September 2024
Howdy Ranelights.
And there we have it. Summer's over and it's back to school 😢 For those of us (read yours truly) in complete and utter denial, some comfort can be drawn from the fact that a new season of fixtures - with ample opportunity for racing/running/volunteering - has begun. Plus for those of us who like mud, it won't be long before we can wallow (literally) in the upcoming cross-country season.
So plenty to look forward to, to assuage the running soul as the days get shorter, the nights start to draw in and the temperatures start to cool. In this edition - ps: it's a long one, put the kettle on and settle down - we have for your reading entertainment, three race reports, details about the upcoming Thomas Cup and the BBQ, plus a few annoucements; but before that, a club wide appeal for VOLUNTEERS for the following events:
🚰 Richmond Runfest Water Station | Sunday 15 September from 7am: It's our chance to show our appreciation & thanks to the folks at Richmond Runfest, by manning an exclusive Ranelagh-themed water station at the bottom of Friars Lane (https://maps.app.goo.gl/whZDQA2PZWQXUo2RA).
Runfest have been super supportive of our half marathon & 10k events for the last few years, by volunteering and generously donating water, snacks & goody bag items; as well as helping promote our club to the wider running community - so now's it's time for us to help them out in return. Plus we get to promote our amazing club as well, and cheer on our own runners 🥳
Everything will be provided for us, all we need to do is rock up, fill up cups with water and hand them out to the outgoing runners from 8.30am until approx. 11.25am. Many hands make light work, so even if you can only come for a bit of that time, it will really make a difference. If you can volunteer - for however long - please email coordinator@ranelagh-harriers.co.uk or message Narissa on 07791 081351 ASAP.
Similarly if you'd like to volunteer somewhere else, they also have marshal spots available at Teddington Lock, Ham & Riverside Drive and Hampton Court. And just in case you needed a carrot, it's worth mentioning that if you volunteer this year, you can get a free entry in their events next year.
Plus don't forget that Ranelagh members can enjoy 15% off both the Kingston Half & 10k (6 October) and River Thames Half (27 October) with the code RANELAGH15 (all caps). Valid EA members can also enjoy an additional £2 on top of that. To book, simply use the code at:
Kingston Half & 10k: https://riverthamesrunning.co.uk/kingston-half/about-kingston-half-marathon/ 👈🏻
River Thames Half: https://riverthamesrunning.co.uk/events/river-thames-half-marathon/ 👈🏻
💧 Cabbage Patch 10 Water Station | Sunday 20 October from 8am: Clearly volunteering at water stations are tres en vogue! Our fleet-footed barefoot neighbours from across the way (not those rascals by Wimbledon) have asked our help to man yet another exclusive Ranelagh-themed water station; this time at the riverside exit from the Petersham Sea Scouts (https://maps.app.goo.gl/oqr97yrjL4J66NEY6).
You may recall the Stragglers were super helpful in manning a water station at our recent half marathon, so once again, it's our turn to repay the favour. Plus another opportunity to promote our amazing club and cheer on our own runners 🥳 Same setup as before - all we need to do is rock up, fill up cups with water and hand them out to runners from 8am to about 10am.
Once again, if you can volunteer - for however long - please email coordinator@ranelagh-harriers.co.uk or message Narissa on 07791 081351.
🏃♀️ Thomas Cup | Saturday 21 Sept from 1pm: After MORE faffing about with licences, we're delighted to 100% confirm that we've secured the licence for the Thomas Cup on 21 September. Everyone's welcome to join in our traditional 1st fixture of the season but to do so, you must fill in this Google Form https://bit.ly/Thomas-Cup 👈 by 23:59 Wednesday 18 September so that our club handicapper can do their job.
If you’re not planning to run, please come anyway - not just to support, but also to take part in our annual club photo @ 1pm, just by Petersham Gate. After the event, there will be a BBQ/Club Social where everyone is welcome. It'll only cost £12 for all you can eat, plus 2 drinks (children under 12 go free). So we can cater accordingly, please fill in THIS Google Form (yes, we like our Google Forms) @ https://forms.gle/gGF9koCNEHvo3if68 👈
We also need volunteers for the Thomas Cup - marshals, timekeepers & number takers - so please email coordinator@ranelagh-harriers.co.uk or contact Narissa on 07791 081351 if you can help ASAP.
📝 RACE REPORTS:
🏔️ Lustleigh 10k | Monday 27 August: Reknowned locally as a challenging multi-terrain course, this 10k offers 300m of ascent through hilly lanes, muddy tracks, woodlands, the river Bovey and the lovely village of Lustleigh (home to our erstwhile club president, Mike Peace), before finishing in a field hosting the village's annual fair. Ranelagh's 2024 charge was formed by Mike Peace, Eirin McDaid, Mark Herbert, newly-induced 2nd-claimer Robbie Peal and Keeley Phillips, the singular Ranelagh rose amongst our blue & amber thorns. El (past) Presidente 'Captain Mike' had this to report:
The Lustleigh 10k - one of the best (toughest) fell races in the South. With a midday start on a warm - hot even - August bank holiday Monday, the whole endeavour is bonkers, to say the least. Ranelagh’s team of Eirin McDaid, Mark Herbert and Joe Peace placed 2nd in 2022, and 3rd in 2023. This year's team was bolstered by new recruit Robbie Peal, who showed much promise. And despite the local South West Road Runners turning up ‘en masse’, they could not match the Ranelagh mini wave taking place at the front. In brutal conditions, Robbie took 4th (38:43), Eirin 6th (39:20) and Mark 16th (42:49), to give Ranelagh a well-earned win (1st Men's team). Somewhat sensibly, Keeley (1:11:18) and Mike (1:11:46) opted for a much gentler social run. Thanks for the excellent support from Annie and the holidaying Narissa, Pete and Trinity. The (not-so) impressive trophy currently resides in Lustleigh 🏆We hope to see more Ranelagh members - men & ladies - travelling down for next year's defence.
