Mornington Chasers Newsletter
15 February 2015
IN THIS NEWSLETTER
Club News
National XC Championships
Membership fees
Club vests
Weekly diary: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday
Triathlon England London League dates
NEW Track racing and Southern Athletics League info
Club Championships - prizewinners 2014
Race results
CLUB NEWS
Avril Riddell was elected as our new Chair person at an EGM held on Tuesday 10 February 2015. Avril brings a wealth of experience and gravitas to the role which will be of huge benefit to all members.
Congratulations to Annaka Charters who cracked the sub-1:30 half marathon time at Wokingham last week. A fantastic achievement. Annaka joins the small handful of Mornington Chasers who have attained marathon championship qualifying times in recent years.
Mornington Chasers has joined the Southern Athletics League. Thanks to Kelly Thorneycroft for organising this. A first for the Club as team track competition opens to members and provides a fantastic opportunity to experience a very different kind of racing. Further information about the events and dates are available below.
New to the calendar - Thursday pub night, after training, probably every six weeks, at the Camden Brewery, next to Talacre. 19 February sees founder member, Gerry, joining us in the pub to chat about the development initiative at his running club in Ireland. Everyone is welcome.
SAUCONY NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS, PARLIAMENT HILL, 21 FEBRUARY
Pre-registration is required for this spectacular highlight of the cross country season - the 65th anniversary of the first race at Parliament Hill. If you missed out on signing up at the end of 2014, but are planning to come along to cheer, we could do with extra help at the Mornington Chasers camp to hand out numbers (and cake) so racers can warm up. Organised by Highgate Harriers, the event is currrently short of marshals. If you can help, they pay £25.00 and there's a good chance you'll get to see some of the finest English cross country talent close-up and racing hard.
MEMBERSHIP FEES
If you've not yet paid your subs for 2015, please do so now online through the new easy system http://www.chaser.me.uk/joining.shtml
Membership runs to 31 December 2015. And if you need a reminder of all the many benefits your membership brings please check out the re-designed website.
Thank you!
CLUB VESTS
As a paid up member of the Mornington Chasers you get to own and wear our distinctive club vest. If you do not yet have one of these coverted runners must-haves, please print out the Pay-Pal membership confirmation email and bring it along on a Tuesday evening to claim your vest from one of the team captains or committee members.
WEEKLY DIARY
Tuesdays
Meet at Talacre Mezzanine Level at 1900 for briefing and 1915 departure.
Choice of group runs from 5 to 8.5 miles at various speeds.
Coached session often available - details announced in the briefing at 1900.
The last Tuesday of the month is usually coached by Avril and is suitable for all levels.
Once a month it is planned to have a mile time-trial round the inner-circle at Regent's Park - an exellent way to map your progress.
All Tuesday runs are followed by tea, soft-drinks and biscuits at Talacre (please volunteer at least once a year to provide this vital service - details of the very simple duties are on the website).
First Tuesday of the month - pub night.
Wednesdays
Yoga - subsidised yoga class, 1900 to 2000 at Talacre. Led by runner and yoga teacher Amy, yoga is the perfect way to complement your running. £5 for members and £8.00 for non-members. Sign-up at http://goo.gl/4b3cLl
Thursdays
Coached sessions run by Tom Craggs designed for all members. Tom usually provides two programmes, one for endurance running (10K and upwards) and the other for middle-distance (800-5000m). Over the next few weeks, sessions alternate between hills and track.
19 February, HILLS, 26 February TRACK
NEW THURSDAY PUB NIGHT! Starting 19 February after hills meet at the Camden Brewery (close to Talacre) and thereafter about every six weeks - watch for announcements.
Sundays
Long run - these runs are generally for members who can run a minimum of 10 miles non-stop. Except when there are Summer League races taking place, runs from Talacre on Sunday mornings usually start at 0900. Please check our Facebook page for up-to-the-minute info as times do vary.
TRIATHLON DATES
Triathlon England London League
We are one of the participating clubs in the Triathlon England London League. Each person pays their own entry fee into individual races and there are 10 in the series. Everyone who enters can have an effect on the team results and there are also prizes for individual performances. Each race is different with a mix of pools and open water swimming, cycling on roads and closed circuits and running on and off road. And, of course, there are always fabulous cakes!
