Hi ladies. I am pretty sure in the last one of these I wrote, I was celebrating the eventual arrival of summer. Well that was short lived! Nether the less, I see that September has been choc-a-block with some fabulous running from all of you and I hope you have all had a really enjoyable month. As always. I wish you all the best in your running endeavours over the coming days… just remember to take those gloves with you to keep those fingers safe from the frost!
News and Notices
XC season begins!
NESS league starts on 27th October with the new race venue, Ipswich High School. For those who have come to Ekiden for the last two years, you will be familiar with the location, although I think the XC course might be going slightly more off-piste than the Ekiden course does.
Everyone registered with GBRC is welcome to turn up and run. There will be information about the course and parking emailed round the week before the race.
Summary information is:
- the club pays for your entry fee, so there is no cost to members for running;
- no need to sign up in advance, just turn up on the day;
- wear your blue club t-shirt/vest;
- “check in” when you arrive with the holder of the team sheet. Once checked in, get ready to run;
- the adult race starts at 10:45. We ask that you check in by 10:30, and the team photo will be taken at 10:35;
- courses are about 5 miles (8k) and both men and women run together;
- “check out” when you finish by taking your finish token to the team sheet and having your position recorded;
- the league is a competition between the clubs and so the more runners we have out on the field the better our score will be – it is more about having fun, but the competition gives an extra flavour!
- supporters welcome and usually we hang around and make it a social affair so bring bakes!
- there is a junior run at 10:00 which is about a mile long
More information on NESS can be found here: North Essex & South Suffolk XC league (nessxc.org.uk) and on our website here https://gbrc.org.uk/about/ness/
I hope to see many of you at XC running and having fun.
XC help needed: you’ll be glad of that gazebo if it rains
Speaking of XC – I still have yet to receive any volunteers to help with the gazebo, table, drinks flasks, milk etc to the races. I was hoping to set up a rota to do this so no one person has to think of it all every time.
If you are able to help out at any of the XC dates please email me; however the main urgency is obviously for the first fixture on 27th October, so if you are able to help, please let me know.
Awards Night
Don’t forget that awards night is on 7th December. As per last year we will be gathering at the village hall for this event.
Please look out for the email from Mags about awards voting… and start looking through the year’s race reports to think about who to vote for!
Club Kit
A blue club top is vital if you want to represent the club at races and must be worn when taking part at XC. So if you need one of these please contact Barbara or use the form on the website here:
Barbara is not going to carry all of the kit around to all training sessions (there is a lot of it!) so please contact her in advance if you need something so you can arrange when to collect your items.
Training
The training schedule is on the website, and I want to take this opportunity to thank those LiRFs and CiRFs who worked to put the autumn schedule together.
A reminder to everyone to sign up on the poll if you are attending a session as this enables the session leader to plan.
Into next year… our 10-mile race
A quick reminder that the annual 10-mile race, where Harwich are our guests, is on January 5th. Similar to last year this will be a two-lap course and is very fast so get that endurance training in and see you out there for some 10-mile PBs!
Our Ladies Squad
A warm welcome to new ladies in our squad, I hope you are enjoying sessions with GBRC so far.
What we did
I shan’t repeat the race reports as our reporters do a fantastic job! If you want to see what everyone is up to, the race reports can be found here: https://gbrc.org.uk/category/race-reports/
I will quickly summarise though… a rapid run through of September:
We had runners at the Essex Way Relay on a very hot and humid 1st September and team was 34th out of 79 so well done all that took part there! We had a good group at the Clare Castle parkrun social: these are really taking off so please keep looking out for the dates and locations. Getting their multi-sport action in were those hardy souls at the Yorkshire long course weekend. Runners were doing us proud at Hare and Tortoise, the Great North Run, the Ipswich half, the Felixstowe 10 miler, the Langham 10k, and the Dedham 10k. There was a Half Marathon at Pleshy and a half marathon along the Essex Way: the Mayflower. I also heard rumour of one very long LAP being run around Windermere in terrible weather: another amazing feat!
Given the list of events above, there were a lot of contenders for September’s runner of the month… and I want everyone to know that we consider it all. Lisa and I don’t just look at the fastest, or the longest or those that win silverware. We think about the stories behind your running, and we want to celebrate dedication and consistency of training. So please do keep the facebook post up to date, or message us about things you have done as we love discussing the squad’s achievements on a (cold) morning as we run together.
Runner of the month
So who is Runner of the Month? This person has shown resilience over the past month, taking on several challenges. The first was actually in August when she completed a 26-mile trek in support of the Alzheimer’s, she then went on to complete the three-peaks challenge in September and still had energy left over to run the West Highland Way which was over 100 miles over the course of a week.
A lovely lady who keeps her achievements under the radar, but luckily a spy told us about them! Many congratulations Helen, you are our Runner of the Month for September 2024
Great Bentley Running Club 