EXE-HAUSTED
The newsletter of Exmouth Harriers
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Exe-hausted
August 2001 – No. 20
Was that Summer??
Well, June was glorious for a change but July has been
a washout. Still, there’s been a
lot to talk about apart from the weather.
Firstly, we had the EGM, with an excellent turnout and a competitive
debate. At the end, the resolution
was passed unanimously in a secret ballot so we know everybody is now on the
same wavelength, which is vital. For the club to move forward to bigger and
better things, it was important that everyone was right behind it. Since the meeting, it’s good to report
that the rugby club have agreed to a tri-party agreement with us and East Devon
District Council. On the other
hand though, there is talk that the council intend to move the rugby pitches
and so the track will go. If this
does happen, we will have to wait and see what is on offer. Rumour and counter-rumour are what we
have lived with for the past five years, so there is no change there then. In the meantime though, an army of
helpers are getting the track into shape.
Dawn, Hugh, Jamie and Peter Hutch have done a weedkill and taken
bucketfuls of stones off the surface.
It is now getting a lot more use and to that end, Stef French has
installed a diary in the clubhouse.
It is vital that any use, including a couple of laps to warm-up or
warm-down are recorded. That way,
if we have to show how much it is used and needed, we will have documented
evidence.
It’s good to report that our activity trackside has
continued to grow apace. Thanks to
much encouragement and cajoling from Dawn Teed, the turnout at the last three
Devon League meetings have been 14,16 and 18. There is just one meeting left at Exeter Arena on the 19
August and Dawn is keen to get as many people there as possible. So, on her behalf, can everybody please
make an effort to get to this last meeting.
We now have two new sub-committees -
we must have as many subs as the Royal Navy and all of ours are in
working order! - one to look after track matters and one
to look after the clubhouse. As soon
as I have details of their meetings, I will report their thoughts and progress
to you. If anyone wants to offer
any help, let me know and I will pass it on.
August 12 - A diary
must!
Yes, the 12th August is set to be an important fun day
for all club members, but particularly for juniors. It is part of Bob Keast’s Club Championship although the
main reason is to have fun and encourage every member (and their families and
children, no matter how young) to have a fun afternoon. Starting at 2pm, we intend to have
100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m and 3000m as well as 50m or 60m and 150m for the
very young ones. It will be fast
and furious stuff, similar to the Open meetings at Exeter Arena, only with a
lot more laughs and no pressure.
The format is very much “suck it and see”, but just have a go. The Rugby Club bar will be open for
those who fancy a glass or two! We
have also arranged to have a bar-b-que from about 5pm - please bring your own food. We would have organised it all, but if
the weather is chicken (or do I mean foul!), we would have nowhere to store all
the food. For this day to be a
success, we need a good turnout. I
know some of you will be on holiday but we had to choose this weekend to avoid
the caravan weekends the rugby club host.
It also does not seem to clash with any other events. So, please contact Bob Keast on 01395
225042 to show your support for the event, even if you can’t make it.
I’m imposing a three line whip on this one, so please
make the effort - it will be fun, honest!
Also, when you read Bob’s following article on the estuary run, you’ll
realise why he’s not in the Diplomatic Corps! - calling a spade a shovel comes
to mind!
Club Training Nights
Steve and I have been discussing the thorny issue of
warming up and stretching, now I can hear the groan from here. Boring, don’t want to be bothered, lets
just get on and run, but we all know we should be doing it.
So we are going to try to get everyone, us included
into good habits, so look out at ten to seven, no compulsion you understand!
Estuary Run on Thursday 28th June
While out running one day with Steve, he told me about
a run he had done a few years ago, up the Estuary at low tide, what a great
idea for a “fun run” that would not be too far or too taxing, thought I.
So I put up a notice at the Club House, told the
Wednesday night Ladies group, The Juniors on the Track, through Pete, and
anybody else I ran across.
Great I thought this will help to bring all the
sections of the club together for a bit of a laugh and a run. Wrong!
No Ladies from the Wednesday group, only 3 Juniors,
plus most of the usual Thursday night crowd.
Yes it was a change, yes it was a bit of fun, so where
were you!
