MERRY CHRISTMAS WITH MIRDIF MILERS

Plenty of running on offer with the Milers over the Christmas Period.

Thursday 25th Christmas trot pre turkey starting at Up Town School 1000. Route will be clockwise (lower half first) so if your late (like I probably will be) you should be able to meet up.

Friday 26th: ABRa’S 10 miler at the Meadows 0900

Saturday 27th: 0600 Al Khawaneej Vets for 15K

Sunday 28th: Islamic New Year 0530 at the Vets for 30K ish

Monday 29th: Milers Monday Night 1900 at Mushrif Park.

Friday 02nd January. 0600 at the vets for 20 -25K ish Please note that it’s a FRIDAY run to allow a team (s) entry for the DRR relay on the Saturday.

Saturday 03rd January Dubai Road Runners Relay Predictor 0830 Creek Park, Teams of 5. Any one up for this??? Please send me an email if your interested details can be found at http://www.dubai-road-runners.com/

Monday 05th January Milers Monday Night 1900 at Mushrif Park.

Friday 09th January: Dubai Creek Striders Creek Classic, a gentle 16K pre marathon.

Happy NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!

THE TWELVE COMMANDMENTS OF CHAMPIONS

The twelve commandments of Champions as per Barry Magee, Bronze medal winner at the Rome olympics and now a coach

1. They never give up.

2. They train 80% solo as they can get the pace right and learn how to fight alone.

3. They know that a race never really starts until half way or further.

4. It is not life or death if they can not train - it is much more serious than that (Love it!)

5. If the can not win, they will try for 2nd or 3rd or whatever.

6. If they lose they will come back next time to fight again and again and again

7. They do not know what they can not do!

8. They do not tell others what they can do - they show them.

9. If they are sick they go straight to bed after training.

10. They train once a day if they are sick or crippled with injury - otherwise at least twice a day.

11. They know they can run 30kms or more anytime because they have done it in training.

12. They always help and encourage lesser mortals because they know that they meet the same people on the way down as on the way up.

MILERS CAMEL GETS A MOVE ON

The new milers kit which will soon be available will sport the new Club Badge prepared by our Artistic Director Jim Varley. No more trotting camels for us only a full gallop will do!

RACE CALENDER UPDATE / MM RUNS

The ABRA's have added a 10 Mile race to the calender to be run on Boxing day 26th December 2008 at the Meadows. Entries can be made via their web site
http://www.abrasac.org/

The DRR 10K race scheduled for the 03rd January has been re scheduled for 13th March 2009.

The Mirdif Miler 10 Mile race will be held at Mushrif Park on the 27th February 2009.

DRR Predictor Pursuit Saturday 13th December 2008, Safa Park 1830 see http://www.dubai-road-runners.com/homepage.html for details.

The MM host the DCS run this Friday 12th December 2008 starting at Khawaneej Vets at 0600. There will be a 0530 start for an additional 5k for those who believe that 32K isn't far enough, as a friend of mine recently said "I still don't get the marathon, it just seems like a distance you pass on the way to somewhere else."

Monday runs will continue to be held in Mushrif Park at least until the end of December when "the committee" will make a decision on whether to return to the republic.

If you don't run with us over the next few weeks a Very Happy Christmas and a Fantastic New Year to you all from the Mirdif Milers

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

After the DCS 1/2 Marathon the Club Championship placings look like this (remember the lowest number of points taken from you best four performaces wins)

Gents

Chris McCann 2 events / 2 points

Dave Jackson 2 events / 5 points

Graham Spriggs 2 events / 6 points

Malcolm Gatenby 2 events / 7 points

Dave Forsythe 2 events / 8 points

Jim Varley 2 events /11 points

Craig Plumb 1 event / 2 points

Chris Homann 1 event / 3 points

Richard Thomas 1 event / 4 points

Martin Scadden 1 event / 7 points

Dominic Pilkington 1 event / 7 points

Chris Little 1 event / 8 points

Gavin Loy 1 event /9 points

Ladies

Elaine Forsythe 3 events /7 points

Anne Scadden 2 events / 2 points

Melissa Koch 2 events / 7 points

Amelia Varley 1 event / 2 points

Jane Colbeck 1 event / 3 points

On the subject of the club Championship results from the Abu Dhabi 1/2 Marathon and 10K have been disregarded as we only had one entry. The Standard chartered 10K is deleted as a counting race. The Abra's Boxing day 10 mile race is added.

