Thames Meander
Released On 8th Nov 2017
TCS New York Marathon
Just in case anyone missed it I took part in the NYM this weekend hence the Blog is late this week. After 3 years of trying to get in through the ballot, I finally got a place this year. I had a great time and on Race Day after the standard bottle of red felt good and even with the Climb up the first Bridge to stop you going off too fast I was going too fast the other side as you go from the highest point on the course and head down Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Somehow I was ahead of the 7:15 pacer and was waiting for him to overtake me early on but he didn't till mile 20.
I got through the first half in 1:34:48 just 20 seconds slower than my Bristol Half time and the fastest I have ever done on a marathon. I managed to keep this going for 20 miles and was on a sub 3:10 but the last 6 took it out of me and even though it is not hilly like White Star it bloody feels like it. Anyway with a pb this year at London of 3:13:53 I managed to get 3:13:52, a whole second quicker.
I also did the 5k on Saturday starting at the United Nations and running along 42nd Street and then turning up 6th Avn to end at the Marathon finish in Central Park. I hope someone from the Club gets a place next year, we have had a runner there for the last 3-4 years now.
New Championship Year
Lesley has been working hard over the last few weeks to sort the 2018 year out and has a new set of Championship Rules.
'Please read the Championship Rules and Races for 2017-2018. We have reduced the number of races which will hopefully enable more members to participate. For Points King/Queen bonus points can be earned as explained in the rules. If you have any questions please ask!'
London Marathon
From Catherine: Sorry it's taken so long but here are the final ballot places. At this time we are eligible for two but not far from three. The cut-off date is sometime this month but the official date hasn't been confirmed at this stage.
1. Sharon Masters
2. Jo Henley
3. Katie Brooks
4. Trevor Strelley
5. Louise Ward
6. Terry Byrne
7. Denise Byrd
8. Darren Atyeo
9. Jon Crane
10. Frances Swatridge
11. James Day
12. Adam Batson
13. John Paul Humphries
14. Graham Still
15. Stephanie Brearey
16. Lindsay Saunders
17. Jo Crane
To be eligible for the ballot for the allocated Club place(s) members must:
1.Be a first claim member of the Club
2. At the time of the Ballot, the member must be, at a minimum, in their second year of continuous membership of the Club.
3. Have paid their annual Club membership fee by the date of the AGM in the year of the ballot.
4. Not have run in the previous two London Marathons irrespective of their method of entry to the event.
5. Have an entry form that states the applicant is a member of Yeovil Town RRC.
6. Present a valid rejection slip for the next year’s London Marathon to a member of the Committee.
Why Have an Awards Night
From Matt: The YTRRC Points Championship, what is it and how do you win it – version 2018
The points championship is a coveted award that comes in two parts, for both the YTRRC ladies and YTRRC men – so that’s really four parts (confusingly already). Anyway, Lesley Nesbittt and the committee agree to a list of races of varying distance and terrain that spread nicely across the year. It is for the competitor to take part in the races listed and then see how they are doing with regard to other YTRRC runners.
So, if you are first YTRRC man, you get 50 points, second YTRRC man gets 49 points, third gets 48 points, and so on…similarly for the ladies. Tactically, a runner may target less popular races in order to be higher up the scorecard than they might otherwise be. This year, for example, I ran the Forde Abbey race and was beaten by no less than seven-ninths of Yeovil, whereas the immensely challenging Seaview 17 was 20 miles of bitterly cold Exmoor and coast path and strangely Joanna Henley and I were the only nutters to be seen!
The reason for running tactically means you could challenge for the first of our awards, the Male or Female Champion. This is won by your best ten (subject to change) scores over the years list of races, so if you run twelve of the races but have a disaster at one, you don’t have to worry about that score. This award is particularly fun if Paul Card gets shin-splints meaning you are an odds-on bet for the award, only for him to come charging back to good health in the second part of the season. Another set-back might be Steve Lye finding out all about this award and suddenly turning up at races unannounced, or Leyt Green fancying a day out in the summer sun at Weymouth. Darryl Sheen is another or Nathan Gardiner, any number of people really and that’s what makes it so interesting.
