We are well and truly into the holiday season, and if you haven’t been away, then I’m sure you’re either about to go or are even on holiday as you read this. It’s nice to take a break from the norm and spend days doing as you please, but its also nice to tuck a pair of trainers into your suitcase and to sneak out for some quick paced sightseeing either at home or aboard should the opportunity arise. Holidays have to come to an end and the best way to avoid the holidays blues is to find out what the rest of your fellow ‘Blues’ have been up to, so please read on…….
GBRC on tour!
Speaking of getting away the GBRC monthly Parkrun tourism has been proving popular so much so that we have four more dates and venues. The first four destinations were simply chosen to represent the clubs initials with Clare Castle making the ‘C’ at the end of this month. The next four take us up to the end of the year and into the cross country season so have been selected to offer a little off-road training to tie in with this, they are as follows,
28th September Mersea Island home | Mersea Island parkrun | Mersea Island parkrun We thought we’d keep this one local to kick start the muddy foursome and to hopefully get a few more of you there.
26th October Thornham walks home | Thornham Walks parkrun | Thornham Walks parkrun This one has been talked about quite a bit recently, so we thought we best go and check it out
23rd November Bury St Edmunds home | Bury St Edmunds parkrun | Bury St Edmunds parkrun Just hoping for a bit of mud and a nice coffee afterwards from this one
7th December Highwoods home | Highwoods parkrun | Highwoods parkrun Another local one to finish off with and it’s the same day as the GBRC awards night so it’s a run in the morning and a party in the evening.
Cross Country
Ah yes, the season of mud, sweat and cheers is not quite upon us yet, but in a few short months there will be a sea of blue vests huddled together in a windswept field ready to take on the first race of the series and the rest of the competition. These races really are great team events, good fun to do and the club pays for your entrance fee, which I believe is pretty unique as most of the other clubs charge their runners to enter. Don’t worry if you don’t think your fast enough either as its really a case of the more the merrier at these events. We recently had our men’s cross ‘country runner of the year’ meal, which was a great night out and we saw not one, but two runners crowned ‘runner of the year’, so once again congratulations to Mark Jasper and Martin West. Both these guys had a great cross country season and were also the only two that managed to make every race in the series. Keep your eyes on the Facebook page and your email inbox for more details of this year’s series as they arise.
Training
As autumn steadily approaches many of you will no doubt have a few races in the diary that you’re looking to do well in. The late summer training schedule is now in full effect and takes us up to the middle of September. Coach Caroline has planned some great and varied sessions over the coming weeks including some longer Sunday runs, which I am sure will help you achieve what you want to at your next race and beyond. Click the link below to take you to the training schedule:
GBRC Summer 2024.pdf – Google Drive
Please continue to complete the weekly Google form that is sent by email wherever possible, so that sessions are not cancelled due to low attendance and so that run leaders can plan a suitable session according to the numbers.
GBRC Awards night
Some might argue that this is the most important date in December, a night where magical things can happen, where everyone gathers to eat, drink and be merry and for some good boys and girls rewards will be received. So please save the date to come and celebrate on Saturday 7th December at the GBRC annual awards night.
