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MEMBERS GRAPEVINE
The Page for Group Chit Chat and Rumour If you have any info regarding births, weddings, anniversaries, amazing achievements or anything of remote interest please e-mail or send details.
Some leaders will do anything to attract more walkers on their group walk! See you on the 14th boys. MIRIAM MITCHELL It is with great sadness that we learned of the sudden death of Miriam in a road accident on Saturday January 30th. She was an active member of the both the Wiltshire and Bristol & West groups of the Long Distance Walkers Association. Miriam enjoyed “Challenge” walks and in 2008
completed the “Across Wales Walk” in 15 hours. She also ran the
Edinburgh Marathon in 2009 and raised about £5000 for the Alzheimer’s Society
which was particularly emotive for her since her husband Angus had been a
sufferer for number of years. Miriam was also a keen cyclist and last year took part in a London to Paris event. It was whilst she was cycling from her home to visit Angus in Trowbridge that the fatal accident occurred. The funeral is on Thursday 18th. February at Heycombe crematorium, Bath at 12:00. If you are attending the funeral please use this link to notify the Webmaster so that the organiser can be notified of numbers. 18th Troller's Trot If anyone is up in the Yorkshire Dales National Park on 6th March our old friend John Sparshatt has sent us an entry form which can be downloaded. Walk the Walk Several members, Wendy & Ray in particular, have supported Breast Cancer Awareness in previous years by doing the popular Moon Walk. Details of this and other walking/running events can be found on the Breast Cancer Awareness site.
A fine achievement
B&W member, Dennis Gilbert has been quietly ticking off National Trails over the past nine years. He achieved the bronze certificate (5 completed trails) in April 2004, the silver (10 completions) in March 2009 and has just been awarded the gold certificate having completed 15 National Trails, a total of 1,924 miles. Dennis is one of only 5 people to have done this feat. Only another 3 trails to get the coveted Diamond Certificate for walking all 18 of the recognised National Trails. Dennis hopes to do this next year then he plans to do the first one, The Cotswolds Way, again in his 80th year. Perhaps he can do them all in the reverse direction before his 90th. Well done Dennis. Is he having us on a string?
Officials at a village conker competition in Gloucestershire have warned competitors to expect searches and police-style checks. The aim is to crack down on cheats at Poulton's International Conkers Tournament on 2 October. The contest is being held in the village near Cirencester for the first time in 10 years. Only conkers collected and checked by the contest committee can be used in the competition. These are to be marked with a special fluorescent pen, similar to those in use by police forces to highlight stolen property. 'Dishonest substitutions' The winning team will then have their conkers examined by a special light to ensure there have been no substitutions. Organiser Phil Heneghan said: "It is truly incredible what lengths some contestants will go to in their attempts to win the championship. "All conkers used will be supplied to competitors by the committee, after being individually drilled and strung, in an effort to avoid the dishonest substitutions experienced in the past. "We will also strain-test conkers in a vice and have a squad of people who will be checking the strings to ensure no elastic is used." Mr Heneghan said anyone found cheating would be banned. The tournament takes place at Poulton's Village Hall with 20 teams entering to date. Each five-person team faces another team with each contestant allowed three strikes. The team with the most conkers intact after this goes through to the next round. Perhaps we should invite Mr Heneghan to check some of our challenge event rules! New
Wine for Seniors California
vintners in the Napa Valley area, which primarily produce Pinot Blanc,
Pinot Noir and Pinot Grigio wines, have developed a new hybrid grape that
acts as an anti-diuretic.
