Men’s Newsletter – October 2022

Welcome to the October newsletter, we start this month with the sad news of the loss of long-time club member Michael Sommerlad who unfortunately passed away recently at the age of 90. Many of us would have known Michael and seen him taking part in club events and races up until just a few years ago. He loved being part of Great Bentley, and I remember Michael running Wix 5 in 2016 and thoroughly enjoying it, and posting this message afterwards;
“When I first plucked up courage to ask about local running clubs I was advised that the most friendly club in the area was GBRC and they would not mind having a beginner in his seventies. It was superb advice and I have never regretted joining and never felt that I was an outsider or an embarrassment. It is a brilliant club. Today was a great experience. Thank you all.”

Michael was an inspiration and testament to age not being a barrier to achievement, Michael ran his first marathon at the spritely age of 69 and became World over-80s duathlon champion in 2014 –what an amazing man! Our thoughts are with Michael’s family and friends at this time.

As always, some great performances and achievements this month. Too many to mention in detail but we have to pick out the iconic London Marathon, where a number of GBRC men joined the thousands of others pounding the streets on a lovely day in the capital. Great performances from everyone, with a number of people running London for charity – and some including the big day aspart of bigger challenges…this included;

• Alan Johnson (doing 4 marathons in 4 weeks for the National Autistic Society)
• Tim Clifton (part of a series of 4 marathons and ultra-marathons for St Helena Hospice), and
• Paul Davison (with London as the final run of 7 marathons in 7 days for St Helena Hospice).

Others running included Fraser Lewis, Robbie Lee, and Neil Winters (also for St Helena Hospice) and Daniel Whymark battling through recent injury to complete his first marathon. Well done to you all (and also to all the Bentley Ladies who also conquered London!)

Some great performances by the Bentley boys in other races this month including Tiptree 10, Capel 5, Chelmsford Marathon/Half, Beachy Head Marathon, Woodchurch 10 miler to name a few, and of course countless Parkruns and over events both near and far. Great to see so many blue vests outweek after week.

Some reminders for what’s coming up in the near future……
The NESS Cross Country series starts next Sunday (6th Nov) with GBRC’s race at Hilly Fields in Colchester. We always put on a great event, and it is only possible with the support of club members and the skill and commitment of those that organise the race (you know who you are…).
I won’t duplicate here all the details but if you are available and haven’t already volunteered to marshall or said you will run please look at the various Facebook posts/emails from Vicky Presland, and/or ask any of the club committee or contact Vicky direct to get all the details you need to know.

Other XC dates for the series are;
Sunday 27th November 2022 – Halstead Road Runners – Gosfield School
Sunday 15th January 2023 – Springfield Striders – Agricultural College, Writtle
Sunday 29th January 2023 – Harwich Runners – Wix
Sunday 19th February 2023 – Hadleigh Hares –Hadleigh, Suffolk

The annual GBRC Awards night will take place on Saturday 3rd December, at the Gt Bentley Village Hall. It’s always a great evening that recognises the great achievements of everyone in our club, gives us a chance to socialise and have fun, and also a chance to see what people look like dressed in “proper” clothes rather than being all sweaty!! If you haven’t yet confirmed your attendance, pleasefollow the link below to RSVP and provide your food choices;
https://forms.gle/Nno1e5N7r52N7dvp7

Whether you are able to attend or not, it would be great if you could spend just a few minutes submitting your votes for the various awards. They recognise the hard work and achievements of your fellow members, and it is important the selection is representative of the whole club. You must submit your votes by 13th November at the latest, using the link below;
https://forms.gle/Quy8F6VNTcVLK6Sw6

To help you make your choices for VETs (40+) and Newcomers please use the following links:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18J8iONd1OLaoykYW8xXJ4YqSX3C_HWnfDvDUZ63GdHk/e
dit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TU5VNE0AkBS6UTDLWvWRHi7xGYs5fMGTVMgVslakzLY/
edit?usp=sharing

Following on from the London Marathon theme….I know lots of us were waiting anxiously for the ballot results, which were announced last week. If you got in, well done (and enjoy that winter training!) if you were not successful then all is not lost. The club has 2 London Marathon ballot places for 2023 and they are open to anyone who can evidence they entered but were unsuccessful in the main ballot. Please see email sent out on 24 th October, to enter the club ballot you need to send your proof of commiserations to Paul Carlisle (paul.carlise4@btinternet.com).

As it gets harder to find daylight at the start and the end of the day, it is important to wear lights and Hi Viz when running to keep safe. The club has found a supplier of Hi-Viz bibs that we have had personalised with the GBRC logo. We’ve already found
homes for the initial 50 that we ordered (and these will be available for collection at XC on Sunday and training session over the next week or two), but if anyone else would like one please let me know (pauldavison22@sky.com) as we can order more.
The price is £7 each.

For those dark nights also a reminder of the regular Thursday night Track sessions at the Northern Gateway (6pm start) which are a great opportunity as the winter draws in to run in a safe, well-lit, traffic free location. The sessions are hard-work, but massively beneficial for everyone – regardless of your pace and running experience. These sessions already attract a lot of members, but it is
always great to see new faces join the sessions.

I know we have new members joining the club all the time, and sometimes it can be a bit daunting to know what training sessions to go to, how to get involved in supporting races and who is who in the club. If you have questions or concerns, then please feel free to get in touch with any of us;
Fraser Lewis (joint Men’s captain) fraser@thisisbosh.com
Rob Dyer (joint Men’s captain) robdyer@humanoid.net
Paul Davison (Men’s Vice-Captain) pauldavison22@sky.com

We all regularly get to training sessions, and others will point us out if you don’t know who we are, or just chat to any other club members at the sessions or on club night on a Wednesday who may be able to help or point you in the right direction. No question is a silly question……

I know this newsletter is going on a bit, but if you’ve got this far – well done! We are nearly there…

Our male Runner of the Month for October was a difficult decision, amongst those in contention were Alan Johnson after his 4 marathons, and Charlie Keitch and Craig Mitchell who are both posting some great race times. But, in the end it was a unanimous decision. After a string of cracking performances in recent months (including 2nd in SVP50 and various race win/podium finishes) this guy has delivered a superb 2nd place at Capel 5 and an equally impressive 4th place in Wix 5 this month and is really flying the flag for GBRC – so our ROM is Doug McGillivray.

Since joining the club Doug has always made training and racing look effortless, and regularly amazed us all by running miles to and from training and then still storming past us all looking as fresh as a daisy!! Doug has also provided massive encouragement, support, and advice to other runners in the club, and I know has been particularly helpful and taken under his wing some of our newer members.

A great runner, and a great guy – well done Doug!