If you want this kind of club evening occasionally, then
let me know, otherwise I won’t bother.
Bob Keast
Club Championship
Pos Name
1st
Leg 2nd
Leg
3rd Leg Total
so far
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Di
Routley 29.12 48.12
48.17
125.41
2 Dave
Francis 28.02 48.29
44.23
120.54
3 Nigel
DuPain 50.00 53.77 103.77
4 Graham
Gunn
48.49 48.69
97.18
5 Roger
Rowe 45.01 49.81
94.82
6 Dave
Stone 29.55 50.22
79.77
7 Phil
Crook 30.42 46.46
76.88
8 Rich
Selby 74.21
74.21
9 Jenny
Griffiths
71.69
71.69
10 Bob
Keast 71.13
71.13
11 Lisa
Tooby 66.20
66.20
12 Chris
DuPain 54.58
54.58
13 Jill
DuPain 53.79
53.79
14 Hugh
Marsden 51.69
51.69
15 Peter
Hart 49.68
49.68
16 Stef
French 48.21
48.21
17 Lee
Russell 44.92
44.92
18 Sarah
Allsopp
30.27
30.27
19 Dawn
Teed 29.73 29.73
20 Anthony
Yates
28.57
28.57
As you can see the Club Championship is alive and
kicking, after a faltering start. It is the first year of running this
Prestigious event, so don’t be too critical ! I hope, but only if you want to, it will become an annual
thing.
20th Anniversary
The following is from the Social committee and tells
its own story. Again though, it
does need your support and help to contact former members, so please get behind
it.
......................................................................................................................................................INVITATION
TO ALL CLUB MEMBERS
20 years ago on September 21 1981, the club was
reformed. We have been looking for
an excuse for a get together and this is it!!
You are invited to the Rugby Club, Exmouth on Friday
21 September for a REUNION disco/buffet.
The bar will be open from 7.30pm onwards. Tickets are £5 per person and include a buffet - available
from Jane Bateman, Sarah Pares and Dawn Teed.
We are hoping to see old faces as well as new, so if
you can think of any past members, please let us know so that we can contact
them.
Dawn
......................................................................................................................................................
Junior Newsletter
I’ve obviously got a ready made replacement as editor
of this magazine. The sylph-like
Stef French has proved she has brains as well as beauty by producing the
newsletter copied below. It has
already been distributed to all family members, but I feel everybody should see
this first one. If you have
children and want to extend your membership to a family one, this could be the
catalyst you need.
Junior Newsletter June
2001 - No 1
In the beginning ...
This is the much needed newsletter for parents,
guardians and grown ups who would like to know what junior is getting up to
when he/she is out and about with the Exmouth Harriers! If anyone out there has any
contribution to offer please feel free
- the aim is to communicate
and exchange ideas, information and news.
Our new web site is now up and running - those of you who are online, do
check it out.
UP AND COMING EVENTS
DEVON LEAGUE 24/6/01 BRAUNTON
15/7/01 EXETER
19/8/01 EXETER
EXETER HARRIERS OPEN MEETINGS 26/6/01 EXETER
31/7/01 EXETER
28/8/01 EXETER
25/9/01 EXETER
DEVON LEAGUE
Exmouth Harriers have already attended the first of
these events as you are probably aware.
We are encouraging our juniors to try out all types of event and are
uncovering hidden talents. Juniors
score points both individually and for the team. These will be totted up at the end of the series with medals
for the first three in each category.
Also, for the U11/U13 groups there is a series pentathlon competition. Juniors must take part in five events
during the course of the series including at least one throw, one jump and one
run to qualify.
EXETER HARRIERS OPEN MEETINGS
These are come-and-try-it events where anyone and
everyone is welcome to have a go (and they do!). So if any of you out there used to enjoy athletics and / or
fancy a go, do come along. We hope
to take juniors to as many of these as possible. We are still a bit short on helpers but are doing our best.
Dawn has started a table of PBs (personal bests) which
will be displayed for all to see on our club notice board. Copies to be enclosed with
newsletter. We are working on an
awards scheme - watch this space .....
TRAINING SESSIONS
Junior training sessions are now being held at the
track on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6.30 - 7.30. These will continue throughout the summer until further
notice.
