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July 2014 NEWSLETTER

长城马拉松赛 - 巡回赛利斯亚军

The Club Committee

Chairman Helen Smith 01730 892710Secretary Yvonne Grayson 01730 231670Treasurer Will Purchase 01730 892710Membership Secretary Sarah Wade 01730 231670Kit Officer Helen Smith 01730 267270Ladies’ Captain Helen Purchase 01730 892710Men’s Captain Stu Lavalette Newsletter Editor Mark Watson 07810806072Committee Member Tom Frost 01730 814098Committee Member Darryl Hornett 07768 513174Committee Member Andy Paton 01730 895484

Next Newsletter Copy Deadline Date Editor

December 2014 November 30th Mark Watson

Please continue to e-mail results, articles and especially pictures to me for the next Newsletter via markwatson@apexref.co.uk

Visit our Website

www.liss-runners.org.ukClub Training

Day & Time Location Sunday 8:30 & 9.30 a.m Triangle Centre, Liss – Long Run

Wednesday 7.00 p.m. Triangle Centre, Liss – Speed Work

Thursday 7.00 p.m. Petersfield Main Car Park – Social Run

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Chair’s ReportHello lovely Liss Runners

Well i have completed one year as Chairman and the club seems to have survived and as no one came forward to replace me at the AGM, you are stuck with me for another year.

The AGM was very well suported it was lovely to see so many club members getting in volved . We all enjoyed an active meeting with a delishous supper suplied by Sean Denny. Thanks chap.

Once agian the Handicap races kick off our year with the Trevors Challenge. Fifty runners turned out for this event ( a club record) . Well done to all those who took part and of course the winners this year were Tom Frost and Rosalind Smith. Congratulations to them both.

Our thanks to Derek and Ann who set us off and recorded all the times . Also, Tom who puts out all the signs in the hope that we don't get lost…. He hasn't lost a runner yet.

Dave Auger has decided to retire from this event and hands over the poison chalice to Derek. Joking aside our thanks to Dave for years of putting up with the moaning and to Derek for taking it on. So now you know who to bribe if you want to win the series this year!!!! So get out the red vests and brace yourselves again… let battle commence.

London Marathon

A massive well done to Anne P, Sarah W, Pai, Rose, Sandra and Sean for completing the London Marathon. we are so proud of you all. You are all a great inspiration.

The Harting Trail Race

This was possibly one of the most challenging events for the club, it is also our biggest money making event, the funds raised from this constantly keeps the cost of the subs low, enable us to subsidise many other club events, pays for the club room rent and administration etc. etc., the list is long. So, it is in everyone’s interest that this race is a great success. It’s also in everyone’s interest to get involved and it is with this in mind I ask you to ( even if you do nothing else for the club) please help in some way with this race. Last year saw the race moved for the first time to Harting, It was a brave move as the Milland race was established and well supported. We need not have been concerned however as the occasion well and truly outshone our expectations. The whole event was smooth, professional, friendly and well attended. Even the weather played its part. This wasn't a miracle it was down to planning , diligence and pride. (well except the weather). 34 volunteers from the club and their families rallied to support the day. We cannot thank them enough for joining in and playing their part. 248 entries, 94% rating in runners world and over £1000 in profit these are all statistics that shout loudly for themselves. So our sincere thanks must go to Tom for taking the bold move, seeing it through and generally organising the whole thing from start to finish, what a star !!!!

Cross Country Season

Thank goodness that's over….. what a season, mud, rain, cold , more mud, food, mud, soggy trainers , mud and mud. We loved every minute! Most races saw a great turn out of runners from Liss, honestly we did our best for the club . What can I say? Those of us that took part went with the real

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Liss Runners spirit, it felt at bit like David and Goliath at times but we came a respectable 11th overall and I am so proud that we kept at it . This year we will not be remembered for our sporting prowess but for the decibels we could create while cheering our runners in. So, we did leave an impression of sorts.

I must just add that our close relationship with The Petersfield Triathlon club was nearly shattered when Rob Hall over took me going up the finishing hill at Staunton park… and some one took a photo just to prove it.