DCS 1/2 MARATHON

On a perfect day for running the Milers had their largest entry yet, fifteen Milers towed the line, fourteen of us even managed to finish. There were some fantastic performances particuarly from Chris McCann, Malcolm Gatenby & Anne Scadden. Proof if it was needed that Saturday morning runs in Khawaneej make you quicker. Our Illustrious chairman Martin Scadden rounded off a truely awful week by dropping out on the Maktoum Bridge there is apaprently no truth in the rumour that the waft of cooking bacon from the Golf Club was the cause of his early departure from the course. Results were as follows (appologies if I have missed anyone out) All times have been rounded to the nearest minute (malcolm?).

Chris McCann 1st Male 35-40, 5th Overall 1-19
Jim Varley 1-35
Malcolm Gatenby 1-35 PB
Graham Spriggs 1-36 PB in this running life!
Dave Jackson 1-37
Craig Plumb 1-38
Gavin Loy 1-38 PB
Amelia Varley 1-41
Chris Little 1-42 PB
Dominic Pilkington 1-45 PB
Anne Scadden 3rd Female 45-50 1-46
Elaine Forsythe 2-07

Jane Colbeck 2-00
Melissa Koch 2-20

FESTIVE RUNNING WITH THE MILERS

The Festive season is almost upon us with holidays through out December so here is the proposed run schedule. ( To all our teachers who have the whole of December off, enjoy your trip home!)

Saturday 29th November 0500 al Khawaneej for 35K

National day 02nd December 0630 at khawaneej for 15 -20K with a 0530 start for the keen

and slightly mad

Friday 05th December DCS 1/2M (if you haven't entered you better hurry up)

Saturday 06th December 0700 at uptown for 10 – 15K Around Waaqa?

Eid probably 09/10/11 Al Khawaneej for 1 long run 30K Plus date to be decided

Friday 12th December Long run in Khawaneej will be on the Friday as MM Xmas

Bash in evening.

Friday 19th December Long run with Dubai Creek Striders at Khawaneej

Saturday 20th December 0700 10K around Mirdif?

Thursday 25th December 1030 10K around Mirdif?

Friday 26th December 0700 for the Milers Boxing day run, somewhere around the

creek with Brunch!

Saturday 27th December Khawaneej long run

Monday 29th December Islamic New year AM Al Khawaneej PM Milers on Monday

Monday 29th Islamic new year a Double day Morning & Evening?

Tuesday 01st January Your'e on your own!

MUSHRIF MILERS???

We have temporarily shifted our club runs to Mushrif park until such time as we sort out disclaimers etc. Meet at the Al Khawaneej road end of the approach road at 1900. AED 3 to enter the park on foot. AED 5 for drinks provided by the club.

THE MAGNIFICENT EIGHT PLUS ONE MIRDIF MILERS MUNICH MARATHONERS

Alternatively ANOTHER CITY, ANOTHER MARATHON, ANOTHER GARAGE

Once again our illustrious chairman upheld club honour by stopping a Shell garage at 40K to but a bottle of Coca Cola, this man is a legend in his own lifetime.

Otherwise the Milers annual Marathon trip was without any major controversy, we all travelled on the same plane, all stayed in the same hotel and we didn't lose anyone all weekend, we must be getting either soft or organised!

Eight Milers and our latest "Country Member" Gerard trained, entered and ran Munich Marathon, all nine crossed the finish line. The magnificent nine were

Chris McCann 3-06

Dave Jackson 3-43

Malcolm Gatenby 3-45

Gavin Loy 3-47

Colin Foreman 4-11

Gary Wells 4-12

Dominic Pilkington 4-12

Gerard McHugh 4-29

Martin Scadden 4-40

Special congratulations must go to the Marathon Virgins, Gary, Dominic, Gerard, lets hope that their the first of many more marathons for all three.

Special moment of the tour

Malcolm G " Don't worry I speak German, Nine tickets please whilst holding up 5 fingers!

New Official Club Positions

Martin Scadden: Club Nutritionist. Anyone looking for advice on a healthy marathon training diet should avoid asking Martin. A special feature on his amazing diet will be featured here shortly.

Dominic Pilkington: TEAM DAD Dominic spent all weekend making sure we got on the right train, carried the kitty and generally kept the troops in order.

THE SOCIAL ELEMENT

Following the run copious amounts of beer were consumed firstly in a Beer Garden in the middle of an allotment plot (we find them!) thence to the Hofhaus for the traditional steins of beer, it went downhill from then on.

Congratulations to all Nine, lets see you all running Dubai marathon come January in a Milers Vest.

