BRR Blog – 23 December 2024
The BRR crew outside Kensington Palace.
Happy Christmas Road Runners!
Two sleeps to until Christmas. The Committee and I hope you have a fabulous break, however you decide to celebrate it. I know many of you will be taking part in Christmas Day parkrun at Barking. If you don’t fancy running, we will need lots of volunteers to help out; Christmas Day is always the busiest parkrun of the year for us, so it will be all hands on deck - we may need runners to barcode scan when they finish so please bring your mobiles with the parkrun virtual volunteer app installed! Thank you to Rory and Stuart B, who have already offered to help with set-up.
Another reminder that track and the Thursday night runs have now finished until the new year. We will be back at track on 7 January and Castle Green on 9 January.
December Committee Meeting
Condolences to Club Secretary Isabel, who missed the Committee meeting due to a family bereavement. Our thoughts are with you, Isabel.
Here are the minutes of the meeting. Please note the important information about membership fees for 2025/26.
Athletics in the News
After winning the title of BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2024, Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson has announced that she has set her sights on breaking the women’s 800m indoor world record in 2025.
Hodgkinson will make the attempt in Birmingham on 15 February, at an event that is being dubbed the ‘Keely Klassic’.
Coincidentally, the current record of 1:55.82 was set on 3 March 2002, the day Keely was born, by Slovenian Jolanda Čeplak. The record is controversial as Čeplak was later banned for doping from 2007-2009.
Keely’s best times over 800m are 1:54.61 outdoors and 1:57.18 indoors. It will be interesting to see if she can break the record in a clean race.
I Swear
I’ve included articles in the blog before about the benefits of having a mantra when running. But it seems that uttering a few expletives could have the same positive effect.
Research has found swearing can have several benefits, including:
Pain threshold: Swearing can increase your pain threshold, helping you to push through pain. In one study, repeating the word "f**k" increased pain tolerance by 33%.
Performance: Swearing can improve your performance during high-intensity exercise. In one study, participants who swore before exercising on an exercise bike or squeezing a hand grip device performed significantly better than those who used neutral words.
Distraction: Swearing can act as a distraction that allows you to push harder.
Catharsis: Swearing can feel good, which may help you perform better.
Why does swearing have these positive benefits? Possible explanations include:
Stimulating the sympathetic nervous system: Swearing can stimulate the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for your heart pounding when you're in danger.
Emotional force and arousal: Swearing can increase emotional force and arousal.
Increased attention and memory: Swearing can increase attention and memory.
Heightened autonomic activity: Swearing can heighten autonomic activity, such as heart rate and skin conductance.
If you plan to try swearing while running (assuming you don’t already!), just be careful who is nearby when you give vent; we don’t want you getting arrested for a public order offence.
Greg’s Race Report
The BRR crew by the Albert Memorial
Barking Road Runners had their annual Royal Parks run this week of around 10k. The run is a very social event with running and some sightseeing too. The run takes in St. James’s Park, Green Park, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, travelling past the Winter Wonderland, Kensington Palace, The Albert Memorial, Royal Albert Hall, and Buckingham Palace on the way. The quicker runners double back to the slower ones so nobody gets left behind and they get a longer run. The day is finished off with a lunch afterwards.
The Royal Parks crew with supporters
BRR parkrunners
Barking - Joshua Ezissi 23:14, Owen Wainhouse 24:02, Mark New 24:55, James Hall 25:00, Rosie Fforde 25:22, Doug King 25:47, John Whan 27:00, Barry Rowell 29:14, Martin Mason 34:15, Nikki Cranmer 34:53, Les Jay 39:56 and Alan Murphy 54:28.
Harrow Lodge - Rory Burr 26:06.
Mosman - Richard Dudman 30:22.
Severn Bridge - Tom Shorey 27:15 and Clodagh O’Callaghan 34:08.
Tom and Clodagh at Severn Bridge
Storeys Field - Sunny Bulchandani 25:14.
Tsurami Ryokuchi - Jonathan Furlong 25:56.
Jon F at Tsurami Ryokuchi parkrun
Valentines - Kevin Wotton 24:22 and Andrew Gwilliam 38:08.
