News 2012
December
Congratulations to Lesley Taylor, who in a club ballot on Tuesday evening ast the Festive Handicap, was voted Dorking & Mole Valley Club Person of the Year. The award is for the member who has contributed most to the club, either in athletics or behind the scenes in helping to organise the club. Lesley puts in an enormous amount of time and effort in not only helping to coach and organise the club's juniors (and also several local schools), but in supporting them at meetings throughout the year. Lesley can also often be seen marshalling at the MABAC and Dorking 10 as well as helping out at the Winter Handicap. She is also a member of the club's committee and was recently made an Honorary Life Member of the club. A great contribution to the club and a very well deserved award!!
October
DMVAC AGM 2012
The Annual General Meeting of the Dorking & Mole Valley Athletics Club will be held at the Club Headquarters in Pixham Lane, Dorking on Thursday 22nd November 2012 starting at 8:15pm.
July
Hannah, Moira and Other DMVAC Members do the Club Proud
Hannah Morris hands the Olympic Torch over to Moira Swan at Ashurst Place
Hannah and Moira were obviously having the time of their lives as Olympic Torch carriers with a huge and enthusiastic turnout of supporters in Dorking. There were many young DMVAC members (and a few older ones!) in evidence, all wearing club kit, and everyone was getting into the spirit of the Olympics. Moira kindly bought her (decommissioned) torch down to the Club BBQ on the following Thursday for everyone to look at a fine piece of British engineering - and for a photo opportunity for a small donation towards Moira's charities which are Comic Relief and one which assists sick and disabled people make a pilgrimage to Lourdes. Hannah is a dedicated runner who loves cross country and is a great role model for other teenagers like her.
Two DMVAC Members are Olympic Torch Bearers
In case you were not already aware, DMVAC is fortunate to have two club members who happen to have been selected as Olympic Torch bearers.
They have both been lucky in being allocated to the Dorking leg of the Olympic Flame’s journey and will be ‘running’ on Friday 20th July.
Hannah Morris - A25 Reigate Road, near Pixham Lane (B2038) to Ashurst Place.
Hannah will therefore be the starting Torchbearer for the flame’s journey through Dorking, which is scheduled to start off at 16:10. Her nomination story can be read here.
Moira Swan – A25 Reigate Road, Ashurst Place, to Dorking Sports Centre.
Moira will then be waiting patiently with her torch to perform the ‘kiss’ and receive the flame from Hannah, which is timetabled for 16:14. Read Moira's nomination story here.
It is purely coincidental Hannah is handing over to Moira, but it is fantastic for the Club as members will be able to easily support them both!
The Dorking Advertiser is doing a piece on the Dorking Torchbearers next week, to coincide with the visit, with no doubt lots of pictures and details in the one the week after. The Torchbearers are restricted to wearing only the uniform provided but a few DMVAC vests in the background would look good - so let's turn out to support them!
Good luck to Hannah and Moira, and all those others carrying the flame through our patch.
Other useful Olympic links:
General details of the route
MVDC travel and parking advice
For those wanting to follow the torch online (and to replay the events of the day) coverage is available at www.bbc.co.uk/torchrelay.
Reigate Priory Summer Evening 10K
DMVAC members turned out in force to support Reigate Priory's Summer Evening 10K race on Wednesday 4th July and won both the Ladies and Mens team prizes. Congratulations to Louise Schlaeppi, Fiona Blagg and Gill Hudson who made up the Ladies' team and David Moore, Evan Erskine-Thomas and Nathanael Booker in the Men's team.June
Dorking Ten a Success Despite Change of Race HQ
The 27th Dorking Road Race organised by Dorking & Mole Valley AC was held on Sunday 10th June from Brockham Green at 09:00. The morning started grey and misty but the rain held off to provide good running conditions. Race HQ had to be relocated to Brockham Village Hall this year as the normal venue, Dorking Rugby Football Club is being refurbished. This meant that the men had to change on the stage - with the curtains firmly closed – and the ladies had the Reading Room. Some confusion arose over where runners were to leave their baggage but this was quickly solved by the quick thinking baggage tent team located near the finish on the Big Field who sent one of their team up to label bags at the Village Hall and then collected the bags and transported them to the Big Field during the race.
Just under 500 runners set off at 09:00 with three ladies who were late for the start taking the total to over 500 (one advantage of chip timing!). The race proved to be exciting as usual with a well-deserved win by Justin West of Stragglers (in 55:21) closely followed home by Jamal Mohamed of Newham & Essex Beagles 10 seconds behind him. James Ellis of Clapham Chasers came in third in a time of 55:54. There first DMVAC man was Nick Hodges who placed 6th in a time of 56:48 and 2nd in the Men’s 30-29 Age group.
In the Ladies race, Fiona Love of Clapham Chasers won in a time of 1:03:55 with Isobel Rea of West Four Harriers coming 2nd 10 seconds later. Jaydee Hunt of Woking AC placed third in a time of 1:08:20. The first DMVAC lady was Louise Ionescu in a time of 1:14:36.
