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THE HARRIERS HERALD No. 262, December 2014

Editor: Sue Francis Contents, features, reports, results Thursday night schedules for December and January Correspondence received Annual General Meeting – final reminder Christmas meal – an update Race results: Oxford Mail x-country – Race series kicks off at a wet and muddy Ascott; Gosport Half –

Three Harriers race on the South Coast; Eynsham 10K – Sue runs her fastest 10K for 5 years Handicap Race – George wins final race of series; series winner to be announced at Christmas Dinner Harriers vest visits New Zealand - Richard D models the famous Green & White vest in Queenstown Webmaster’s article – Mo features: Ultramarathon Race Calendar; improving running posture; and

forthcoming races of interest Thanks to Mo and Richard for this month’s contributions to articles and photos Copy date for next Harriers Herald – 31st December

Thursday night schedule for December Thurs 4th Martin to lead Thurs 11th Sue B to lead followed by Club AGM (see below for more information) Thurs 18th Richard D to lead Thurs 25th Christmas Day - no run scheduled

Thursday night schedule for January Thurs 1st New Year's Day - no run scheduled Thurs 8th Aaron to lead Thurs 15th Colin to lead Thurs 22nd Handicap Race Thurs 29th Jonathan to lead

Correspondence received

Sender Subject matter Action UK:Athletics New Sport England initiative for 2015: 'This Girl Can'

- getting women aged 14-40 active, encouraging more women into running

File

Compton Harriers AGM 2014 The Club's AGM will take place on the evening of Thursday 11th December at 20:00 (after a short Club run). The AGM will now be held in the back room of The Four Points pub (not The Pickled Pig as previously advertised), so we can also have a meal. All members are encouraged to attend. Please could the club officers prepare a short report for presentation at the meeting. Please let Martin know ASAP: if there is any item you would like to be included on the agenda; if you are a current Committee member who wishes to resign your position; if you wish to / are willing to stand for a post on the Committee.

Compton Harriers Christmas Meal 2014 Martin and Lucy have booked a table at The White Hart (Hampstead Norreys) for the evening of Saturday 20th December. If you (and your partner) would like to come, please let Martin or Lucy know your menu choices ASAP (see http://www.goodfoodatthewhitehart.co.uk/christmas-menu ). At the present time we have not been asked for a deposit.

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Race Results and Reports

Oxford Mail x-country, Ascott-under-Wychwood, 2nd November Sue There are some races that you just associate with particular conditions, and this is one of them! We traditionally get cold and muddy, and battered by wind and rain at Ascott, and this year was no exception. The youngsters and ladies raced in the rain, but the weather brightened up for the men’s race. The race routes were a little different this year, taking a winding course down to the bottom of the hill (which gave the opportunity to view the race leaders and weigh up your closest rivals at each switchback) but the water-splash and the climb back up the hill were as tough as usual. Six Harriers raced as part of the Team Kennet team. There was a large field of 179 runners for the ladies race, which was won by Headington RR veteran Diane Moore (23:37) after the early leader pulled out suffering breathing difficulties on the hill. Team Kennet was led home by Helen Preedy (16th, 25:59). With back-up from three Harriers (Sue 20th 26:34; Lucy 54th 29:11; Philomena 95th 31:27), the team finished 2nd in Division 2. The men’s race was won by under-20 runner Nyle Clinton (Swindon H) in 28:49. Team Kennet was led home by Nathan Gillis (10th). Martin gradually worked his way though the field to finish 130th (37:48), with Jonathan 203rd (40:59), and Colin 256th (44:53). There were 293 finishers, including one man who ran barefoot all the way (at least he didn’t have to clean any mud off his shoes), and the team finished 6th in Division 2. Mo's photos show Jonathan, Colin and Philomena in the water-splash, exiting the water-splash, and approaching the hill.

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Gosport Half, 16th November Three Harriers raced in this South Coast Half Marathon. Martin finished in 1:29:42 (243rd), Philomena in 1:39:07 (503rd overall, and 4th in her category), and Lucy in 1:47:22 (731st overall, and 10th in her category).