Victoria Dock - Belinda Riches 24:44, Stephen Colloff 28:10 and Rob Courtier 30:56.
Rob, Belinda and Steve C, with Stuart Henderson at Victoria Dock parkrun
Wanstead Flats - Rachel Sharples 37:25.
Highest BRR age gradings this week were Belinda Riches 70.42% for the women and John Whan 66.98% for the men.
BRR Diary – December/January
To see the full diary of BRR events, just download the TeamUp app onto your phone, then enter the calendar key: ks67p21gt8p5gzdo66 when asked. If you don’t want another app on your phone, you can also find it under the ‘events’ tab on the Barking Road Runners website: https://www.barkingroadrunners.org.uk/calendar.
9.00am – Wednesday 25 December – Christmas Day parkrun. Barking Park. If you don’t fancy running, please come along and volunteer instead.
10:30am, Thursday 26 December – Witham Boxing Day 5. Witham Rugby Club, Spa Road, Witham, CM8 1UN. A loop round the roads of Witham and surrounding countryside. A more expensive option than the Crown-to-Crown, but it is chip-timed. Boxing Day 5 - 26th December 2024 - Witham Running Club
11.00am, Thursday 26 December – Crown to Crown 5k. Westley Heights Country Park (rear of the Miller & Carter (Crown) Public House), Langdon Hills. A mainly off-road race, but with some tarmac. Trail shoes, not spikes. This is a no-frills race, with no chip timing and a low entry fee as a result. You can enter on the day or sign up in advance at Pitsea RC 5k Crown to Crown - Boxing Day - EntryCentral.
10.30am, Saturday 28 December - Ilford AC 10-miler. The Plain, Chigwell Row, Lambourne Rd (opposite Millers Lane), IG7 6ET. Three laps of an undulating route comprising the tracks and grassland of Hainault Forest. The race is held as a tribute to Kevin Newell, an Ilford AC left with terrible head injuries after a fall from a ladder. A donation will be made to his charity. Entries are £7 or on the day for a tenner. There will be a cut-off time of 2 hours. Runners likely to exceed this time may still complete the course, but it may not be marshalled, and you may not get an official finish time. Prizes to the first three men/women and veteran categories. Enter at https://www.entrycentral.com/IlfordAC-10milesXC
10.00am, Sunday 29 December – Hadleigh (SECCL 03). Hadleigh Country Park, Chapel Lane, Hadleigh. The third race in this year’s South Essex Cross Country League series. If you like a challenge, you can’t miss this race – there will be hills, mud, water – what’s not to like? Don’t forget your trail shoes and tie them on tightly. Entry is £5 but BRR members just pay £3.
9.00am – Wednesday 1 January – New Year’s Day parkrun. Valentines Park. The perfect way to start the new year, unless you have a hangover from the night before!
7.00pm, Tuesday 7 January – Speed Session. Jim Peters Stadium, Mayesbrook Park. It’s the quarterly timed mile. Let’s see how all the Christmas festivities have affected your mile time!
Cracker Corner
I put up my Christmas tree but it’s looking rather sad. I think it has tinsellitis.
I had a Good King Wenceslas pizza last night. It was deep pan, crisp and even.
Who is Santa’s favourite singer? Elvish Presley
Why was the snowman rummaging in a bag of carrots? He was picking his nose.
What is the best Christmas present in the world? A broken drum. You can’t beat it.
Boom! Boom!
Quote of the Week
“Most of us have enough areas of our lives where we have to meet others’ expectations. Let your running be about your own hopes and dreams.”
Meb Keflezighi
US long distance runner
And Finally…
Don’t be fooled - the deer is the enemy of all sportspeople! Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons
Those deer are at it again – it seems they can’t just let people enjoy their sport.
At a recent rugby derby between Aylesbury and Marlow in a London and Southeast Division league, a player ended up on the ground when a muntjac deer invaded the pitch and sent him flying. Both the player and the muntjac were said to be unharmed.
BBC Sport reported that ‘Marlow went on to win the game against Rams 19-17.’ Wait a minute, I thought it was a deer on the pitch, not rams…
Happy running!
Alison
Chair, Barking Road Runners
