Hardley Runners News
Hardley Runners News
The current (Summer 2010) newsletter is published here. John is working on the next one and would welcome news, pix, articles, etc. The webmaster also has back numbers from Summer 2006 onwards. If you would like to see one please email the webmaster (see Contact us button).
RR10 Captain, Paul Blundell writes,
Alas the 2010 RR10 summer series of races has finished, the results are all recorded and the evenings are drawing in.
Hardley men finished 8th everall beaten by Hardley ladies who managed 7th overall .
A big thank-you to everyone who raced and helped with our own very successful event.
A special thank-you to the dedicated band of souls who raced everyone of them,namely Liz Clayton,Claire Sinclair,Anne Bruce-low,Peter Lindsell,David Lindsell,Jeremy Barber and Graham Clarke.
1st Hardley Lady overall was Claire Dyer who was joint 7th overall with Donna Tew of Eastleigh.
1st Hardley Man overall was Mark Stileman joint 25th overall with Euan McGrath of Stubbington.
I still have one medium Hardley vest unclaimed from the last RR10 (don’t worry I have washed it) so can you all check that you have yours.
No one has stepped up yet to take over the post of RR10 captain as I am stepping down after 3 years,so give it some thought, it's not hard and takes relatively little time.
Don’t forget that Dave and Jenny Jewell will soon be contact with dates for the Sunday morning cc6 series,so it's your chance to do some more short fast off road races.
Paul
Test Way Reccy - 22 August 2010Saturday 22 August dawned much less wet than forecast which was good news for the 20 or so members who ran the 18 miles from Inpen to Forton visiting six pubs on the way. After coffee and the mandatory group photo in Forton the 16 of us going straight to Inkpen set of in three cars (hmm- just a bit crowded maybe). Others joined in later down the route. The first 8 miles included glorious views and some excellent red plums. Unusually there was a lot of shooting near Linkenholt and the way was barred by a terrorist checkpoint complete with razor wire and lots of military hardware. Luckily we were able to bluff our way through. Then came the George & Dragon in Hurstbourne Tarrant and a well kept first pint. After some more excellent plums (yellow this time, thanks Andy for harvesting them), we came to the Corontaion Arms after only three miles or so. There the second pint was accompanied by chips. After that it was a mere few hundred yards to The George and the third pint. The Bourne Valley Inn was a little further (pint 4) and the Wyke Down Inn was further still (pint 5). Then it was quite a long run to The Plough at Longparish for pint 6. After that it was a mere half mile to Forton for a cooling dip in the River Test and a barbie (pints 7 onwards) to celebrate Ray's birthday with chocolate cake (the webmaster will reveal Ray's age for a small reward). Stamina failed and no-one danced the night away; in fact we were all in bed, sleeping bag, floor, tent or summer house well before midnight. The route was in pretty good condition with the nettles cut in many places. Click here for photos.
In 2009, Martin Loveless, Barbara Clark, Sue Stone & John Simmonds headed off to Budleigh Salterton to run ‘The Jurassic Coast 10k’, they had such a great day that that they promised themselves that they would return.
As a result of an article by Martin Loveless in the 2010 Spring newsletter, 17 Hardley Runners decided to take the plunge.
This time however, the trip lasted a whole weekend as we decided to camp in West bay, Bridport. The weather for the most part was kind, but it did rain rather heavily on our BBQ on the Saturday night, thank goodness one of our tents could hold all 17 of us. As well as the run, we also managed a couple of lovely walks.
Thank you Martin for finding this race and for recommending we make a weekend of it, the camp site was excellent and we all had a fun weekend. Roll on 2011!
Click on the race logo to find out more about the race and click here for our photo album. And here's a film of last year's race Move your cursor onto the video to get the play button and the running time and pay particular attention to 2:51secs and 3:39secs.
Congratulations to Paul Ashley who took 1st place overall in the Cambridge Triathlon. Keep that form going for the Worlds! 5th fastest bike leg and 2nd fastest run are great results. Mark Darcy came 21st and had the 11th fastest bike split. Full results at http://www.tri247.com/results_7929.html
John is another runner supporting a Forces charity, this time Help for Heroes and Hardley Runners have sponsored him £250 from the surplus from the Exbury 10K. John writes, " I did rather well in a 20 mile trail race on the Marlborough Downs on the 15th of May, so I think it's safe to say that the dust has finally settled on my adventure in the Moroccan Sahara in April. The Marathon des Sables organisers claim that it's the toughest footrace in the world. Maybe, maybe not, but it was the toughest thing I have ever attempted. I lost a good deal of body weight out there, and returned minus 3 toenails, but plus 1 finisher's medal and T Shirt.