Club Champs and performance standards
Every year at the awards night awards are given to the fastest person in each age group for an officially measured distance from 5K all the way up to marathon and also the highest finishing place in cross country. In order to qualify you must have run the race in club colours and have submitted your time within 30 days of the race to GBRCraceresults@hotmail.com the cut off this year for entries is 10th November. With plenty of races coming up between now and then there’s still a chance to get your finish times entered, to see the current standings please click here:
GBRC Club Champs 2024 – Google Sheets
The club also has performance standards based on National Running standards and are rated 1-5 stars. I find these fantastic for motivation and can be used as a guide to how your training is going by achieving a higher star rating as your times improve. Similar to the club champs you need to submit your time to gbrcstandards@gmail.com and you will receive a certificate via email to print off and adorn your kitchen cupboards with, or anywhere else you see fit. To find a list of qualifying times please click here:
GBRC Standards Men.pdf – Google Drive
Great Bentley trail run series
We are halfway through this year’s series and once again Rodger hasn’t disappointed us with two delightful routes so far. Trail three (Alton water) has now been released and I can’t wait to get out and give it a go. Don’t forget the much coveted ‘I trailed them all’ t-shirt that can be claimed by doing every course within the allotted time frame and letting Rodger know your start and finish times for each one as well
Who’s done what where in July
At the top of the month, we had our own race the Great Bentley Friday Five with eight Bentley men competing, Mark Harris (43.04), David Allen (33.24), Rob Dyer (33.17), Paul Davidson (31.37), Charlie Keitch (31.10), Chris Warren (31.05), Jon Mann (30.00) and Craig Slocombe (29.37), all of you gave a great race especially in the wet conditions.
Hot off the back of that we had Ekiden where a Bentley team which included, Gavin Byrne, Paul Brazier, Craig Slocombe and Flynn Eyre won the mixed open category, well done guys helping to bring back some Ekiden silverware.
The next Friday was the Brantham five mile race, this is a stand alone race and not part of the JM Friday five series that our race is part of. It’s a hilly mixed terrain course and this year I believe that it was rather muddy in places, which you don’t expect in July. Rick Robinson (36.44), Malcolm Statham (36.31), Richard Moore (36.20), Steve Bullen (32.10), and Craig Slocombe (30.08) all tackled the mud and hills in style and came away with some great times.
There was another team event in the form of the Spitfire Scramble and for those of you that don’t know this is a 24hr race where individuals, pairs or teams get to run as many laps of the 5.7 mile course as possible within 24hrs, its way more fun than it sounds! Paul Davidson, Rob Dyer and Peter Benton were part of a mixed team who came third in their category and only a couple of laps from the top spot.
The same weekend Paul Brazier took on the London 10k the course is a flat one which has plenty of live music and cheering spectators along it and takes in many of the sights of London. None of these served as a distraction for Paul who ran a 10k pb. Paul went on to enter the Snetterton 10k where, in contrast, the quiet open tarmac of the Norfolk racecourse was a far cry from the bustling streets of London. Paul managed to cruise round this course and bag himself another 10K pb which now sits at 42.57 well done Paul great running.
In July we had the last two legs of the Harwich 5K series, the final race was run by Mark Jasper (17.43), Steve Bullen (18.59), Charlie Keitch (19.00), Chris Warren (18.47), Dean Pepper (21.48) PB, Scott Young (26.24) and Gary C (34.03) some strong times from all of you and well done on the pb Dean. It has become tradition to consume fish and chips and beer after the last race and this year was no exception, to those of you who went to the pub afterwards I hope you all enjoyed your well-earned treat.
In contrast to the 5k distance Tim Clifton took on a Zig Zag running events race known as ‘The Great Barrow Challenge’ Tim completed the two lap Windmill way course in a great time of 5hrs 14mins 20secs, well done Tim there’s no stopping you.
So as you can see July has been another big month of running for Great Bentley, hopefully I’ve managed to capture everything the boys have been up to my apologies if I have missed anything out. Lets see what August brings………………………
Runner of the month
For this month’s ROM we have a tale of determination, as this person at the end of June was just recovering from an Achilles injury and found themselves struggling round Colchester Castle Parkrun, but that was the turning point for this runner. From there onwards he started attending training sessions with more frequency and used the Friday morning socials and Rodger’s trail runs to increase the workload on his legs. Steadily throughout the month of July his fitness has increased and his 5k times have tumbled, to the point he actually won 3rd place male at this years Harwich 5k series (and kept it very quiet) So for proving what can be achieved if you focus on something and work at it, Scott Young is our runner of the month, well done Scott keep at it!
Great Bentley Running Club 