CLUB KIT
When competing, all Harriers are required to wear club
kit as part of the event rules. We
have some club vests which can be borrowed. If you would like to purchase a club vest, details of sizes
and prices will be in the next issue.
If you want to buy one before then, please contact Dawn or Stef.
LASTLY
For those who are not aware, Exmouth Harriers
insurance only covers fully paid-up members. Membership renewals are due in November so if you haven’t
done it yet, now would be a good time! (£7 for juniors) . We like to encourage
young people to come and try athletics so if you know of anyone who would like
to give it a try, please feel free to put them in touch.
Life Made Easy
It has been easy for me again this time, thanks to the
efforts of all the contributors.
None better than Maurice Ault who surpassed himself with the two
excellent articles that follow. Also
a big thank you to Dave Eveleigh for passing on the thoughts of the wonderful
Ron Slope. Keep ‘em coming
folks. Closing date for the next
issue - 14 September, please.
RACE FOR LIFE
Since I resumed running in 1984 after a 23 year
layoff, I have experienced many emotional experiences whilst running or
watching road races.
In 1987 when I completed the London Marathon I was
very emotional at the finish.
Anyone who has ‘run London’ will know what I mean. I was Team manager at an International
Road Race in Derbyshire when I heard about the death of Princess Diana. The Welsh team had just arrived and
their team manager said to me, “Maurice, the Princess of Wales is dead.” I shall never forget that moment. But the feelings that The Race For Life
generates lifts emotions to a much higher plain.
In 1987 I was asked to layout a 5K course around Stoke
Park in Surrey and to be Race Director and again in 1988. What had I let myself in for? After the mass aerobic warm up, I had
to get 900 ladies into some semblance of order for the start. There is something very special about
‘ladies only’ races. For many,
just to get round the course was their ‘London Marathon’.
The Race For Life is all about raising money for
research into finding cures and providing palliative treatment for all forms of
women’s cancer AND enabling women who are touched in some way themselves or by
family members and friends who may have been down the cancer road, to know they
are not alone.
On Sunday 15 July this year, my Chris and 8 of her
running friends from Exmouth Harriers took part in ‘The Race’ at Exeter Quays.
My role was simply to be there and take some photographs. Having now watched 5 of these races you
might think I would get used to the experience. How wrong can you be?
There were 2000 ladies from Exeter and East
Devon!!! There are 50 plus races
being held in the UK. They will
raise £6.5 million. The ladies are
invited to wear a sign on their back (about the size of a race number)
recording a name of a loved one as
either “in memory of” or “in celebration of”. What you see will affect you profoundly.
Typical messages:- In memory of mum, sister, friend or work colleague.
In celebration:- names of those who came through
(every name you can think of)
some of the most striking messages were “My Life” and
“My Good Health”. I guess that 80%
of those running had a message that fell into one of the two categories.
Seeing the mass aerobic warm up lead by 3 very fit and
energetic ladies was something to wonder at. 2000 ladies gyrating or at least
trying to oscillate made one smile.
For the husbands/partners/boyfriends - well, we were there for moral
support but really we only had a ‘walk on’ part in the main attraction.
Just before the start there was a one minute silence for
each to remember why they were there and to have those private thoughts. When
the silence was announced, not everyone heard it but gradually like a slow
moving tide, the silence and stillness crept through the crowd until all was
still. I defy anyone to be
indifferent to that mood and experience.
The race then got under way and was a glorious
expression of joy and excitement for everyone whether they were running or just
watching. To be alive and able to
run is surely an experience we should never take for granted. Those of us who
can and do run are truly fortunate.
It was a memorable day.
Maurice Ault
DRUGS AND ATHLETICS
We have all read about famous sportsmen and women who have
taken drugs to boost their performance and their shame of being labelled as
cheats.
UK Athletics have rigid test regimes to catch the
would be cheats. Also of course
they are concerned with drug education for young people about the dangers to
health arising from taking drugs.
How does this affect me you may wonder?
