BRR Blog – 25 March 2024
Some of the BRR team and supporters at the Brentwood Half.
Hi there, Road Runners!
It was good to get the first race in this year’s Grand Prix season done and dusted. Those of us who finished at the back were disappointed not to receive medals. The organisers have sent an apology saying they’d based their medal order on the number of entries last year but were caught out by a last-minute surge in interest. We are going to get our medals in the post – that will add a good few quid to the cost of the event, given the price of stamps these days. We have now decided all eight races that will form part of this year’s competition; see below for details.
There were a few other races underway this weekend; not sure if the strong March winds were a help or a hindrance, but everyone did really well, regardless.
Thank you to everyone who sent birthday wishes to me and Rob. We both have big birthdays next year – I hope I won’t be celebrating by running another half marathon, but chances are that I will be!
ELVIS has entered the building
East London fiVes Interclub Series or ELVIS is an annual competition between nine running clubs in the East London area. In case you missed them a few weeks ago, here are the dates of this year’s series:
The 2024 ELVIS fixtures
As well as prizes for the competition between the ELVIS clubs, BRR also has its own, internal competition. The Club’s ELVIS competition consists of all ELVIS races occurring in the year, except our own race on August Bank Holiday Monday, so that’s seven races.
Points are awarded for finishing positions on the basis of 100 for first place, 99 for second and so on, with separate points awarded for male and female finishing positions. Points are only allocated to second-claim members if they are representing BRR.
The final score for each member is calculated using their best results across five of the seven eligible races. Trophies will be awarded to male and female, for first, second, and third place.
Grand Prix
We have decided that the final two races in this year’s Grand Prix competition will be the Orion 5 and the Tiptree 10. That means we have two five-mile races, two 10k races, ten-mile races, and two half marathons in the competition.
GP01: 24 March – Brentwood Half Marathon
GP02: 7 April – St. Clare 10k
GP03: 19 May – Great Baddow 10 (miles)
GP04: 16 June – Great Easter 10k
GP05: 3 August – Orion 5 (miles) – also an ELVIS race
GP06: 18 August – Ingatestone 5 (miles)
GP07: 1 September – The Big Half
GP08: 13 October – Tiptree 10 (miles).
Track
Speedy BRR runners at track!
We may start getting some extra people along to our Tuesday track sessions. Our friendly rivals, Dagenham 88 Runners, have taken the difficult decision to cancel their Thursday night track session, from the beginning of the new financial year in April, due to lack of numbers. For the last couple of years D88 has been sharing their session with Harold Wood Running Club but are still getting insufficient attendees to make the session financially viable now that Everyone Active, who manage the track, are increasing hire charges for 2024-25.
I don’t expect us to be inundated with new runners, but please do welcome any D88 or HW members that do come along – we are not in the business of trying to poach them, but we want to show them that BRR is really the friendliest club in East London. And, of course, the better the attendance at our own track sessions, the better we can cover the track hire costs ourselves, and hopefully have some money left over for refreshments afterwards too!
Note: a couple of the ELVIS races fall on Tuesday evenings. As usual, we will be cancelling track on those evenings but will try and book track on the Thursday instead, now D88 will no longer be using it (every cloud…)
Membership 2024/25
It’s the last week to renew your club membership if you want to avoid being nagged – I mean, really nagged! You could pay £15 to attend one fitness session in a gym, or you could use it to pay your membership of BRR. For that, you get:
· Coached track sessions for £3 instead of £4, plus your tea, coffee and biccies afterwards;
· South Essex Cross Country League race entry for £3 instead of the full price of £5; and
· free entry to Chingford League races.
If you pay an extra £19 to be registered with England Athletics too (£34 total) you get a £2 discount for every EA certified race you enter.
Please pay your membership directly into the BRR account:
Account no: 42026724
Sort Code: 40-03-33
Use Ref ‘your name + ‘Mem’ if only paying for membership or ‘your name + Mem & EA’ if paying for both.
Fuel Up
We are often told that training on an empty stomach helps to burn more calories. But, according to the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences, it can also increase your body’s immunosuppression response i.e. it reduces the efficiency of your immune system, making you more vulnerable to illness. A protein-based breakfast will keep you feeling satisfied for longer than a meal of simple carbs like sugary cereal, but the key thing is to choose something that is easy on your stomach and don’t eat too close to exercise if you want to avoid runner’s tummy.
You and I we’re gonna live forever
Well, maybe not forever, but by exercising regularly and, at times, vigorously, you are giving increasing your chances of a long and healthy life.
Cardiologist Paddy Barrett reports that those individuals with a Vo2 max in the highest 2.5% of the population have only one-fifth the likelihood of dying in the next 10 years vs those in the lowest 25%. “There is practically nothing in medicine that results in this magnitude of survival advantage,” says Barrett.
You will benefit from exercise at whatever age you start, but for the maximum benefit you should build the foundation in your midlife years to support you for the rest of your days. So, keep going!
Greg’s Race Report
It was the Brentwood Half Marathon this weekend for Barking Road Runners, the first race in this year’s club Grand Prix series. This season opener for BRR is usually a popular one for members and this year was no exception with 18 taking part in the hilly but scenic race around country lanes in the Brentwood area.
Mark O and a very Happy Tom B after the Brentwood Half.
