosted by Belgrave Harriers) didn’t disappoint. However, the course was very dry and relatively flat, with only one small downhill and uphill section. So dry in fact, that most ran in light trail shoes, or even road shoes!
Lucy Urbas, Agnes Nagy, Sarah Carnwarth and Chloe Dobbs joined in for their first ever Surrey league – with a special shout out to Sarah Carnwath who, upon recently joining Ranelagh, had her first outing for our club with her first cross country race in 30 years! We were also thrilled to welcome back to both the UK (after her worldwide travels) and Ranelagh, the lovely Cordy Parker – who smashed it out of the park by coming in 11th overall!
The rain held off for the race and for sufficient time after for everyone to tuck into the ample supply of cakes, cookies and mega brownies. The sugar fix at the end was definitely worth the effort. Although one has to be careful for what one wishes for, still everyone pretty much agreed, bring on the mud! Please do join us at the next Surrey League on the 9th November at Beckenham Place Park.
Ranelagh A team placed 6th overall (Cordy Parker 24:23, Suzy Whatmough 25:19, Cecily Day 26:40, Lucy Urbas 28:13 and Agnes Nagy 28:42), Ranelagh B placed (Aoife Kilpatrick 29:13, Clare Fowler 29:57, Sarah Carnwath 30:24, Claire Warner 31:38 and Rebecca Bissell 32:14), followed by Maia Rushby, Carol Aikin, Clare Day, Chloe Dobbs, Sally Bamford and Louise Piears. Well done everyone!
Thank you to our Ranelagh support crew who cheered us on and played paparazzi whilst we gave it our all on the 2 lap course – Narissa Vox, Sarah Palmer & baby Myles, Maisy F, Alex Ring, Jeremy Day, Phil Aiken and Gordon Whitston.
🏃♂️➡️🥊 Men’s Surrey League #1 @ Reigate Priory | 12 Oct 2024 | Report by James Riley:
October’s Mens Division 2 race saw one of the strongest and deepest Ranelagh teams in recent memory toe the line at the bucolic Priory Park, Reigate. The name of the game: to finish top 2 at the end of the season and book a return to Division 1.
We knew Clapham Chasers would be tough to beat, having been unlucky to be relegated alongside us. But what about the other teams? Most had fast runners, but did they have the depth to challenge for promotion? Consensus seemed to be that the most likely other promotion candidate was the emerging Holland Sports.
And consensus was right. The front of the race was a virtually uninterrupted wave of Ranelagh, Clapham and Holland Sport blues, making guessing the scoring somewhat challenging.
As this blue tsunami crashed over the finish line, Joe Killip emerged as first Ranelagh scorer in 7th having retaken the position from Peter Robbins (9th) on the final downhill. James Hall was 3rd Ranelite in 13th, with the A-team rounded out by VC Jonathan Smith (18th), Marc Leyshon (19th, 2nd V40), Josh Reed (26th), VC Dave Lawley (32th, 5th V40), Ross MacDonald (37th), VC David Ready (38th) and Ted Mockett (living up to the Captain’s belief that he’d do what was necessary to score, in 43rd and 9th V40).
Demonstrating our strength in depth, the B team topped the standings. Chris Davidson, James Whistler, Graham Brook, Graham Weller (2nd V50), Joel Peirson-Hagger and Mark Herbert took the top 6 places, with Sergio Stillacci (4th V50), Stewart Stanton, Ed Forbes and, returning Surrey League legend and 1st V60, Julian Smith, completing the team.
The Ranelagh team was rounded out by Gary Taylor (who took a tumble), James Ritchie (10th V50), Neil Rae, Mike Thomas and Hadi Khatamizadeh. A huge effort by all but was it enough?
When the dust settled, we had to settle for 3rd place, narrowly behind Clapham and Holland Sports, who were separated by a single point. While it’s not where we want to be, there’s all to play for, in what’s looking set to be an exciting battle for promotion!
🌲 SEAA XC Relays | 19 Oct 2024 | Report by Suzy Whatmough:
This year we had 6 women representing Ranelagh at the South of England Cross Country Relays, which took place in Wormwood Scrubs on Saturday 19th October. This relay format involves teams of three, with each runner completing a 3km circuit of the reliably muddy Scrubs.
Our teams came 7th and 24th overall, which are excellent placings in this competitive event. Cecily Day and Edel McKeever ran the first leg in 11:01 and 13:07 respectively. This was Edel’s first cross country race, which she ably navigated in road shoes, and then followed it up with a PB at the Cabbage Patch the next day.
Our leg 2 runners were Agnes Nagy (12:14) and Rebecca Bissell (13:45), and the teams were completed by Suzy Whatmough (10:58) and Sarah Carnwath (13:11). Suzy and Cecily clocked the 12th and 14th fastest laps overall. Well done everyone!
Full results @ https://results.sporthive.com/events/7252638108540207104/races/110👈
🥬 Cabbage Patch 10 | 20 Oct 2024 | Roundup by Narissa Vox:
On what was certainly the wettest Cabbage Patch 10 in recent memory, 50 hardy Ranelights defied Storm Ashley to conquer 10 miles in and around Twickenham, Teddington, Kingston, Ham & Richmond.
