Run of the Mill

Lytham St Annes Road Runners
Club News

Club AGM 
The Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday 12^th June 2018 at 8pm at the YMCA (bar area) Mythop Road Lytham. Please take this as a preliminary notice of the meeting and requests for nominations and notices of motion. All such nominations and notices should be made in writing to the Secretary to arrive no later than 14 days prior to the meeting (29^th May 2018). If anyone would like to join the committee please email Sue (lsarrc-secretary@outlook.com) to express your interest

Interclub Road Race Series
This year's Interclub Road Race series begins again on Wednesday 4th April at Blackpool. It's a 7pm start. As always, it would be great to see as many green vests as possible turning out to for each of these races to support the club. We had some great turnouts and results last year, the ladies in particular, and there's no reason why we can't do even better this time around! See the Get Racing! section for a full list of dates.


Welsh Castles Update
We have been fortunate again to have gained a place in the Welsh Castles Relay. This year's event will take place over the weekend on 9th/10th June.


Seniors Tuesday Training 
Volunteers are needed to help our regular seniors coach, Dave Rigby, at the Tuesday training session. Full stopwatch tuition will be given! If we can get enough people involved then it would mean an individual would only need to help out every so often. This is important to allow the Tuesday sessions to continue to be run as they are. Please let Dave know if you can help out on a future week.


Membership Update
The new Paypal method for membership payments has proved very successful with most memberships now paid. The £10 discount for paying before the end of February may have also been a factor!

A very warm welcome to all of our new members (since December);

Seniors: 
Jason Sheridan, Lee Watson, Mark Scott Gall, Sarah Gill, Mark Gill, Amy Fletcher, Lisa Greaves, Angela Bremner, Heidi Hughes, Matt Hill, Rob Thompson.

Juniors: 
Alex Fraser, Archie Belfield, Ted Thompson.

Considering that I only write this three or four times a year, the RoTM deadline comes round remarkably quickly. After each article I know that next time I will be better prepared than the last, and will have written notes throughout the three months gap. And have I? What do you think.  So here goes with the midnight oil again.

Another March, another fantastic end to the cross-country season. Success is becoming a regular occurrence in the club and we should make the most of it. Back-to-back promotions for the senior men, and another gold medal position to boot. If my memory is correct, we did have a season in the first division many years ago but only lasted one year. Now however we have the strongest team we’ve ever had which bodes well for next season. 

The vet 40s also won gold to climb out of division three, and even the vet 60s managed to struggle through without me to earn silver. How did they manage that!

I’ve missed cross-country this season but hope to be back for the next one, even if just a spectator. That thick, glutinous mud and freezing conditions is a real character builder. And that is just inside the club tent!

Commiserations to the ladies. It wasn’t that long ago since I was lamenting the men’s teams being in the doldrums while the women did so well. How things change. But you ladies will be back, I’m sure of it.

I would love to go to the presentation night but unfortunately it falls on the London Marathon weekend and I’ll be down there to support all of you who are taking part. And to watch the Mo Farrah - Eliud Kipchoge duel. Nearer the time I’ll put something on Facebook to find out who exactly will be in the race from the club so we spectators know who to look out for. 

In June we have the Welsh castles relay race and, yet again, we have been lucky enough to be selected. Again, we are the only club in the area to be endowed with this honour, the next nearest being in Manchester.

One reason why we keep being selected is that we are such a good-natured team.  We encourage and support other competitors, and don’t take the event too seriously. Essentially, we have fun.

After many years of vice-captaincy, Richard is deservedly promoted to captain. His most difficult task at this time is to select the team. Some of you will be disappointed; that is unavoidable as there are only 20 race places. However, those who miss out one year have a better chance for the next. At least I think that’s how it works; the process is far too complicated for my senile brain. No doubt our erstwhile editor will explain it somewhere else in this publication. Good luck if you have put your name down.

Facebook is in the news again this week. When the club was formed 20 years ago next month social media meant a group sitting round sharing a newspaper (times were hard in the Simpkin household). Now it’s either the greatest thing since sliced bread or the curse of our age, depending upon your viewpoint.