2008 / 2009 CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

Once again we will be running our club championship, however with a slightly different method from last year. last year the male and Female club champions were the only two to complete all three of the designated races, given that we all get injured, travel etc we have come up with a different format for this season to give more members a chance to become the club champion.

Award will be made based upon your best four results from the following scheduled races:
18 Sept 08 - DRR Iftar Challenge/ 5k
17 Oct 08 - ABRaS 10K
14 Nov 08 - Abu Dhabi Half Marathon
14 Nov 08 - Abu Dhabi 10k
05 Dec 08 - DCS Half Marathon
03 Jan 09 - DRR 10k
16 Jan 09 - Dubai SC Marathon
16 Jan 09 - Dubai SC 10k
03 Feb 09 - RAK Half Marathon
xx Feb 09 - Mirdif Milers 10 Miles
27 Mar 09 - ABRas 10K

All results will be age graded to a 30 year old Male or Female as applicable.
Points will be awarded based upon your race position after age grading relative to the other Competing MMMembers. The higher you finish in the respective male / female field the lower your points i.e. 1st place receives one point, 2nd place receives two points, etc.

The title of Club Champion will be awarded to the male and female with the lowest points total from their best four races. In the event of a draw for Club Champion the results of those drawing will be extended to consider the best five results, the best six results, etc, until a clear champion is established.

Only those running in Mirdif Milers vest will be eligible. At least one counting race must be a half or full marathon.

Lastly appologies to the ABRa's for blatant stealing of their club championship rules but they are better than our old ones!

So following the IFTAR CHALLENGE initial places after age grading look like this

GUYS

1 Chris McCann 16-30
2 Dave Jackson 18-06
3 Malcolm Gatenby 18-31
4 Richard Thomas 18-34
5 Jim Varley 20-15
6 Dave Forsythe 21-03
7 Mars Scadden 21-44

GIRLS

1 Anne Scadden 20-53
2 Elaine Forsythe 23-44

MILER THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Monday 22nd September saw a record turnout of 22 Milers for the Monday run a fair number of whom travelled from the far reaches of the city for the chance to run with our famous club! As a result of our increase in numbers we increasingly get new members joining whom might not be familiar with our routes and whom perhaps need to run with us a few times before the hit the average speed of the pack, with this in mind we are introducing a designated "back marker" on each Monday run. The back marker is to ensure that they stay at the back and encourage any slower members along making sure they don't get lost along the way. Each week we will appoint two "back markers' one for the run too West Zone and a second for the second half of the run. Appointment of the designated "back markers" will be made by one of the Chairman / Vice Chairman / technical director / sponser on the day dependeent upon whether we have any new members and who of the regular crew is there. Clearly this policy will enable us to encourage new members to return and hopefully soon become regular active club members

SATURDAY RUNS

With the coming of winter and the approach of the racing season a reminder that we run every Saturday morning in the wilds of Khawaneej. We meet at the Muncipal Vets just past the first roundabout after Mirdif on the Airport / Khawaneej road. Start time and distances vary and are announced by email usually on Thursday. If you haven't tried running in the smog & traffic free trails of this area do come and join us were sure you will enjoy its.

SATURDAY 27th September 0530 at the vets for 20K ish. Bring AED 5 for drinks.

The record turnout on a Saturday to date is 10 it would be nice to beat that!

MIRDIF MILERS AT MUNICH MARATHON THE MASTER RACE!

Only three weeks to the big day, long runs just about finished, kit washed and ready the Milers are ready to roll. Congratulations to all of you who have persisted through the long hot summer runs, now all that remains to be done is run and drink Beer! The following Milers have confirmed their entries

Martin "Mars" Scadden

Malcolm Gatenby

Chris McCann

Gary Wells

Dominic Pilkington

Gavin Loy

Colin Foreman

Dave Jackson

Gerrad McHugh (Interloper but open to conversion to the Milers)

Hopefully all of the above and a few others will run Dubai Marathon 2009, for which the 16 week training plan starts now.

IFTAR SUCCESS FOR MILERS

The first race of the new season brought some "pots" for the Milers. Nine Milers toed the line with a further six or so running in other colours, all duely noted though to be fair none actually live in the Republic of Mirdifovia. Times were as follows
Time Overall Age Group
Chris McCann 17.14 3rd 2nd Adult Male Pot Winner!
Richard Thomas 19.06 11th 07th Adult male
Dave jackson 20.34 24th 1st MV 50 Pot Winner!
Malcom Gatenby 20.35 25th 10th MV40
Jim Varley 20.58 29th 16th Adult male
Mars Scadden 23.12 51st 13th MV40
Dave Forsythe 23.34 55th 16th MV 40

LADIES

Anne Scadden 23.28 12th 4th FV 40
Elaine Forsythe 26.28 23rd 7th FV 40

It was good to see Richard Thomas back in the Milers Vest, welcome back! Hopefully Richard will get fit and lead us to glory this season at Wadi Bih.
My own personal battle with our illustrious sponsor and Social secretary Malcolm G went right to the line, next time Malcolm will know not to kick for the line so soon, but a 2 minute improvement on his 5K PB in one year is a huge leap forward.