Eynsham 10K, 30th November Sue Lucy, Martin and I raced this popular 10K on a mild and still day. Once the morning mist lifted, the sun came out and it was very pleasant for running. Martin was suffering from a cold and so decided to run behind Lucy to support her. The incentive to beat Martin pushed Lucy on to easily beat her target time. My increased focus on longer training efforts, combined with better-than-usual pacing, paid off as I enjoyed the whole race, maintained my position and didn’t fade. I was rewarded with my fastest time since 2009, achieving my sub-41 target, and beating some regular veteran rivals to finish 3rd in my category. Although I’ve recently become an FV45, there was no chance of a category prize when the runners included Cirencester’s Wendy Nicholls and Reading’s Liz Hartney (both older than me) who ran ‘superhuman’ sub-37 and sub-38 times respectively. Along with our chief supporter and photographer, Mo, we celebrated a successful race with lunch at The Queen’s Head. This year, the race was chip-timed from start line to finish line, with timing chips attached to our race numbers, and results were uploaded to the web in real time. There were 568 finishers, and race winners were Paul Fernandez (Abingdon) 32:44, and Sophie Carter (Belgrave) 36:13. The Harriers results were: Sue 40:53 (114th); Lucy 46:29 (252nd); Martin 46:29 (253rd).

Martin and Lucy at 4K

Sue in the finishing straight

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Handicap Race

Sue The last race of the 2014 Handicap Championship series took place in good running conditions. Nine regular Harriers were joined by Institute student Nitish. Running the Handicap Race for the first time Nitish revealed that he is very competitive, much to the delight of Dick, who was scheduled to set off at the same start time. George, in only his second Handicap Race round this route, had a great run. After passing his house at the top of Shepherds Mount, he stretched out on the downhill section and along to the finish to hold on to victory and set a personal best time for the route. In second place, Jonathan also had a storming PB run, convincingly breaking 12:30 for the first time. Colin continued his come back from injury to take third. I ran my fastest time for 2 years, to record the evening’s quickest performance. Dick and Nitish had a close race all the way but, ultimately, experience just triumphed over youth as Dick made the most of the downhill. Mo was 30 seconds faster than last month, and just held off Philomena. Aaron’s dream of winning a fifth successive race did not materialise, as his good performances of recent months meant he had a much tougher handicap this time. Richard D completed the field with a relaxed run, as he was suffering the effects of jetlag. Well done George, and thanks to Jan and Tom for timing. The first race of the 2015 Handicap Series is scheduled for Thursday 22nd January, around the Village Lap route.

Finish Position

Position on handicap

Name Start time Finish time Actual time Handicap Beaten?

1 1 George 4:33 19:24 14:51 -0:36 2 2 Jonathan 7:26 19:41 12:15 -0:19 3 3 Colin 5:13 19:47 14:34 -0:13 4 4 Sue 7:49 19:53 12:04 -0:07 5 5 Dick 6:35 20:01 13:26 +0:01 6 New Runner Nitish 6:35 20:05 13:30 New Runner 7 6 Mo 0:00 20:10 20:10 +0:0 8 7 Philomena 5:59 20:16 14:17 +0:16 9 8 Aaron 6:58 20:19 13:21 +0:19

10 9 Richard D 6:57 21:55 14:58 +1:55

The results of the 2014 Handicap Championship will be announced at the Club’s Christmas Dinner, where the trophy will be presented to the winner, and the two runners up will receive a small prize. All scores will be printed in the January Harriers Herald.

Harriers vest in New Zealand

Richard D in Queenstown, South Island

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Website update… http://www.comptonharriers.org.uk Mo You may have noticed that the website was off-line for several days last month owing to a problem on the ISP's servers. During the downtime, I received several emails from runners who had tried to access the site for information on the 2015 Downland Challenge. Although the downtime is a rarity, it could be a problem at a busy time around race day so, with this in mind, I will be looking at contingency plans to keep our online presence at all times. We do have Facebook and Twitter pages to keep the flow of information going and many of the documents relating to membership are in fact stored on Google, so I will be looking at a link-based page on a free site for use in emergencies. Links of interest this month

After I received a message from the German Ultramarathon Federation (DUV) via the Harriers email address, I checked out the links and thought it would be suitable for inclusion in this month's links of interest ... especially interesting if you like statistics! The Calendar lists worldwide ultra events and the various links are:-

The Ultramarathon Race Calendar link is http://statistik.d-u-v.org/; the link to last year's Challenge is http://goo.gl/g6TyLa ; link to previous Challenge listings is http://goo.gl/IrwAbb.

