The Autumn leaves are falling and the nights are drawing in, but the racing season is in full swing and our ladies have been very busy this month.

I just want to start with a quick thank you to everyone who attended our ladies social at Clacton parkrun on 8 October – it was great to see you all and hope you enjoyed it too.

News and notices

Training

Our weekly sessions continue to be sent out via email in the form of a weekly doodle poll (generally on a Thursday evening), as well as being posted on the ‘training’ page of our website. An overview of our Autumn/winter training schedule can be found here if you like to plan further ahead.

As training continues into the darker evenings, please remember to wear hi-viz and reflective clothing with lights to training sessions for your own safety. If you’d like to order a hi-viz club bib at a cost of £7, please contact Paul Davison (pauldavison22@sky.com).

As a reminder, we also have a weekly session at 6pm every Thursday at the Northern Gateway, where we are really lucky to have use of well-lit, traffic-free track for intervals sessions. Come and join us if you haven’t given it a try before.

Upcoming events

Cross Country (XC)

The countdown to the cross country season (the season known to non-runners as ‘winter’) will be upon us in a matter of days, kicking off with our own NESS league fixture at Hilly Fields on Sunday 6 November. Thank you to all those who have volunteered for marshalling and the other essential roles needed to put on this event. Marshalling information has been sent out by email and can also be found on our website.

For anyone else, come and run! It really is for everyone, regardless of your speed, and our fixture is a great way to try it out if you’re new to cross country because you will have supportive marshals at every turn. If you’d like to practise your baking too, even better – surnames A-K are on the baking ‘rota’ for this fixture.

The full details of our fixture on 6 November, plus dates of all the other fixtures, have been circulated by email and can also be found on the NESS Cross Country League webpage.

Awards Night – Saturday 3 December

This annual event takes place at Great Bentley Village Hall and, as well as recognising members’ achievements from the year passed, it is a great chance to socialise, eat, drink and dance!

If you haven’t already, please:

1) RSVP and select your food choice: https://forms.gle/Nno1e5N7r52N7dvp7

2) Vote for the recipients of the various awards (by 13 November): https://forms.gle/Quy8F6VNTcVLK6Sw6. A list of vets (40+) and newcomers have been provided to help you with those categories  

Great Bentley half marathon – 5 February 2023

Please keep this date free, as we’ll be seeking volunteers for marshalling and other roles for this important event in the club’s calendar. If we have enough volunteers, those who wish to run will have the chance to have their name drawn at random to do so. As the main income-generator for the club, putting on a successful event allows us to keep the cost of club membership as low as possible and for us to continue to enjoy things for free that the club funds, such as our NESS XC league entry fees and track sessions.

Other news

Club champs

Club champs are awarded to the fastest person in each age group for an officially measured race for that year. The year for the 2022 club champs ends on 13 November and they will be presented on Awards Night. If you have a time you wish to be considered, please notify Paul Davison (GBRCraceresults@hotmail.com) as soon as possible but within 30 days of the event taking place. You can find out more and view the current standings here.

London marathon ballot

If you were unsuccessful in the 2023 London marathon ballot, you are eligible to go in the draw for the club’s two places. If this applies to you, please email Paul Carlisle (paul.carlise4@btinternet.com) with proof of your unsuccessful ballot application.

Our Ladies Squad

Welcome

Welcome to our new ladies this month – Zoe Willis, Emma Wright and Kathryn Cooper. We hope you are made to feel welcome and enjoy training with the club! If you have any questions at all, please feel free to email me (Lisa, Ladies Vice Captain –lisabriggs416@gmail.com) or Meera (Ladies Captain): meerarajoo@googlemail.com.

Getting to know you

I don’t think this lady needs much introduction, as despite being a member for less than a year, she is already a regular at training and races and a very popular member of our ladies squad. This month, I put our questions to Bee Harris.

Age category: 40 – 44

Occupation: Learning Support Assistant in Primary Education

How long have you been in GBRC for? I joined GBRC in January of this year.

The silliest thing you did on a race: Those that know me may find this difficult to believe, but there is nothing ‘silly’ that I have done on a race. No embarrassing instances. No total muck ups. Nothing…yet

Favourite distance: For a challenge I love a half marathon but my go-to happy distance is 5 miles. Long enough for me to get that all important head space and shot of endorphins.

