Howdy Ranelights.

Summer is here – and what a summer it’s shaping up to be; especially with the international sporting fixtures we’ve been privileged to enjoy so far: the Women’s Euros (YAAAAYYY The Lionesses) , Tour de France, F1, India-England Test Matches, Diamond League etc.

In Ranelagh-land, we’re coming to the end of our 2024/2025 season but there’s still the odd fixture to aim for. As well as some dates for the upcoming season, so plenty to start saving in your running diary. But before we get into that, we’re delighted to announce:

1. Double GOLD AWARD!

Having recently been named one of London’s best 10ks by Runners World, we’re delighted to announce that the Ranelagh 10K has been given - for the second year in a row - a racecheck.com Gold Award!

These awards are given based on the average rating of all public reviews for our event, so coupled with the Gold Award we’d received for the Ranelagh Half, it’s a great recognition of the immense effort and commitment from everyone.

So, a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone involved; whether volunteering, supporting, sponsoring, racing and even reviewing! It’s a proud moment for our club.

2. fixtures

▪️Ratchford Relay | Tuesday 5 August | Richmond Park @ 7pm: Ranelagh ladies’ favourite event; open to all women and juniors in our club. The course is a 1 km loop near Petersham Gate, with teams of 3 taking on 6 loops in total, with a ‘fast’ runner doing 3, ‘medium’ runner doing 2 and an ‘improving’ runner doing 1 loop respectively. Just turn up on the day, but it would be very helpful if you could email ranelagh.women@gmail.com to let them know in advance or simply respond to the Teamer invite.

▪️River Relay | Sunday 31 August | Boveney to Bushy Park: Still time to sign up for the River Relay, an excellent introduction to baton relay running, with five stages ranging from 4.4 to 6.5 miles over friendly terrain. We’re looking for runners, and drivers (with cars ideally to keep costs down) - all abilities welcome. Closing date is 10 August so please sign up NOW @ https://forms.gle/ztqUA6ANcpb9J53W8 ⬅️ Any questions, please contact Hadi Khatamizadeh via WhatsApp Community or email coordinator@ranelagh-harriers.co.uk ⬅️

Looking ahead to the 2025/2026 season, the following fixtures are confirmed(ish). Kindly note some licences are pending so may yet change:

Our Fixtures Secretary, Gareth W is working hard to finalise the remaining dates for the 2025/2026 season. As soon as we receive confirmation, we will update the website with details of the entire season’s fixtures, including timings, locations and how to enter.

3. Volunteering

There’s been a significant growth in participation in running events, especially among younger demographics; reflecting the popularity of our sport as it continues to increase globally. And now more so than ever before, the role of volunteers has become more crucial in ensuring the success of any event.

Without volunteers, fulfilling essential roles like course marshalling, water station management, registration, finish line support etc, many events - not just ours - would simply be unable to proceed safely, and sadly in some cases, cease to exist altogether.

So, to help us - and our supporters - to be able to continue putting on events that we all enjoy, please, for now, save the following volunteering dates in your diary. Further details will be sent out closer to the date.

Thomas Cup Handicap | Saturday 6 September from 1pm | Richmond Park
Page Cup Handicap | Saturday 20 September from 3pm | Richmond Park
Richmond Runfest Marathon | 14 September | Friars Lane water station & marshal section by Cholmondeley Walk, Richmond
Surrey XC League #1 | Saturday 11 October | Div 2 Richmond Park (Ranelagh are hosting)
Cabbage Patch 10 | Sunday 19 October
Ranelagh Half Marathon | Sunday 10 May 2026
Ranelagh 10K | Sunday 21 June 2026

4. RACE REPORTs

👟 Tracksmith Twilight 5000m | Wednesday 9 July @ Battersea Park Athletics Track

On 9 July, Ranelagh was well represented in 6 of the Tracksmith Twilight 5000m races, with 29 members signed up to run at Battersea Park Athletics Track.