🌳 Bushy Parkrun | Saturday 31 August: So there's this world-wide phenomenon called parkrun - you may know of it? You may also know that it began almost 2 decades ago in Bushy Park, courtesy the efforts of a certain Ranelagh member; which you can read more about @ https://ranelagh-harriers.co.uk/about-us/history/parkrun/ 👈 What you may not know is that Ranelagh's James Russell was one of the original runners; so on it's 1000th running, it's apt that we have a race report from our (slightly older, but no less lovable) James:
This Saturday was a landmark event at Bushy parkrun, nearly 20 years after 13 runners toed the line at 9am on 02 Oct 2004 it would be the 1000th event. On my warmup run to the park I quickly realised this was going to be something different, people were converging from all angles and by the time I got to the bag drop off, the park was already extremely busy. I had a quick chat with Jonny the RD for the day and he said they had 3500 tokens, plus some other raffle tokens to take them to 4000 and that they were adding extra funnels to the famous Bushy finish funnel. Walking over to the start there was a buzz in the air, everyone knew that today was a little bit special. The feeling that this was not going be your ordinary Bushy parkrun was palpable and laughter and chat was heard all around the park.
A few of us Ranelites got together and discussed tactics and the overriding thought was to try to get to the front and run as hard as possible for the first 500 metres to try and get clear of the melee. We moved to the right and front but very quickly as people joined, we found ourselves further and further back. We were all having a go at guessing the numbers, as the start was more like a music festival than a parkrun, there was people as far back as we could see. This start line couldn't be any more different than 20 years ago when 13 of us stood nervously in the car park eyeing each other out with the sole purpose of running as hard as we could for 5km.
Eventually after a quick briefing from Jonny, we were set off and even though we went hard for the first 500m it seemed everyone had the same idea, I saw a few fallers but thankfully nothing too serious. The rest of the run went very smoothly, everyone was jovial and chatty and in excellent spirits. Marshals were thanked, high fives dealt out, the real spirit of what parkrun is all about was evident on everyones faces. After crossing the finish and being sent down the funnel, we had a short wait to get out but it quickly became evident that despite all the extra precautions and plans taken by the amazing Bushy volunteer team, the funnel was not going to cope and soon people were queuing to just to get across the finish line. This did not dampen the spirits and everyone dealt with the delay really well. Even though the queue eventually went back for nearly 800m, it was taken in their stride.
We all hung around afterwards chatting and waiting for other Ranelites to finish and to hear their stories of what will be remembered as a momentous, special but manic day. On my jog home, I couldn't help but think of what an amazing phenomenon parkrun is and what an incredible legacy PSH has created. There is no way he or any of us who were there at that first parkrun could have ever thought that something like this would grow from that!!
🏃♀️➡️ River Relay | Sunday 1st September: Brilliantly organised by our barefoot friends The Stragglers, the River Relay is a baton relay over five stages (approx. 4.4 - 6.5 miles) starting from Boveney to Kingston-upon-Thames, and ending at the Hawker Centre. Ranelagh's 2024 charge took the form of 2 mixed teams, imaginatively named Harriers 1 (Aoife Kilpatrick, Vaughan Ramsay, Chris Davidson, Neil Rae & Alex Waldmann) and Harriers 2 (Carol Aikin, Robbie Hillhouse, Maia Rushby, Rachel Revett and Rebecca Bissell); supported & crewed by team organiser, Hadi Khatamizadeh, who had this to report:
In a very strong and competitive field, Trent Park (2:41:14) took 1st place by a mere 5 seconds, after a close battle throughout with Ealing Eagles' brilliantly named Bald Eagles team (2:41:19). Both our teams ran well and Harriers 1 made us proud by coming 7th overall (3:01:35), with Harriers 2 coming 28th overall, out of 57 teams. A big thank you to everyone who took part, especially Robbie Hillhouse for stepping in as a last-minute replacement 👍
Results: https://www.stragglers.org/_files/ugd/ce84c1_5b16987a6e2f4079b811e9593acb3200.pdf 👈
📢 ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICES:
🗓️ 2024/2025 fixtures: A big shout out to our Fixtures Secretary, Gareth Williams, who has been working hard behind the scenes to gather the dates for our upcoming season. Kindly note that many of the dates are as yet provisional, as they are subject to permissions and licences. We will continue to update the list as and when things are confirmed; in advance of that, our utmost appreciation for your understanding should dates change at the last minute.
For our 2024/2025 fixtures, please click here to go to https://ranelagh-harriers.co.uk/races/ 👈
💙 Women specific coaching sessions: We have a couple of sessions coming up specifically for women, led by Coach James Riley. They’re open to all abilities, no one will be left behind and everyone is welcome:
1. Tuesday 24th September Hills & Strength: meet at 7pm at the clubhouse as normal, or head straight to Queen’s Ride in Richmond Park (https://maps.app.goo.gl/GxiWdCaY9mnP51Jp8?g_st=ic)
2. Thursday 3rd October Speed & Technique: meet at 7.15pm at the Osterley track
James will take us through skills and techniques, followed by a session to practice these. He can give personal feedback if you want it, and you’ll have opportunities to ask questions. It would be great to have an idea of numbers, so please sign up on Teamer if you plan to go:
Hills & Strength: https://teamer.net/teams/111728848-ranelagh-women/events/40662337/notifications 👈
Skills & Speed: https://teamer.net/teams/111728848-ranelagh-women/events/40662338/notifications 👈