Despite many coming by your author’s marshal spot (7.4 miles) in varying states of bedraggled-ness, it was clear that the vast amounts of water emanating from the sky, the ground and the river did not slow anyone down.
Kudos to Peter Robins, who was the 1st Ranelagh home in a blistering 54:23, followed not so long after by young Joe Killip in 55:44. Clearly running hand in hand, Ross Macdonald and David Ready took 3rd & 4th Ranelagh in 59:35 and 59:36 respectively. Our top 5 men was completed by the indomitable Chris Lepine, coming in at 1:00:02 and proving to our young pups that there’s plenty of life in our old dogs yet.
1st Ranelagh lady was Lucy Urbas (1:07:47), followed by Aoife Kilpatrick (1:08:22), Edel McKeever (1:14:09), Claire Warner (1:15:29) and Lauren Robertson (1:18:32) to complete our ladies top 5.
A special shout out to John Tovell who came 3rd in his Men 70+ age group (1:31:52). Well done to all the runners, and congratulations to those that nailed their PBs!
Full results @ https://www.racetecresults.com/Results.aspx?CId=20246&RId=15144&EId=1👈
In brief
🪖 Kudos to Nicola Douglas, Thomas Lane, James Ritchie & Mark Herbert who represented at the Milocarian Invitational on 26 Oct at Sandhurst; especially Nicola who placed 2nd lady 💪
🌳 Shout out to Claire Fowler, Suzy Whatmough (3rd overall & 3rd V35), Jonny Smith (4th overall & 1st M35), Ross Macdonald (2nd M35) and Graham Weller (3rd M50) who represented at the Surrey Master XC on 26 Oct at Nonsuch park. Great running all!
Reminders
🧹 Clubhouse Clearout | 2 Nov @ 11am (with optional Richmond parkrun before): Our beloved clubhouse is in sore need of a clearout so we can improve the space for everyone’s benefit. All welcome to meet first for a friendly group 5k at Richmond parkrun and a takeaway coffee, before we roll up our sleeves to get to work. If you can’t join us at Richmond parkrun, please meet at the clubhouse at 11am. Any questions, please email coordinator@ranelagh-harriers.co.uk 👈
🍺🍟 ‘Ranelagh Tuesday Social’ | Tuesday 5 Nov @ 8.15pm: On the menu are cod & chips (£11) or vegetarian burger & chips (£7.50). Please order by completing the WhatsApp Community poll or email coordinator@ranelagh-harriers.co.uk 👈 Plus our fridge is fully stocked with lovely drinks for everyone to purchase & enjoy. ALL ARE WELCOME to join in at the clubhouse, straight after training, as we chill, chat and to get to know friends old and new. SEE YOU THERE!
🎄SAVE THE DATE: Ranelagh Christmas Party | 7 Dec @ One Kew Road, Richmond: The planning is reaching peak levels, so please continue to save the date in your diaries and we will send through further details, including how to book, menu etc. for the BEST Xmas party ever.
💚 Join the ‘General Club Chat’ group to share your celebrations & achievements with a pic, a result and perhaps a short 5-word review, to be included in our Weekend Highlights. Join via WhatsApp Community or this link: https://chat.whatsapp.com/EOXovU5nMK00H9faojuPOm 👈
NOTICES
🎽 Ranelagh Kit
If you’re looking to buy new Ranelagh kit, please bear with us. We’ve stopped sales of the old kit now, as we hope to have new updated kit by January 2025. More information and details as soon as we have them and thank you in advance for your patience and forbearance.
🎙️ RunAlive Podcast Season 4
The wait is over and our universe is complete again; Ranelagh’s favourite podcast – RunAlive – is back! Hosted by Ranelagh member Ed Perry & friends, Season 4 of the RunAlive Podcast kicks off with an awesome chat with coach and journalist Mario Fraioli.
This is not your normal running podcast – you won’t hear chat about splits and training tips, but rather what we can all learn from the guests’ lives and experiences, with running being the thread that joins it all together 🥰
1️⃣ Details @ www.runalive.co.uk👈
2️⃣ Subscribe @ https://open.spotify.com/show/2sVes1jFMwSvFe8SfI5Sj0👈 or wherever you get your podcasts from
3️⃣ Join their Strava Club @ https://strava.app.link/ocOMIV5y5Fb👈
💙💛 Ranelagh Half Marathon | Sunday 11 May @ 8.30am
Early Bird prices are LIVE! Entries for our 10k will open very soon but you can enter the 2025 Ranelagh Half Marathon (11 May @ 8.30am) NOW for only £32 UKA/£34 non. For instant entry, head to https://bit.ly/ranelagh-half 👈
🎥 Younger: Looking Forward To Getting Older | Wednesday 11 May @ 7.45pm
Run Ealing, a charity supporting people to get running, are hosting a movie screening of “Younger” at the Ealing Project. This will be followed by a short Q&A with the “Younger” filmmaker Danielle Sellwood and photographer Alex Rotas, plus an opportunity to mix with the audience at the cinema’s bar before and after.
Find out more @ https://www.ealingproject.co.uk/movie/younger-looking-forward-to-getting-older/
