Hi ladies! I’m so excited that I get to write the April newsletter, as it’s just such an exciting month for running. Marathon mania truly takes over, but there are plenty of other events taking place too and so many results that deserve celebration.

It was great to see lots of you at Barbara’s birthday trail run fundraiser. A great way to celebrate a special lady’s special birthday, while raising money for a great cause.

There’s plenty coming up over the summer to get excited about – so let’s dive into our ‘News and Notices’ first!

News and Notices

Ladies Parkrun Social, including XC Runner of the Year – Saturday 8 June

On Saturday 8 June, we will be heading to Harwich parkrun to start our ladies social. This will be followed by coffee and snacks at the lovely Pavilion café in Dovercourt Bay. We will also use the occasion to announce who has been voted Ladies XC runner of the year.

Voting for Ladies XC runner of the year will take place this month and will be based on the XC season from October 2023 to March this year. Ladies’ Captain Meera will send out the voting spreadsheet and collect your votes using a google form.

Save the date in your diary and look out for the email shortly. If you’re not able to run parkrun, please do still join us and come for coffee and socialising afterwards!

Mickey Edwards 5k Series

It was fantastic to see so many of you taking part in the baseline run for the club’s 5k series on 1 May. I hear that Tom, Charlie and Jon got that lovely weather for us as a bulk deal for the entire series, so don’t forget to show up to the subsequent four races to see if you can improve your time.

The handicap race dates are:

• Wednesday 15th May – 1st handicap
• Wednesday 29th May – 2nd handicap
• Wednesday 12th June – 3rd handicap
• Wednesday 26th June – Final handicap

If you couldn’t make the baseline run, don’t worry – you can still join in. You can turn up at any of the races and your first run will count as your baseline time. You can do as many or as few as you please, but you do need to run at least three of the four upcoming races to be in the running to win the coveted title.

You can find all the information on the Mickey Edwards webpage.

Friday 5 series – Great Bentley race on Friday 5 July

The ‘Friday 5 Series’ of local 5 mile races is now open for entries. Our race within the series will be held on Friday 5 July.

Please do not enter our race, as Race Director Matt will be in touch via email in the near future about volunteers to help with marshalling and other roles. Some of our members will be drawn at random to run if we have enough volunteers to put the race on.

If you wish to enter any of the other races in the series, which come highly recommended, you can enter online here.

Ekiden relays – Sunday 7 July

An email has been circulated about signing up for the ever-popular Ekiden relays, taking place at Ipswich High School on 7 July. If you haven’t taken part before, it’s a really fun team event and definitely the more the merrier!

Please see full information in the email, including a link to sign up via a google form. If you have any questions, get in touch by email: lisabriggs416@gmail.com.

Geoff Day Memorial 5k race – Wednesday 10 July

The date has now been confirmed for the club’s annual 5k race in memory of long-standing club member Geoff Day. This will take place at 7.15pm (registration from 6.45pm) from Great Bentley Village Hall, with refreshments in the hall afterwards. It would be wonderful to see lots of you there.

You can find out more about Geoff and the race on the Geoff Day webpage.

Membership fees: have you paid?

Subs have been due now since the AGM and we are coming towards the end of the grace period. If you have yet to pay, and want your membership to continue, please follow the instructions in the email sent on 2 April to pay online as soon as possible.

If you have any issues with payment, please contact Membership Secretary Nick by email: greatbentleyrc@gmail.com.

Training

Our fully-packed training schedule continues through the Spring and early Summer. Why not enjoy those lovely light evenings with a Wednesday evening session at Great Bentley? Remember that track sessions at Northern Gateway are only held once a month during the summer months, so make sure you check the weekly google form before you travel, or plan further ahead with the Spring 2024 training schedule that goes up to 27 June.

Please continue to complete the google form wherever possible, so that sessions are not cancelled due to low expected numbers, and so that run leaders can plan a suitable session according to the numbers.

Our Ladies Squad

What we did

Well ladies, what didn’t you do this month?! So much that I can’t possibly do it all justice, but I will try.

As usual, you did parkrun touristing all over the place, but Helene Tyler had a particularly exciting trip to snowy Ekebergsletta parkrun in Oslo! The weather was significantly different in Limassol, where Sarah and Karen completed the Limassol half marathon. We came together to enter five ladies teams in the Essex Road Relays, and it was great to see so much blue blasting round that track.

Anna Lyon ran her socks off at the London Landmarks half marathon and Yolande Arnold smashed the Monsai Trail half marathon, being rewarded with the VW55 age group first place.

There were plenty of 10ks on offer. Zoe Reynolds completed the Brighton 10k and many of you took part in the ever-popular Harwich Runners’ Bromley 10k. However, award for furthest 10k race has to go to Louise Balfour, who ran 8.3 miles thanks to a wrong turn in the New Forest Garmin Trail 10k!

You ran marathons in Southampton, Brighton, London and Boston (UK), some of them being in extremely challenging conditions. There were marathon PBs, but also inspiring stories of overcoming adversity, with injuries and challenges occurring in the run-up to the events, or in some cases during the event itself. I feel proud to know such strong women! A huge well done to anyone who completed a marathon this month (or, frankly, ever), including Caroline Searle, Bee Harris, Helen Coe, Sammy Cotton, Debs Hollidge, Caroline Dyer and Magdalena Komorowska.

For some of you (specifically Anna Lyon, Andrea Markwick and Larina Marsh), the marathon distance wasn’t enough and only an ultra marathon would do – and that took the form of 28.5 miles of trails in the Hare and Tortoise Camuplodunum event. Fiona Gosling and Louise Balfour also went big on distance in their LDWA Essex Walker Challenge (27 miles).

Runner of the month

Speaking of long distance takes us nicely onto this month’s ‘Runner of the month’. She’s never one to shy away from a challenge, particularly of the long-distance trail variety, and seems to have a talent for encouraging others to take part with her! Despite completing 28.5 miles as part of the Camuplodunum event, she still knows how to put a blast of speed in her legs, and that was clearly shown during the Essex Road Relays and when she achieved her Clacton parkrun PB this month. This follows many months of completing various marathons, ultra marathons and other challenges that left Meera and I in no doubt that she deserves this month’s title.

Congratulations Larina Marsh, you are April’s ladies Runner of the Month!