Runners in the 1st heat, along with some supporters, made the journey to arrive in plenty of time to set up the Ranelagh flag in pride of place - just metres from the finish line. The event was touted as a festive celebration of running, with Street Dough Pizza, Jubel Beer and Vitamin Well serving food and drink throughout the evening.

As the party-like atmosphere kicked in, subsequent arrivals were asked via the WhatsApp group chat to bring extra ‘hydration’ to share, especially as the temperatures began to peak at a balmy 30°C upwards.

Outgoing Women’s Vice Captain, Carol Aikin, had this to report:

I don’t think I was alone in questioning my race choices when Wednesday, July 9th rolled around and the temperature was creeping towards an intense 30°C for an evening track 5K.

A small group of us arrived early at the track and set up Ranelagh camp. My race - Heat 1 - was set for 6:15 PM. The atmosphere was buzzing as friendly, smiley pacers gathered to guide us through the 12.5-lap journey ahead. Maia, Ric, and I lined up at the start, and from the first lap, the Ranelagh cheer squad was out in full force, growing louder each time we rounded the track.

The support was amazing - super grateful for all the love - but by the 3K mark, I was melting into the track. No amount of enthusiastic cheering could save me from the heat. I finished in 24:45, I’m OK with that given the conditions.

As more heats went off and more of our runners joined the post-race crew, the evening shifted into a more relaxed mode. Beers were cracked open, pizza appeared, and a bit of a laid back party vibe took hold as the sun finally started to dip.

Meanwhile, the air cooled slightly, but the pace on the track only intensified. Spikes replaced trainers, and the serious runners came out to chase PBs. We cheered as several Ranelagh athletes smashed their times, and the energy peaked during the final heat with sub-15-minute runners absolutely flying.

But the standout moment for me? Watching the incredible Clare Elms from Kent AC break her own British W60 5000m record with an 18:11. I tried not to be starstruck… but let’s just say I failed.....

All in all, it was a fun night of running and camaraderie. Would I do it again? 100%. Sign me up for the next one!

Finally, we hear from the (usually) cool, calm and collected Joe Killip:

Every runner has their own favourite distance, however, I don’t think many would choose the 5k. At parkrun, it’s hard enough counting the Ks (or miles for those still stuck in imperial), but on track, it’s 12 and a half punishing laps, which become progressively harder, and seemingly longer. Nevertheless, on a hot and muggy evening, we had a large group of highly ambitious Ranelights descend on Battersea Park track for an evening of chasing PBs.

Trackside, we also had a superb section of support, perhaps displaying just as impressive endurance, who, by my calculations, cheered 78 separate times over three hours of racing. Though, they were assisted by a chilled supply of beer and pizza. Thank you to each one of them, and the other runners for cheering us all on, it made a great difference each time round.

In total, we had 22 of us turn out, with 9 running season bests, and 4 smashing their personal bests. Huge kudos to Lizzie Broughton (19:42), Sarah Palmer (17:54), Joel Peirson-Hagger (16:58), and Josh Reed (15:38). Feedback from all was communicated in heavy breathing.

Again, I repeat, who would choose a 5k as their favourite event. Masochists.

Whilst awaiting my own race, it was great to watch all their efforts, but their various states of exhaustion afterwards did not fill me with enthusiasm, funnily enough. Though, the fading sun gave me an advantage not enjoyed by the earlier runners, making their efforts all the more impressive.

In the end, you get it done, and are reasonably pleased that you chose to do it, even though your legs hurt, and your heart rate takes ages to come down. Despite that, some of us might even want to do it again, although, I understand anyone who says sod that.

A huge thank you to all who came out to support and well done to all our runners! Rah Rah Rah Ranelagh!