The events and dates that form the London League 2015 are:
Event 1: Thames Turbo Triathlon, 6 April
Event 2: Kingfisher Aquathon, 19 April
Event 3: Ful-on-Duathlon, 26 April
Event 4: Crystal Palace Sprint Triathlon, 10 May
Event 5: Clash of the Tritons Aquathon, 7 June
Event 6: Jetstream Open Water Sprint Triathlon, 14 June
Event 7: Windrush Aquathon, 28 June
Event 8: Capital Tri Aquathon, 6 September
Event 9: London Fields Aquathon, 4 October
Event 10: Jekyll & Hyde Park Duathlon, 25 October
Races usually sell out quickly, so if you're interested please book when you can and include that you are a member of Mornington Chasers. For full details and how to enter links visit www.triathlonengland.org.uk
Triathlon at Mornington Chasers is in its infancy but increasingly members are enjoying the benefits that cross-training can bring; we hope to develop this further in 2015. If you would like to know more or have experience you would like to share, please contact Andrea (andsand795@hotmail.com).
TRACK RACING
Kelly Thorneycroft has volunteered to organise our debut season in the SOUTHERN ATHLETICS LEAGUE. We join in Division 3 NE with clubs that include Serpentine, Heathside and Loughton. Please register your interest with Kelly and your preferred distance. Track races are from 100 to 5000m. Field events are also available and officials/volunteers can also score points for the club. Team selection for each event to be made closer to the date.
Everyone is encouraged to have a go at track racing: a fantastic way to put all that track training to use, to sharpen your speed and race tactics and get you fit for autumn half-marathons, 10Ks and 5Ks. And, you have all your team mates cheering you on!
The fixtures are all held on Saturdays:
1. 25 April. Woodford.
2. 31 May. Hemel Hempstead.
3. 20 June. Battersea.
4. 4 July. Parliament Hill.
5. 15 August. Newham
For further details please contact Kelly (athletics@chaser.me.uk) and visit www.southernathletics.org.uk for a list of all the events, past results and more.
OPEN TRACK EVENTS are run throughout the year across London - the standard is really mixed and the races graded so you are with runners of a similar speed not age.
Lee Valley Indoor Athletics Centre are running a Middle Distance Evening (800 and 1500) Wednesday 18 February and it costs £6 per race. www.visitleevalley.org.uk/athletics.
CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Club Championships used to be based purely on Cabbage Patch and cross country results. 2014 saw a new system introduced to spread the opportunities for earning championship points across a range of events.
1 point for each appearance at cross country races (2013 -14 cross country season)
1 point for each appearance at summer league races or if you marshalled at the Regent's Park summer league
1 extra point for winning your age category in summer league
Cabbage Patch:
3 points for first Chaser in your age category
2 points for second
1 point for third
The winners are:
Women
Age to 34, 1st Mairead O'Rourke (7pts) , Joint 2nd Hopy Sloly & Anna Waterman (6pts)
Age 35-44, 1st Alice Sullivan (8pts), 2nd Delphone Horodyski (5pts), Lizzy Muggeridge (4pts)
Age 45-54, 1st Fiona Russell (9pts), 2nd Lynne Connolly, 3rd (7pts), Diane Morrison (3pts)
Age 55-59, 1st Andrea Sanders-Reece (5pts)
Age 60+, 1st Avril Riddell (3pts)
Men
Age to 39, 1st Ian Girling (8pts), 2nd Will McNulty (7pts), 3rd Alex Kitromilides (6pts)
Age 40-49, 1st John Armstrong (6pts), Joint 2nd Eamon Byrne & Gary Homewood (5pts)
Age 50-59, 1st Mark Hipshon (8pts), 2nd Mike Hurford (5pts), 3rd John Lynch (4pts)
Age 60+, 1st Steve Gathercole (5pts), 2nd Bobby Howe (2pts)
Prizes were presented at the AGM in January. Please contact Sarah Mayne (sarah.mayne@blueyonder.co.uk) if you've not received your prize.
RACE RESULTS
To include your results in the newsletter, please email Andrea (andsand795@hotmail.com) with the details. A one sentence, sound-bite summary of what you thought of the race and if you would recommend it to others would be great too.