Lets hope next year we can encourage some of the faster runners to join us in our battle against Goliath.

Training Sessions

Our regular training sessions continue to grow. There has been a real buzz (I think) about the club over the past few months. Numbers at our sessions are constantly high… you should see us on Thursday nights trotting around Petersfield, an average of 25 to 30 runners. It's a great sight: A mixture of old and new faces, a really good solid base for encouraging new runners to come along and stick at it. Our Wednesday nights have also seen a resurgence of runners, this is down mainly to the dedication of our trainers who despite weather conditions, heart attacks, strokes and severe injuries come out to torture us ..Sorry I mean train us… Helen P, William, Derek, Bill, Dave Brown, Thomas and Lesley Thank you. keep up the good work. We are soon to lose Lesley to Welsh pastures so if any one would like to take her place, when the time comes, speak to the committee. Of course at this point I would like to thank Pete Digby, another of our un-sung heroes who every week makes sure the club room is open for us and then stay s to secure it when we all leave without a thought as to how that happens, thank you Peter.

Wednesday Evening Trainers:-16th July: Bill Allcock23rd July: Tom Frost30th July: Helen Smith6th August: Yvonne Grayson13th August: Handicap race20th August: Helen Purchase27th August: David Brown3rd September: Derek Graham10th September: Handicap race17th September: Bill Allcock24th September: Tom Frost1st October: Yvonne Grayson8th October: Helen Purchase15th October: Helen Smith22nd October: David Brown29th October: Derek Graham

The Mike Squirrel Plate

This is awarded each year in recognition of significant involvement in the club. Bill Allcock was last year’s worthy recipient. This year it goes to someone that most of you know, however unless you have been at the club for about a hundred years you will not know the full extent of her commitment to the club. About 12 or 13 years ago she ran every training session for 3 years, she has held many of the positions within the committee and is someone many of us rely on for running advice, if you ever

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want to find your way any where in the universe, she is the girl to ask. She has more recently become a Wednesday night trainer again and we have all benefited from her years of experience. Of course I am referring to Lesley Evens. Congratulations Lesley .

Committee

We have been having a bit of a "cabinet re-shuffle" recently and luckily many of the posts have been filled:

William is happy to stay as treasurer.

Stuie as men’s captain and kit officer.

Yvonne as general club secretary.

After many years Helen Purchase has deciding to give up being Ladies Captain and Marie has offered to take this on.

Sarah wade is stepping down as Club membership secretary and Rose Lewis is happy to take on this role.

Dave Robbins has decided to hand over the production of our magazine after many years of putting them together for us. Mark Watson has kindly stepped in to this role.

Of course we couldn't let Helen P and Dave Robbins go without special mention for years of dedication to the club. Helen has rallied, cajoled, begged and led by example as an inspiring ladies captain with many years of putting together the Southdown's relay teams. Completely un-flappable even at the most dire moments of Southdown's tension. She is always calm, polite, strong and has a real sense of pride for the club. (this is beginning to sound like a school report Miss purchase. )

Of course we wish her a speedy recovery from her op, and expect to see her back running with us very soon.

Dave Robbins has been club membership secretary in the past and a member of the committee for many years, but for the last few years has produced our club magazine, which I think you will agree, is rather special. He never complains when articles are not forthcoming or that we over load him just at the last moment. He has quietly produced a quality magazine that any sports club could be proud of. A really big thank you to them both.

Sarah of course has our thanks too for having taken on the secretarial roles for years now and although she is stepping aside for the moment, I don't believe for one second that we can’t talk her into some other job sooner or later.

So we have the pub runs to look forward to next, definitely the highlight of the year for me. Please come along and give them a go. Very sociable, fun evenings and dinner in some great pubs, what more could we wish for. All the details are on our web site.

Stay safe out there.

Helen S.

