Well done to all the Chasers who ventured to Woodford last Saturday for the final athletics fixture. Congratulations also to the latest cohort of beginners who will be graduating their class at Hampstead Heath parkrun this Saturday the 20th. If you have not been to parkrun before it doesn’t cost you anything and you do not need to sign up beforehand. You will need to register on the parkrun website and either print out your barcode that they provide or have it on your phone. Summer League This Sunday the 21st is the final summer league fixture of this season. It has been great to have the series back without all that social distancing malarkey. Serpentine will need to pull out all stops to make sure that their picnic comes close to the one provided at Regent’s Park. This is a 10k race and is a great super flat course through Battersea Park. Meet in the middle of the park near the bandstand, the race begins at 9:30am sharp. Big Half Lots of Chasers have signed up for this event that takes place on Sunday 4th September. I hope your training has gone well and has not been too adversely affected by the recent heatwaves. Jodie and Ellie have kindly arranged a pub near the finish line for you to celebrate your efforts afterwards. Please sign up here so that they can get an idea of numbers attending Summer Picnic This summer’s picnic takes place at the usual spot next to the boating lake at Hampstead Heath. Start time will be 1pm ish on August 28th. More details to follow closer to the time. Mara Yamauchi There are still a couple of places left for the event taking place on Wednesday 31st August. All information is here Synonyms for Scorched Earth - Lydia Thomson Southern Athletics - Woodford.  13/8/22 There’s a lot at stake today. There’s talk of how close we are to winning, to upgrading to five fixtures instead of four. We’ve all been made aware of who our rival club is in this pursuit, and everyone who toes the line has clocked their key competitor.  In the 800m, I’m racing myself, our rivals and, as I (unhelpfully) learned the night before, the club record. (Kat and I were both wildly close to it at the Parliament Hill fixture.) My body is a mess. It knows what is about to happen: burning lungs, tingling hands and tasting blood. Right from the gun, I know I won’t catch the Serpentine woman because I am already giving everything, and she’s too far ahead. Adjust. Dig. Go hard then push harder. Embrace the fade and see it over the line. I’ve done it. I am a ghost on my own shoulder, but I’ve done it.  Back at the bandstand, we are a gaggle of electrolytes, safety pins and musical chairs, all chasing the shade. When someone does well, we tell them how remarkable that is considering the conditions. When someone is disappointed in their performance, we tell them how well they did, considering the conditions. I deny the conditions profusely. I run the 3000m and focus only on effort. Our teammate Karina from Highgate nips cooly to the front. I’m pushing the pace as much as I know I can without blowing up. I finish. I am dizzy. Janine revives me with Tango. I wait for my heart rate to go down. When I compare notes with Dan Lewis in the pub later on, we remark that ours have been high all day. All. Day. The bandstand is audience to a chorus of coughing. Lactic meets gasping meets debris. Our very lungs are parched. We kick up dust in sprints and jumps and there’s nothing to absorb it, only the moisture of our own mouths. A fortunate few are escorted to the start line with umbrellas. Seeing these rainy day accessories is jarring. It only seems to highlight the very thing we’ve been seriously, worryingly lacking. I long for an elegant parasol and a picnic. Perhaps beside a lake to dip my toes into. A woman sits on the floor by the high jump with a t-shirt over her head. There is only a bottle visible beneath its neck, the contents lazily disappearing. We’re all fading. Events are running late. We’re all pulling off astonishing performances (considering the conditions, remember), but it’s just gone on for too long. After my tango with heat exhaustion, I’m kindly encouraged to do no more. It’s nearly 5pm and the light has chased us up the tiered seating until we’re all squeezed onto the back row. Our steaming shoulders are braced for impact until we are submerged. Now the race is really on. Win every last point you can before you run for shelter. Run for home. I feel a strange grief that the athletics is over for another year. It’s nearly time to go back to school, to buy a new pencil case and check your uniform still fits. But there’s next year to look forward to, and when I’m gazing out of the window at yet another grey day, I’ll fondly remember these relentless, scorching laps of a blazing running track. When January descends into its quintessential endlessness, when time yawns before us so wide you can see its fillings, I’ll wonder at how much a 58 millisecond PB meant to me.  Calendar Here's whats happening over the next few weeks other than our usual Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday runs. You can find our full calendar on the website. 21/08/2022 Summer League | Battersea 20/08/2022 Graduation Parkrun Join us! 28/08/2022 Summer Picnic 31/08/2022 Run with Mara Yamauchi Join (2 of 50 left) - deadline 2022-08-30 31/08/2022 Marathon Wisdom Book Launch Join (37 of 80 left) - deadline 2022-08-24 04/09/2022 Post Big Half Social Join🍻 Results If you want to upload a photo or your results are missing, log in to our website and update your picture and Power of 10 ID. Tittesworth Water Series 10K / Half Marathon / 50K (Meerbrook), 06/08/2022 HMMT Nitesh Thakrar 2:42:18 (2:42:06), 72 (1) [44.43%] Parkrun 13/08/2022 Brixworth Country Andy Davies 18:10, 1 (1) [71.56%] Canons Park Alex Renton 23:54, 22 (1) [59.00%] Clacton Seafront Paul Matthews 31:18, 71 [64.75%] Gladstone Rendy Prakoso 18:41, 4 [70.03%] Hackney Marshes Matteo Carminati 24:43, 104 [53.67%] NEW PB   Marcos Cuevas-Nunez 25:26, 120 [57.54%]   Sophie Fenner 30:16, 203 [48.79%] Hampstead Heath Juliette Westbrook 26:27, 103 [55.83%]   Paul Dickens 27:10, 117 [49.39%]   Ellie Holloway 28:01, 137 [52.71%]   Jodie Pearlman 28:02, 138 [52.68%]   Gaby Anderson 29:08, 156 [50.69%]   Diane Morrison 29:44, 164 [58.74%] Henstridge Airfield Rebecca Howarth 26:11, 16 (2, 1) [56.40%] Highbury Fields David Renton 23:04, 94 [63.44%]   Rebecca Taylor 25:48, 161 [62.02%] Hoblingwell Lizzy Muggeridge 35:20, 32 (-, 1) [45.75%] Maldon Prom Lauren Longhurst 21:46, 15 (2, 1) [68.15%] Milton Keynes Daisy Wooller 33:33, 243 [44.01%] Roundshaw Downs Christopher Leslie 22:44, 19 (1) [57.11%] Southwark Nick Herbert 32:09, 249 [40.38%] Whitstable Alina Williamson 28:14, 115 [53.01%] Wormwood Scrubs John H Grigg 40:10, 89 (1) [63.69%] Stour Valley Path 50k (Sudbury to Manningtree), 13/08/2022 Other Eamon Byrne 07:53:32, 54 Links Send your stories to newsletter@chaser.me.uk. 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