Our own experiences of Facebook have been mixed. It’s great for advertising events, organizing transport to races, etc etc. But there is a downside. Criticism of facets of the club, or of individuals for whatever reason should not be on such a public platform. 

A few weeks ago there was some negative comments posted on Facebook which caused some upset. What I am asking now is that, if anyone has any complaints or concerns, please write to the secretary or come along to a committee meeting. All members are welcome and, contrary to popular belief, we don’t metamorphosise into savage beasts one Tuesday a month. Well, not all of us. Uninformed comments, however well-intentioned, may not have the desired effect. Reasonable constructive criticism is always welcome, and we will always listen, and act on it if we can. 

Well, that’s done. My back is aching after sitting here for so long and the wife scoffed the last of the chocolate before retiring to bed hours ago. But it’s worth it!

 
Nigel Simpkin

You may not realise just how a very significant part of LSARRC our junior section is.  They make up almost half the membership, represent the club well at cross country, road and track and field and some also assist with coaching.  It is also worth mentioning that several of our seniors would not be members if it wasn’t for their children being part of our junior section.  Other local clubs are certainly noticing the success our juniors are having and so now that you know can I again appeal for more volunteers to get involved with making sure the future senior athletes of LSARRC are well looked after. If you want to know more then please ask any of our junior coaches.

Since the last issue of ROTM we have had four Mid Lancs. XC fixtures and have had a total of 50 junior appearances (including several making their debut for LSARRC) of which 30 have been for the under 11 races.  We have achieved some significant team performances with some of our junior teams beating our local rivals of Blackpool and Preston on occasions.  Our best pace individual performance was a second place by the ever improving Sophie Bohannon at the last fixture of the season.

We were also very well represented at the Lancashire Schools XC championships with Sophie again finishing second in the year 7 race although officially representing Fylde Schools and not LSARRC.

Our juniors regularly feature in the Park View and Avenham Park junior parkruns in great numbers again with some very impressive performances.  

The 2016/2017 track and field champions were both juniors Laura Bremner outscoring all the senior women and George Denye outscoring all the men.

The 2017/2018 season has now started and despite the snow 4 of our juniors took part in the Blackpool Winter Warmup open track meeting on the 17^th March.  Clemmie Tierney and Amara Thorpe competing in the under 13s and Brogan Murphy in the under 15s for their first ever long jump competitions.   Amara also ran in the 100m finishing 3^rd in her heat and Brogan finished 3^rd in the under 15s 1500m in a time of 5:43.  Under 13 girl Rebecca Fisher ran in the 70m hurdles and finished 2^nd in her heat in 14.9s.  The 2017/2018 Mid Lancs Track and Field season looks like being the best ever for our juniors.

The 2017/2018 Mid Lancs. Track and Field competition starts soon and looks like being the most popular ever for our juniors.   I know several of our juniors are looking forward to competing.  Unfortunately the Mid Lancs. Track and Field league does not cater for under 11s so many of our junior XC runners will not be able to take part.   

Debbie Cooper arranged a special treat for the Monday junior group in February when she invited Keirina Heartley a teacher at her school and a former international race walker to demonstrate the basics techniques of race walking to our juniors.  Keirina demonstrated the basic techniques of planting the foot with the heal first, bringing a straight leg through and the importance of flexibility in the hips. The youngsters enjoyed the session, improved greatly and were keen to ask questions about Keirina's athletic career in race walking.

As usual thanks to all the hard work of our junior coaches Dave Whyman, Maria, Dave Wood, Mel, Joannna, Debbie, Rebecca, Graham and Ross who has started to help out with our Monday running group. 

Special thanks to Caitlin Allen who has been with us for 10 years as young athlete and coach helping out on Mondays and until recently on Thursdays.  Caitlin is off to university in October so may not be as regular at our coaching sessions as she has been for the last 10 years depending on her course.  She is very popular with our young athletes and I know they will miss her if she is unable to get to training.   

Terry.

(Thanks to Dave Wood for his photos)

Running the Majors, a dream fulfilled.

The Abbott World Marathon Majors is a series of the largest and most renowned marathons in the world. When I first started to run marathons they didn’t exist. The series started in 2006 and originally consisted of Boston, New York, Chicago, London and New York.

