Sorry for the delay in this month’s newsletter.  Let’s face it, there’s always a delay in the newsletter, but better late than never and all that.

First of all, I wanted to say well done to everyone who raced in our first XC fixture of the year at Ipswich. It was a great day and, what’s more, we enjoyed a great result with our men finishing fifth in Pool A. This is a very hard league this year, so finishing within touching distance of Halstead and Witham on points is a great success. 

We are a smaller club than many others and rely on everyone to turn out and race for us, so please come along to the next fixture in the NESS League at Gosfield School in Halstead on Sunday 8 December. All the details will be published on the NESS website closer to the time, but the key details are:

• The junior 1 mile run starts at 10:00am
• The adult 5 mile (ish) race starts at 10:45am

We are also looking for a volunteers to bring the club gazebo, table, flasks etc to the race, so please email Meera if you are available to help.

If anyone was at Ipswich and found themselves thinking “is this even XC”, don’t worry Gosfield is a completely different kettle of fish!

XC training

There’s plenty more XC coming up to keep you in training for the rest of NESS fixtures, including two Essex League fixtures before the end of the year:

• Saturday 16 November – Hilly Fields, Colchester
• Saturday 30 November – Writtle College, Chelmsford

If you do want to run in the Essex League, make sure you enter yourself for free online.

We’re also looking for, er, slightly older athletes to take part in the Essex Vets XC Championships at Epping Forest on Saturday 16 December. Please email Mags by 5 December if you’d like to take part.

Parkrun socials

Our parkrun socials are also embracing XC season by heading to more off road courses.  First up is Bury St Edmunds parkrun on Saturday 23 November, which the course page suggests is very ‘grassy’ followed by Mersea Island parkrun, which is ‘mostly grass, with some dirt, and a small gravel section’ on Saturday 7 December.  Who could ask for more?

I know the Mersea Island date clashes with XC the next day and our Awards Night that evening, but please do come along and take part if you can. Remember, parkrun is not a race so you don’t have to hare around and you’ll still be good for XC the next day. Jon and I may also be bringing along some Bentley Blue Santa hats to help us all get into the festive spirit.

Awards Night

The GBRC Awards Night is taking place at Great Bentley Village Hall from 7pm on Saturday 7 December. It’s a bring your own affair, so if you can bring your own drinks, nibbles, plates and cups, we’ll bring the trophies.  Please let us know you’re planning to come along by Sunday 1 December.

Fish and chip run

The annual fish and chip run will be taking place on Wednesday 18 December this year. TBH, the running is kept to a minimum and the fish and chips are kept to a maximum!  Take a look at the Facebook event page to find out more and let us know if you’ll be joining us.

Runner of the month

This month’s runner of the month got a 5k PB of 17:42 at Clacton Seafront parkrun

This month’s runner of the month finished second in the inaugural Clacton Seafront 10k in 36:24

This month’s runner of the month is 15 years old.

This month’s runner of the month is Flynn Eyre.

Well done Flynn!