Thursday, October 12, 2006

Better than nothing!

This Blog is intended to fill the gap between the defunct old website and the wonderful new one that I am going to create when I ever find the time to get around to it.

Here are September's Minutes. I am going to find a better way of adding them to the blog than posting them, but here goes:
MAIDEN NEWTON RUNNERS -
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD 14.09.06

Present:
Guy, Stanley, Charles, John, Eric, Martin, Lin, Phil, Dan, Dave C, Dave W, Jackie, Derek

Apologies:
Charlie, Richard and Lesley, Di and Ian

Jackie was attending her 1st meeting, but was steadfastly ignored by the Chair who did not want to sully the club’s unfriendly image by offering any words of welcome.
NewTen.
We engaged in a spot of post-race analysis. The verdict: an unqualified success. All runners appeared to have enjoyed it, the organisation went well, and we have had good feedback, including on the Runners World website. Crewkerne did query both the Newness and the Madness of the race, but they only sent one runner so their views are to be ignored. We had a total of 152 entries, 70 of them on the night, and 142 finishers. Last year’s winning time, of 37.15, was smashed by nearly a minute, for a time of 36.19. There was an incident of one competitor smoking a fag as he ran up the hill back from Wraxall, blowing smoke in the faces of those behind. There was also a dubious incident involving a competitor of mature years from Yeovil, who either experienced a shorts malfunction or was getting carried away with the cucumber theme. Money-wise, we had £292.29 surplus after costs, we agreed to pocket £52.29 for club funds, and to give out the remaining £240 to 4 charities: Playgroup, Friends of Greenford, Joseph Weld and the Scouts. There were some suggestions of having a bar and barbecue after the race - agreed this would be something to be run by other people, eg Wilf or the school Friends. The prize-giving went smoothly, with the lardy cakes and cucumbers going down (or up) well. The meeting gave big thanks to Phil and Dave and their partners for all their excellent work.

Past Events.
9 club members did the NewTen: Nigel in 41.13, Lin and Martin in 45.40, Ian in 46.32, Richard and Lesley in 54.04 and 54.05, Charlie in 58.41, Jackie in 61.23 and Eric in 65.43. Lin and Martin also did the Race the Train in 2.02.34 (the train won), the Beast in 1.36.23 and 1.47.27, the Ash Excellent 8 in 57.01 and 62.06, and Yeovilton in 20.37 each. Phil did Yeovilton in 19.09. Lesley emailed to say that she and Richard had done the Where’s Tarka (c 9 miles) in 1.19.56 and 1.51.11, the Race the Train in 1.59.24 and 2.37.07, the Beast in 1.43.59 and 2.24.24, and the Seaton Half in 1.37.57 and 1.56.01. Lesley added some notes about Richard’s erratic behaviour - in the NewTen he spent much of the race running backwards, so that he fell over, cutting his hand and bruising his shoulder. At mile 9 of Race the Train he took his shorts off and ran with them in his hand - his story was that they were wet and wouldn’t stay up, but others think he was trying to distract the driver, or something worse. During the Tarka he insisted on running in dark glasses, including through the low tunnels, so that he cut his head on the roof then fell onto his bruised shoulder. Lesley, meanwhile, saw a severed head in the water….

Future Events.
New Forest Marathon and Half on 17/9, King Alfred’s Torment on 24/9 (cakes for finishers, unburnt), Autumn Downland Challenge 1 Oct for Charles and his Gurkhas, Sydling Fun Run on 8 Oct, Parrett Trail Relay on 14 Oct. Our team for the Parrett Trail is Phil, Ian, Di, Martin, Lin, Dave W. Richard and Lesley are planning to do the Isle of Wight Fell Running Weekend (an area renowned for its daunting and dangerous mountains) and the Musbury Castle.

London Entry.
Dave W has written off for the club entry application form, no reply so far. We agreed that anyone interested in taking the club place should also try to enter via the ballot. Correspondence. Dave read out a letter asking if we would be interested in contributing to a weekend to commemorate the second World War. The meeting was bemused.Stanley. As well as updating us on Arscott’s latest exploits, off to Spain on a quad-biking trip with Rees, Stanley received a series of texts from his daughter in Cheltenham, relaying questions from her pub quiz, including ‘Name the actor who plays Ron Weasly’, by which she meant, obviously, ‘Name the actress who plays Ron’s mother’.
AOB.
Christmas Do set for 20 January, same format as last year. Vests - Di and Jackie interested.

2 comments:

Phil said...

Don't forget to check your maps, we can't aford to loose any members

martin said...

Maps? Are we supposed to have maps? I'm going to take the instructions, and my GPS watch, that will have to do. That, and a keen eye on the runners ahead of me.
Now I think I am going to try to start a new Post for the Parrett Trail.