Well done to all the Milers who competed and as the season progresses we hope to see more of you out there in Miler vests.

THE NEW SEASON DAWNS

The teachers are back (its like the first sighting of the swallow) so it must be time to start racing again! First up is the Iftar challenge on September 18th.

Eight Milers have signed up for Munich Marathon and we have agreed to allow one Creek strider to tag along though of course he will be banished from all club photos!

We continue to run on Monday evenings and Saturday mornings, if anyone is thinking of doing Dubai Marathon in January it will soon be time to consider joining us on a Saturday morning. At the moment we have two start times of 0500 & 0530 at the Muncipal vets in Khaneej no doubt this will soon revert to 0530 & 0600.

The events calender f0r 2008 / 2009 is over on the right!

MUNICH MARATHON TRAINING

To those planning to run Munich Marathon in October its time to start thinking about training. Officially we start training in June but in the meanwhile its time to put on those trainers and get some base miles in. Our training through the summer will in short consist of aerobic runs, speed sessions & Long slow distance. Below are a selection of web sites with marathon training plans have a look and you will get the idea, if your a marathon virgin have a chat with Chris, Martin or Dave, we have run a few between us!



For details of Munich and entering go here http://www.muenchenmarathon.de/en/mm2008/index.php



For Training plans go here



http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-244-255-6946-0,00.html

http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon.html

www.adidas.com/campaigns/verticalsrunning/content/com/download/data/training_plans/MTP_3_45-4_15h.pdf



They will all tell you the same thing, miles, long runs, speedwork. Good luck

MILERS GOING BIKING MAD

The cycling section of the milers is born! We (well OK its only Chris and I at the moment) meet at Mirdif traffic lights at 0530 on Wednesday mornings for a 30K spin through Waaqa & Mirdif. The more the merrier!

MUNICH MARATHON 2008

MILERS ON TOUR

12th October 2008 Munich Marathon. The annual Milers boys weekend away will be to Munich Marathon departing Dubai Friday 10th October, arriving back late on Monday 13th October. All Male Milers are more than welcome (sorry Girls you need to arrange your own trip!) Presently the following have signed up.

Martin "Mars" Scadden

Dave Jackson

Chris McCann

Gavin Loy

Chris Little

Peter Larkin

Malcolm Gatenby

Gary Wells

Dominic Pilkington

Paul Hayward

The more the merrier, the only rules are runa in a milers vest, drink beer!

Please let us know if you want to join us.

CLUB NEWS OR THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

The summer is upon us and the racing season grinds to a close but somethings remain constant and the Milers carry on running don't forget the following

a) May Social 04th May 2008, probably at Dubliners. Turn up for the Monday run and all will be revealed!

b) Saturday runs, after heavy pressure (well Ok the Vice Chairman & Technical Director Have decided) meet at the Municipal vets, Khaneej 0600 each Saturday for 15 - 20K ish in the country side, short cuts and extensions are always available particularly if we get lost. If you haven't experienced running in the countryside away fro road works / traffic / kerbs etc come and join us.

c) Martin & Colin are training hard for Comrades, so if you fancy any silly distance training runs give Martin a call and I'm sure he will oblige.

d) ABRA's 10K Mina Seyahi 23rd may 0700. Come and support this race but make sure to wear your Milers kit.

e) happy birthday in May to Amelia, Elaine , Jim & Dave, there maybe others if so apologies!

COME AND BE A MILER!

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS AT LAST

Only two milers completed all three races of the Club Championship. They were Elaine Forsythe & Malcolm Gatenby.

AGE EQUIVILANT TIMES for the Dubai Creek Striders half Marathon / Dubai Road Runners 10K & Mirdif Milers 10 Miles were as follows respectively.