So, thank you for your support, your words of encouragement and your kind donations to Help for Heroes. The amount raised was far more than I could have hoped for (just click here to see). Finally, if you had planned to donate but haven't, there is still time.
Many thanks,
John McKenzie
You can read an interview with John and find out more about the race here
The picture shows Sue Sleath on a reccy of the run at Easter. Click on it to see an album. Hardley Runners have sponsored Sue £250 from the surplus from the Exbury 10K. She writes,
Hi All,
Last August, I had to miss the wedding of a colleague and good friend as I was up in the Lake District, running the “ Lakeland 50”. I met Marisa when I started my first (and, so far, only!) teaching job back in January 2008. In late September, her new husband Simon, a medic in the Army, was sent out to Afghanistan . A few weeks later, during half term, I received a text from Marisa. My initial excitement quickly turned as I read the text. “Some sad news, Simon has been injured, he has lost both legs…”. There's more information in this Hampshire Chronicle article. Fortunately, both Marisa and Simon are amazingly positive people and Simon is now making a good recovery. (He has even been skiing!). I, meanwhile, couldn’t let the opportunity pass to do my little bit to help and support and it seems very appropriate that, this year, I should run that same long distance race to raise money for The Soldier’s Charity. This used to be known as The Army Benevolent Fund and, although less well known than “Help for Heroes”, carries out similar work in supporting servicemen and veterans by providing them with practical help in times of need.
Why am I doing it? Because I can.
I make no apologies for tugging at the heart-strings. We hear about the deaths in Afghanistan , but very little about the injured. However, there are many families, like Simon and Marisa’s whose lives have been changed for ever by this war.
Please visit my Justgiving page (www.justgiving.com/sue-sleath). If you know anyone who you think would be willing to donate, please pass this message on.
Many thanks in anticipation
Sue Sleath"
PS The race is now over and Sue did brilliantly. She was second lady and 18th overall of near 300 finishers in the excellent time of 10hrs 41 mins. The full results are here. Sue is raising funds for The Soldiers Charity. It's not too late to make a donation. Click here for Sue's Justgiving page.
Our RR10 was a great success. Thanks very much to everyone who helped and to Paul for organising us! You get a very different view being a marshal. We started to assemble from around 5.30 and began to set up the course, organise the parking, put up the tent and clear the inevitable dog poo. By 6.45 everything was ready and Malc, Phil and Martin led their happy bands of bright yellow jacketed marshals into position. Then came the people out warming up, watering the bushes, etc. Then at 7.30 on the dot came the start. The pix are taken just before the first corner so you can see the whole field as it came through in just over a minute. An hour later everyone had finished. Half an hour after that everything was cleared and it was off to the Forest Home for a well earned pint and a big sigh of relief for Paul! Here's the album.
Paul writes,
"Well didn’t we do well…
Our own RR10 went off without a hitch and received many favourable comments especially about the friendly and helpful marshals so a big thank-you to everyone who came along and supported Hardley runners making the event such a great success."
A member of ours, Ian Smith competed in this challenging event to raise money for the fight against Alzheimers.
Ian writes, "Hi,Let me start by saying thank you, thank you, thank you! As I write I have raised £2,741 with another £350 promised! I am really chuffed to have raised some much for such an important cause, it makes every bead of sweat worth it, and as I drank 11.5 litres of fluid during the race with only one natural break, that’s a lot of beads!
The race its self was a great experience and I settled an old score with life during it, my finishing time was 12 hrs 33 mins here is a link for any of you that want to see the gory details of how each part of the race played out my bib number was 1379 http://ironmanlive.com/tracking.php?race=lanzarote&year=2010
Our lives are filled with many challenges, however many others peoples lives are filled with far worse challenges than ours, so don’t hang about if there is something you can do to help others, give a little time, sweat or money to support them!