▪️Results @ https://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2025/GBR/twilightbattersea25/event/T1/ ⬅️
▪️Photos @ https://photos.app.goo.gl/nBW7WvM9scwuSTe76 ⬅️ Credit: Georgina Parker @ george.captures

🎽 Elmbridge 10K | Sunday 20 July @ Elmbridge Road | Race report by David Lawley, Men’s Vice Captain

Cooling Off, Turning Up: The Elmbridge 10K, the third (!) and final 10K in the Surrey Road League, offered a welcome change of pace and scenery: a mostly enjoyable out-and-back along the Thames towpath. The 23 Ranelagh runners who lined up were thankful for the cooler weather, with even a bit of refreshing drizzle to take the edge off the effort.

In the days leading up to the race, Ed “The Oracle” Forbes issued a rallying cry to the men’s team. Having crunched the numbers, he’d spotted danger: Woking AC, the insanely bright orange wave, were closing in fast, threatening another team victory and edging ever closer to the overall league title.

It was officially squeaky bum time.

Thankfully, the team responded. The tide was stemmed with a solid 🥈 second-place finish, courtesy of Nick Twomey, Marc Leyshon, David Lawley (PB), Michael Morris (2nd V55), Ed Forbes, and Andy Starr. That meant it would all come down to the final race the following week – the Wedding Day 7K. Squeaky bum time indeed.

The women’s team also put in a strong shift, finishing 9th overall thanks to Sarah Palmer (PB & 3rd Senior Lady), Alba Turku (PB), Carol Aikin (course PB), and Claire Day.

There were two of age category wins and personal bests on the day (see above), but the standout has to be Carol Aikin, who has now run all seven Surrey Road League races this season and clocked course PBs in five of them. She’s on 🔥.

Well done to everyone who raced and represented the club, one last push to come!

▪️Results @ https://www.err.club/pages/2-10K.html ⬅️
▪️Photo credits: Alba Turku

🥝 Henty Relay | Tuesday 22 July @ Richmond Park https://ranelagh-harriers.co.uk/news/2025-henty ⬅️

💍 Wedding Day 7K | Friday 25 July @ Bushy Park | Race report by David Lawley, Men’s Vice Captain (yeah, him again)

The Wedding Day 7K sells out faster than Glastonbury and for good reason. It’s a Friday evening race through Bushy Park, with guaranteed sunshine (more or less), post-race beers, and picnic blankets strewn across the cricket pitch. Bliss!

With the usual strong Ranelagh turnout, we rarely leave this event empty-handed. But would this year be different? There was plenty riding on it: a must-win to secure the men’s Surrey Road League title (holding off Woking), the coveted Stag trophy (which has rarely left our clubhouse), fastest couple honours, redemption for Nick Impey after last year’s second-place finish, and the team mob prize.

The numbers were there, but with Joe Killip nursing a shin injury, the crucial fourth spot in the men’s team was wide open. Josh Reed, Nick Impey, and Gareth Hopkins were all in flying form, so who would step up to complete the ‘Fantastic Four’?

To cut the story of what was a blisteringly fast and fiercely contested race short: we did in fact, for the first time in a long time, leave empty-handed.

All except for Nick Impey’s V40 win. Although, as he himself admitted, this was by default, as the actual fastest V40 had already received an overall prize.

Even the mob match trophy slipped through our fingers, apparently edged out by Ealing Eagles on some form of countback, VAR decision, or golden-goal ruling (we're still not quite sure). Woking brought a phenomenal team and caught us off-guard; admittedly a rare feeling, given our pedigree at this event.

James Whistler summed up just how fast it was: “Three years ago I was 9th and the fastest Ranelagh in 24:19. Today, I was 26th in 24:05. I didn’t even win the local resident prize!” That says it all and James lives just 200 metres from the start. You can’t get more local.

Still, we take nothing for granted and Woking can expect fierce resistance when the Surrey XC League returns in October. on our home ground in Richmond Park. Once we’ve had ample time to lick our wounds, that is.