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Trevor’s Challenge. 3.8miles, Wednesday 9th April 2014The Club’s summer six race handicap race series started on Wednesday 9th April with Trevor’s Challenge. From this race the subsequent handicap race start times will be determined.This first race saw a record club participation of fifty runners showing the Club’s very broad cross section of abilities.Congratulations to all who took part but especially to Tom Frost, the overall winner and to first lady, Rosalind Smith.The ‘rules’ of the handicap race series are;

1. All runners, on 9th April, are awarded 90 points towards their handicap race total.2. In subsequent races points will be awarded, 1st place =100 points, 2nd place=99

points 3rd place =98 points etc.3. All runners best five race times will count towards the overall result.4. New Club runners can not ‘win’ their first two races. A handicap time must be es-

tablished.

Handicap Race SeriesAfter three races, 9 Apr – 14 May – 11 Jun, the overall positions are listed below.Please remember that of the six races only your best five results will count.The remaining races are, 9 Jul – 13 Aug – 10 Sep.Position Name Points Position Name Points 1 Stephen Bubb 284 28 Marie Appleton 166 2 Stu Lavalette 278 29 David Brown 165 3 Lucy Mitchell 277 29 Stuart Roberts 165 3 Peter Digby 277 31 Dave Auger 164 5 Alan Hall 267 32 Andy Statham 162 6 Steve Armstrong 262 32 Andy James 162 7 Gary Lomas 256 34 Helen Murphy 159 8 Sandra Humphrey 255 35 Will Purchase 158 8 Emma Pike 255 35 Colin Bales 158 8 James Staley 255 37 Jo Statham 156 11 Sue Cullum 251 38 Yvonne Grayson 15412 Stuart Knight 250 39 Sarah Wade 15213 Laura Armstrong 240 40 Anne Parnell 15114 Rob Fleming 236 41 Lorna Richard 14415 Rose Lewis 233 41 Oliver Read 14416 John Collis 231 43 Tom Frost 13717 Kate Gardner 196 The following runners have double figure points.18 Lesley Evans 190 Steve Cliff, Sara Biggs, Jamie Cartright, Phoebe Fuller, 19 Alan Kiff 189 Steve Hardy, David Reed, Sarah Matthews,20 Victoria Llewellyn 186 Chris Parnell, Jenny Broadhead, Rupert Howell, 21 Katie Parnell 182 Rosalind Smith, Alan Davidson, Sarah Watson,22 Andy Paton 180 Andrew James, Jo Knight, David Little,23 Mark Bailey 179 Alasdair McGregor, Mark Jones, Debbie Band,

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24 Helen Smith 176 Ali Mary, Pai Tang-George, Catriona Cockburn.25 Paul Hawes 17326 Bill Allcock 16926 Chris Wilson 169With the aid of my much used smoke and mirrors, anything could change. Derek.

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.Derek.

A little over a year ago we started planning for a race with a difference, eventually there were five of us booked to run along part of the Great Wall of China. Ann, Lesley and Julia had entered the half marathon whilst Helen and I had entered the marathon.We arrived in Beijing airport on Tuesday 13th May and were met by our guide for the week, Anson, a very cheerful little guy – a mine of information who couldn’t do enough for us. We also teamed up with six other runners who had booked through the same tour company. Some real characters who added to our enjoyment of the various trips.It was virtually nonstop organised tours, seeing, Tian’an Men Square, The Forbidden City, a Kung Fu show, The Summer Palace, a Trishaw ride in and around a Hutong (one of the many mini settlements that used to make up Beijing), The Qing Tombs, an interesting fruit/veg market with a stomach churning meat/aquatic section, the Olympic park and of course, Giant Pandas. Almost every meal was authentic fare (not like ‘our’ Chinese restaurants) with some challenging bowls of ‘stuff’.

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Thursday was a trip to The Wall for our race briefing and course inspection. The whole event is organised, very efficiently, by a Danish company. After the briefing in Ying and Yang Square in the Village of Huangyaguan we were bussed out to the section of The Wall that we were to ‘race’ along. The main point was to let us all meander along – take lots of photo’s and generally get an idea of what was coming. WOW I was puffing just walking up to The Wall. Once on it there are endless steps of varying height combined with some mind numbing angles of ascent and descent, our walk finished in Ying and Yang Square where lunch was provided. I was quite ‘psyched out’, wondering how on earth I was going to run this section. Plus two of our party of eleven suffered minor calf muscle tears and spent the next day seeing a Danish doctor and ‘resting’. (They both raced – with the aid of pain killers).This was the fifteenth race, with the records set at;Marathon. Male 3:09:18. Female 3:32:12. Half Marathon. Male 1:33:14. Female 1:48:55.

