The pavements were puzzling and the Fields were Hilly

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Pavement Puzzler

Although not technically a ‘race’, if there’s a winner, it’s a race in my book … with that in mind, our report begins on Wednesday 6 December, when the Hollidges and Preslands planned and hosted the ‘Pavement Puzzler’ for your enjoyment. With lots of twists and turns, I think it’s fair to say that many of you were truly puzzled (as evidenced by the variations of the route on Strava!) but Dean Pepper put his orienteering skills to good use and completed the Puzzler in the winning time. He was rewarded with a festive chocolate prize. Thanks Debs and Vicky for hosting such a fun event.

Parkrun

On Saturday, 33 GBRC members kicked off their weekend with a very wet parkrun. They include:

  • Kathy Bishop, who was first female finisher at Ipswich parkrun (25:37);
  • Mark and Donna Harris and Martin and Sammy Cotton, who touristed at Loch Neaten parkrun, Watton; and
  • Simon Leggett and Hien Hoang, who both ran PBs at Highwoods parkrun (21:31 and 25:36 respectively)

You can find our parkrun consolidated club report with our full results here.

‘Twas the Run Before Christmas

On Sunday, Larina Marsh took part in the ‘Twas the Run Before Christmas’ event, organised by Zig Zag Running. The event comprised 5.3k loops of Brandon Country Park. Despite the rainy conditions, Larina ran an impressive 26.35 miles in total and would recommend the event to others.

North Essex and South Suffolk Cross Country (NESS XC)

The club’s host fixture in the NESS XC League took place on Sunday and, thanks to the hard work of Event Director Meera and so many others, it was truly successful event. A total of 258 seniors and 121 juniors ‘enjoyed’ the course around Hilly Fields, and the weather was kind to us (until the very end, at least). In addition, over £230 was raised on the refreshments stall in memory of Gemma Edgar, raising money for St Helena Hospice and Brain Tumour Research.

Our ladies’ scorers were: Andrea James (6th), Lisa Briggs (10th), Magdalena Komorowska (26th) and Vicky Presland (27th). Well done also to Bethany Reynolds for her strong run and 43rd place finish in the junior girls’ race.

Our men’s scorers were: Josh Beaumount (8th), Jacob Horton (10th), Mark Jasper (33rd), Chris Warren (40th), David Wright (51st), Charlie Keitch (53rd), Steve Bullen (72nd) and Richard Heath (78th).

Our senior teams finished 4th overall in Pool A for this fixture (with the ladies finishing 3rd and the men finishing 6th). This means we’re currently in 5th position in Pool A for the season, so we need lots of blue vests out at the next two fixtures on 21 January at Wix and 18 February at Hadleigh. In the wise words of Vicky Presland: “we cannot take our foot off the gas!” Perhaps these photos will make you want to get “stuck in” to XC?