HH Jan 2015 1

THE HARRIERS HERALD No. 263, January 2015

Editor: Sue Francis Contents, features, reports, results Thursday night schedules for January and February Correspondence received Christmas meal – Harriers enjoy an evening at The White hart Race results: Oxford Mail x-country – Interesting course at a new venue for race 2; Andy Reading 10K –

Emma sets a PB Handicap Championship – The 2014 Champion is revealed Webmaster’s article – Mo features: 'The Largest Non-Stop Ultra'; benefits of increasing your foot strike rate;

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

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

Thursday night schedule for February Thurs 5th Susanne to lead Thurs 12th Lucy to lead Thurs 19th Handicap Race Thurs 26th George to lead

Correspondence received

Sender Subject matter Action England Athletics Regional Council elections - nominations requested File

Compton Harriers Christmas Meal 2014 Sue Twenty-two of us enjoyed a Christmas celebration at The White Hart in Hampstead Norreys. This proved an excellent choice of venue, having recently been refurbished to convert one end into a big dining area which was easily able to accommodate all of us on one large table and two adjacent smaller tables. With the Harriers being well-known to The White Hart staff, we didn’t have to pay any deposit in advance, and were very well looked after on the day. The meals were very nice too, with plenty to eat. Sue announced the results of the annual Handicap Championship (see page 5 for full results). The 2014 Champion was Aaron, who received the annual trophy and a personalised medal (thanks to Nick Bull for engraving). Mo and Jonathan received edible prizes as runners up. On behalf of all the Club members, Pete H presented Jan K with a gift of thanks for her support of the Club, in particular for her dedication to time-keeping for our Handicap Races, Boundary Run and Relay. Martin and Lucy organised a ‘guess the weight of the bucket of honey’ competition, which was won by Jan H with a very close weight estimation. Dick organised two quizzes about Christmas songs - one a Christmas song pictionary and the other testing our knowledge of lyrics – won by Terry and Emma. We finished the evening with party poppers and balloons.

HH Jan 2015 2

Thanks very much to Martin and Lucy for organising an excellent evening, which was captured on camera by Mo.

HH Jan 2015 3

Race Results and Reports

Oxford Mail x-country, Harcourt Hill, 3rd December Sue This race nearly didn’t happen as, less than three weeks previously, the league organiser was still desperately asking for a volunteer host club, and a race venue. Oxford Brookes University offered their Harcourt Hill course, which proved both interesting and challenging. Because of concerns over limited parking, we were asked to car-share where possible, and be prepared to park and walk from the ‘Park & Ride’ if the race car park was full. I picked up Jonathan and Philomena and, as we headed north along the A34, the skies darkened and there was a huge cloudburst. Arriving at the race car park, we were guided to one of the last remaining spaces by Martin, Lucy and Dick, who had nobly offered to help as car park marshals before they ran, and looked thoroughly wet and cold. Luckily, the sun came out soon afterwards, so we splodged across the car park to the Team Kennet base, then checked out the course. A flat, firm start around playing fields was followed by a path around the edge of a small golf course. This took us to an entrance into the woods – a narrow gap immediately followed by a muddy ditch. This proved to cause quite a bottleneck in the men’s race, especially when the race leaders were lapping the back-markers. The path through the woods was also tricky – muddy, narrow, lots of twists & turns and the occasional small tree to dodge. Once out of the woods, a brief downhill section took us back to the golf course and playing fields. I found it quite an enjoyable course. The ladies raced over two laps, and the men over three laps. The ladies race was once again won by Diane Moore (Headington, 25:12) and there were 132 finishers. Helen Preedy again led Team Kennet home (18th, 28:00). With back-up from three Harriers (Sue 21st 28:19; Lucy 47th 31:10; and Philomena 75th 33:27), the team topped Division 2. The men’s race was won by David Bruce (Oxford City, 32:47) and there were 248 finishers. A number of younger Team Kennet runners finished well up in the field. Martin was the first Harrier to score for the team, finishing 121st (43:39) and just losing out in a sprint finish with a youngster. Jonathan had forgotten his running vest, so hastily borrowed Lucy’s after she’d finishing running, and he was still pinning on his number as the start gun fired! He was also involved in a sprint finish and managed to hold off his rival to finish 190th in 48:21. Dick was 198th (49:06) and Colin 223rd (52:11). The team finished 3rd in Division 2.

HH Jan 2015 4

Andy Reading10K, 14th December Five Harriers ran well in this race near Bicester. Their finishing times were: Martin 40:17 (62nd), Richard 46:24 (146th), Lucy 46:48 (152nd), Emma and Terry 58:45 (314th, 315th). Emma’s time was an excellent PB, breaking the hour mark for the first time. The race winners were Alexander Miller (Datchet Dashers) in 33:07 and Samantha Amend (Belgrave Harriers) in 36:56. There were 384 finishers.