The race started at 7.30 on Saturday with four, ten minute waves (depending upon your declared race time) with the fun run starting ten minutes after that. Us five Liss Runners started in the same wave but very quickly split with Helen and I wanting to get into the race and Julia convinced Ann and Lesley to run on whilst she enjoyed jogging along. All runners used the same route for the first 10k. [The only crowd of supporters en route at this stage were a goat herd being driven in the opposite direction to the race!] The first five and a bit K’s were up hill and saw lots of people walking, which boosted our confidence as we passed them. However, once we got to The Wall there was very little running from us as well!! Some of the steps were easy peasy, others were knee high AND absolutely nowhere, it seemed, was horizontal. The first 10k took us one hour and forty minutes!! We came down and ran round and through Ying and Yang Square (where the’ fun’ runners finished). We then ran south to Duanzhuang village, which was the turn round point for the Half Marathon. Through more ‘trip off the tongue’ villages such as Xiaying, where they are still saving up for tarmac!

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On to Quingshanling with four or five, energy sapping, kilometres - - up. Down to Chedaoyu village and the return leg to Yin and Yang Square, up a flight of killer steps and onto The Goat track which took us back on to our second ‘run’ along The Wall. (The ‘write up’ describes this part of the marathon as testing). Both Helen and I would use different words. I certainly don’t remember anything quite so ‘testing’ – we were using the hand rail to pull ourselves up! Once on The Wall we settled into a shambling shuffle – it was tough going and my legs started cramping up. Fortunately at the top of one flight of steps were two Chinese first aiders who massaged my legs (It REALLY hurt), anyway, the massage and a few squirts of some magic potion called ‘cramp stop’ did the trick and we were off shuffling again. The final loop of The Wall and road, 10 k, (the start loop but in reverse) took us two hours!! Yes, we were tired. Yin and Yang square was a very welcome sight and to have Ann, Lesley and Julia cheering us across the finish line made our day.The, faultless, organisers had provided, drink stops at almost every ‘K’, four first aid stations on the course, showers, massages, lunch and a beautiful day – 25 degrees.

Sunday evening was the Gala Dinner. What an event! (All part of our race entry fee). A lovely meal, free drinks, Chinese dragon dancing, a Kung Fu demonstration, Chinese opera and of course presentations to the fast guys and girls. Us Liss Runners didn’t get a mention but our results were:

Julia. 3:58:15. 506th out of 561 ladies. 28th out of 37 in age group.Ann. 3:11:32. 299th out of 561 ladies. 5th out of 15 in age group.Lesley. 3:11:31. 298th out of 561 ladies. 4th out of 12 in age group.Helen. 6:24:49. 126th out of 257 ladies. 13th out of 24 in age group. Derek. 6:24:49. 281st out of 436 men. 1st out of 2!!! in age group.

Was it worth going all that way? YES!! We had a lovely time there and the race, whilst being the toughest marathon I’ve ever completed, was stunning. Never, in my running life have I ever

experienced such a huge and lasting sense of achievement.

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Southdowns Way 100 Mile Relay 07/06/2014 ‘THE LONG RUN TO WINCHESTER’ An Epic Story Of 1 Running Groups Journey Across The Southdowns Directed By Marie Appleton And Stuie Lavalette Starring  Jes Dickin Dave LittleSarah Wade John CollisLucy MitchellAndy PatonAndy TurnerDave BrownStewart RobertsTom FrostJames StaleyRob Fleming and Richard Little Also Starring Rose Lewis, Mel Matthews and Julie Allcock The Southdowns relay was again an enjoyable day with Liss Runners running the length of the Southdowns from Beachy Head to Winchester. This year we had entered 2 teams a mixed team, which was driven by Richard Little and a mens team, 3 of whom shared the driving responsibilities as well as getting out to run their legs. Many thanks to James, Stewart and Tom for taking on this extra