Many of us take drugs for existing medical conditions,
under the supervision of our Doctor or buy drugs from the chemist to treat
coughs, colds etc. UK Athletics
maintain a list of permitted drugs that will not stop you racing BUT YOU MUST
REGISTER YOUR TREATMENTS WITH THEM.
The list is available from UK Athletics. The Anti-Doping Co-ordinator is
Joslyn Hoyte-Smith. Inhalers for
asthmatic or hay fever sufferers are fairly widely used.
You can register your own drugs with:-
Dr Malcolm Brown
UK Athletics
10 Harbourne Road
Edgbaston
BIRMINGHAM
B15 3AA
One day a doping control unit could descend on Exmouth
or Exeter and carry out tests on individuals. You don’t have the option to
refuse unless you wish to stop competing.
You may even forfeit your medal or trophy and hurt the Harriers. Heavy handed you might think, but the
difference between the Olympics and the Devon Leagues or Championships is only a matter of degree.
I suggest if you care about your athletics, you should
contact UK Athletics without delay.
If you need further advice, please call me.
Maurice Ault
Words of wisdom from Ron Slope
Bumped into Ron Slope at the Tavistock relays. He was running for a Zeal Select
side. Apparently they ran into
problems when their second leg runner hit a tree while ogling one of the female
water aerobics participants in the adjacent pool. Old Ron was livid about this, mainly because these women
could have been FAR more usefully employed making tea or knitting club vests or
something. Anyway, Ron was very
complementary about our performance, he particularly wanted to say how well the
Vets had done to hold off a fantastic challenge by the Tavistock Swimming Club
under 18s C team.
Club house nonsense
When not running, Roger Cowd frequents two shops in
town. Firstly he will often be
found in Reynolds the butchers, where his friend Stan can always be heard
saying, “Pleased to meet you and meat to please you!” If not there, then in Browsers in the Strand where toys are
sold. Roger told me they have two
Barbie dolls for sale; single Barbie and divorced Barbie. Despite the dolls looking identical,
divorced Barbie costs £20 more than single Barbie. “Why the price difference,” I asked. “Oh, because divorced Barbie comes with
Ken’s house, Ken’s car and Ken’s caravan!”
I bumped into Trevor Cope and commented that he was
wearing one yellow sock and one blue one.
“Yes, they are nice, aren’t they,” said Trevor, “and I’ve got another pair
just like them at home!”
A Harriers team at a quiz night at the Rugby Club
hosted by Neil Ferreday triumphed
recently. Claire Baxter, Jane
Bateman, Sarah Allsopp and George won by one point. George scored the vital point because he knew that the first
car factory in this country in the 1890s was Daimler. He was the only person to give the correct answer - but only
because he had applied for one of the original apprenticeships!!
And finally ....
The Palmers Half Marathon - 2nd
September - is upon us again. The usual appeal for people to help and
not run if possible gets its annual airing. This is the largest fund raiser for the club and so needs
all hands to the pump. The Race
committee have worked very hard to make this year’s race bigger and better than
ever and entries are well ahead of normal. Linking with the Devon Air Ambulance has definitely raised
the profile and the arrival of the helicopter around 1.30pm on Race Day should
be spectacular. The Chairman’s
Charity account already has a balance of over £700 and with Graham Gunn aiming
to raise more funds through sponsorship for competing in the race, this figure
is sure to rise considerably. If
you haven’t sponsored him yet, please do so, either through the Nationwide or
in the clubhouse. It’s also a big
thank you to Graham for producing the race booklet, Adrian and Claire for the
race entries and Phil Bater, Race Director, for pulling it altogether. We also anticipate a much bigger
turnout for the Fun Run this year which is being organised by the Wednesday
night girls, so thanks to you all.
Roger and Rich Selby lost in space? No, Saltash! Going to a race there, Richard ignored Roger’s directions
and ended up coming straight back over the Tamar Bridge! Luckily, with Roger being a man of
means, he had enough cash to pay twice at the toll!
Right, that’s it from me and I hope to see you all
three times before you hear from me again. Yes, that’s right - 12 August, 19 August and 2 September -
although I’m sure the dates are already in your diary.
See you soon (literally) I hope!
Phil
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Copyright© 1998,
Exmouth Harriers. |
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Last update:
17th November 2001 |
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