I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
Submitted by J Bateman Wessex 100 successes Bristol & West members that I am aware of who completed the 2009 Wessex 100 are Robert Attwood 39:20 Jon Bateman 27:11 Shirley Hume 28:34 Tony Rowley 41:12 Patricia Seabrook 39:10 Chris Hume needs to take more salt with it as he retired and needed hospital treatment for salt depletion. Thankfully Chris has made a full recovery. Support for all the Wessex 100 competitors was given by a combined team of Bristol & West and Wiltshire group members who manned check point 5, Sutton which was at the 35.9 mile point. The team comprised of Richard Jasper, Richard Denby, Linda Connor, Brian Pitts, Geoff Parsons, Peter Cowlyn, Anne Ochala, Roger Swift, Maitland Woodward, Doug Sinclair, Guy Vowles & Dave Drake. Bristol & West London Marathon Efforts Jon Bateman 2:55:37 First in old age category Shirley Hume 3:51:01 26th in age category Pat Seabrook 5:33:34 29th in age category. Not wishing to compete with his spouse, Chris Hume ran the Shakespeare Marathon in 3:54:03 B&W member saves party from 50 mile epic on the national AGM weekend All the B&W members were on the same B 2 walk on the
Saturday. We were informed that this would be a roughly 18 mile walk. We set off
in glorious sunshine, contrary to what the weather forecasters had predicted. We
were fortunate in a few ways. The B walk was oversubscribed so got split in to
2. B 1 set off at 0810 and went round anti-clockwise, B 2 set off at 0910 and
went clockwise. This was fortunate on 2 counts, (a) we had the hilly bit first
along with the sunshine, & (b) we were well over half-way before the lunch
stop. Of course, all of this our walking friends knew, however, what may be of
interest to them is that when Ray attached his GPS gizmo to the computer, it
turned out that we had done over 22 miles with, & this is the surprising
bit, 4,000ft of ascent! All this maintaining an average speed of 3mph, that
included the short stops e.g. ‘catch-up’ & T&P, he only paused the
device when we stopped for lunch. The terrain under foot was not easy, mud,
rocks & stones etc, and sheep track on the side of big hills when the leader
got lost, accounting for the extra miles. Towards the end, our own intrepid
Jenny, map reader par excellence, actually got us back to the hotel in fine
style, as the drizzle became more persistent and we’d all begun hallucinating
on hot baths & pints etc.
A Challenge for 2009? At the beginning of May 2008 Sandra Brown competed at Dijon covering 170.617km (106.63 miles) in 24 hours 24 minutes and 50 seconds. This is a new course record. Sandra has a 100% record in this event winning 5 out of 5 attempts over 18 years. After then completing the LDWA Yoredale 100 at the end of May she followed up just one week later by winning a 100 mile race walk in Rotterdam in a time of 20 hours 14 minutes & 23 seconds. In August Sandra was the first lady home in the Race Walking Association 100 mile Championship at Milton Keynes covering the 100 miles in 19 hours 59 minutes & 29 seconds. Sandra followed this success by competing in the St Thibault 24 hour race in September. She was the first lady home covering 190.702km (119.188 miles) in 23 hours 59 minutes and 51 seconds. She very nearly won the overall event as the leading man was only 3 minutes 41 seconds ahead at the finish. If any of you are up for yet another challenge, Sandra has put some excellent advice on the Centurions website.
For those of you who fancy a more sedate life style, there are a number of LDWA Challenge Events during the year. We at Bristol & West also have a full calendar of Social Walks. What better way to support your group than to volunteer to help on one of our three popular Challenge Events. Bristol & West in the 2008 London Marathon Successes that I am aware of are Jon Bateman in 3hrs 01 min 55secs Richard Jasper in 3hrs 58mins 37secs Patricia Seabrook 5hrs 09mins 36secs If you know of any other members who ran this years London please contact the Webmaster
B&W members did very well on this Hundred. Those I am aware of who finished the 100.5 miles are as follows. Shirley Hume who completed her 25th 100 in 28 hrs 15 mins. Ken Falconer finished in 29 hrs 29 mins. Chris Hume once again did the chivalrous thing and wandered in behind Shirley in 33 hrs 8 mins. Richard Jasper finished in 35 hrs 11 mins. Jon Bateman finished in 36 hrs 27 mins Catharine Gregory finished her first 100 in 37 hrs 25 mins. Anthony Grimes finished in 43 hrs. Patricia Seabrook finished in 44 hrs 27 mins Congratulations to all. In view of the deteriorating conditions over Sunday these were impressive times. My apologies if I have missed anyone. Please let me know of any other successes. Commiserations to those who didn't make it to the finish under their own steam. Next year-may be!
