Gentlemen, another month down, more rubber worn off the soles of your running shoes and daffodils flowering outside my front door. It must be spring! (Although as I was being pelted by hail on my morning run, and those who braved Tarpley had an arctic headwind to deal with, maybe I’ll hold off with the declarations of spring already). However, the days are getting longer, we are starting to get a little bit of daylight after work to squeeze some running into and the temperatures will hopefully climb higher. I am sure that, like me, you are all looking forward to a great spring/summer of running and enjoying a bit of sunshine.

Looking back at what happened in February I want to start with our own Half Marathon. This is probably the single most important event for the club every year as the money we generate from entries allows us to offer all of the benefits of membership. For those of you that were lucky enough to run, I hope you enjoyed it. Conditions were ideal for running, the men’s course record was broken and the club has received so much positive feedback on the whole event. For those of you that put your time into set up, marshalling, kitchen duty, cake making and so may other jobs over the course of the day, Thank you! The efforts of all the club members is really appreciated in putting on this event (and our Cross Country and Friday 5 races). The atmosphere around these races is one of the things that makes GBRC such a great club to be part of.

February also saw the end of the Cross Country season. We have seen so many of you out on the cross country courses this season, and there have been some exceptional performances throughout. So much so that the men finished third overall (plus overall 3rd place for the women). Well done to everyone who braved the mud, hills, rain, cold and cake to take part in the series. With the end of the Cross Country season comes the annual XC meal. Last year we met in Colchester and went for a curry, so this year we are thinking of switching it up for Italian food. In an idea shamelessly stolen from the ladies we are also proposing a social parkrun meetup on the same day. That way if you can’t make the evening meal, but can get out for a morning parkrun you can still join in. The important date is Saturday April 15th. We are proposing a parkrun at Markshall in Coggeshall (free parking, large cafe for afterwards), then an Italian restaurant somewhere in Colchester. There will be more details about this at a later date so we can get an idea of numbers for a booking, but please save this date for a get together.

Other races that have seen GBRC vests taking part this month have included: a 6 hour event at Rayne where some of you completed Half Marathons, Marathons and Ultra Marathons; the London Winter 10k; and today’s Tarpley 10 and 20 mile races. As ever you haver been parkrunning all over the place and there have been a few milestones to note this month: Martin Cotton (50), Dave Jones (100) and Tom Komorowski (150). Parkrun is such a popular event for so many of you that it’s hard to keep track of who, where and how many but it’s great to see that some of you are keeping us updated through the Facebook page.

So what is coming up in March I hear you all ask…

Well, March 5th will see a horde of GBRC vests taking part in the Grizzly in Seaton. This is a 20 mile trail race across pebble beaches, up and down hills, through streams and bogs and is one of the best races out there. For anyone that hasn’t attempted this yet I can thoroughly recommend it for next year. Also on the 5th is the Essex 20 mile race at Carver Barracks. The Brentwood Half on March 12th will see a mass of GBRC vests, with the promise of beer and pizza at a pub afterwards attracting many I am sure. There is a 26 mile LDWA event in Suffolk (The Daffodil Dawdle) on March 25th closely followed by the Dave Wright 7.5 mile and 15 mile races on the 26th. The Dave Wright road races are hosted by our very own Craig Mitchell and I’m sure he will see plenty of you out for these.

Looking further ahead there are a few dates to be aware of:

– The Essex Road Relays are taking place in Colchester on April 16th. Check your emails for information about these as you will need to let Meera know that you want to run by March 31st.

– The GBRC Mickey Edwards 5k Series (May 3rd, 17th, 31st, June 14th, 28th)

– The Ipswich Ekiden is happening on July 23rd. You don’t need to do anything about this one yet, just save the date. We always have a great turnout for this event and it is a great day out.

Most importantly, the club AGM is fast approaching. It will be happening on a Wednesday night at Gt. Bentley Village Hall (April 5th). Please make an effort to attend. This is your chance to have a say on the running of your club. As ever, if you want to stand for a committee position (or want to nominate someone else to stand) please get your nominations in to Mags before March 12th so that she is able to organise any necessary voting. Some of the current committee will be standing down, while some will be putting themselves forward again. However, all off the committee positions are open for nominations. The complete list of posistions is:

– Chair

– Vice Chair

– Secretary

– Membership Secretary

– Treasurer

– Head Coach

– Webmaster

– Captain (Ladies)

– Captain (Men)

– Vice Captain (Ladies)

– Vice Captain (Men)

– Race Director (Half Marathon)

– Race Director (Friday 5)

– Race Director (XC)

– Course Director

And finally, we come to our Runner of the Month for February:

This month we want to recognise someone who has been working so hard for so long. You might have seen him at a few club sessions through February, or you might have caught him at a couple of parkruns in Colchester. But the real work that he has been putting in is behind the scenes. Scott has been our Race Director for the past few years and he has worked tirelessly to ensure that our Half Marathon, Friday 5 and Cross Country Races run smoothly for everyone taking part. I think we should recognise that instead of replacing Scott with one person, we are looking to appoint 3 different Race Directors with each person taking primary responsibility for their own race. Scott delivered an absolutely cracking Half Marathon as his sign off from the job and we are very grateful to him for all the effort that he has put in to each and every race. We are looking forward to catching up with a (more relaxed) Scott during some runs over the coming months.

So Congratulations Scott Young as our Run(Director) of the month for February