Posts from — June 2014

The photos can be viewed here.

As you may know Dave Holman, AKA Little Dave, is moving away from the area this week. There will be an informal gathering at the clubhouse on Thursday 26th June after training.

Little Dave was many members welcoming first point of call at the club and coached a large crop of our current senior athletes from a young age or those that joined much older, like myself. Dave’s sessions were always fun and challenging and he would have a few one liners or tall stories up his sleeve to keep everyone motivated and relaxed.  Personally I think our current juniors and adults alike have missed out a lot since Dave retired due to ill health. He always stuck to his principals and thankfully wasn’t swayed to conform to a lot of the modern ways. I’m sure he’d appreciate as many faces as possible at the club on Thursday to say cheerio and wish him well on his next chapter!

Hillingdon’s veteran men and women athletes won their home match, the second of the season in the Mid London Division of the Southern Veterans Athletic League, the men winning with 111 points, ahead of their rivals Herne Hill.  Hillingdon women  were second overall with 82 points just 5 points behind Serpentine, but with a thumping victory in the 4 x 100 m relay.

It was heartening to see 12 Hillingdon wins, and nine second places, in Uxbridge stadium that fine summer evening, proving once again that veteran athletes are no less competitive than lower age group levels.

Alan Butler (V50) won at 200m  in 26.5 secs and Jason Steel (V35) won his 200m  (B) in 26.4 secs and 800m (B) in 2:17. The other three mens’ wins were in the field events: Steve Partridge at long jump,  Dave Martin in the triple jump, Keith Seldon at shot putt.

Such was the competition, our youngest male veteran Martin Bateman just lost first place in the V35 A string  800m (2.08.9) to Angelo John of Ealing (2.08.7) and in the 3000m  with 9.33.6 to  Serpentine’s Cedric Berthelon (9.32.5).

This league also attracts high rankers such as Graham Harrison running for Serpentine underlining his prowess as the UK’s best 400m runner in the V40 age group. He stormed the 200m in 23.9 seconds, ahead of Steve Partridge running for Hillingdon, who could not touch him even with excellent sprinting in 25.3 seconds.

In the 4 X100m  men’s relay, the Hillingdon team looked like winners  and generated much excitement from the stadium with Martin, Alan and Jason maintaining the lead,   until – Graham Harrison broke through to win in the fourth leg overtaking Steve Partridge.

Hillingdon women were helped greatly by the welcome arrival of  newcomers to the veteran age groups:  Claire Thompsett, Sharon Dooley and Louise Kelly albeit the latter two running for Hillingdon as second claim club. Claire won her 200m race by several metres and pulled away to win the fourth leg of the 4 x 100 relay; Sharon won the 200m B string with a personal best of 30.0 seconds and Louise triumphed in the shot putt.

Female sprinting strength didn’t stop at the 35-50 age group: Hendricka White returned for the second year to run for Hillingdon V60’s 200m race in a personal best of 33.1 seconds which would be good enough for many in the younger age groups. The other two wins came from the field events: Kim Weir (V35) again showing her strength at hammer, and Lesley Conway (V55) in the triple jump.

The remaining two vets matches in the season are in Battersea on 23 June 2014 and then to Perivale on 14 July 2014. Aggregate points from each match qualify the top team from each Division for the Southern Veteran League final in September.

Results:  Mens, Womens still awaiting clarification

England’s World Cup crunch match against Uruguay on Thursday 19 June will be screened at the clubhouse. 8.00pm kick off. Members and friends of members welcome.

The management committee would like to inform the membership that Alan Butler has resigned as chair of the clubhouse sub-committee with immediate effect. We would like to put on record our thanks for all his hard work over the years. The management committee will take responsibility for all clubhouse matters until further notice.

Due to the cancellation of one race, and a change in the date of another I have had to substitute two races for those that were originally planned.

The Princes Risborough 10km on the 6th July will be replaced by the Spire Bushey 10km on the same date.

The Marlow Half Marathon planned for the 7th September will be replaced by the Maidenhead Half Marathon on the same date.

More information on both races can be found here

Races still to come:

Spire Bushey 10km 10km     6/07/14

5km Training race                    10/07/14

Bearbrook 10km                   10/08/14

5km Training race                     14/08/14

Maidenhead Half Marathon              07/09/14

100th 5km Training race*         11/09/14

Windsor Half Marathon**        28/09/14

* For the one hundredth race we are aiming for 100 competitors to enter- please support this historic race

**As this was the most popular race in 2013, if there is a similar level of support for the 2014 race the committee have decided to lay on a coach to foster a club spirit and enable competitors to get there and back.

The rules have changed slightly this year and can be found here Scoring Rules

The Mile Distance is perhaps one of the most famous of Middle Distance Running, experiencing a renaissance in recent years. The Ealing Half Marathon team are pleased to bring you The Mile Series events.

Aiming to help promote running in general in Ealing and Hounslow, offering a fast, friendly and fun lunchtime race. More here

The Courses:

The Ealing Mile is held on the first Friday of each month in Lammas Park.  The course is based on the distance markers in Lammas Park, which is one mile over one lap, and has been officially measured.

The Boston Manor Mile is held on the first Thursday of each month in Boston Manor Park and has also been officially measured.

Race numbers can be collected on the day from 12:00 onwards, the race will start at 12:30.