Mark O and Belinda after the Brentwood Half.
First finisher for BRR was Paul Withyman in a time of 1:28:18. He was followed by Tom Brennan 1:30:53, Mark Odeku 1:33:19, Peter Jackson 1:38:40, Nehal Patel 1:43:02, Belinda Riches 1:44:39, Craig Chappell 1:5:33, James Sheridan 2:04:02, Lizzie-Beth Garraghan 2:06:31, Faye Spooner 2:06:27,;Louise Chappell 2:15:12, Steve Colloff 2:18:52, Dennis Spencer Perkins 2:20:32, Alison Fryatt 2:24:17, Rob Courtier 2:32:17, Veronica Barikor 2:34:52 and Rachel Sharples 3:03:48
Mark New ran the LBBD run 4 life 10k. The event, which started and finished at the Coventry University site at Rainham Road North, raised money for several local charities. Mark completed the course in a time of 50:33.
Mark N with his LBBD Run4Life medal.
Ricky Narwal travelled to Wolverhampton for his weekend 10k which he completed in a time of 55:31. He enjoyed starting and finishing at the Wolves football stadium but not waking up at 4.00am to get there for a 9.30 start.
Ricky at the Wolverhampton 10k.
BRR parkrunners
Barking - Sandeep Rajput 22:09, Joshua Ezissi 22:45, Mark Odeku 22:51, Belinda Riches 24:14, Martin Brooks 24:42, Rosie Fforde 25:08, Thomas Shorey 26:54, Joyce Golder 28:14, Andrew Hiller 28:21, Paul Molina 31:06, Nikki Cranmer 32:46, Lizzie Beth Garraghan 32:48, Clodagh O’Callaghan 32:49, Martin Mason 32:52, Les Jay 36:50, James Hall 42:29, Jason Li 42:30 and Alan Murphy 53:21.
Chalkwell Beach - Antony Leckerman 27:19.
Eastbourne - Owen Wainhouse 21:01.
Harrow - Mark New 24:20.
Harrow Lodge - Rory Burr 24:22 and Stuart Burr 31:45.
Rory and Stuart Burr celebrating Rory’s 300th parkrun at Harrow Lodge
Raphaels - Doug King 25:29.
Roding Valley - Paul Withyman 29:25.
Valentines - Kevin Wotton 25:41.
Worthing - Colin Jones 21:33.
Highest BRR gradings this week were Belinda Riches 70.91% for the women and Colin Jones 73.16% for the men.
BRR Diary – March/April
7.00pm, Tuesday 26 March - Speed development. Jim Peters Stadium, Mayesbrook Park. Easter is almost with us so that can mean only one thing… the Easter Egg session. We have several mini sessions, all 12 minutes long, but which ones you do will depend on which egg is opened. This year there will be a twist: between each mini-running session, we will roll the exercise dice and see what exercise we need to do. It could be push-ups, sit ups, jumping squats, burpees, walking lunges or back extensions.
7.00pm, Thursday 28 March – Road Run. From the Castle Green Centre/Jo Richardson School, Gale Street, Dagenham. A social road run around the streets of Barking and Dagenham. All abilities welcome.
11.00am, Friday 29 March – Crown to Crown off-road 5k. Westley Heights Country Park, rear of the Miller & Carter (Crown) Public House, Langdon Hills. More info at: https://www.entrycentral.com/Crown-to-Crown
w/c 30 March - Virtual Handicap 07. Last week in the 2024 Winter Virtual Handicap season. Post your result by close on Friday, 5 April. Look out for details of the ‘real’ handicap next week (or check TeamUp for the dates).
10.30am, Sunday 7 April – St. Clare 10k (GP02). St Clare Hospice, Hastingwood, Essex CM17 9JX. The second race in this year’s GP series, and it’s a pleasant jaunt around the country lanes of Essex, all raising money for St. Clare Hospice. Further information and entry at https://stclarehospice.org.uk/event/st-clare-hospice-10k-2024/
Sunday 21 April – TCS London Marathon. Whether you are running the marathon or volunteering on the Mile 14(ish) water station, it will be a full-on day for the Club. We will be arranging some drinks for the evening, to wind down and to hear all those marathon stories.
Cracker Corner
What does an evil hen lay? Devilled eggs.
What is a computer’s favourite snack? Microchips.
How do ducks like to eat cheese? With quackers.
Boom! Boom!
Quote of the week
“The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.”
Tony Robbins
And finally…
Graph showing hits on the BRR website.
As you may remember, recently Tom Shorey helped us to upgrade our website to a new host, SquareSpace. In addition to ensuring that the site is operating with the most up-to-date security features, it also means I get interesting updates through from SquareSpace every now and then.
Last week I received an update about traffic on our website and was pleased to see that it is at its busiest on a Monday when this blog is published. It’s good to know that it is being read! Later in the week the update was followed by another email from Squarespace suggesting that I ‘monetise’ the blog and turn my readers into paying subscribers. Apparently, I should be offering a teaser at the top of each blog to get you hooked, so I can then charge you for reading the rest of it.
I don’t think we’ll be going down that road in the Road Runners. 6But if you have any suggestions on what I could include in the blog to tease you, let me know. Just keep it clean; I don’t want to be the second person put in prison for cyber flashing…