The first marathon that I ran was Melbourne in 1982, my first major wasn’t until 1997 at London. I had a poor run that day, doing a lot wrong and my time of 4:37 is the slowest of all the majors that I’ve run.

Undeterred, I entered New York in 1998. It is an amazing event. The scenery and crowds are amazing. The only down side is the very early start because everyone is bused from the city centre out to Staten Island for the start. There is then a very long and cold wait for the start. It is held in November. For a long time it was my favourite marathon. I finished it in 3:58. In 2004, I ran New York again with my wife, Sheila, to prove that anyone could run a marathon if they put their mind to it. I think Sheila had been more interested in the New York shops than the marathon beforehand but despite picking up an injury a week before she completed it. Strangely she wasn’t too keen to walk around any shops the next day!

I ran London several more times and eventually ran a qualifying time to enter Boston. For my age at the time that was 3:30. I ran London in 3:29:43. A bit close for comfort but a qualifying time none the less.

A highlight of the race was running past Wellesley College, a top girl’s school. It is known as scream alley. The noise they make is incredible. I saw several people break down with the emotion and some men double back to run through it again! Heart break hill was not as bad as I thought it would be.  I eventually finished in 4:16. The time didn’t matter, I had run Boston.

When I found out about the major series in 2006, I realised I had already ran three of them and decided to set about completing the remaining two, Berlin and Chicago. I ran Berlin in September 2013 in 3:52. We loved Berlin. The highlight of the marathon is running through the Brandenburg gate at the end.

As with most of my overseas marathons, I signed up with Sports Tours International in Manchester. They have guaranteed places meaning you don’t need to gamble with the entry ballot. I trained very hard for this and put in a lot of cold and lonely miles over the winter months. My hope was to finally achieve a club diamond standard. Unfortunately, three weeks before we were due to go, Sheila accidentally fell over our grandson Archie and fractured a vertebra. Archie was fine but Sheila was unable to travel and we thought about cancelling the whole venture. After much soul searching I decided I would travel alone.

I lined up with the 35,000 other runners outside the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building, where the 2020 Olympics marathon will start, full of nervous anticipation. The race is incredibly well supported, they estimate 20% of the Tokyo residents watch it. I didn’t find the course very inspiring as all you see is high-rise buildings and people everywhere. There is very little green space in Tokyo and few real landmarks. I struggled and never got into the steady pace I needed to run. After about 30K my body decided it was bedtime. The jet lag had caught up with me and none of my usual mind games worked. My chimp had not only got out of its cage, it had fallen asleep on me! (see Steve Peters, ‘The Chimp Paradox’). I walked and jogged the rest of the way to finish in a disappointing 4:29. However my spirits were lifted when I received my six star finisher’s medal shortly after crossing the finishing line. It made it all worthwhile but was very upset that Sheila wasn’t there to share the moment with me.

So what does having the six star medal prove? I’m not sure. It certainly isn’t proof of athletic prowess. I’m sure everyone else in the club would be capable of earning it if they had the time and the commitment. I guess that’s what it does show, commitment and a determination to see a task through. The great thing about running is that it keeps you humble, there are always far better runners to keep you in your place. I met people in Tokyo who had completed all six majors in one year, it took me 21! I am very proud though to have joined the approximately 3000 other runners in the world who have completed all six world marathon majors. Now I need another challenge and I still want to achieve that elusive diamond standard.

Roy Stevens.

Runners run for a multitude of reasons, some of these may be; to compete, to be part of a team, to mix socially, to become fitter, to have fun, to have their own thinking time, to help to relax. All of these reasons can lead to a feel good factor, we are pleased to be doing/or have done it.

So what is the chemistry behind this? What does the body get out of running? What are the health issues behind our running? In this article I would like to outline some concepts that may help us to understand the questions above. As one of the Mental Health Ambassadors in our club, I would like to try to unwrap some interesting ideas that may help us understand why our running is so important.

Most of us are aware that the “feel good factor” is caused by a group of chemicals called endorphins.

