For reasons that will soon become abundantly clear I am presenting the newsletter in reverse…
Congratulations to the Runner of the Month for October: Chris Warren. Chris had a fantastic year overall, but capped it off with two great runs in October – the Southend 10km and the Tiptree 10 mile which sealed the County Gold Medal in the Essex Championships. Brilliant performances Chris, well done, and apologies for the delayed nature of your Runner of the Month recognition.
And onto the Runner of the Month for November: There have been some great performances in the cross country so far with Josh Beaumont and Doug McGillivray both posting top 10 finishes in consecutive races at the start of the season. Unfortunately for them they are matching each other and making it hard to pick one over the other! So this month the award goes to someone who has posted PBs at the Wix 5 (31:51) and the Hadleigh 10 (1:07:39), it’s great to see someone making gains like this, so Steve Bullen, congratulations, November’s Runner of the Month.
Looking back over the month we have obviously seen the start of the winter cross country season and you have been dragging yourself up and out to enjoy the cold/wind/rain/mud and cakes (don’t forget the cakes!). You will no doubt all be aware that our very own cross country race at Hilly Fields in Colchester is happening this weekend (Sunday 10th). I am looking forward to see all of you out there running and/or marshalling and generally putting on the best cross country of the season. If you are not on marshalling duty, get out there on Sunday morning and run. It’s a great course and you will receive huge support from all the GBRC marshalls out there.
Not long after that, on Saturday 16th, is our annual awards night. You should have seen any number of emails about this. It’s at the hall in Great Bentley, bring your own food and drink and generally celebrate the club and all that you have achieved over the past year. Expect trophies, music, dancing and general shenanigans as the evening progresses. This is obviously followed on Sunday 17th by the post party social run and breakfast (cooked for you by your very own chairman, so please fill out a breakfast review afterwards).
On Wednesday 20th there is the fish and chips/christmas lights run in Great Bentley. This basically involves a little bit of running and a lot of chips, so it’s actually the dream activity. Get in touch with Marion (asap!) if you want to join in with this and haven’t already signed up.
Into the New Year and we have our 10 mile race against Harwich Runners on Sunday 6th January. We will be looking for some volunteers to help with registration/marshalling/timing etc but this is a great opportunity to help the club retain the trophy that we won last year by a single point! (or was that the year before? My memory may be failing me). It’s a great flat, fast course so come along and take part. Every single runner counts in this and we do not want to lose the trophy to Harwich.
And the big one, Sunday 4th February is our very own half marathon. This is THE event that makes all the club benefits possible so please do what you can to support this. If you haven’t already taken the time to volunteer please ocntact Mel Willsmore who will always be able to find a role for you to get involved.
Apologies for the complete lack of a newsletter in October, and the tardy nature of this one. I hope you all have a great Christmas, and that I’ll bump into as many of you as possible at any of the upcoming club events or training sessions. Keep up the great efforts…
Great Bentley Running Club 