In the Men’s Team competition, 1st place was taken by South London Harriers, 2nd by Hercules Wimbledon AC and third place by Reigate Priory AC who always send a large contingent of runners. The first DMVAC team placed 7th. In the Ladies Teams, Elmbridge Road Runners came 1st followed by Herne Hill Harriers with South London Harriers in 3rd position and Reigate Priory 4th. The DMVAC Ladies team placed 6th.
The DMVAC Stuart Furness Memorial Trophy which is awarded on best age-related performance for a DMVAC member (male and female) was won by David Moore who was also placed 2nd in the Men’s V40 category. Other runners who are worth a special mention – the youngest male runner was Adam Brown who had just turned 16 at the beginning of the month who finished in 1:17:11 and the oldest and V70 was Robin Wilson of Collingwood AC at 78. However, the winner of the Men’s V70 trophy was Chris Ford of Road Runners Club who completed in 1:17:40, a mere youngster at 71. For the first time, there was also a V70 Lady, Jeannette Giles of Istead & Ifield Harriers whose time was 1:49:59.
DMVAC would like to thank the Dorking Rugby Football Club and their builders for laying on drinking water and the loan of a generator to run the Public Announcement system, the Red Cross for their excellent medical provision and the Grumpy Mole Public House for making their toilets available for the runners prior to the race. Proceeds from the kitchen and donated home-made cakes raised £100 for the Breast Cancer Care charity.
Full Results are available from the Sportsystems website at https://www.sportsystems.co.uk/ss/results/Dorking%20Ten/894. Further information about the Dorking 10 Road Race and Dorking & Mole Valley AC are available at www.dmvac.org.uk.
April
Spring Informal Cycle Time Trial, Sunday 28th April
Despite a damp day, twelve participants turned up for the Spring Informal Cycle Time Trial. The participants obviously enjoyed themselves since there were plenty of smiles at the end! This was depite Steve getting lost (hopefully he can recover his time form the onboard GPS) and John retiring due to feeling unwell. There was also an unexpected set of temporary traffic lights on the route so the enterprising Flic counted elephants as she had no computer. (I had no idea there were elphants in BrocKham - Ed.).
The new Dorking Cycle Club was invited to have a go and not only did they fit in well, but also provided the route with its first ever single-speed time. Jonathan, chairman of Dorking Cycle Club, swimmer, and the person the did all the subtraction to work the times out, said "Just a quick note to say a big thank you from all those at DCC who came along today to your time trial event. Despite the weather, it was really good fun and nice to meet some of DMVAC's members. As I've mentioned before, you'd be very welcome if you would like to join us sometime for one of our sunday morning rides. We meet at 9am at the front of the Sports Centre and generally have about 4 groups leaving of varying speeds and go out for a couple of hours, meeting back afterwards for a coffee and a chat."
Kay from Dorking Swimming Club came along for the first time to prove that swimmers can cycle too!
Overall, times were down a bit, but all that water and a chilly day probably had something to do with that.
Last, but not least, thanks to Flic and Sophie for helping with the timing.
March
DMVAC Triathletes Kick-off Open Water Swim Training (Brrr...)
DMVAC started the 'Tri' season with a splash, with Andy Fay, FionaHunter-Choat and Steve Bush getting into Thorpe Lake at the earliest opportunity, which turned out to be 7am on Saturday 31st of March.
The lake officially opened at 6am but it was still dark and the organisers had a few things to sort out before the intrepid trio were allowed in the water. They were second, third and fourth in, beaten to first in by a rather pleasant South African guy who spontaneously took a running dive off the pier.
After a week of sunshine, the water was not as hideous as it could have been, but it was flippin' close. Despite the cold, and to the amazement of all present, Fiona swam 480m without a wetsuit.All had fun, Thorpe Lake was as lovely as ever, and there were at least ten people in the water when the DMVAC swimmers left.
Thorpe has opened earlier in the season than the other local lakes. If you are going there to swim, Steve suggests turning up at 6:30am earliest until they get their new system working properly, and particularly if you are hiring a wetsuit. Swimming without a wetsuit will not be officially allowed for at least a month - so check the Thorpe Lake swimming website at the end of April if you are so inclined.
Becky Gardner Running in the London Marathon in Memory of Dad, Mark Gardner
As reported in the Dorking Advertiser this week, Becky has decided to take up the long distance challenge of the marathon and raise some money for local charity Surrey Care Trust which aims to provide new opportunities for people of all ages through education, training and volunteering. Becky is doing this in memory of her father, Mark, who died earlier this year and is sadly missed by his fellow runners at DMVAC. If you would like to sponsor Becky, the link is: http://www.justgiving.com/BeckyGardner.