Meanwhile, all those races you’ve been turning up to proudly wearing your YTRRC top (you must do that, unless you have special dispensation from the committee for a charity top or fancy dress for the Santa Dash for example), you’ve been advertising YTRRC far and wide and amassed a load of points, so at random times in the year Lesley Nesbitt will publish the “results so far” – This is where it turns out that you’re placed ninth best runner in the club with six or so races to go…all of a sudden you’re desperately entering races in a bid to move up the table – can you make top five? Maybe top three?
Sometimes, due to taking your Mother and Mother-in-Law on holiday to Scotland (I know - should be worth some points for that) you miss a race (or more – Egdon Saturday, Wells Sunday) and someone takes huge advantage, and just because you missed Tiggy (the cat) and wanted to get her back from the kennels, you then miss another (Crewkerne, following Sunday), and all this leaves you trailing in second place for the rest of the year. Oh yes, and never mind the fancy dress Santa Dash where you ran with the missus and did 4km in a little less than three days (!) losing massive points in the meantime…
But you know your rivals will take holidays themselves, maybe Kevin Doherty will nip over to Valencia for a stroll, and you can catch up a little then. Fast running for two miles will see off any challenge from Kev Brettle, unless you slow down for a second, in which case he whips past! You can also get additional points doing extra races such as “any marathon” and try to get as good a time as possible as this will score time-related bonus points. It may mean you running a marathon, when your rival runs 10K, but hey isn’t that part of the fun? Or running the Gilly Hilly at 11:00am and YTRRC Cross Country at 13:20pm!
Ok…so you entered all these races and someone pips you to the post. Disappointed yes, but think of all the freebies and bling! Here I am with over 15 technical shirts, 1 pair of gloves (the hat is in the wash), and who knows how many medals!
Seriously folks, take a look at the Championship race list for 2018 (Lesley and Bungy Williams will publish soon) and challenge your mates. It’s a great motivator for the whole year and gets you round races you might not have thought of doing – note all races chosen are picked for their great atmosphere, beauty, challenge or other such character-building tendencies.
It’s been a close challenge this year making it great fun, points need to be ratified and checked, so no announcements here…you all just need to sign up to the Awards Night to see what happens next!
https://www.yeoviltownrrc.com
The Thames Meander
We had a few runners that made there way up to London for the Thames Meander, it has been a favourite for a couple years now.
Linda posted:
Now that we are all back from our very healthy run and boozy weekend, here is a few words about our weekend. We got to Kingston in good time. Thank you Mark Swatridge for driving and we arrived about 4.30pm (last year we were stuck in traffic for 2 hours). So brilliant start. We was soon joined by Joanna Henley and Triss Samuel. So we decided to meet at reception for a swift half before we headed out to Wetherspoons for dinner. Soon after we ordered drinks James Day turned up. So off we went to have dinner. Then we went to a nice local Gin/Beer pub 'The Albion' for a drink. Us girls and James Day said we won't have too many as we all had runs. Joanna Henley and I were going to join James Day for his 50th Parkrun before we did our Half Marathon....story to follow. Well us girls decided as we couldn't drink too much we decided to go back to the hotel and get an early night...the memo really didn't get relayed to James Day and partied hard with the boys...As you all know by now that James was still hugging the toilet at 9am and me and Jo managed to get another quick breakfast in before we headed off for our run. Sorry James that you missed it. We all got to the event in good time only to be met up by Luke Hicks, Catherine Thompson Hansford, Paul Card, Richard Bessell, Harriet Quast and 2 surprise runners Nicky Guiver and Simon Rowbottom. Anyway we saw off the Marathon Runners at 10 am, They were briefed and was told