Founder member completes 1½ End to End walks After an unsuccessful attempt at the End to End last year due to Susan sustaining an injury half way, Tony Rowley & Susan set off again on this epic walk. Not from where they left off but back to GO! Mac McArthur sent the following report. Congratulations
to Tony Rowley and Susan who successfully completed their Le Jog. Starting from
Lands End on 15th February they reached John O' Groats on the 27th April taking
72days and 1150 miles of walking. The walk was a mix of national trails,
footpaths and minor roads. I
know of only one problem they had, and that was the River Severn in flood
near Tony
I know kept a journal during the walk I am sure it will make good and
essential reading for all End to End aspirants.. You
will be interested to know that on conclusion of the walk they took three days
‘rest by leisurely walking‘ in Tony will be at this years Malvern Midsummer Marathon as a helper whilst Susan has decided she can't resist a good walk and has entered the event. London Marathon 2007 Congratulations to those who completed this years event. Those I know of are Jon Bateman 3hrs 26mins 32secs, Richard Jasper 3hrs 58mins 58secs, Shirley Hume 3hrs 39mins 06secs, Chris Hume 4hrs 01min 53secs, Ali Slice of Pizza Gregory 4hrs 52mins 56secs, Patricia Seabrook 5hrs 22mins 08secs. If you are a B&W who did the event and I missed you out please contact the webmaster. A contingent of Bristol & West members proudly showed off the new group uniform at the LDWA AGM
A reminder to all those visiting the Lake District, that the New Balance factory outlet shop is in the very small village of Shap. If you already know what type, model number etc of trainers you need, then ring Ruth on 01931 716333 and she will try and get them in for you. This might be the time to try switching from boots to trainers. I know that many people don’t believe they could get trainers wide enough; New Balance does a 4E width fitting! Wendy. PS Also don’t forget that the only decent motorway service area is the Westmoreland services at Tebay, owned and run by local farmers. London Marathon 2006 Completions by group members that I know of are Shirley Hume 3hrs 35mins 30secs, Chris Hume 3hrs 55mins 26secs & Jon Bateman 2hrs 58mins 38secs. Congratulations to you all and apologies to any members that I have missed.
Centurions 2005 Word has reached me that Sandra & Richard Brown completed the Norfolk 100 Challenge at Kings Lyn on July 30/31. Sandra finished the 100 miles in 19hrs 25mins 07 secs. She is now a 20 times Centurion which makes her the leading lady in the field. Richard took 20hrs 33mins. Congratulations to both. I have added a link to the Centurions website in case other members are inspired to follow suit.
Congratulations to B&W members who successfully completed the Chiltern Landmarks 100 Sandra & Richard Brown completed the Marshal’s Walk at the beginning of May in 28hrs:52mins. B&W successes on the main event were Jon Bateman (29:00), Ken Falconer (27:46), Anthony Grimes (34:08), Shirley Hume (27:15), Bob Mills (38:32), Tony Rowley (35:55) & Patricia Seabrook (43:53). There were 407 starters and 336 finished the main event. On the Marshal’s Walk 30 started and 24 finished. On Sunday 27th July 2003 Wendy Watson became a Centurion . A Centurion is one who, as an amateur, has walked in competition 100 miles within 24 hours. Wendy achieved this feat on a 2 mile tarmac track at Newmarket. It is believed that she is the first female B&W member to become a member of the Brotherhood of Centurions. Unfortunately, the only B&W male centurions that I am aware of have passed on - so come on chaps, get training. I have just heard that Wendy has the honour of being the 1000th Centurion.
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