DMVAC Runners helps Surrey Team to Silver Medal in Inter-Counties at Birmingham
Four DMVAC boys were selected to run for Surrey of which two competed. Luke Caldwell had another superb run for three laps but had to stop with sickness when placed 16th. After a couple of minutes, he got going again to help the team and still managed 51st (37:36) for 12kms earning a Silver medal, a great effort!
Sam Cliff, who is in the bottom year, had a solid run to place 71st out of 300 in 11mins 17 (3kms), only 8 secs and 18 places behind the Surrey Champion and was 3rd scorer. In the girls race Hannah Morris did well to be 3rd counter in 56th (12:08) with Bea Allan, who is not yet 12, finishing in 12:20 (85th) with 294 finishers.
DMVAC Girls Selected for South East Team at the Sports Halls National Athletes Regional Finals at Birmingham
Athletes in the Surrey team from left to right: Rhiana Maden-Hansle (South London Harriers), Freya Savage (Guildford AC), Micheala Obijiaku (Herne Hill Harriers), Lucy Watson (Dorking and Mole Valley AC), Grace Keen (Dorking and Mole Valley AC), Lianne Lafern (Guildford AC), DMVAC Coach Fran Davey and Kyanne Cornwall (Herne Hill Harriers). Reserve Susie Crayton (Dorking and Mole Valley AC).
Lucy Watson, Grace Keen and Susie Crayton from Dorking and Mole Valley were selected have been selected to represent the U15 Girls Team for Surrey for the Finals being held at Birmingham on Saturday the 21st April.
All of the girls took part in a set of three sports hall competitions at Guildford spectrum where the Surrey Team was selected from all of the competitors by Fran Davey to represent the county at the Semi-finals in Burgess Hill in February 2012. Every girl competed in two field events and two running events and as a team they came a very close 2nd place out of 12 teams. Due to the very high points scored, they have gone through to the finals representing South East England.
DMVAC Road Championship Races Announced
The club road championships for 2012 will be at the following races:
- 10 K - The Reigate Priory Summer Evening 10k on a Wednesday evening in July
- 10 Mile - The Epsom 10 mile road race in November
- Half Marathon - The Barnes Green Half Marathon in September
See the Fixtures page for further details.
Beginner's Running Course to start 17th April
The DMVAC Beginners’ Running Group will be restarting soon and we have three recruits already – courtesy of Moira – and a number of last year’s group have said that they would like to rejoin the club and run again this summer. If you are a non-running member of DMVAC, perhaps you would like to join this group? Alternatively, if you are a keen runner already and want to spread the word, please tell your friends, family and colleagues about the course (forward this email to them or ask them to contact me at Ian Giles if they need any more information/reassurance!)
We’re running a new 10 week course from Tuesday 17th April, the first Tuesday after the Easter school holidays and 5 days before this year’s London Marathon. The main objective is for everyone to run safely and have fun in a beginners’ group, remembering that it’s OK to walk for a bit when they need to. We will take things steadily and see if we can get up to 5k by the end of the 10 weeks, in preparation for a ‘Race for Life’ or a similar event.
Moira Swan has very kindly agreed to help me run the course again and Jacquie Moulder is hoping to join us when she can – we might see Andy Fay as well. (Having obtained my UKA Running Fitness leader’s licence, I took over this group from him last year).
We will start on the flat ground at Leatherhead Leisure Centre for three weeks, to get everyone used to running, before moving up to Ranmore for the remaining seven weeks. The course will include short talks about kit, safety, nutrition and training – as well as UKA approved warm up and warm down routines. The cost of the course will be just £5, plus all participants will need to join DMVAC if they are not already a member.
The evenings will start at 7pm promptly and finish between 8pm and 8.30pm, depending on how far we are running.
February
DMVAC U13 XC Team Win Surrey Cross Country League Trophy
The winning team and coaches at Esher Common
After winning the Surrey County X-Country Championships U/13 team trophy at Denbies, DMVAC's U13 Girls team completed the Cup and League double by winning the Surrey X-Country League Trophy. The team won all four matches and finishing 27 pts in front of Herne Hill and 99 pts in front of SLH after the final match at on Saturday at Esher Common in cold and snowy conditions.
The U13 girls at the start of the race
Performing very well, the 'B' team came 4th and 'C' team 11th - ahead of 4 'A' teams! Individually Bea Allen did well to place 2nd overall and Hannah Morris only missed 3rd by a single point in the tie break (4th) race.
The following girls took part this year:-
Bea Allen, Hannah Morris, Megan Winslade, Lucy Brett, Ellie Parnham, Emily Hornung, Alice Blair, Rebecca Loomes, Anna Whitworth, Georgina Langfield, Freya Jhugroo, Hollie Morris, Rebecca Westwood, Katherine Tilling, Maddy Phillips, Leah Schlaeppi, Lowri Morris.
No fewer than 30% of the runners were from DMVAC - a fantastic turnout.