that a high tide was coming in from 1.30pm and some of the slow runner will be wading in water....Frances Swatridge never heard this advise and soon realised she had entered a Dualathlon. The Half Marathon started at 10.30. I ran a great race and came in under 2 hours, I was made up. I cant thank Jo enough for pacing me for most of the race. I was on fire. In order of the placements for the Half Marathon was Simon Rowbotton 1:42:46, Nicky Guiver 1:52:16, Me 1:58:28, Jo 2:04:07, Catherine 2:30:47. When me and Jo finished we decided to walk back to the hotel to shower and change and have a quick turnaround and head back to the venue to see in Frances. We missed most of the marathoners but we were told that Richard had not ran a good race and was suffering. Not long after we got there Frances appeared to only run past the finish sign and had to run another 0.75 miles and back to the official finish line. (This is know as a Head F*** and it's a cruel finish). The Marathoners in order were Paul Card 3.11.35, Luke Hicks 4.03.25, Harriet Quast 4.13.27, Richard Bassell 4.42.22 and last but not least Frances 5.47.12. So big hugs were in order and we heard all about Frances swimming event but she really enjoyed this events and wants to come back (to do the Half). We then all walked back and the boys were complaining that their feet hurt... we did try to ignore their groans! but Triss did get a foot rub by Jo...tut tut. Anyway another quick turn around and off we went to the Stein Bar for a celebration food and drink, following by a new Gin Bar that Steve had recced whist we were running called the Queen's head. Good call!.... well until this morning and I had a very dull head...not happy. We spent most of the day shopping or walking and now all home safe and well. Here's to next year. PS the boys agreed to do the Parkrun next year...better get training.
Hats List
Updated Hat list. I now have the following who qualify for 2017 hats. Please let me know if I've missed anyone or if you're included and shouldn't be:
Mini Slam (27)
Adam Hawkins; Alan Smith; Claire Shucksmith; Denise Byrd; Daz Swithenbank; Elspeth Fontana; Emma Machen; Jo Crane; Jo Henley; Joanne Moody; Judith Wilson; June Moule; Katie Brooks; Kevin Doherty; Linda Membury; Lindsay Saunders; Louise Dale; Magdalena Kusmierczyk; Nat Robins; Pippa Howarth; Rob Adams; Sharon Masters; Shaun Powell; Steve Lye; Steve Warren; Trevor Strelley; Yunmi Jang
Grand Slam (20)
Adam Batson; Catherine Hansford; Emily Wharton; Frances Swatridge; Helen Nesbitt; Jeff Watson; Jon Crane; JP Humphries; Kev Brettle; Kirsty Norman; Lesley Nesbitt; Liz Diamond; Martin Alderman; Matt Driver; Mike Bird; Nikki Harriss; Paul Card; Sarah House; Samantha Lloyd; Terry Byrne
Super Slam (10)
Andy Brown; Andy Merrick; Anita Rufus; Guy Williams; John Hayden’ Louise Ward; Luke Hicks; Richard Dodge; Richard Howes; Tim Howes
Lesley
Marks Runs
LONE RUN ROUND SHERBORNE
I ran for an hour round Sherborne tonight going clockwise. The run covered Bradford road, Kitt Hill, Newell, Greenhill, houses up to Bristol Road, Castle Town Way, Coldharbour, Dodge Cross, Oborne road, New road, Ottery lane, and Lenthay road. It's good to get out.
PUB RUN – SOUTH PETHERTON (2ND November 2017)
Tonight’s Pub Run planned by Gareth was characterised by cool night air (it felt near freezing), and very poor visibility due to the fog. The bigger group turned right from the pub, then continued right, right, and right. The darkened foggy lane met up with the A303. We ran parallel with the A303, and passed two farms. The junction at the end of the lanevillage. Poor visibility due to the fog and steamed glasses caused me to trip on the pavements edge. This led to a fall with bashed knee and twisted ankle. The decision to continue running with the group was made and I ran more slowly up Carey’s Hollow. We continued to the junction at the end, and turned right. We stopped at the second right turn to re-group. Because of the ankle, I opted for a very slightly shorter route and ran straight back down Compton Hill. After some gentle climbing we were back in the village. Notwithstanding the injury, I enjoyed Gareth’s run. Thanks to all, for the word that is in the dictionary, between two other words beginning with S.