All the very best and thanks again
Ian
It is not too late to sponsor Ian - here is the link
Viv and Amy Walk the WalkWell we did it - and in an amazing time! Me and my daughter Amy powerwalked through Londonthrough the night in our bras - 26.2 miles in 5 hours and 36 minutes. It was fantastic - walking through London- seeing the landmarks, Big Ben, London Eye, Westminster, lit up accross the Thames- beautiful. Starting in Hyde Park we went through St James Park and followed the Thames through towards the Towerof London, crossing the Thamesand coming back along Albert embankment. We crossed the Thames twice more to walk past BatterseaParkand then around Kensington and Knightsbrige and back to Chelsea Embankment towards Westminster. From there it was back through the parks towards the finish.
Those green lights on our bras certainly got us noticed as we passed the clubbers and, in the early hours of the morning, those queuing for their taxis home! We supported each other and kept smiling through the pain and tiredness to a fantasticly fast last few miles. Someone said we were in the top 20 finishers (of 15 000) - as it is a personal challenge, not a race,and there are no results published we can't confirm that, but there were certainly not many of us 'full mooners' finishing then, although at 22.5 miles we caught up with half mooners (13.1 miles) and had to pick our way through as we were going faster!
We finished elated - it was a fantastic experience for such a worthwhile cause. Here are some photos.
Thank you to everyone who has supported me in some way. Remember it is not too late to sponsor me, you can go online at
http://www.walkthewalkfundraising.org/Vivien_Alexander_MW
Thank you
Viv
On 10 April On the 10th April Paul Ashley, Mick Anglim all qulaified to represent the Great Britain Age Group team in The World Duathlon Champs to be held in Edinburgh in September this year.Read Paul's report and see the pictures of them in action here
We celebrated 26 years of Hardley Runners in traditional style with a forest run/walk followed by beer and food. The sun shone and the lovely scenery of the Rhinefield enclosure plus the hospitality of the Forest Park Hotel made it a perfect day. Around 50 members enjoyed refreshments and a good lunch followed by the annua1 awards ceremony where the silverware went to
Men's Champion Nick Newton
Women's Champion Jane Hodge
Age Related Women's Champion Sue Stone
Age Related Mens Champion Mick Anglim
Most accurate Mark Darcy
Most inaccurate (Lantern Rouge) Andy Smith
Most improved Man Dave McElhenny
Most improved Woman Claire Dyer
to the person who tried hardest presented to Rose McElhenny
for interesting navigation on various occasions presented to Andy Kellaway
This year's race, which takes place annually, was hosted by Northern Ireland Masters Athletics Association, in the Stormont Estate . The second race, men 50 - 69, was a four lap 8k. Due to a fixture clash, Malc Renyard travelled to Belfast without his usual Hardley team. They were taking part in the South of England Championships on the following day. Most parts of the UK were represented in the races and competition is always tough. Malc stayed in the front pack around the scenic undulating 4 lap course, and finished third behind Des Michael, 60 years and 1 week (England)and Griffin Owen (Wales) This is his last year in this age group which has seen 3 wins, 1 silver and 1 bronze during this time. Plus one team gold in 2008. Malc, Des and Griffin are pictured here.
Athletics weekly have just posted tables showing the British veterans road rankings for 2009. Congratulations to Malcolm Renyard who is ranked as follows
M60, 5km - ranked 1 in the UK with a time of 17.49
M60 5mile - ranked 2 in the UK with a time of 29.28
M60 10km - ranked 5 in the UK with a time of 37.11
This year the traditional Brockenhurst Chapter Dinner Dance was expanded and around 50 members dined and danced the evening away. Thanks very much to Dave for all the work liaising with the Forest Park. You can see some pictures here.
Despite the poor weather a great weekend was had by all at Telscombe Youth Hostel.
Paul Blundell writes, "21 of us turned up at various times on the Friday, Nicky and Tony Musson just pipped myself, Sue, Barb, Dennis and Marilyn to meet the warden and receive instructions. The Youth Hostel is quite small but situated in a delightful but remote village. We soon settled in and had a quiet but sociable evening, as more people arrived.
Saturday dawned windy and wet, but we are Hardley runners so our running group set off at 9am. There was also a walking and a fast running group. It was bitter over the tops of the hills with strong winds and hail storms but these abated as the day went on. Running was at an easy pace and the views were amazing, down in the valleys out of the wind was a good place to get your breath back. A pub was found for sustenance where quite by chance we found the walking group.
We left the walkers ordering lunch and soon picked up a path alongside the river Ouse where we found a sheltered hollow for lunch. We got back around 2pm and some of us took advantage of the warmer conditions and abated wind for a walk to the coast.