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responsibility The race has a staggered start and this year the mixed team had a start time of 0600 while the mens start time was 0730. Of course this meant that the mixed team had to leave Liss at 0315 while the men had a lie in and didn’t leave until 0445!!! Andy Turner got us started running from Beachy Head to Jevington and by the timre we got to the baton change at the end of leg 3 the weathwer had served up a heavy rainstorm. The unlucky ones who were caught in it were Tom and Lucy. Luckily Lucy was on top of Ditchling  Beacon at the time!!!    We were in constant contact so knew how eachother were doing and byb the time we got to Cocking we had caught up and pretty much stayed together in a convoy  to the finish. A few Liss Runners came to cheer us through at Harting Down. Thank you for your support A huge thanks must also go to Rose Lewis, Mel Matthews and Julie Allcock who were at our marshall point at the Sustainability Centre Our predicted times for the day were 12.5 hours for the men and 14 hours for the mixed team and we got both teams back to Winchester inside the target time, but what Andy Paton thought of us cheering him across the field at the end with burgers and pints in hand is probably not printable!!! It really is a great day and if you feel inspired to try it watch out for the list next year and put your name down Marie and Stuie  

To run, or not to run, that is the question - By Marie AppletonMy alarm woke me at 6.15 am on Sunday April 27. I got up and looked out the window and breathed a sigh of relief. It was overcast and had been raining, which was so much better than the hot sun of yesterday for the Shakespeare’s 450th birthday. So many people had lined the streets to watch the wonderful parade of Shakespeare inspired costumes, flags and marching bands.

Anyway back to my reason for being here, I was in Stratford-upon-Avon to run the Shakespeare half marathon. I had heard of the race through my contacts at parkrun, and after they had become unable to run through injury I decided that since I had done the training and was well, I might as well go and complete the race

I was concerned about the journey but it was quite simple, first onto the A34 then the M40 and arrived in no time. I stayed in the Travel Lodge which was comfortable but breakfast wasn’t served until 7, which was too late for me and seemed quite expensive since I would only want coffee and porridge.

There was a bit of a walk between Race HQ baggage store to the actual start of the race but on reflection it didn’t feel that far when you’re walking and chatting with all the other runners

The start was right in the heart of the town next to the beautiful old houses, and everyone lines up together, yes sorry forgot to tell you there’s a marathon option as well, which is two loops. This did cause me some issues as before the first mile marker I was dodging walkersThe course however was lovely. We did a loop round the town before passing Trinity Church the final resting place for Shakespeare and headed out into the country side. The water stops were plentiful but the organizers do not supply any gels so you need to be prepared to carry your own. Everyone was full of talk of the two hills but one was short and sharp over a bridge and the other was a gentle slope up and very steep going down the other side, but here was chance to overtake a few people After about ten miles the route turned off the road and onto a disused railway line. The path was good with hard packed stones and flat. After passing the Stratford race course the runners spilt with half-ers turning right and the marathoner left to complete their second loop.

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Here I started my dash for the line as I was very pleased with the time on my watch and was hopeful of my goal time. The final part of the course was along the side of the river and the last 200 meters on grass

I managed to complete the Shakespeare half marathon in a pb time of 1.46.14, and would definitely race this one again. Next time however I might consider staying in a B&B, don’t get me wrong the Travel Lodge was great, but there might be more chance of having an early breakfast and probably cheaper, as instant porridge really is not my favourite. I would really recommend this race.

Forthcoming Events

Harting Trail 10: Sunday 3 August. South Harting Our home race, tell Tom if you can help Marshal or write your name on the board in the Triangle Centre! See further into the newsletter for Tom’s detailed pre race report and an oportunity to run the course before the day.