But despite the sting, it was yet again a glorious evening. The Wedding Day 7K always delivers: a weird but satisfying distance, warm weather, great company, and a field full of Ranelaghs, beers in hand, enjoying summer at its best.

▪️Results @ https://live.sportsystems.co.uk/results.aspx?CId=20246&RId=15231 ⬅️
▪️Photo credits: Stephen Hird and Oli Olgen

5. school run XC 17 July

In 2023, our club devised School Run; an outreach programme to encourage & promote U11 cross-country running, with a special focus on encouraging uptake amongst disadvantaged groups, girls and ethnic minorities.

On 17 July, 31 children and 7 staff members from Burdett-Coutts & Townshend Foundation CE Primary School, a one-form entry primary school located in the City of Westminster, arrived to take on a 1 lap (1/2 a lap for the younger children) cross-country challenge.

They were ably supported by Maia Rushby, Agnes Nagy, Narissa Vox, Ed Perry, Tom Reay, Andy Bickerstaff and Olaf Wasternack who between them divided all duties including course setting, pacing, marshalling, tail running, time-keeping, and at the end, results & presentation.

The children showed great spirit & resilience as they tackled the course, cheered on by everyone. After everyone completed their runs, they were awarded a medal to reflect their accomplishments – even the adults!

Here’s Olaf with a summary of his day:

Thank you for letting me support today. It was so much fun. What was immediately noticeable from the moment I got there that Narissa and Andy know exactly what they are doing and execute or delegate tasks seemingly automatically. It was great to see how quickly everything was pulled together. Really impressive.

The kids were a lot of fun and really well behaved and really nice. My favorite was when one asked me before the start if she can sit on my shoulders. Seeing them run wild without much idea of the terrain or length, they just proceeded forward, mostly anyway. It may have been running, walking, skipping, or something in between.

It fascinates me how kids brains work, just seeing Mr. Tom (Reay) at the corner was a huge moral boost, as well as any flags. What was also excellent was how they cheered each other on, especially the last finisher. Many ran over to the finish and cheered her on. Overall I had the best time and will take any chance to this again.

After an outdoor lunch in the grass, the children said their goodbyes and made their way back to school. A huge thank you to everyone who were involved - including James Riley and Rebecca Bissell for their coaching sessions at the school.

Deputy Head Teacher, Stephanie messaged to say, 'THANK YOU and the team for today! The kids absolutely loved it, even with the 🐝 Thank you for all the coaching in school, for welcoming us, organising the route, drink station and the medals at the end. They were so proud to show parents and friends at the end of the day. Thank you again!'

6. There & Back again..

Having completed the South Wales Traverse earlier this year, Sally Minchella set her target on an even bigger challenge to become the first person to complete the Double South Wales Traverse (SWT).

To go there - and back again - she covered over 153.7 miles and 36,752 ft of elevation. An utterly awesome feat of endurance, grit and determination. Well done Sally!

Here she is in her own words:

“There and back again - the story of a crazy idea (the first double SWT, as far as I know), brought to life with an amazing all female run support crew of Sarah, Bec, Suzy, Jess, Rebecca and Amy, plus Narissa at the wheel and James on Ops - all-star crew, I couldn't have asked for any more - they believed in me even when I didn't believe in myself.

This threw every challenge at us from the start- from having a dodgy stomach and vomiting on Leg 1 playing havoc with fuelling from the start, the worst blisters I've ever had, then haemorrhaging time on taking care of them, issues with salt balance, exhaustion from much earlier than expected...

I only started to actually feel in good shape from about 125 miles in, when it began to come together, before the weather provided the sting in the tail on the final leg, with shared suffering on the England/Wales border. It took a lot longer than expected, but we worked amazingly as a team to problem solve as we went”.

7. TRAINING

A reminder that for Tuesdays’ sessions, please meet at our clubhouse for 7pm; and for Thursdays’ track, please meet at Osterley Park track for 7.30pm. FYI next Tuesday (5 August), the women and juniors will run the Ratchford Relays; there will be an alternative session for everyone else.

