Another month down and another bunch of races run. Firstly though, confirmation of the final staffing change on the committee that wasn’t mentioned in the previous newsletter…
Stepping in to the vacant Vice-Captain spot is Charlie Keitch, so welcome Charlie (and no pressure, but the previous Vice-Captain went on to be the Chairperson!).
You have all been busy once again with lots of training runs, parkruns and races throughout April. The local parkruns have seen loads of activity and some of you have made it as far as Sloughbottom in Norwich, Rushmoor in Aldershot, and Pocket in (checks parkrun website to find out where the hell that is) St. Neot’s. April also saw the men’s social parkrun morning at Markshall which saw 14 of us out there (and 2 intruders from the women’s side of the club) enjoying the course and the subsequent breakfast. Look out for the next one of these in Clacton on June 17th.
In other races you have been running Ultras in Yorkshire and Marathons in Paris, Manchester, London and Camu(p)lodunum. You were out in force at the Bromley 10k, the Sudbury Fun Run and the Essex Road Relays. There was a 10k alongside the Marathon at Camu(p)lodunum and I am sure I have missed more of your exploits. (A shout out here to our team of race report writers, please feel free to let us all know about your running exploits on the FaceBook page monthly race thread. We are such a big club now that it is really difficult to keep track of who has run where if you aren’t mentioning it. We want to encourage and celebrate everyone who runs, no matter the distance covered or the time taken). Just sneaking in on the last day of the month was Craigs Run Layer 5 mile event too. It looks as though the post race refueling was just as much fun as the running.
April also saw the annual XC dinner and announcement of the XC Runner of the Year. A group of us met in Colchester for drinks and dinner, and eventually the announcement of the top 3 was made. The XC season was a huge success for GBRC and three runners stood out amongst the voting. In first place was Mark Jasper, second was Doug McGillivray, third was Charlie Keitch. Congratulations to Mark for taking the award, and to Doug and Charlie, and to everyone who took part in some or all of the XC races. The numbers involved and the post race socialising really show what a great club we are.
Looking ahead into May and beyond there are an awful lot of races fast approaching:
- The club Mickey Edwards 5k series starts on Wednesday 3rd May, with subsequent races on 17th and 31st May and 14th, 28th June. This is a great opportunity to practice your 5k race pace, or just enjoy a pleasant evening run and then hang out with fellow club members afterwards.
- The Colchester 10k is on May 14th. I’m sure many of you will have signed up, and you will see the pacing team at this event provided by GBRC runners.
- Also on May 14th is the Halstead and Essex Marathon.
- The Friday 5 series starts in Felixstowe on May 26th followed by Sudbury on June 2nd, Framlingham on 9th June, Bury on 16th June, Stowmarket on 30th June and our very own Great Bentley race on July 7th.
- The club Geoff Day 5k race is on Wednesday July 19th
- Ekiden is in Ipswich on July 23rd. You should have seen an email about signing up for this if you want to take part
Finally, on to our Runner of the Month for April. There have been some outstanding performances this month from members old and new. It has been very difficult to pick only one out of this selection. Our winner this month followed up a great performance in March with his first ever Marathon, crossing the finish line in Manchester in a cracking time of 4h15m50s.
Congratulations Paul Smith, a well deserved Runner of the Month!
Great Bentley Running Club 