Is it just me, or has January felt like the longest month ever? A seemingly endless period of dark, cold, and damp (and how long has it been since the last pay-day….don’t they know we have races to book!😊)
Anyway, on a brighter note it is over now – and fortunately it didn’t stop GBRC members getting out running, and delivering some great performances.
Some highlights include a great turnout at both XC’s this month, starting off with Springfields Striders event at a slightly changed, but still very challenging, course at Writtle College. Despite a team slightly depleted by Benfleet 15 and other events, the men came 4th overall and we had an impressive 13 GBRC male runners in the top 100 places. A big shout out for the ladies as well, who came a fantastic 3rd place, giving GBRC a solid 3rd place overall.
In January’s second XC instalment we again had a great turnout, this time at Harwich Runners event at a new venue in Wix. With a near full strength team the men improved to 3rd place, and with the ladies also coming 3rd it was another 3rd place overall and now 3rd in the league (to quote Phil Presland “3 is the magic number”) well done everyone!
On the XC theme a few chaps made the trip to a hilly Basildon course for the Essex XC Champs. The overall standard was extremely high and Robin Oakley (123rd), Paul Davison (132nd) and Tom K (157th) all did a fine job on a tough day.
It has been good to see Chris Warren embracing tipping into a new age group (won’t embarrass him by sharing his age) with strong performances in both our own 10 miler (1:04:47) and Farnborough Half (1:24:47)….good to see you back racing Chris.
That leads us nicely onto the Interclub 10 miler, now a regular annual challenge between GBRC and our neighbours at Harwich Runners. A great event as always, so thank you to everyone that made it happen, and a special well done to Tom Komorowski for taking on the race director role and…well, what can I say, he “smashed it”. On the day GBRC took the team honours, and we had the first 4 men home all wearing blue. There were over 50 GBRC runners on the day which was great to see on a chilly January morning.
A few hardy men also tackled the tough Benfleet 15 course this month – although for some it might be the one and only time! Well done Doug McGillivray (a superb overall top 10 finish), Tim Ballard, Craig Mitchell, and Dave Jones
As always loads of GBRC representation at Parkrun this month, including Martin Owen on his travels again (the pressure for him to write a book on his travels is mounting) and a special shout-out to Charlie Keitch doing his 200th Parkrun at Highwoods, although he obviously didn’t want any fuss, as he kept it very quiet…and then ran in disguise!
Some reminders for what’s coming up next month……
The GBRC Half Marathon takes place Sunday 5th February, and is a massively important day for the club. The race sells out every year and gets rave reviews, and we want this year to be no different. If you are volunteering on the day, please see the recent emails sent out with details of volunteering roles/times and the course map. Please familiarise with where you are, and what you are doing and make sure you arrive in plenty of time for your duties, and for the marshal briefing on the day.
For those lucky enough to be running, good luck! You will most certainly be getting plenty of encouragement around the course on the day… and hopefully lots of cake after if our bakers are on usual form.
The last event in the NESS Cross Country series is Sunday 19th February, with Hadleigh Hares hosting what is usually a hilly and challenging course. It’s the last one of the year so let’s pull out all the stops and give it our best…and remember every runner that turns up and finishes contributes to our score, if not directly then by pushing back runners from other clubs.
While the days remain short, a reminder of the regular Thursday night Track sessions at the Northern Gateway (6pm start) which are a great opportunity to run in a safe, well-lit, traffic free location. The sessions are designed to be tough, but massively beneficial for everyone – regardless of your pace and running experience. Of course, you can push hard or take it as easy, its completely up to you, on a circular track nobody gets left behind. These sessions already attract a lot of members, but it is always great to see new faces join the sessions.
To round up a fun packed February ahead, a reminder of the club information sessions we are now holding once a month on a Wednesday night at Bentley (with the club run/training afterwards). February’s session will be hosted by Rob Dyer and Tom K on Weds 8th February @ 7pm who will give a brief run down on our Mickey Edwards 5k series, and the Geoff Day 5k. The session will also give people the chance to ask any questions about the events, which will take place between May and July.
Finally, a little teaser for an event a bit further in the future, but one which has always been popular. We have had details of the timings for the Essex AA Road Relays taking place 16th April (at Northern Gateway Sports Park) and can confirm Men’s and Women’s races will be separate this year, with the ladies starting at 11:30am and the gents from 1:15pm. Our lovely ladies captains, Meera and Lisa, will be organising teams and sending an email out very soon asking for names of those interested – so please keep a lookout for this and lets get lots of blues out on the track (most of it know it very well by now!)
Our male Runner of the Month for January was, as always, quite a difficult decision with so many people performing well. However, one person has continually impressed with the progress he has made since joining the club last year and we felt recognition was well overdue!
A runner of all distances from 5k up to Ultra Marathons, he is a regular at hills, track and other training sessions and always puts in maximum effort and encourages others. This has translated into a great performance in our 10 miler and strong performances in both XC’s this month.
So, please step forward Adam Robey as this month’s ROM. Cheers Adam….keep up the good work and a big well done
Great Bentley Running Club 