Compton Harriers at 8K (photos by Barry Cornelius: http://www.oxonraces.com/photos/2014 )

HH Jan 2015 5

Handicap Championship 2014 results

Sue Thanks and well done to everyone who took part in the 2014 Handicap Race series, which this time consisted of eight races (due to cancellation of February's race because of flooding of the route). Nineteen runners competed in at least one of the races, and an average of ten runners competed in each race. Only Mo, Colin and I ran every race, and Aaron, Jonathan and Dick each missed only one race. Many thanks to Jan who was there to time-keep for every race, whatever the weather, to Tom who assisted Jan for many of the race finishes, and to Dick for setting up the time-keeper’s lamp in his driveway for the winter races. We used two courses this year: the 3.1K winter ‘Village Lap’ route for Races 1, 2, 7 and 8, and the 2.5K ‘Relay Route’ for Races 3, 4, 5 and 6. Dave, Martin, and George each won one race, while Mo and Richard D were inseparable winners of one race. Martin headed the table after races 2 & 3, and Mo after races 4 & 5. However, Aaron won four successive races (4 - 7) as he smashed his PBs for both the Village Lap and Relay Lap. This saw him take the Championship lead after race 6 and, with only the best five scores to count towards each person’s total, Aaron’s lead grew with each remaining race, and he finished with a huge score of 56 (out of a maximum of 60), the highest since this scoring system was introduced in 2011. He was undoubtedly a worthy winner of the Championship, particularly as he is ‘not remotely competitive’! With one win, and two runner’s-up scores under his belt, Mo scored a total of 44 points, which was matched by Jonathan thanks to a PB from the latter in Race 8. Mo and Jonathan shared the honours as Championship runners-up. The 2015 Handicap Championship will use the same format (hopefully with 9 races) and scoring system, with the first scheduled for Thursday 22nd January.

Race points Pos. Name Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Race 6 Race 7 Race 8 Total of

best 5 1 Aaron (6) - 8 12 12 12 12 (4) 56

2= Mo (2) (6) 12 10 10 6 (2) 6 44 2= Jonathan 7 10 - (5) 8 9 (5) 10 44 4 Dick - 5 (4) (4) 9 10 8 7 39 5 Colin (4) 8 7 8 (4) (5) 6 9 38 6 Sue (5) 9 6 7 7 (4) (4) 8 37 7 Lucy 8 7 5 - 6 (3) 10 - 36

8= Martin 9 12 3 - 3 8 (3) - 35 8= Richard D 4 - 12 9 - 7 - 3 35 10 Philomena - - 9 - - - 7 5 21

11= George - 1 - - - - - 12 13 11= Mags 10 - - 3 - - - - 13 13 Dave 12 - - - - - - - 12 14 Stan - - - - - 1 9 - 10 15 Mark - - 1 6 - - - - 7 16 Pete O - - - - 5 - - - 5

17= Jacqueline 1 - - - - - - - 1 17= Nitish - - - - - - - 1 1 17= Helen - - - - 1 - - - 1

HH Jan 2015 6

Website update… http://www.comptonharriers.org.uk Mo

Links of interest this month

If you are looking for a new challenge for 2015, then 'The Wall' may be the event you are looking for. The Wall is scheduled for 20th June 2015 and is billed as the 'The Largest Non-Stop Ultra', with up to 1000 competitors who will embark on a 69-mile journey through the stunning setting of Hadrian’s Wall country. The Wall is a mixed-terrain route that incorporates both on and off-road sections in some of the country’s most beautiful landscapes, passing sections of the wall, forts, mile-castles, Roman temples and endless views of stunning countryside along the way. Full details http://ratracethewall.com

Webmaster’s article this month: Improving Running Technique – Foot Strike Rate

The first two articles in this series covered foot strike and running posture: the final article in the series is all about 'Foot Strike Rate' or more simply 'steps per minute'.

According to general research on the techniques used by elite runners, it is thought that 180 steps per minute is the optimal strike rate to produce the top performance. Of course, this is a very general guideline as there are many other factors relating to the physical size and make-up of an elite runner that will affect this number. Running at an easy, comfortable pace, with a strike rate of around 170 steps per minute will help to reduce impact forces on your legs, cut your injury risk, and even improve your running efficiency. This is because with a shorter, faster stride, you are reducing the greater impact stress produced by longer strides. The overall outcome is that you should get faster and be injury-free for longer spells.

The next time you go for an easy run, count the number of times your feet land in one minute and if your step rate is under 170, work on increasing it by roughly five percent every two to three weeks until your foot-strike increases.

To summarise the articles in this series: Avoid over-striding, run tall and up the strike rate. By concentrating on these fundamentals and you should reap the rewards of fewer injuries, more enjoyable runs and possibly some new PBs.

Events of Interest – see Website Events Calendar for more details

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 Mthn 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