Due to SRFC’s Director not wanting to have the renual forms on our notice-board I have put application forms in a large white envelope marked 26.2 in the club foyer uner “A” where letters are left to be collected. (Some also in their office) Pay or renue by 15th April and pay £57 a year (just over £1 a week), to use showers / sauna / bar 7 days a week. The bar is subsidised so beers and soft drinks are generally about 50p or more cheaper than normal (wine about £1 cheaper) which means having a few drinks a week may even make you a profit while you socialise after running. Also they let us use their kitchen to re-heat / cook food to eat in the bar, or you can have take-aways delivered too.
Don’t miss your opportunity to get tickets to THE event of the year, that’s right, it is that time of year again…….The 2012 26.2RRC Awards Dinner and Dance is being held on Saturday 12th May at the Holiday Inn, Portsmouth Road, Surbiton. It’s a fun night out with friends and clubmates in a great venue with fantastic food and this year we have managed to confirm Radio Jackie star Neil Long as our DJ for the evening, and as if that wasn’t enough, you might even win an award.
So don’t delay, confirm your place today! The booking form can be found in the download section of the site, or there are hard copies at the club, or email us at 26.2membership@gmail.com and we’ll email you a form directly. Tickets are £30 and this can be paid by cheque (either posted to Peter whose address is on the booking form, or handed to a committee member), or make an online transfer (email us and we can give you the bank details). Look forward to seeing you all there!
Renewals to existing members have gone out but they haven’t deducted the extra £10, so should read £77 less 26.2 £10 discount less £10 prompt payment discount (by 15th April) = £57! For others wanting to use the bar and showers/sauna 7 days a week please get a form from the office in the foyer (if locked see someone in the bar). I also have them in my locker but am away now till April 1st. They don’t want us to put the forms on our notice board (don’t understand why!) So for those not members do consider joining, only just over £1 a week and enjoy a post run social drink with us on Wednesdays, and there are always members around on Sunday lunchtimes too. Please note it’s not fair on those that pay the Social membership for those that haven’t to use the bar!
Where Saturday was windy and wet, Sunday dawned sunny and bright for the longest race on the Grand Prix schedule. The race starts at Dunsfold Aerodrome, allowing petrol heads to try to work out which corner is which on the Top Gear test track. It also allows for a hugely exposed first few miles, and though we were lucky with the weather the beginning of the 10mile loop was into a headwind both times.
In the early 1980’s I, and a few others, ended up on South Georgia Island in the Southern Atlantic Ocean having travelled via Dakar (Senegal), Ascension Island and the Falkland Islands. During this brief phase of my life I put an end to my smoking habit and for most of the time lived on military field rations. Upon returning to the UK we were all granted 4-weeks leave before being required to report back for duty during which I became very, very fond of drinking Baileys Irish Cream and eating Mars bars on a daily basis – not an ideal diet!
Scroll to the bottom of this page and you will see four polls where you can vote for which races you would prefer the club includes in the Grand Prix calendar for June, July, September and October this year. The polls have been set so that each website user gets one vote, so don’t attempt to vote more than once, because it won’t work! After the polls have been up for a while Pegs and Johnny M will check the results and update the Grand Prix calendar accordingly.
For those members not familiar with the Grand Prix, it’s an internal club competition where we designate one race per month as the Grand Prix event. The Grand Prix runs for 12 months and covers races of most popular distances between 1 mile and 20 miles. Points are awarded for where you finish in relation to other club members and there are trophies up for grabs at the end of the season for “first past the post” as well as trophies for age graded categories (e.g. one race will be designated the “Club 10km championship race” and the highest placed vet lady will be awarded the “Ladies Vets 10km champion” trophy for that year at the awards night in May each year).
Slower runners may think “Well I’m never going to win anything so what’s the point in doing the Grand Prix races?” but they are a great opportunity to take part in a proper organised event where you can test yourself, and where you can guarantee there will be plenty of other 26.2 RRC runners at to provide encouragement, support, lifts etc. Oh and Ann Bath usually bakes cakes for the end of the race!
Although dusk was just visible, and an almost full moon, Venus, Jupiter and Mars shone brightly in the night sky, the real stars were the 14 runners of the 29 finishers who achieved PBs and SBs in this month’s Club Handicap. 23 of you finished before the clock time of 35 mins.
The field included 3 First Timers(FRs) one of whom, Lee Aldrich, was first across the line. Second, and first scorer, was a much improved Greg Whiteman, 22 secs ahead of Steve Ramek who was the same amount ahead of Matthew Pritchard, with both of them doing PBs. Zoe Wingfield was a further 14 secs behind, and first lady home, with an SB of 23:14.
Jack Holland’s PB time of 16:28 moves him up to 4th in the all time fastest list, just above Dave Wilson. Zoe Ashcroft was fastest Lady with a time of 21:06.
Just a reminder that the next Grand Prix event is the Spitfire 20 on Sunday 18th March 2012, which was rated the second best 20 mile event by Runners World last year and had some excellent feedback on their site here. More details of the event are available on the Events to Live website but in particular please note the guidance on not relying on Postcode GPS to get you to the right entrance gate for car parking. Postal entries close this weekend. I have emailed the organiser on the where abouts of race packs as they were supposed to have been mailed out at the start of this week, and also enquired on whether there will definitely be entries taken on the day.
Race 12, the final Grand Prix event of the year will your fastest run at any of the Kingston parkruns during April. This is a change to the previously advertised Bushy parkrun as the number of runners at Bushy has grown to make congestion there in getting your best time more of an issue. Kingston has also been increasingly popular with 26.2 club members and has a nice atmosphere. Enjoy your running. Pegs
It seems that the bad weather brings out the best of runs from 26.2 RRC. While others stay indoors 26.2 take on the challenge and this weekend saw some notable successes.
While John Matthews battled the wind and torrential rain over the South Downs to finish 8th (out of 260) at the Steyning Stinger Half, Ann Bath took on the challenge of the 100 mile Centurion TP100 to finish in an amazing 26 hours 55 minutes before the race was abandoned due to the conditions, Joe Chang won the Maidenhead Bunny Fun run and Jack Holland came home in first place in the Resolution Half in Richmond Park (out of 337 finishers).
The Resolution Half was the replacement Club Championship for the Watford Half Marathon following its cancellation during the snows of February. It seems that the weather gods don’t like our Championship Half Marathons as the snow was replaced with wind and cold driving rain.
Club Handicap again on Wednesday and help is required on the night. Steve Watkins has already offered his services and I would be interested to hear from others who are available. There was a good turnout last month and I hope that this can be repeated. A good time for you ‘marathoners’ to test your current fitness. Ease your worries about doing distance by running the handicap hard and then doing a six mile or so afterwards. I’ll be interested to know how you get on!
Along with the February Analysis you’ll see from the attached League Table (top 30 positions) how close it is at the top. Can Natalie hold off Richard and Simon? Can Grant, Libby and Oliver close the gap and keep the following group at bay? Three races to go to find out. See you all on Wednesday.