Best achievement: In 2019 I travelled to Ghana with a local charity, Porridge and Pens, and completed the Accra International Half Marathon. It was one of my slowest halves to date. We started in the dark at 6.30am and it was already 28°c. The start was on the outskirts of the city and the route took us through the busy ports, heart-breaking poverty, bustling market streets, affluent business developments and finished in the lavish luxury of a 5* hotel. Profound, and an experience that changed me forever.

What’s your ultimate running goal: Honestly, I can say that my ultimate running goal is to keep enjoying myself. I feel truly blessed, after my injury this year, that I am able to run and, the people I’ve met and call my running family, truly make running my happy place. 

Favourite medal/t-shirt and what for: All of my medals remind me of my journey and remind me of what I can do, but my pride of place medal is definitely my Accra Half medal (I do love my bling).

Interests other than running: As a sufferer of Mental Ill Health, I am an active advocate for ending the stigma that surrounds Mental Health. I am always happy to share my journey and listen to anybody who needs an ear. Keep the conversation going!! In the summer holidays I am found volunteering at the Brightlingsea Lido. I’ve done this every summer since it was reopened by Brightlingsea residents and volunteers in 2018. Other than that, it’s all running currently!

Favourite & Worst events and why: Worst event was hard to think of; all the events I’ve taken part in have been special for different reasons, but Lea Valley Half was a struggle on the day. The route was beautiful, along the river, and through woodlands, but it was lonely. No spectators, hardly any marshals, and those that I did come across, didn’t seem to want to be there. On top of that, my knee obviously hated me, and I hobbled the last three miles in pure agony.
My favourite was equally hard to think of, but Royal Parks Half really stands out and was full of all the joy. Blessed to be offered to run once again for Porridge and Pens, I loved every moment of the build-up, the start, every step of the 13.1 miles and the after party with my amazingly dedicated cheer squad. The atmosphere was electric, the route was lined with spectators and took me past iconic landmarks. Everything aligned and it was such an amazing day. 

Most challenging event and why: The heat and the full exposure to all that Accra had to offer, made that race the most mentally and physically challenging event, but one I would do again in a heartbeat.

Most useful running information you can share: Don’t forget to enjoy yourself. It’s not all about times and pace. Switch off your Strava (yes you can) and run for you. 

Inspirations

With the London marathon taking place on the first of the month, we were already spoilt for choice with inspirational performances for our ladies this month. So many of our ladies exceeded their own expectations at London, with many raising huge amounts of money for charity too. Sarah Davison and Kathy Bishop both trained hard and achieved fantastic sub 4 hour times (3:53:11 and 3:58:06 respectively).

I have been impressed by the resilience of Leoni Harvey and Louise Balfour, who have continued to race with a smile on their faces despite managing some ongoing injury issues. It was also great to see Bee Harris back racing at Capel 5 after injury.

Some other achievements that took my eye:

• Debs Hollidge is clearly in fine form, running a 23:20 parkrun at Clacton parkrun and finishing as third lady in the Woodchurch 10 in a time of 1:20:57.
• Donna Harris set not one but three half marathon PBs this month, finishing with a time of 2:05:52 at the Ipswich half marathon.
• Sammy Cotton also set a half marathon PB at Chelmsford
• Meera Rajoo-Oakley achieved a season’s best 5k time of 23:07 and a top 5 finish in both of her 5 mile events at Thurlow and Saxmundham
• Hien Hoang achieved a 10 mile PB at Tiptree
• Laura Cook got her parkrun time down to a 28:55, smashing her sub 30 goal
• Mags Komorowska completed the extremely challenging Beachy Head marathon
• Larina Marsh has been out racing seemingly non-stop this month, achieving great times over various distances
• Charlotte Hammond is back running parkrun after the birth of baby Jasper and already improving her times week by week.

Runner of the Month

As you can probably tell, there were a lot of possible candidates for ROM and it’s not usual practice to award it to more than one person. However, these two ladies have both shown incredible grit and perseverance to overcome difficult personal circumstances over the last couple of years and still managed to complete the London marathon not just with huge smiles on their faces but with impressive times too.

We just couldn’t choose between them, so our ladies runners of the month for October are … Helene Tyler and Emma Wakeling!