BRR Blog – 29 April 2024
The Mermaids and Mermen AKA Joyce, Dennis, Lizzie-Beth, and Steve C
Howdie, Road Runners!
After the exertions of the London Marathon, there wasn’t much racing action this week, other than at the Swimathon. Some of the more bonkers marathoners did both! More details in Greg’s race report, below. Let me guess, was Rob taking the photos on his dodgy phone, or was it just very steamy in there?
Talking of the London Marathon, you will have seen that there was a record number of entries for 2025: 840,318 to be precise. I think a lot of them were members of BRR, judging by the flurry of entries after this year’s race. London Marathon Events doesn’t reveal how many places are made available in the ballot, but it’s thought to be around 20,000. That means you have about a one in 42 chance of getting a place through the ballot. I guess it’s better than your chance of winning the Lottery…
Don’t forget it’s the first summer handicap race in Barking Park this Thursday. Let’s hope we get some summery weather! The clock will start ticking at 7.00pm, but please turn up in good time; Rob will be in charge in Greg’s absence so registration may take a bit longer than usual.
Track Guests
You may be aware that Dagenham 88 Runners has fallen victim to the annual increase in track hire costs at the Jim Peters Stadium and has had to cancel its Thursday night sessions. The D88 sessions used to be open to Harold Wood Running Club, and HWRC have now asked if they can come along to our sessions instead. We have said ‘yes’, in the spirit of inter-club friendliness. With that in mind, I’m sure you will extend a warm BRR welcome to them. We don’t expect it will make a huge difference to the numbers attending track; I have been told some weeks they might have ten runners, another week zero. We’d better get some extra biscuits in, just in case…
Barking parkrun Cancellations
As trailed on the WhatsApp group last week, Barking parkrun is cancelled on 25 May and 1 June. The Percolate Festival is being held on the June date and we have been told that a lot of the Park will be out of bounds the previous week while the organisers are doing the event set-up. Here is the map showing the area of the Park that will be affected. We’d looked at maybe adapting our course to avoid the works, but it would be a potential health and safety nightmare with vehicles using the paths.
The plan of the Percolate festival
Of course, if we can’t hold parkrun we are also unlikely to be able to go ahead with the Summer Handicap race that was scheduled for Thursday 30 May. The Committee will have a look at dates and come up with an alternative. In the meantime, I am deciding where I can go and do a bit of parkrun tourism, or maybe I will sign up for the Orion Forest Five Series. I am just worried about the takings for the Daily Munch, though perhaps they will get festival business instead.
ELVIS Dates
I mentioned on WhatsApp that a lot of the East London fiVes Interclub Series (ELVIS) races are now open for entries. You can find details in the BRR Diary and on TeamUp. Note that there will be no track on the nights that clash with ELVIS races.
7.30pm, Tuesday 4 June – Havering ’90 Joggers Midweek 5. Raphaels Park, Main Road, Romford. https://events.kronosports.uk/event/283?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1qav3TSeFQfvqZIb21QVDlRXT1tMLo1lXU5HFlb2qfCdgON2F6tAV3_n8_aem_AYb_OH8G9vrHoKjJXYxqEB1KXtwX9pn4ozSLRDVHx8-hrubi7gYWvf8LwYkVZfSFfP1It147b1CWOQVoVXt_MohV
7.30pm, Tuesday 18 June - EERR 5K. Hopkins Fields, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
E20 3BS. Enter at https://events.kronosports.uk/event/289 (early bird prices until 7 May).
10.00am, Saturday 3 August – Orion Harriers Forest Five. Jubilee Retreat
Bury Road, Chingford, E4 7QJ. Entry is £10 at https://www.entrycentral.com/Orion_Forest_Five_Race_3_ELVIS.
Or you can sign up for the three-race series for only £18 at https://www.entrycentral.com/Orion_Harriers_Forest_Five
Greg’s Race Report
With no races this week, several Barking Road Runners members swapped their spikes for speedos to take part in a charity Swimathon at Abbey Sports Centre in aid of Marie Curie Cancer research. BRR members were involved in three teams; the first team consisting of Joyce Golder, Lizzie Beth Garraghan, Stephen Colloff and Dennis Spencer Perkins AKA mermaids and mermen, each swam 15 lengths for their 1500 metres. Dawn Curtis was in a team of three and swam 20 lengths whilst Cristina and Trevor Cooper swam 2.5 kilometres each.
