BRR Blog – 23 September 2024
The BRR Team at the Valentines 5K
Greetings Road Runners!
If you can remember back to May this year, we started the 2024 East London fiVes Interclub Series (ELVIS) competition getting thoroughly soaked through at the Dagenham 88 race at Eastbrookend Country Park. I thought we were going to have a repeat of the atrocious weather at the last race of the competition, at Valentines Park on Sunday but, for once, the weather gods were smiling on us and the downpours stopped a few hours before the race started. I expect you were also appreciative of the improvement in the weather if you were taking part in the Vitality 10k.
The 23rd of September is astronomical autumn, when the day and night are both roughly equal in length. The nights will become increasingly longer than the days, until the winter solstice on 21 December – boo! At least we still have the South Essex Cross Country league and Chingford League to look forward to. Oh, and the Tiptree 10, of course, for those of us lucky enough to get a place. Roll on, autumn!
September Committee Meeting
With thanks to Club Secretary Isabel, the September Committee minutes can be found here.
As you’ll see from the minutes, it's our turn to organise the end-of-season ELVIS presentation, so we have decided to combine it with our 40th anniversary bash. The event will take place at Dagenham and Redbridge Football Club on 25 October. Kick-off is at 7.00pm. We may not win any of the ELVIS trophies, but we can show the other clubs how to have a good time! So put on your boogie shoes and get ready to trip the light fantastic.
If it looks like a parkrun and talks like a parkrun…it might not be a parkrun
Paphos Park Run. Not be be confused with a parkrun
We had a strange occurrence at Barking parkrun a few Saturdays ago. Having congratulated Belinda for being the first woman across the line and getting a new PB of 22:45 just a few days before her birthday, we were shocked when the results showed another woman finishing in first place overall. Any thoughts that the person in question may have been self-identifying as a woman were dispelled when the irate Mum of the young lad who had finished first got in touch to see what had happened to his result.
There followed much checking of barcode scanning files to try and figure out what had happened, but to no avail. We concluded it must have been a glitch in the parkrun IT system until Mum got in touch again to explain what had happened.
The family had been on holiday to Paphos, Cyprus, and taken part in ‘parkrun’ there. However, that event is not an official parkrun, despite appearing very similar. Mum had inadvertently called up the Paphos barcode on her phone and got that scanned at Barking instead of her son’s ‘official’ parkrun barcode. Our parkrun software read the barcode number and allocated the result to the person with that number on the genuine parkrun system. As you would expect, Mum’s manner was a bit more apologetic second time around than it had been when she first got in touch!
Athletics in the News
The only place in Scotland that I have ever visited is Edinburgh (shame on me, I know) but I can feel a trip to Glasgow coming on. This follows the announcement that the Scottish city is stepping in to host the Commonwealth Games in 2026, after the Australian state of Victoria pulled out due to rising costs.
The athletics events will now be held in the Scotstoun Stadium, which sits in a large sports complex to the Northwest of Glasgow. The City has experience of successfully hosting the Games, having last done so in 2014.
Scottish and UK taxpayers will be pleased to know that they won’t be picking up the bill – for the most part – following the switch of venue; Australia has promised an investment of around £2.3 million to help finalise the deal with the Commonwealth Games Federation to officially back the event. However, the UK government will be responsible for picking up any increased security costs connected to the event.
The Games will be scaled back and only involve ten different sports across four different venues, but I expect the full programme of athletics will take place.
Meanwhile, Lord Sebastian Coe has entered the competition to be president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) when the current postholder, Thomas Bach, steps down in March 2025.
Coe, in announcing that he has thrown his hat in the ring, set out a strong case for his getting the role “I had the privilege of being a double Olympic Champion, I’ve chaired an Olympic and Paralympic Games – London 2012 – from bid, through delivery and legacy implementation, I’ve chaired a National Olympic Committee, the BOA, and I’ve led an international federation through some turbulent times, retaining athletics’ position as a cornerstone of the Olympic Games.”
