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!