Free Liss Runners Summer BBQ: Sunday 17 August. QE Country Park, Petersfield11am for a run, walk or hill training! Choose 3 / 5 / 7 milesMeadow family BBQ No.2BBQ ready for cooking 12:30Bring your own food and drinkFor comfort bring chairs/blankets/warm clothes (we are in England!)Well behaved children and dogs welcome!Footballs/frisbees etc welcomeJoin in the sports day just for fun or relax and laugh at the rest of us. Come rain or shine (after all we're British!)

Punchbowl 10k on September 14th at 10:15A ‘gently’ undulating race (won last year by Tom) around and through the Devil’s Punchbowl. We had a good turn out for this one last year and it’s well organised, sign on is in the pub!

Fleet 10k on 27th October2 LAPS UNDULATING ROAD RACE AROUND FLEET TOWN CENTRE TAKING IN FLEET ROAD, ELVETHAM ROAD AND NORTH READING ROAD

Run-Forest-Run 24th November 2014A 10k race with a forest obstacle section in the middle, starts and ends at Chiddingfold village Green. The test event in March was great fun and it looks to be well organised by Bruce and his team. It is a

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charitable event organised to help renovate the Fowlshatch Copse woodland and restore it to the ancient wood that it has been from 1600 through until the 1950s. Monies raised through the event are shared between the charitable bodies that help with the organisation and the woodland owners. Hopefully you will want to come back year after year to see how the wood is being managed and to enjoy a little racing at the same time.

Surrey Half Marathon: 8 March 2015There's an offer on the table - if Liss Runners would like to provide Marshals for this race then we can have FREE places at this half marathon (so for each Marshal that we supply - there's a complimentary place).See Steve Knight for more details - find a non-running friend and you've got yourself a bargain!

Harting Trail Race 2014: Sunday 3 rd August starting at 10.30am

After the success of the Harting race last year, we have decided to continue holding the race. The 10 mile route starts from South Harting Sports Field on Petersfield Road, rises up to the top of the downs, down towards Compton, west

towards Idsworth, a long rise up to Ditcham Park School, through Coulter Dean nature reserve before following the South Downs Way east to drop back down to the Sports Field. We had around 250 finishers last year with a fantastic Runners World rating of 93% and around a nice tidy profit of £1,500 for the club to keep your subs down. Well done to all the marshals and helpers that made this possible. We are looking to put on the same this year. Thanks for the offers of help already. If you’ve able to help out but have not yet come forward please fill in

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your details on the notice on the club notice board or e-mail Tom. We are also after cakes to sell at the end. Any kind offers please contact Helen Smith. Roll on 3rd August! Check out the race route…

A slow run round of the course has been organised for Monday the 14th July. Please arrive at the South Harting Sports Field, Petersfield Road, South Harting. GU31 3QG, around 6.45pm. for a before 7pm off. Tom will lead, slowly, promise! It’s a Monday between pub runs so perhaps we can turn it into an extra pub run down at the nearby White Hart?

Editor’s RamblingsPub Run SeriesThe 2014 Pub Run series is well underway and has been very successful thus far. Whenever I manage to get out on one of these I am reminded just what a privilege it is to not only live in such a beautiful part of England but also have the fitness to get out there enjoy the scenery in such a worthwhile and enriching way, sometimes I have to almost pinch myself it’s so good. Of course the icing on the cake is being able to share the event with such a great group of people in the pub afterwards. I hope the rest of the summer is just as enjoyable and look forward to sharing the trails with many of you over the next few weeks.

Photo oportunityMany of you will be about to embark upon your summer holidays so I thought it might be fun to see who can wear a Liss Runners vest/T/fleece in the most unusual location/circumstances. So: When you pack for that summer trip remember your Liss top and let us see where you can be seen wearing it, from the bottom of the sea (Anne) to the top of a mountain I want your unusual location or circumstances in a picture for the next newsletter.

LastlyIt has been more challanging than I envisaged to take over this role from Dave (renewed respect for his previous efforts due!) and I appologise for taking so long with this issue. Also appologies for the results ommissions which I am sure many of you prolific event runners will notice. Must try harder next time!

Run well, smile when it’s uphill and remember to hydrate and slap on the sun cream for the rest of the summer.

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M.W.

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