The DUV also mentioned that a GPS track of the course can be uploaded, so I will sort this out before next year's event. The event listing in the DUV calendar is free of charge, and they have asked if we can send the race results by email to add to their results database.

Following our Club Secretary's recent email regarding England Athletics (EA) and the increase in affiliation fees, you may find it useful to visit the EA website for further information on EA services before voicing an opinion at the AGM. The link, which is also on the Harriers website links page, is http://www.englandathletics.org/ ... when you visit, see if you can spot our Club Chairman! (Answer at AGM!) Webmaster’s article this month: Improving Running Technique – Posture

Last month's article on foot strike was the first article in this series on running technique. The second article looks at posture. To perfect good running posture, you should aim to meet the following criteria:

Hold your head up and continue to look forward. Keep your arms loose and elbows at 90 ̊ Lean forward slightly from your ankles. Keep your back straight. Strike with the midpoint of your foot, rolling on to the your toes.

Slouching of the shoulders or leaning from the waist are common problems for many runners when trying to perfect the 'forward lean'. A slight forward lean is part of good form, but it should come from the ankles, not the waist. Generally, a slight forward lean from the ankles occurs naturally when running so you don’t need to try too hard to lean forward. Instead, try to focus more on 'running tall' with a straight back and erect posture.

How to apply a good running technique: When changing technique, your body needs time to adapt, so it's advisable to start carefully with shorter runs and then gradually increase distance as the technique starts to become more natural.

Before starting off, straighten your stance by standing as tall as you can. Then, tilt your body slightly forwards and let your legs “fall” forward into a natural running motion. Maintain the 'straight from the waist up' posture and forward tilt whilst running.

Run with your knees slightly bent, ensuring your feet land directly below the centre of your body, or even slightly behind, rather than in front of it.

Don't let your feet land in front of your hip as this will 'put the brakes on' the body’s forward momentum. Landing with your foot and leg directly in the 'push-off' position, minimizes contact time between the feet and the ground, thus landing and push-off becomes a smooth single movement. To create a smooth elliptical foot motion, let your heels naturally flick back towards your buttocks at the end of each stride.

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Events of Interest – see Website Events Calendar for more details:

DECEMBER 2014 Sunday 07 Oxford Mail XC - Round 2 Tadley Xmas X-C 5.2

Mile

Thursday 11 Club AGM Saturday 13 SEAA Vets XC -Horspath Sunday 14 Andy Reading 10k Muddy Welly Run 10K

& 5K

Saturday 20 Christmas Run with Team Kennet

Christmas Meal 2014

Sunday 21 Hooky Xmas Canter Winter Solstice Run 5, 10 & 13km

Friday 26 Aylesbury Boxing Day 5k Road Race

Sunday 28 The Gut Buster 10k & 10 Mile

JANUARY 2015 Sunday 04 Oxford Mail XC - Culham

Park Clivedon XC 10k

Sunday 11 Goring, Woodcote & District 10K

Rough 'n' Tumble 10

Sunday 18 Lakeside Canal Run 8 Miles Sunday 25 Oxford 10K (MT)

FEBRUARY 2015 Sunday 01 Oxford Mail XC -

Cirencester

Sunday 08 Dursley Dozen The 6th Reading 5M Wokingham ½ Marathon

Sunday 15 Bramley 20/10 Road Race The Wiltshire 10 (miles) Sunday 22 The Terminator (11 miles) Bourton-on-the-Water

10k

MARCH 2015 Sunday 01 Oxford Mail XC - RAL

Harwell Goring 10K The Grizzly 2015 -

Dash to Delirium

Sunday 08 City of Salisbury 10 Mile Sunday 15 Meon Valley Plod 20 miles Silverstone ½ Marathon Sunday 22 Banbury 15 Fleet ½ Marathon Reading ½ Marathon Sunday 29 Combe Gibbet to Overton

16 White Horse ½ Marathon

APRIL 2015 Friday 03 Maidenhead Easter 10m Saturday 04 Downland Challenge 40/20 Sunday 12 Brighton Marathon & 10k Sunday 19 Danesfield Dash 10k MT Bungay Half Marathon Sunday 26 Virgin Money London

Marathon

MAY 2015 Sunday 10 Woodley 10k Sunday 17 Royal Berkshire 10K & 3K