But he is up against six other candidates: David Lappartient, president of cycling’s governing body; Morinari Watanabe, head of the gymnastics governing body; Johan Eliasch, president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation; Kirsty Coventry, IOC executive board member and former swimmer from Zimbabwe; Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan; and Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. of Spain, whose father was IOC president for 21 years.
I’m afraid if you were thinking of applying, you are probably out of luck; Only IOC members are eligible to stand as candidates, with votes cast by the rest of the 111-strong membership of the Olympic body.
Dynamic Stretching
I’m pretty good at stretching at track (even if I haven’t done any running!) but I know am not alone in neglecting to stretch at other training runs or races. There has been a lot of debate in the running media about the pros and cons of stretching, but the general consensus is that stretching before and after running or any type of physical activity has several benefits, such as lowering the risk of injury and muscle soreness. However, knowing which type of stretching to do before and after working out is critical in reaping those benefits.
Dynamic stretching is used primarily before exercise, with static stretching recommended to be used only after exercise or, at very least, thoroughly arming up the muscles. This week we’ll look at dynamic stretching.
What is Dynamic Stretching?
At its simplest, dynamic stretching is stretching that involves continuous movement. This helps to extend the range of motion around a joint and stretch the muscles, and raises the heart rate, increasing blood flow to the tissues and warming up muscle groups. In doing so, it prepares the body for the more vigorous activity to come.
At track, you’ll also have heard me and John Lang talk about dynamic stretching helping to get your ‘synovial fluid’ flowing. Synovial fluid is an egg-white-like substance that sits in the cavities of our synovial joints - the knee, hip, ankle, elbow and wrist – which helps to reduce friction between the cartilage of the joint during movement.
Exercise boosts the production of synovial fluid, helping to keep our synovial joints ‘well-oiled’. There is now scientific evidence showing that, far from damaging our joints, exercise can actually help to protect them. Performing dynamic stretches before undertaking strenuous exercise ensures your joints are well-lubricated, reducing the risk of damage.
Additionally, dynamic stretching mimics the movements that you’re going to be performing in the workout you’re about to do, so it helps the muscles activate to “rehearse” the movement patterns during your warm-up routine, which is why they are often used as drills. As runners, we mainly use our legs so the focus is on our lower body, but we should also be using our arms so some upper body movement is also beneficial.
You’ll recognise all these dynamic stretches from our warm-ups at track:
Walking lunges
Leg swings
High knees
Butt kicks
A skips
Arm circles and windmills
Heel walks and toe walks
Start giving these dynamic stretches a go before your training runs and races, and see what difference they make.
Greg’s Race Report
Several Barking Road Runners members took part in the various Westminster Mile races on Saturday. Paul Grange finished 8th overall in the elite race, comfortably winning his category in a time of 4:21. Ron Vialls with a time of 7:16 finished 2nd in his category and 1st in the Veterans AC race. Also running were George Hiller 7:55, Andrew Hiller 8:37 and Ken Summerfield 12: 50.
Our Westminster Milers, plus Jason and David Weir.
Rachel Sharples and Stephen Colloff headed to Victoria Park in Hackney for the three-lap London Pride 10k run finishing in times of 1:17:07 and 1:00:13 respectively.
Steve and Rachel at the Pride 10k in Victoria Park
The eighth and final race in the ELVIS competition was a 5k at Valentines Park, organised by East London Runners. First finisher for BRR was Ayoyinka Obisesan in a time of 19:12. He was followed by Tom Brennan 19:38, Adrian Davison 22:26, Belinda Riches 22:33, Craig Chappell 23:20, Ron Vialls 25:22, John Whan 26:01, Martin O’Toole 26:54, Joyce Golder 27:58, Louise Chappell 29:13, Stephen Colloff 29:40, Alison Fryatt 30:59, Dennis Spencer Perkins 31:11, Martin Mason 32:09, Rob Courtier 32:36, Les Jay 38:54 and Micky Ball 47:36.