STOP PRESS: The following Tuesday (12 August), we will invite all training groups to participate in a trial of a new 3km event at Ham Avenues. We welcome runners of ALL abilities but should you decided not to run, we would really value your help in volunteering (marshalling or timekeeping/number taking). Further info will be sent out very soon.

The warm weather continues so please remember to dress appropriately (keep cool), to stay hydrated before, during and after all your runs and training sessions (but also don’t drink too much!), and to allow plenty of time for your body to adjust and aclimatise.

Do check in on each other, especially as the heat and humidity increases and if you feel faint, dizzy or not well, please slow down or stop running.

Also, please take the appropriate precautions by covering legs, wearing insect repellent and checking for ticks after running in the park. Detailed info can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/642bec29fbe620000f17dbbe/Tick-awareness-A5-leaflet-April-2023.pdf ⬅️

8. CLUB SUBS

An ongoing reminder, if you haven’t already, to please renew your subs for 2025/2026 as soon as possible using the account details below:

Beneficiary Bank: HSBC
Sort code: 40-23-29
Account Number: 81109847
Account Name: Ranelagh Harriers

For any other methods of payment, please go to www.ranelagh-harriers.co.uk/join-info.

Where applicable, your payment includes registration with England Athletics, which will allow you to represent our club in official races. You will also receive a £2 discount on most other race entries, plus other benefits and discounts as offered by England Athletics.

Once you have paid your subs, we will register you with them. Should you have any queries regarding renewing your membership, please email the Membership Secretary.

NOTE: By paying your subs, you agree go to the England Athletics site, to accept and abide by the relevant codes of conduct relating to your role(s) within the club.

9. NOTICES

💙 Hello & Goodbye (not really): Congratulations to our newly elected Women’s and Men’s Captain, Aoife Kilpatrick and Jonny Smith. Congrats also to our new Women’s Vice Captain, Claire Fowler and Men’s Vice Captain, Mike Thomas. Leaving very huge boots to fill, we’d like to say a HUGE thank you to our outgoing captains, Suzy Whatmough and James Riley, and outgoing Women’s Vice Captain, Carol Aikin.

💛 Congratulations: Well done to the graduates of our Ladies Only Couch to 5k Beginner’s course; Jennie Amin, Sarah Kingsley and Thaís Marcele Toledo Corrêa. After being ably coached by Deborah Blakemore (supported by Lexi Godfrey and Louise Wapshott), they succesfully completed the course finale of 2 laps of Sidmouth Woods on 15 July. They will be joining Inter 3 going forwards, so do take the time to say hello and welcome them to Ranelagh.

💙 Club Kit: If you’ve recently ordered kit but haven’t collected it yet, please message Agnes N, our Kit Secretary via WhatsApp Community, or send an email via coordinator@ranelagh-harriers.co.uk ⬅️ Agnes will be at the clubhouse next Tuesday (5 August) for the Ratchford Relay. If you would like to collect your kit then, please let her know so that she can bring it along.

💛 Share: Your running or running related celebrations & achievements in our ‘General Club Chat’ group. Please contact Ed or Narissa via WhatsAppCommunity to be added. We love seeing what you get up to!

August 2025

Howdy Ranelights.

1. Double GOLD AWARD!

2. fixtures

3. Volunteering

4. RACE REPORTs

5. school run XC 17 July

6. There & Back again..

7. TRAINING

8. CLUB SUBS

9. NOTICES

RANELAGH HARRIERS

August 2025

Howdy Ranelights.

1. Double GOLD AWARD!

2. fixtures

3. Volunteering

4. RACE REPORTs

5. school run XC 17 July

6. There & Back again..

7. TRAINING

8. CLUB SUBS

9. NOTICES

Sunset Sprint

Henty Relay · 2025

RANELAGH HARRIERS