Water baby Dawn Curtis
The Coopers after their efforts
Lisa Cannings completed her first 10k at the Colchester Zoo Stampede, finishing in a creditable time of 1:20:52, especially as she was dressed as a flamingo.
Lisa with flamingo friend at Colchester Zoo.
BRR parkrunners
Barking - Paul Withyman 19:35, Peter Jackson 20:55, Mark Odeku 21:28, Belinda Riches 23:19, Adrian Davison 23:27, Rosie Fforde 25:13, Doug King 25:29, Stephen Colloff 25:51, Isabel Pinedo Borobio 26:59, James Sheridan 27:13, Sian Mansley 27:33, John Lang 27:43, Joyce Golder 27:55, Rob Courtier 28:35, Martin Mason 31:04, Paul Molina 31:29, Nikki Cranmer 34:49, Les Jay 36:36 and Micky Ball 58:20.
Grovelands - Rory Burr 24:52.
North Yorkshire Water Park - David Botterill 25:45.
Southend - Antony Leckerman 21:08.
Thurrock - Mark New 24:13.
Valentines - Kevin Wotton 24:46 and Andrew Gwilliam 35:57.
Highest BRR age gradings this week were Belinda Riches 73.7% for the women and Paul Withyman 71.32% for the men.
BRR Diary – April/May
7.00pm, Tuesday 30 April - Speed development. Jim Peters Stadium, Mayesbrook Park. This week we have an Acceleration session. You will do six sets of the following, with 2:30 recovery:
· 2:00 comfortable (4/5 effort)
· 1:00 moderate (6/7 effort)
· 0:30 fast (8/9 effort)
How hard you work is based on your rate of perceived exertion, and will be different for everyone. The chart below will give you an idea of how you should be feeling. The 30 seconds section of the set should feel hard – that’s why you are getting a long recovery period afterwards! As always, you can walk or jog the recovery.
7.00pm, Thursday 2 May – Summer 5k Handicap 01. Barking Park, Longbridge Road. First race in the competition! £1 entry (or £5 in advance for all seven races in the competition), with a tenner prize to the first person across the finish line. Also trophies for first second and third place in the series, based on the best five results across the seven races. Greg has calculated the handicaps for everyone he expects to participate. If you haven’t got a 5k time to use, the first race will be used to set your handicap. NOTE: there will be no road run from Castle Green.
10.30am, Monday 6 May – Witham May Day 5. Witham Rugby Club, Spa Road, Witham, Essex, CM8 1UN. Not a Club competition, but a nice run through the Essex countryside. https://www.withamrc.org.uk/races/may-day-10/
7.00pm, Thursday 16 May – Summer 5k Handicap 02. Barking Park, Longbridge Road. As above!
10.00am, Sunday 19 May – Great Baddow 10 (GP03). The Recreation Ground, Great Baddow, Chelmsford, Essex CM2 9RL. Enter at: https://baddowraces.co.uk/
7.30pm, Wednesday 22 May – Dagenham 88 5ish (EL01). Discovery Centre, Eastbrookend Country Park. The first race in this year’s ELVIS series. Slightly cross-country so trails may be best, especially if it has been wet. Still waiting for entries to open. Watch out for further details. https://doodle.com/sign-up-sheet/participate/08add9e5-4287-4df4-9981-173d1ad039eb/select
11.00am, Monday 27 May - Hatfield Broad Oak 10k. Village Green, High Street, Hatfield Broad Oak. This is not a Club competition race, but it’s a nice way to spend a Bank Holiday Monday. There is a kids’ race too, and village fair, which is quite fun. More info and entries at https://broadoak10k.co.uk/
7.00pm, Thursday 30 May – Summer 5k Handicap 03. Barking Park, Longbridge Road. As above!
Cracker Corner
After spending an hour unblocking the bath and sink, I’m feeling pretty drained.
I was trying to remember the French word for white, but my mind kept going blanc…
I took my friend to see the world’s biggest fan for her birthday. She was blown away.
Boom! Boom!
Quote of the week
“Everyone is an athlete, the only difference is some of us are in training, and some are not.”
George Sheehan
And finally…
I was glad to hear that Tom Brennan didn’t suffer any chafing in his slightly skimpy, London Marathon outfit, thanks to Joyce’s recommendation of Chub Rub. But it’s hardly the most appealing product name, is it? Next time, I recommend that Tom uses the following…
Megababe: sounds better than Chub Rub!