The evening meal was an American supper and everyone coped with the compact kitchen admirably to produce some truly outstanding dishes.
Sunday morning dawned windy and wet once again, a walking and running group emerged not put off by the rain and I joined the running group to do a circular route ending with a bracing run along the coast at Peacehaven. We were back by 11am to pack up and had an interesting drive home in the ferocious weather conditions.
A great weekend enjoyed by all! My pictures are here. If you have some more please email them to Jeremy and he'll add them to the album.
The next Youth Hostel weekend is at Westward Ho North Devon in February and there are still a few places left (see Social tab for details)."
Malc Renyard came 4th, just outside the medals in the Home Counties Internationals held at Perry Park, Birmingham, on Saturday 14th November. The atrocious conditions, with gale force winds and heavy rain, turned the bland grassland park into a challenging course. The Men's Vet 60 age group, of which Malc is in his last year, was very competitive. The first four locked together on the 4 lap course, before the final positions were decided in the last 500 metres. Malc led the England team home in 2nd place.
Once you have got totally soaked through there's nothing finer than jumping in puddles. Getting totally wet was easy on Saturday 1 November as conditions were atrocious when members assembled at the Beaulieu Road Hotel for the Forest Run. Three groups of runners and some walkers set off at varying speeds and with varying degrees of navigational success. The bracing exercise was followed by a swim at the hotel and then an excellent lunch. Your webmaster lost count but reckons there were wll over sixty people there. Thanks very much to Ray and Linda for making the arrangements. If you have any pictures please email them to me and I'll make an album. I didn't dare take the camera on the run as it was a tad damp so the best I have are
Annie ran the Great South Run for Alzheimer's One of our most regular competitors, Annie Bruce-Low ran the Great South Run on Sunday October 25 and raised over £300 for Alzheimer's. She collected quite a lot of loose change in a bucket on the way round which weighed her down somewhat! If you haven't paid up yet please contact her on 02380 AB-L 848188 or email her at flipper1 AT talktalk.net
Hardley member Kevin King won gold in his age group at the National Sprint Traithlon Championships at Milton Keynes. He has also qualified for the Half Ironman Worlds to be held in Florida later in the year. You can read more in this Echo article from 19 June 2009.
It was a Hardley One Two in the Cambridge Duathlon which is a World Duathlon Championships qualifying event. Congratulations to Hardley's Stuart McGowan and Mick Anglim who were first and second in the M60 category. You can see the full results here.
It was a lovely Spring day when over 80 members gathered for the 25th Anniversary Hardley Hill Half. Runners and walkers set off from the Forest Park for anything from a short six miler to a 15 mile run or a 3 hour walk. Then there was a chance for a drink and a chat in the sunshine followed by an excellent meal.
Secretary Ray Noke then spoke about the Club's history. It all began when Ray, at the tender age of 33 was encouraged to run by fellow Esso worker Bob Wanstall. He and Dave Lawrence were among the founder members when the club started in true Hardley fashion by meeting at a pub, the John Barleycorn. There was a great debate on names. Fawley Flyers and Solent Striders were rejected and Hardley Runners came into being with about 30-40 members. Currently the number stands at around 200.
Right from the start the club has been active in organising events. The Hilly Half began in 1985, the Handicap in 1986 and the Blackfield Autumnal Half (now the Solent half and previously Hardley a Half) in 1987. In 1988 the club joined the RR6, now increased to RR10. We have hosted the Hants Cross Country Championships, organise the Test Way Relay and a new event, the Exbury 10K is proving a great success.There have been all sorts of fund raising events to help other people. In the first 25 years Ray has done 20 road marathons including 10 Londons (PB 2.46), 94 marathon or longer events and over 44,000 miles and he's still running. That's given him lots of happy times, especially since bag lady Linda started to run as well. But the best thing is the privilege of making so many friends.
Ray then went on the give the awards which went to
| RR10 most improved woman | Jane Hodge |
| RR10 Most improved man | Ian Hawker |
| Handicap Lanterne Rouge | David Seaman |
| Handicap winner | Mark Stileman |
| Age related Women | Chris Harris |
| Age related Men | Mick Anglim |
| Open Women | Laura bentley |
| Open Men | Paul Pallister |
| Famous getting lost hat | Annie Bruce-Low |
Here's a small album of pictures which record a very special day. They include a short movie which will take a while to load as it is a 3 MB file.
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Last updated 25-Aug-2010.
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