Endorphins are a range of hormones known to block pain, improve mood and enhance a sense of wellbeing.  Endorphins are released during times of stress, including both aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Possibly, increased endorphins may account for the exercise “high” or the euphoria  sometimes experienced during moderate tointense activity. Also, the release of endorphins during exercise may cause the reduced anxiety, tension, anger or depression that has been observed following physical activity.

Some evidence suggests that regular physical activity is associated with the health, survival and generation of brain cells, along with their organisation and function.

Other chemicals called neurotransmitters are chemicals that allow nerve cells to communicate with each other or with other cells such as muscle fibres. The monoamines are a group of neurotransmitters related to depression and anxiety. Some examples of these include dopamine, adrenaline, noradrenalin and serotonin. Antidepressant medications increase the levels of these neurotransmitters. Exercise also increases their levels. This possibly explains why regular physical activity may reduce depression and anxiety.

The current parkrun experiences have given many people a greater sense of worth, encouraged new friendships and given runners a great deal of fun. If you have not experienced one of our local events I strongly suggest that you do.

As a club, we are always looking to expand and gain new members. An explanation of my thoughts above may help others to see the benefits of running, especially anybody suffering from mental health issues.

Whatever your personal reason is for running, you are doing something very special for yourself and the community. Well done!

Let's spread the word......running is special.

Dave Whyman
LSARRC Mental Health Ambassador (and mild depression sufferer)

1. Where did you grow up?
Mel: Mainz, capital city of the county Rheinland Pfalz. It’s one of the biggest Carnivals City in Germany.

2. When and why did you join the LSARRC 'Green Machine'?
Mel: I joined Lytham first claim in 2005 after training regularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays in 2004. Laura and Emily 'made' me come to the speed sessions and the handicap race. I enjoyed it and I improved so much I had to join the 'green army'.

3. What made you start running?
Mel: A bet! In February 2000 I moved to London, watched the marathon in April and was amazed how many people run and how old some of them were. I got a bit drunk that night and bet with my house/work mates, that I could do it. I ran my first marathon in 2001 with no training in 6 and a half hours! Afterwards, I was ill and unable to walk for several weeks. Still, i got hooked with running and in 2002 I ran it in 4:30!

4. What is your favourite race or event?
Mel: It have to be the LONDON MARATHON. It was my first ever race, it helped me through a very difficult time and it gave me one of my best achievements, to run under 3:15 hrs. This year will be my 12th London Marathon.

5. Name a dream or ambition of something (running or non-running) that you would love to do one day?
Mel: Exploring America on a motorbike

6. What is you favourite holiday destination?
Mel: Sydney, Australia.  Love it! Would love to live there.

7. What is the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
Mel: Never give up, believe in yourself and follow your dream (my Mum said that to me).

8. Favourite film?
Mel: Anything Disney.

9. Have you any unusual hobbies or talents?
Mel: I love cooking. I cooked for a lot of celebrities while working in London. The highlight was a dinner party for Guy Ritchie and Madonna in their home in Kensington.

10. Who is your biggest hero or heroine?
Mel: Paula Radcliffe (running) and Michael Schumacher . I watched every race of him in Germany live and saw him and his brother Ralf training multiple times on a racetrack near my home.

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From insightful commentator at winter Olympics:-
“It’s a dead heat, it doesn’t get much closer than that”.
Note to commentator, it doesn’t get any closer than that
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Another winter Olympic commentator getting over excited about a sixth place Brit:-
“It doesn’t get any better than that?”  
Don’t mention that to the medalists.
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Young inexperienced athlete sent out in the 800m just to gain points for her club approached timekeepers after one laboured lap to ask:-
 "Do I have to go round again?”
We’ve all felt like that I’m sure but none of us have been so honest
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One of our regular cross country runners finally getting the hang of this running lark:-
“I ran all the way to the finish without stopping to walk”.
Well we are a running club.
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Couple of repeats this time but now that ROTM is up and running again I will be on the lookout for more tales so think before you speak, I have spies everywhere. 
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Please keep your Terryble Tales coming, preferable by email but in person, text, scribbled note, owl post (for Harry Potter fans) or any other form of communication I am likely to understand would be fine.