Malcolm 1 hour- 39 mins - 28 secs / 40 mins -37 secs / 1 hour- 14 mins -47 secs. Aggregate Time 3 hours - 34 - 52 secs

Elaine 1 hour-42 mins-47 secs / 44 mins -06 secs/ 1 hour- 14 mins -31 secs. Aggregate Time 3 hours - 41 mins-24 secs

CLUB CHAMPION 2007 - 2008 MALCOLM GATENBY

ELAINE MAKES THE PRESS!

HOT FROM THE SUNDAY POST 13TH APRIL 2008

Elaine ran a half marathon to help our appeal
‘It was the ideal way to raise cash’
By Robert Wight ALTHOUGH Dundonian Elaine Forsythe has lived in Dubai for the last 13 years, she makes sure she keeps up to date with all the latest news from home by logging on to The Sunday Post website each week.It was there that teacher Elaine learned about our Sick Children’s Appeal — and when she read our readers’ touching stories and about all the good that comes from their generous donations, she knew she just had to help.Elaine (45) [left] is a keen amateur athlete and a member of the Dubai running club, the Mirdif Milers, which includes a couple of other expat Scots in its ranks.EagerThe runner had been planning to take part in the RAK International Half Marathon, held in February in the United Arab Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah and billed as “the richest half marathon in the world”.The event, in only its second year, attracts top runners from around the globe eager to compete for the US $180,000 prize money.And although Elaine realised it was unlikely she’d be competing for the title, she reckoned it was still the ideal chance to raise money for our appeal.“The Sick Children’s Appeal has special significance for me because one of the hospitals you’re helping is Ninewells in my home town of Dundee,” said Elaine. “Staff in all four hospitals do a great job and I thought it’d be nice to contribute something, so I went round colleagues, friends and family to try to raise some sponsorship for the run.”Elaine, who teaches at the Emirates International Primary School, managed to raise £110 and completed the half marathon, the 11th she’s run, in a highly respectable one hour 57 minutes — her best time.TemperaturesTo avoid the worst of the Middle East heat — even at this time of year temperatures can easily reach 30 C and higher — the race started at 7.30 am, but the mercury was still nudging 22 C.“It wasn’t easy but I enjoyed it,” said Elaine. “And the pain of running 13 miles was nothing compared to what sick children and their families endure.”Elaine lives in Dubai with husband Dave (47), a physical education teacher at the Emirates International School, and their daughter Kirsten (13).The family return to Scotland every year on holiday and, although they miss home, they’ve no intention of returning any time soon.Elaine said, “We’ve lots of family who live in the Dundee area and it’s great going back for a visit, but our home’s in Dubai. “Our daughter was only a few months old when we moved, so it’s all she knows.“Dubai’s a great place to live — there’s very little stress, the climate’s great and the people are friendly. We love our life here.”

WADI BIH 2008

Elites, Stragglers and Waddlers excelled themselves at Wadi Bih finishing 2nd, 20th & 25th out of 62 teams who completed the course. True heros of the day were Amelia and Jim who ran the whole course solo.

MARATHON MILERS

Three Milers went to run went to run the marathon, resplendent in the new Kit. There were several "Milers" who were unsure of their allegiance and ran in some other clubs kit. They know who they are and can expect the Emperors wrath to know no bounds.

Congratulations to all who finished the marathon regardless of their club but especially to our Emperor Scadden the Humongous who thrashed his PB to finish in 3-56 ish, High Chancellor Dave who padded safely to C grading for Comrades in 3-38 ish and technical Director Chris McCann with a scorching 2-57 ish. The times are ish as despite the Dubai Marathon web site claiming that results "will be published within 24 hours of the event" results are outstanding at the time of writing. Doesn't that kit look good? Thanks Anne for all the running around to have three sets ready for Friday.

MIRDIF MILERS 10 MILE RACE 15TH FEBRUARY 2008

You too can experience the elation of being this happy when you complete the inaugural Mirdif Milers 10 Mile race at 0900 on the 15th February 2008. The course will be four laps of the scenic Mushrif Park which of course means four times up the hill!

Entries will be accepted on the Dubai Road Runners web site from the 01st February 2008. In line with the ethos of our club we intend to give medals to all finishers (subject to being able to purchase what we require in time) with Gold / Silver & Bronze medals to the first three male & female finishers, there will be no age category prizes.

Additionally we intend to hold a club competition where the first 6 finishers from each club count with the lowest aggregate based on finishing positions will win the coveted MIRDIF MILERS trophy to be retained for one year. So please ensure that you enter the club of your affiliation when entering. We hope to see a large turnout from The Creek Striders, Road Runners, ABRaS, EHAC & Abu Dhabi Striders for this new prestigious club competition. Entry fees will be announced shortly.

We hope to see you all there.