I don’t want to be the person to say that the summer is almost over, but I can’t help noticing a little autumnal chill in the air in the mornings now. Although August is traditionally a quieter month on the racing front, you’ve still been keeping busy seeking out events far and wide, from 5k to 50 miles.

More of that shortly, but first – a quick rundown of what’s coming up and important diary dates!

News and notices

Essex Way Relay – Sunday 3 September

The team numbers have been given out and the recces have been done – Essex Way Relay, the blue vests are coming (and hoping not to fall over or get lost!)

Whether you’re taking part or not, you’d be very welcome to join us at the end to cheer in our final runners and share some refreshments. The final 5 mile leg leaves Ramsey at 6pm, and we’ll be gathering on the green by High Lighthouse, Harwich.

Essex Cross Country (XC) Relays

The Essex XC relays are taking place in Brentwood (Weald Country Park) on Saturday 16 September, with the women’s race at 11am and the men’s race at noon. Women will run 6k each in teams of 3, and men run 6k each in teams of 4.

We’d love to have ladies’ team to enter into this event, so we could really do with a couple more names. It’s a lovely course and, as it’s so early in the season, it’s never muddy at all – so if you’re not a big XC fan, be assured that it’s more like a (slightly hilly) trail run!

If you’d like to take part, please email Charlie (charlie.keitch@gmail.com) by Sunday 3 September.

NESS League Cross Country (XC) dates

The dates and locations of the five XC fixtures in the ‘North Essex and South Suffolk’ league for 2023-24 are on the website, and are as follows:

• Sunday 29 October – Writtle
• Sunday 26 November – Gosfield
• Sunday 10 December – Hilly Fields (the fixture we organise and host)
• Sunday 21 January – Wix (to be confirmed)
• Sunday 18 February – Hadleigh
• Sunday 25 February – spare date

If you haven’t done cross country before, it’s a lot of fun (and a lot of mud!) We really get into the club spirit and make a nice social morning out of it, cheering each other on and of course eating more cake than the other teams combined! The club pays our entry and all are welcome.

Our XC guru Vicky Presland will be at club night at Great Bentley on a Wednesday soon, so you can ask her any burning questions you might have. In the meantime, save the dates and start thinking about dusting off your grippiest trail shoes!

GBRC Awards Night – Saturday 16 December

A reminder to save the date for our annual Awards Night party on Saturday 16 December, followed by a social run with breakfast cooked for us by the Chairman (and tidying up after the night before) on Sunday 17 December. It’s always a great night, so put it in your diary if you haven’t already!

GBRC versus Harwich inter club 10 mile road race – Sunday 7 January

We’d love a good turnout for this event to show Harwich a great race (and, ideally, beat them again). It’s a flat, scenic route on country roads around Little Bromley and Great Bromley, and you’re guaranteed an enjoyable run. We’ll also be looking for marshals and other helpers nearer the time, so please keep the date free even if you don’t fancy running.

Training

Our training sessions for the week are always listed on our ‘Training’ webpage and Head Coach Caroline circulates a link to a google form each week for us to use to sign up to sessions. A couple of sessions have been cancelled recently due to not having anyone signed up, so just a reminder to use the google form if you are planning to attend a session, otherwise it may be cancelled.

Caroline is putting together our new Autumn training schedule and this will be circulated soon. Good news for the track lovers is that Thursday nights will be back on the cycle track every week from September for the winter.

Our Ladies Squad

Welcome

One new lady has joined us this month – welcome to Kelly Hayhoe! Hope you enjoy training with us and hope to meet you at a session soon

What we did this month

The Essex 5k Championships took place at the Northern Gateway and Inga Hayden-Cooper picked up a county bronze medal for her time of 24:16. Emma Wright, Laura Cook and Katie Siggery represented us at the Clacton 10k.

Others have focused more on longer distances, with Helene Tyler walking the Bakewell 30 mile circular on 12 August, and Mags Komorowska running the Shotley 50, both organised by the LDWA.

The local trail events have also proved popular this month, with Vicky Presland and Debs Hollidge completing the 14 mile ‘Admiral McHilly’, and Debs, Helen Carey and Claudia Keitch enjoying ‘For Horses Four Courses’.

Runner of the Month

Sometimes our running goal is to get faster, and sometimes it’s to push our bodies to go further. But some people are lucky enough to be this lady who seems to manage to do both seamlessly within the space of a week. She ran a 5k PB of 23:34 and then followed it up with her first ultra marathon at SVP 50 just 7 days later, and I suspect there are many more great achievements to come for her.

Our runner of the month for August is Caroline Dyer!