BRR runners also took on the Vitality 10k at the weekend with James Hall 51:21, being first finisher from BRR followed by Jason Li 58:19, Barry Rowell 1:00:11, and Ken Summerfield 1:36:1.
Ken at the Vitality 10k
James H, Barry and Jason at the Vitality 10k
Barking parkrunners
Barking - Ayoyinka Obisesan 18:58, Adrian Davison 23:16, James Hall 24:16, Rosie Fforde 27:15, Isabel Pinedo Borobio 27:47, Joyce Golder 29:22, Rob Courtier 31:54, Martin Mason 32:09, Nikki Cranmer 37:29, Les Jay 39:03, Greg Adams 39:18 and Alan Murphy 51:22.
Chelmsford Central - Gary Harford 28:24.
Crane Park - Mark New 24:28.
Great Notley - Kevin Wotton 30:17.
Mile End - Belinda Riches 27:27 and Stephen Colloff 28:41.
Steve and Belinda at Mile End parkrun
Penshanger - Rory Burr 26:56.
Rory and friend at Panshanger parkrun
Raphaels - Peter Jackson 22:00 and Doug King 24:36.
Valentines - Andrew Gwilliam 33:43.
Highest BRR age gradings this week were Belinda Riches 63.45% for the Women and Adrian Davison 70.77% for the men.
BRR Diary – September/October
7.00pm, Tuesday 24 September – Speed Development Session. Jim Peter’s Stadium, Mayesbrook Park. This week Greg will be taking the session, which is called Over and Under and is intended to help you prepare for half marathons and 10-mile races (but is good for everyone!).
5 x (2 minutes at 10k or 6 rate of perceived effort (RPE) and 1:15 at marathon pace or 4 RPE)
Three minutes recovery and repeat.
7.00pm, Thursday 26 September – Club run. Jo Richardson School/Castle Green Centre. Usually around 4-5 miles, all abilities welcome. We may pay another visit to Barking Riverside.
9.30am, Sunday 29 September – Trail run in Hainault Forest. Meet in the car park by the Global Café, Fox Burrow Road. A change to practice some hills before…
7.30pm, Tuesday 8 October – Chingford League 01 (CL01). Redbridge Cycling Centre, Forest Road, Hainault, IG6 3HP. Free for BRR members to participate. A fun but challenging 5k race around the cycle track…in the dark! We will be asking who wants to take part in advance so bib numbers can be allocated. You keep your bib number for the whole series. NOTE: TRACK IS CANCELLED.
10.00am, Sunday 13 October - Tiptree 10 (GP08). Sorry, sold out, but you can add your name to the waiting list. https://www.tiptreeroadrunners.com/tiptree-10/
10.00am, Sunday 20 October - South Essex Cross Country League 01. Hadleigh Country Park, Chapel Lane, Hadleigh. Entry is £5 but the Club subsidises the cost by £2, so you pay £3 on the day. More details to follow.
7.15pm, Thursday 24 October – BRR Annual General Meeting 2024. Jo Richardson School/Castle Green centre, Gale Street, Dagenham. You chance to discuss issues affecting the Club and vote on any proposals.
7.00pm, Friday 25 October – ELVIS Presentation Night/BRR 40th Anniversary Party. Dagenham and Redbridge Football Club, Victoria Road, Dagenham. Details above.
Cracker Corner… the Rain Edition
Boom! Boom!
Quote of the Week
"Runner's logic: I'm tired. Let me go for a run."
Unknown
And finally…
I was shocked to read, in last Wednesday’s Metro, that three ‘influencers’ had been jailed for a total of ten years for organising illegal street races in Birmingham.
Retail worker Ahzi Nagmadin, 24, and Jessica Roberts, 30 were each jailed for three years by Birmingham Crown Court and Rashani Reid, aged 32, was sentenced to four years and two months. All three had admitted causing a public nuisance.
I thought the prison terms were rather harsh for simply organising a run like we do every Thursday night. Imagine my relief when I looked up the full story online and realised that the races in question were ‘Fast and Furious' style car races, not people holding an impromptu running race. Doh…
